What’s Your Workplace Culture Like?

Michelle Riklan  |  June 30, 2016
last updated

What is your workplace culture like? When you think about your workplace, how would you describe it? Would you call it warm and inviting? Supportive? Encouraging? Does the atmosphere make it easy for your employees to grow their career? Perhaps your workplace is very accommodating to those staff members with families, like children and elderly parents, to work and take care of their loved ones at the same time. What you are describing is your workplace culture. Workplace culture is what your leaders believe in, what their management subscribes to, and the values that permeate throughout the entire staff. When an office’s workplace culture is good – that is, when it matches up with your own values as a leader – it can help your team work together seamlessly. Employees might think the work itself may be ho-hum, but they’d think twice before leaving, because the management and environment is great.

They feel safe and supported there, and they want to do the best for their boss. Because they know they’re working hard for the good of the company. Employees are at their best, and are productive, creative and innovative.
But when the workplace culture is bad – they dread going in to work, because frankly, they find the behavior there disruptive and frankly, tiring. They look for other jobs in their spare time. Whether you accept it or not, they’re not giving their job 100 percent.

How Does a Manager Create a Better Workplace Culture?

As a manager or a leader, your job is to make the workplace culture as positive and as inspiring as possible for your employees. Creating that culture takes time and energy, and it will take even more time for employees to get on board and get used to the new mentality.

But the rewards will be great. With a better workplace culture comes better engagement, better workplace attendance, greater productivity, and at the end, larger profits.

There are five degrees of workplace health. Read on to find out where you and your company rank:

  1. The first degree – and the lowest level – is dysfunction. Here, employees don’t trust each other or the boss, and work rarely gets done. When it does, the job is mediocre. The employees frequently call in sick and there will be high turnover. There is low morale here.
  2. The second degree is tension. There are disagreements between employees and the managers, and people talk about each other behind their backs. Attendance is slightly better than the dysfunctional level, but employees are actively searching for new jobs, and will jump ship at the first opportunity.
  3. The third degree is civility. Employees and managers get along, but they only barely tolerate each other. They treat each other with respect, and act professional, but don’t really like each other. They get by enough to get the job done, but employees would be hard pressed to say that they actually love their jobs.
  4. The fourth degree is acknowledgement. Employees and managers are thankful for each other and acknowledge each other on a job well done. Staff like each other and everyone is comfortable in their roles.
  5. The fifth degree – and this one is the highest – is validation. Leaders and managers acknowledge the hard work of staff, and give them challenges and responsibilities, which they love. There is a great deal of trust here, and employees are genuinely able to say that they love their jobs. There is room for growth and professional development, and rewards are far more than just monetary.

Which level does your workplace culture fall under?

Author Michelle Riklan: Michelle Riklan is an instructor specializing in workplace development. Call us at (800) 872-7830 to set up an appointment to consult with her.

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Michelle Riklan is president of Riklan Resources. She is based in the New York, NY Region. She is a specialist in corporate team development and public speaking skill classes.
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