What qualities make a company a great place to work

Recruiting quality staff can be difficult. Particularly when the economic climate is uncertain, people are often unwilling to leave their current position, even if there’s a competitive salary on offer somewhere else.

When you’re recruiting for a new role, you’d be forgiven for thinking the best candidates will only ever go where they can earn the most money or have the brightest career prospects. Clearly, those factors are important but they’re not necessarily the only factors candidates will consider when weighing up job offers.

The reality is that top candidates are not only interested in the salary and the work opportunities but are also looking to be part of a great workplace culture. Building that sort of culture will obviously be appealing for your current employees as well, which will hopefully reduce the amount of time you need to spend recruiting. It takes a lot of time and effort to train new staff members, so once they are productive members of your team, it’s important to keep thinking about how you can get them to stay.

There’s no right or wrong way of creating a positive workplace culture. Ultimately, it will come down to what works best for you and your people. But it’s worth thinking about how your company performs in the following areas.

1. Management style

Often the culture reflects the personality of the management team so it’s important to be self-aware. Having a good understanding of your management style will help you recruit leaders and staff who fit with your style and the culture you want to create. Leading by example is one of the most effective ways to embed values and culture.

2. Business values

Think about where your business started and what makes you different. Owners need to determine the most important values for the business, define them in the strategic plan, then communicate it to staff. Leaders need to demonstrate and live the values, communicating well and trusting others.

3. Employees

Your employees will have the biggest impact on your culture so you need to be clear with them about what you expect, how their performance will be measured, and how their achievements will be recognised.

Of course, things will go wrong and issues will crop up. So it’s important to be prepared with strategies in place to discuss difficult situations, either through incident management processes or meetings, and what resources you’ll need to support staff.

Be aware of staff engagement and morale, and the discussions that are taking place around the ‘water cooler’. These will give you an early heads-up if morale isn’t at the level you want it to be.

4. Policies and philosophies

Leave requests, codes of conduct and dress codes are some of the most visible expressions of your company’s culture. Ensure your staff are aware of what is acceptable and what is not. You need them to reinforce the image you want to create, bearing in mind basic requirements around comfort and health and safety.

5. A fun and healthy environment

Meet regularly for training and development, but every so often include something social – maybe pizzas and a drink after the training, or some team sport. Make the workplace environment a pleasant place to be. Rooms that are light, comfortable and welcoming are appealing not only for your clients but for your staff as well.

Good culture is infectious and will keep good people interested and engaged. When you have created the culture you want, remember to continually ask for feedback from your staff. Maintaining the positive culture will take time and effort but will ultimately help you grow your business and achieve success.