16 Jun What’s So Important About Workplace Culture
If you’re someone who works at least 40 hours a week (as people increasingly are), you spend nearly 2,100 hours every year on the job. That’s over half of all your waking hours spent with colleagues, staff, management, and customers. Considering how particular we can be when deciding how and with whom to spend our free time, it’s interesting that more people don’t put the same level of consideration into their time spent at work. By taking the time to understand the values, goals, and practices of our potential work environments, you can ensure that the time you spend at work is optimized for productivity, engagement, and enjoyment.
A recent survey conducted by job engagement experts, Tiny Pulse, shows that only 49% of participants are fully satisfied with their work. Even many of those with high-paying positions requiring extensive training report feeling dissatisfied with their work. While burnout and work-related stress often get the majority of the attention when analyzing which factors contribute to this negative experience, workplace culture remains an under-addressed aspect of job satisfaction.
What is Workplace Culture?
At its core, an organization’s culture refers to the beliefs and values established throughout the company hierarchy and informs how one should conduct themselves at work. These values can be stated explicitly in the form of internal documents, or implicitly in the behavior displayed by employees throughout the chain of command.
Whether you work in corporate headquarters, at a hospital, or on a construction site, there is an overarching value structure within your organization that can be incredibly powerful when aligned with the right personnel. Unfortunately, this applies in both positive and negative directions. A stressful or toxic workplace value system can cause issues with productivity, mental health, and, in some cases, even physical injury. Experts estimate that companies with an overly demanding workplace culture have health care costs that are almost 50% more than their culturally sound counterparts.
Clearly, workplace culture is important to the optimal functioning of your business, but how exactly does it benefit employees?
Benefits of a Positive Workplace Culture
When it comes to the positive impact on workers, a strong organizational culture benefits your company in terms of psychological well-being, productivity, and team cohesion.
Psychological Wellbeing
Highly critical, demanding work environments are a leading contributor to chronic stress for employees. A healthy workplace culture fosters an environment where stress is more tolerable, thanks to peer and mentor support. In fact, companies have even found that, given a choice between the two, employees would rather have a positive workspace than material benefits.
Productivity
When employees feel that the company’s goals are built on strong values and that leadership provides a model example of these values in action, they are motivated to work harder. This high engagement and resulting job efficiency are persistent within organizations that make positive workplace culture a priority.
Team-Cohesion
In the past, many companies would pit workers against one another, using interdepartmental competition as a way of producing better results. As understanding of organizational psychology has improved, experts now find that building prosocial connections with coworkers is one of the best ways to yield better employee performance.
If you’re looking for a staffing company to help address issues with hiring and retention, Masis Staffing Solutions is your go-to company. Reach out to us today to find out more about our professional staffing and personnel optimization services!