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What are the decisive factors for you when choosing a job? Salary, location, or your daily schedule? All these things are important, no doubt. But if the company culture is not on your list of priorities, you are definitely missing something.
What Is Company Culture?
Company culture, aka organizational/corporate/workplace culture, is the umbrella term for the core elements that define an organization on an internal level.
These elements are:
- Company mission
- Goals
- Values
- Work environment
- Leadership style
- Communication style
- Rules and restrictions
Together, these elements define the face of the organization for its employees, as well as its reputation outside the walls of its office.
If you feel unsatisfied with how these elements work in your current organization, it might be time to consider changing jobs. When opting for this choice, prepare a top resume for your job search firsthand. Try using affordable resume writing services to save time and effort! And make sure you ask about workplace culture when you land an interview.
But is corporate culture really that important? And why?
Why Is It Important?
Corporate cultures vary greatly across organizations. We can say, for example, that in a specific company, culture is strict or relaxed, oppressive or supportive. This makes a world of difference for the company’s current and prospective employees – because most people want to work in a friendly, supportive, and overall positive environment.
While more subtle differences like internal language or dress code matter a lot, there are the three basic principles that every organization should adhere to no matter what.
These are:
- Trust
- Honesty
- Transparency
For you as an employee, problems with adhering to any of these principles in a given organization should be a red flag. Read on to see what you should pay attention to.
3 Main Pillars of Company Culture
People tend to stay where they feel at home and leave places where they are undervalued, ignored, or otherwise uncomfortable. If you are not happy at work, this will likely result in exhaustion, burnout, and conflicts outside of your workplace.
That’s why it’s crucial to find a place you will thrive at. To increase your chances of getting hired, make sure you have the right skills for a job of your choice and know how to list them on a resume for maximum effect. Besides, networking can help a lot.
In any case, researching an organization before applying for a position is a good strategy. Here are the three main pillars of a healthy corporate culture you should be looking for.
1. Trust
Would you like to work at a company that doesn’t support your initiatives, blocks creativity, and traces your every step? Not likely. On the other hand, a workplace where you can have freedom within basic rules is the one most people dream of.
If trust is one of the core corporate values, employees feel safe and sound. As a result, they are less stressed and more energetic. That, in turn, leads to higher productivity, more engagement, and less burnout.
Here are some indicators of the lack of trust in an organization:
- The employees’ accomplishments are not recognized;
- They cannot choose their work patterns and habits;
- Communication is not effective.
If you’ve noticed any of these alarming practices in your company or in the organization you view as a possible employer, it may be best to think of another option.
2. Honesty
Honesty, or integrity, completes and supports trust. In terms of corporate culture, being honest means having strong moral principles and doing the right thing no matter what. If both the employer and the employee cultivate honesty, it helps strengthen trust and benefits the company and its workforce.
Here is how you can see honesty is valued in the organization:
- Employees feel free to communicate their concerns
- They are responsible and trustworthy
- Nobody is afraid to admit their failures
If the employees tend to lie to their managers and feel afraid to own up to their mistakes, this is a strong indicator of flawed company culture. The same goes for the managers; if they always tend to blame their workers, something must be wrong.
3. Transparency
Transparency in the workplace is making the inner workings of the company clear and visible to its employees as well as the general public. This encompasses all kinds of things related to the organization, from clearly stating its mission to the public to letting its workers post about their jobs on social media.
In simple terms, an organization that gives as much access to truthful information about it as possible is a transparent one. However, it’s always important to look beyond the official facade.
Today, open sources such as social media provide access to all kinds of information. Your job is to research, compare, and divide the wheat from the chaff.
In Conclusion
When choosing an organization to work at, corporate culture should be one of the decisive factors. Though sometimes considered less significant than salary, location, or schedule, company culture can affect many aspects of your performance and well-being.
The main three pillars of healthy company culture are trust, honesty, and transparency. Issues with any of these components are a red flag for a prospective employee, so be sure to research the organization before you apply for a position.
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