Why Employers Must Create a Strong Workplace Culture
Sexual harassment is among the leading workplace problems. It’s not uncommon for employees to feel offended due to the unwelcome behavior of their co-workers. But employers can manage this issue by building a strong workplace culture.
Building the right workplace culture isn’t a one-time process. It’s rather an ongoing commitment to a set of values and mutual trust. Accordingly, you should periodically review policies and improve them as required.
As a business owner or workplace manager, the following tips can assist in resolving any emerging workplace issues and help facilitate the creation of a sustainable positive workplace culture:
- Implement a zero-tolerance policy against violence and harassment
- Diversity and inclusivity should be key goals
- Promote and actively drive respect amongst all employees and management
- Be transparent with your policies
- Provide effective workplace training
- Take definitive action against any observed deviations away from set values or breaches of policy
- Educate employees about organizational values and culture policies
- The leadership should become role models for the team
Now you know how to build a strong workplace culture, it’s important to understand why creating a good culture is beneficial to your business or workplace.
Fulfill the Duty of Care
Under law, employers have a duty of care to their employees and the community who visit their workplace. This means you should create a positive workplace culture where every employee feels safe. Failure to do so can lead to significant and costly legal action and reputational damage to your business.
Sexual harassment can be in verbal, physical or written form. When an employee reports such an incident, employers should act swiftly. The Human Resource department can conduct an effective investigation; however, it’s more prudent to engage an impartial, suitably qualified workplace investigation provider to conduct the investigation in order to mitigate any perceived conflict of interest and ensure procedural fairness.
At times, victims may feel afraid or hesitant to report any unfair treatment. However, if you notice inappropriate behavior, you should address this promptly to avoid a more protracted escalation of the issue down the track. This proactive zero-tolerance policy promotes a good workplace culture.
Boost Employee Productivity
Let’s assume you have two departments in your organization. Workers in one department dread going to the workplace due to perceived bullying. But the other department enjoys working in a comfortable environment. Commonsense would suggest that the department with the more engaging and comfortable environment will perform to a higher standard and optimal productivity.
Your employees are the most important assets for your organization and will thrive in an environment with a strong workplace culture, allowing them to focus on key tasks.
Build a Positive Brand Image
No matter which industry you are in, establishing brand goodwill should be your priority. The better the brand image, the more your business will prosper in the long run. And a proven way to build a positive brand image is to adopt a strong workplace culture.
Your employees represent the organization and may interact with the target audience. However, what if the organizational culture is weak? This may lead to a poor customer experience as employees feel disengaged and non-aligned to the broader purpose of the business. On the other hand, employees who are part of a strong culture tend to be self-driven to achieve optimal customer outcomes. They are likely to deal with customers in an appropriate way and can help build brand reputation.
Moreover, customers prefer doing business with organizations that treat their employees right. So, it’s important to develop and implement a suitable organizational culture strategy.
Attract the Top Industry Talent
Who wouldn’t want to hire the best talent for their organization? After all, they play a vital role in taking your business to new heights. And there’s no denying that a great company culture can help you achieve this goal.
As per a recent Glassdoor survey, talented employees prefer a strong workplace culture over an attractive salary package.
Increase the Employee Retention Rate
Once you hire the leading talent, the next step is to ensure they stay with you for a long time, and a great work culture is the key to retaining top talent. In fact, most employees don’t think about switching jobs if they are satisfied with the organizational culture.
Also, it’s important to note that the cost of losing a reliable employee can hurt your business. An average business faces a loss of 16% to 213% of the annual salary when a long-term employee leaves them. You can’t afford such huge losses on a regular basis, so it’s important to avoid such pitfalls and invest in developing a sound workplace culture.
Improve Business Performance
Being an employer means you need to come up with effective strategies to improve business performance. For this purpose, you should focus on attracting and retaining customers.
In the presence of a positive workplace culture, your employees become brand advocates. They encourage potential customers to give your products a try. As a result, you may notice a significant increase in your customer retention rate.
Further, it’s true that happy customers spend more. When they enjoy a good experience, they are likely to show more interest and buy more products. So, your workplace culture helps elevate your business revenue.
Promote a Positive Environment
The workforce suffers the most in an environment with a weak culture. They feel insecure and intimidated due to the unfriendly and toxic environment. Also, they may struggle to perform their role responsibilities.
Moreover, a weak culture makes it difficult for employees to talk to their managers about workplace issues.
Building a strong workplace culture is a surefire way to deal with this challenge. It promotes a positive work environment, where employees feel more comfortable in the organizational setting.
Conclusion
A strong workplace culture provides a competitive edge to businesses enabling them to achieve great success through the attraction and retention of talented employees and high value customers. It also saves you from potential workplace problems such as bullying and sexual harassment.
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