No matter what business you step into, no matter what industry, you’ll have a corporate culture. The culture of your workplace can have a huge impact on the happiness and productivity of your staff, and that has a huge impact on the success of your business. You need to make your workplace somewhere that’s appealing to potential employees, especially since your salaries and wages as a small business are probably lower than larger companies’.
Here are some ways you can give your corporate culture a boost:
- Make the extra effort to congratulate employees, send birthday cards, host small celebrations, parties or barbecues.
- Get to know your employees one by one by taking them out for lunch or on a coffee break.
- Notice what your employees like, and find a way to encourage it. For example, if you’ve noticed that employees have started a bit of a health kick around the office, offer a yoga-wear shopping spree or monthly membership to the local gym to the employee with the highest sales that month.
- Try being a little more transparent about your goals and plans for the business. You don’t have to ask your employees for advice, but opening that line of communication will help them feel a sense of pride and ownership when your business meets its goals.
- If you run a family business, create a family culture – create the vision, values, and culture that says, “This is how we do things around here.” This culture should be welcoming, developed to allow non-family members to feel as though they are part of the extended family.
- Get creative. Some companies are taking really unique approaches to developing a corporate culture. For example, Red Frog Events in Chicago only hires internally – newbies get their foot in the door through internships.
Thanks to Leslie Roberts at GoForth Institute for helping us with this special guest post.