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HR is responsible for a lot in businesses, but one responsibility that isn’t often talked about is managing organisational culture.
However, maintaining good organisational culture can be vital in many ways: from employee retention and wellbeing to helping to carve a business’s core identity.
In this blog, we’ll explore what organisational culture entails, why it’s important, and how HR is instrumental in shaping it.
First, we need to talk about what exactly organisational culture is.
Also called ‘company culture’ or ‘corporate culture’, organisational culture is basically a shared set of beliefs, values and behaviours that define how a business and its employees operate.
It’s also sometimes referred to as the business’s ‘personality’.
Organisational culture can be expressed through both formal written policies and unspoken employee behaviours. For example, a flexible working from home policy is as much an example of a company’s organisational culture as a team regularly taking lunch breaks and eating together.
Other examples of organisational culture include:
Simply put, organisational culture shapes how a business operates, how its employees behave, and what it feels like to work there.
Organisational culture is more than just about keeping employees happy; in fact, it can sometimes be the key to running a business successfully.
Below are some reasons why organisational culture can be vital:
It’s often said that the most common reason for leaving a job is salary, but it isn’t the only factor that influences employee retention. In fact, 61% of workers would switch jobs for better company culture, and 69% of Gen Z workers state that they’d prioritise good company culture over salary.
Employees also leave jobs due to bad management, feeling undervalued, or lack of career progression – all things that can be addressed by a better organisational culture.
Good organisational culture isn’t a cure-all though; even companies with positive workplace culture will still experience staff turnover.
However, business leaders who focus on things like employee wellbeing, recognition, and encourage a healthy work/life balance are often better placed to retain talented employees. This in turn leads to better morale, productivity, and engagement.
A lot of different factors influence productivity at work, but good organisational culture can be the magic ingredient in helping people perform at their best.
According to a recent Gallup report, with optimal organisational culture, employees are:
Together, these benefits have noticeable effects on employee output and productivity, making for a better working environment and more effective results all round.
Good organisational culture is more than just for the employees’ benefit. It can also help to elevate a business’s identity and help them stand out in the crowd.
Take Google, for example. As one of the world’s largest tech companies, they’re well-known for their unconventional company culture, including:
Policies such as these not only complement their brand image and identity, but also set them apart as trend-setters and innovators in the industry.
Now you know a bit about what organisational culture is and why it’s important, let’s talk about HR’s role in supporting it.
As the department that’s responsible for facilitating and managing people, HR can be vital in helping to shape company culture and steer it in the right direction.
As a HR professional, you can start to do this by:
In other words, HR can be the catalyst for effective change straight from the heart of the business. And once employees embrace the change, they’ll start to influence and drive positive organisational culture too.
With all that said, here are 5 things that HR can do to actively shape organisational culture:
If you want your business to thrive, a good place to start is making sure you have the right people on board.
Who exactly are the “right” people, though? In a business context, they can be employees who:
During the recruitment process, you can try asking open-ended questions to gauge a candidate’s potential culture fit, like:
If using AI tools to screen potential candidates, it may be worth double-checking your criteria to ensure you don’t risk missing candidates who might be a great cultural fit despite not ticking every single one of the role requirements.
Onboarding new hires is also a crucial step, so new hires can ideally embrace the business’s organisational culture from day one. This can be achieved through carefully curated training and onboarding procedures, especially ones that directly expose new recruits to a company's culture early on.
This process can also apply to employees newly appointed to leadership and management roles. Managers are just as important when it comes to upholding company culture, and HR can play a key role in making sure they represent company values when hiring and training them.
Teams in the workplace are like plants – they need continual care, attention, and nurturing in order to really grow and thrive.
You can make sure this happens by investing in ongoing training and development that keeps employees empowered. Training might include skills workshops, inclusivity training, or team-building events, all of which help demonstrate the organisation’s real commitment to employee evolution and care.
Training can also be an opportunity to highlight unique aspects of a company’s organisational culture. For example, an environmental charity might emphasise sustainability and social justice in its employee training and development to reinforce its core values.
On top of this, companies that offer robust learning and development opportunities are more likely to attract and retain top talent – further reinforcing HR’s role in maintaining company culture through recruitment and onboarding.
Prioritising mental health and wellbeing in the workplace is a key aspect of positive organisational culture.
HR can play an essential role in shaping this by providing initiatives like:
• Wellness support
• Mental health awareness training
• Counselling and talking therapies
• Healthcare bonuses, like access to private or out-of-hours medical care
In addition, you can also monitor annual leave and sick leave entitlements to ensure that people are getting enough time off work when they really need it.
The result is a positive organisational culture where your employees feel like their wellbeing is being treated like a priority, making for a happier and more supportive workplace.
A key element of being in HR is having your finger on the pulse.
A good HR team will know when to flex or adapt in response to changing situations; an obvious example is the shift towards more hybrid models of working as a result of the pandemic.
This also includes measuring and tracking organisational culture in a business and diagnosing any issues within company culture that need to be addressed. Employee feedback forms, exit interviews, and informal conversations can all be valuable sources of information when gauging what needs improving, and how.
If HR listens to employees and embraces change, they won’t just be implementing solutions that’ll benefit company culture. They’ll be telling others that this is a place where people’s feelings and opinions matter and can be heard – making for a more open and inclusive space for everyone.
Has somebody in the team hit a big milestone, done excellent work or demonstrated exemplary behaviour that aligns with the company’s ethos? Or maybe a group of people or the company itself has done something particularly great that’s worth shouting about?
In that case, it can be HR’s job to champion these achievements and make sure that they’re heard. Doing so not only increases morale and job satisfaction, but creates a real sense of community – a culture centred around lifting each other up and making your employees feel seen.
Creating a culture of constructive feedback can be beneficial, too. When employees are comfortable exchanging effective feedback with each other, this can:
You can facilitate this by spearheading initiatives to encourage more effective cross-communication, such as workshops or resources outlining good practice for giving constructive feedback.
If you're still unsure on how to effect positive change in your workplace, an industry-accredited CIPD qualification can help you grasp the ins and outs of organisational culture as an HR professional!
Organisational culture is made up of lots of disparate parts and elements, from company values and leadership styles to employee experiences and everyday behaviours. This can make it a difficult concept for HR to pin down and master.
However, it’s HR’s responsibility to directly influence a company’s organisational culture, whether that be through innovative wellness initiatives or just shouting out people when they do well.
Ultimately, by helping to create a culture that works for both employees and the wider business, HR can be a real driving force behind long-term success and positive change.
Upgrade your HR skills with a 100% online qualification from DPG.
Learn more about our CIPD courses!
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