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Let’s face it: workplace culture can make or break a company. A poor or toxic environment leads to employee dissatisfaction and disengagement, low productivity, and high turnover. Deeper than that, it can be actively harmful to employees’ mental and physical health. According to a study from the American Psychological Association, 19% of workers say their workplace is very or somewhat toxic and those that work in a toxic environment were three times more likely to report harm to their mental and physical health.
But what makes a toxic work environment? How can you in HR and L&D help improve company culture so employees want to stay and thrive? In this blog, we’ll explore what makes a positive or negative work environment, challenges to making changes, and how to improve workplace culture.
What makes a workplace culture positive or negative?
Learning how to improve company culture means understanding what makes a positive or negative culture. When you think of a toxic work culture, most likely you automatically see blatant bullying, harassment, and tyrant bosses. While, yes, those are definitely part of some of the most negative work cultures, the most common signs can be a little more subtle than that.
Let’s explore the differences between a negative and positive work culture so we can learn how to improve company culture.
Challenges to improving workplace culture
Before we jump into solutions and strategies to improve company culture, it’s important to acknowledge some of the challenges you’re up against.
- Untrained or unsuitable leaders: Not everyone is a born leader and poor leadership can create a ripple effect of negativity throughout your company.
- Inauthentic company values: If your company values are just words on a wall, employees notice and feel disconnected from the mission.
- Rigid hierarchies: A strict seniority separation can stifle openness, positive change, and innovation.
- Unintentionally punishing high achievers: Overworking top performers without support and reward leads to employee burnout and turnover.
- Neglecting employee connection: Isolation among colleagues erodes community and team spirit.
- No growth and learning opportunities: Stagnation leads to disengagement and kills motivation, leading to poor productivity and retention issues.
- Inconsistent work on company culture: Like any relationship, improving workplace culture and maintaining it takes consistent effort.
- Conscious or unconscious biases: Whether intentional or not, discrimination based on background, gender, ethnicity, age, etc. can skew decision-making and get in the way of an inclusive and fair workplace.
💡22% of employees said they witnessed discrimination in their current workplace and 15% reported they experienced it themselves.
Key strategies for improving workplace culture to retain employees
Improving workplace culture doesn’t have to be an uphill battle. It’s about making intentional, manageable, and meaningful changes that resonate with your team.
Let’s explore how to improve company culture and how these changes can make a real difference in the day-to-day experiences of your employees, making them more inclined to stay with your company.
Here are a handful of ideas to improve workplace culture:
Foster understanding among employees
Encourage open dialogue, active listening, and empathy to improve company culture. Create an environment where everyone feels safe to express their opinions without backlash.
Action: Implement regular training sessions on communication and conflict resolution.
Mindfully choose, define, and demonstrate company values
Your company values should be more than just a plaque on the wall. They should guide daily decisions and behaviors within the workplace. Part of improving workplace culture means you have to define values clearly, communicate them regularly, and demonstrate them through actions—from the top down.
Action: Work with leaders to embody those values and demonstrate what they look like in practice, leading by example and living your employer brand to improve company culture.
Give every employee a voice
To stay engaged, motivated, and on-mission, employees need to feel heard. Provide platforms for feedback, encourage participation in decision-making processes, and empower employees to let you know how to improve workplace culture.
Action: Encourage employee communication through anonymous surveys and suggestion boxes to gather honest feedback.
Recognize and reward those that go above and beyond
Recognition is a powerful motivator. There are different types of recognition to celebrate the small wins and big victories through meaningful, personalized rewards. This goes a long way to improving workplace culture by making employees feel valued and appreciated.
Action: Implement a peer recognition program where employees can nominate each other for monthly rewards.
Give opportunities to grow and contribute
Career stagnation breeds dissatisfaction. Provide a variety of learning and development opportunities and clearly define pathways for career advancement. Improving workplace culture also comes from growth.
Action: Offer things like educational allowances and a mentorship program that build career mobility.
Support and train leadership
Strong leadership is the backbone of a thriving organization. One major way to improve company culture is by developing leadership skills in current and potential managers. This helps build consistent, empathetic leadership across the board.
Action: Organize leadership development programs that focus on emotional intelligence, effective employee communication, and adaptive leadership skills to improve workplace culture and leadership effectiveness.
Prioritize employee connection
Improving workplace culture comes from connection. Creating opportunities for staff to connect and build relationships can boost employee satisfaction and contribute to a positive workplace culture. By encouraging team member connections and peer bonding, you’re improving organizational culture for a more cohesive and supportive environment where everyone feels valued and understood.
Action: Arrange both in-person and virtual team building activities, or use tools like Together’s Coffee Chats or Colleague Connect for ongoing connection-building.
The not-so-secret ingredients to improve company culture: Respect and trust
When it comes down to it, we are all humans worthy of respect and dignity. It may sound obvious, but some companies or their leadership can see their employees as just numbers or tools, not people. Forgetting the human elements is what makes a negative work culture.
When looking at how to improve company culture, remember that every single employee was hand-picked for their unique blend of skills, experience, and perspectives while creating opportunities for that to shine is key to a more positive work culture. All of the strategies mentioned above are based on empowering employees to do their jobs and that comes from encouraging respect and trust within your organization—thus improving workplace culture overall.
How to improve company culture with Together
Improving workplace culture is not a one-time project but an ongoing commitment. By fostering respect, defining authentic values, giving employees a voice, recognizing achievements, and providing growth opportunities, you can create a vibrant and engaging workplace that people want to stay at.
Creating a workplace where employees feel a genuine connection and mutual respect hinges on providing meaningful opportunities to connect with one another. You in HR and L&D can create an environment where authentic relationships can thrive and everyone feels seen and heard.
A mentoring program, peer mentor initiatives, or even informal virtual coffee chats give employees the opportunity to connect with their immediate team, company leadership, and colleagues across other departments, building a stronger sense of community, understanding, and respect in your organization—building a strong team culture. Together’s suite of mentorship software, peer learning tools, and community building resources can help you create these opportunities for connection with little administrative time and effort.
Get started with Together—book a demo today!
