5 Strategies for Building an Exceptional Company Culture

At all places of business, large and small, there's a growing expectation that HR's role is to increase employee retention and productivity. A productive workforce is the lifeblood of a successful company. If your employees are willing to stay in their positions and work hard, your business is more likely to make money.

Engagement is not something that can be bought - instead, it must be earned through dedication and hard work.

According to Tech.co, company culture is the key to a successful business. Kelly Vo, owner and CEO of Kevo Writing, says that if you invest time into building an exceptional culture, you're bound to see the benefits.

Vo cited a study from Columbia University which found a clear correlation between culture and productivity. Companies with outstanding culture, outperform other businesses by 202%. The impact is also noticeable in the hiring process - companies with poor culture have a sky-high turnover rate of 48%, which means a lot of time and money sunk into recruiting. Companies with exceptional culture, have only 13.9% turnover rate in comparison.

To build an exceptional culture, the first step is simply to show more respect for employees, this alone can have a major impact. The following are five more strategies that can help your business build a truly exceptional company culture:

Add excitement to the atmosphere
If an office is just a place to show up for work each day, complete tasks and go home - people will become disengaged quickly. If you add little twists to make the workplace more exciting, things like free fruit bowl could help.

Set the egos aside
The focus should be on helping the collective achieve together, not on any one individual.

Encourage life beyond work
Employees may have more going on in their lives than just work - families, hobbies, holidays - which should be encouraged, not stifled. Work-life balance is an important aspect of life.

Invite creativity and expression
Some employees may like to explore deep, creative endeavours like writing stories or crafting art projects. Great managers should encourage these activities as a creative mind is more likely to be an engaged, productive mind.

Work hard on team-building
A team of 10 people will always achieve more together than 10 individuals simply working separately. Managers and corporate leadership should work hard to promote teamwork and help the workplace find success through collaboration.