The importance of defining culture even as your company scales up

Culture has received greater attention in the recent years, but what exactly is it, and is great culture really crucial to an organization? People often confuse culture with perks – while ping-pong tables, free coffee and fitness classes may sound enticing, culture is often more intangible. It’s made up of three main elements: behaviors, systems, and practices, guided by a set of values that the organization believes in.

Akin to how a company’s brand determines the customer experience, an organization’s culture creates the experience for employees. Though it may seem like an abstract concept, culture is one of the key factors that lead to tangible outcomes, such as employee engagement and performance.

How organizational culture affects productivity

Weak company culture leads to a myriad of issues, and serves as obstacles to an organization’s ability to meet its goals. For a start, workplaces with weak culture encounter higher turnover, decreased productivity, and have disengaged employees.

On the other hand, strong company culture brings about tangible benefits. Companies with good culture outperform competition by 20 percent, earn 1.2 to 1.7 percent more than other peer firms, and are 2.1 percent above industry benchmarks.

In addition, engaged culture attracts and retains better talent. When people feel like they belong to an organization, they’re more likely to stick around for the long term. This leads to 26 percent less employee turnover, 20 percent less absenteeism, and 15 percent greater employee productivity.

Defining your company’s culture

Culture takes time to define, and even more effort to be implemented in the company. But that’s not to say that it can’t be done.

HubSpot, an inbound marketing and sales software company, was voted as one of the best workplaces in 2018. One of the top reasons candidates wanted to work at HubSpot? Its 128 pages worth of Culture Code, which has also been viewed more than three million times. CEO Brian Halligan had this to say about scaling culture: make sure your company documents, measures and institutionalizes culture.

HubSpot is not the only company which views culture as being crucial to what makes a company successful. WeWork’s co-founder Adam Neumann also shared that in recent years, there has been a culture shift in office environments. Businesses are seeking to redesign their offices and adapt to WeWork’s culture in search of the “buzz” that the collaborative-space company is known for.

What makes WeWork tick? Simple. An energetic work atmosphere and a sense of community which appeal to millennials and even enterprises who are fast catching on.

Co-founder Miguel McKelvey added on that WeWork has had “a culture of intensity and working really hard”. Even as the company scales to more than 6,000 employees, culture becomes a common fabric weaving employees together as WeWork continues scaling its reach globally. Miguel is bent on getting the culture right, with an aim to make WeWork the best place for employees.

Looking to build or define your company culture?

On September 18, WeWork will be holding an event to discuss how companies can craft their culture for high productivity. Participants can look forward to insights on how culture plays a role in performance, and tips on best practices on how companies can build and implement their company culture globally.

Register your interest below before Saturday, September 15 to secure your seats. As this is an invite-only event, successful applicants will be notified via email.

Speakers

David Henderson, Founder & CEO, DRVR
Geert Warlop, COO TrueMoney International, Ascend Corporation

Event Details

Date: 18 September 2018 (Tuesday)
Time: 7pm to 9:30pm
Venue: W Hotel, 106 North Sathorn Road, Silom, Bangrak Bangkok, 10500 Thailand