Workhuman Editorial Team
5 min read
Table of contents
Having a strong company culture is critical for the success of the workplace as a whole. In fact, a report by TinyPulse found that employees who don’t feel recognized are 21.5% more likely to quit their jobs and look for another employer where they can feel more appreciated.
However, the importance of company culture doesn’t only stop at retaining your top talents It can also have a massive impact on your employees’ performance.
If you want to know how company culture shapes employee motivation and inspires them to innovate, this guide is for you.
While many business leaders and executives are often concerned about employee satisfaction, it’s technically not the key to achieving results and reaching goals.
While it helps to have a satisfied employee, you also need to make sure that your employees are motivated to give their best, and that’s where company culture comes into play.
A good company culture that emphasizes the appreciation of employees’ achievements and makes them feel supported will also motivate them to perform.
In fact, Officevibe found that up to 69% of employees have higher motivation if their efforts are recognized at their workplace. And higher motivation leads to higher performance. A 2013 study by McGregor and Doshi tasked over 2,500 employees with analyzing medical images for “objects of interest” to study the impact of meaningful work on workers’ motivation.
In the study, employees were compensated based on the number of images they analyzed.
When given their task, one group was not given context; one group was told their images would be discarded after review, and another was told they were labeling tumor cells for medical researchers.
What researchers found was that the latter group (“meaning group”) earned 10% less than the “discard” group because they spent more time analyzing each image.
However, their quality of work was also higher than the “discard” group because the impact of their work mattered. Reshaping the motivation of the workers resulted in better performance.
Having a motivated workforce comes with a variety of advantages, including:
Employees who are motivated are driven by their sincere passion more than anything. For that reason, it’s natural for them to have a higher level of productivity.
These employees will also show a higher drive to solve problems and innovate to stand out since they know their efforts are appreciated.
Various studies also confirmed these findings, including a report that found that engaged and motivated employees will have up to a 12% pump in their productivity levels.
A poor organizational culture where workers feel under-appreciated is one of the main reasons many employees leave their jobs.
However, if you build and maintain a healthy company culture that awards and recognizes employees, you’re more likely to see a reduction in turnover rates by up to 31%.
Retaining your top talent isn’t the only advantage you can get from fostering a healthy culture in the workplace.
Motivated employees are also more likely to refer other talent to your company to have better-quality teams capable of achieving business goals.
In today’s world, sharing experiences online, whether positive or negative, is quite common.
Almost anyone can anonymously add reviews of their experience while working at your company, and there are tons of dedicated sites for that.
A better work culture will give your company a better image to the public, which can boost your reputation and attract high-value customers.
Employee motivation is fairly easy to notice, as it greatly impacts the workplace. Here are some of the most obvious signs that you have a robust corporate culture that is encouraging and motivating your employees:
The first and easiest sign that employees are motivated is the active vibe of enthusiasm around the workplace, which usually comes with greater productivity.
Employees who are motivated are much less likely to leave their job. In fact, many job seekers are willing to accept a slight pay cut if they’re offered a job in a company with a positive culture.
A motivated employee is willing to take the initiative because they’re aligned with the values and goals of the company.
This is a natural by-product of enthusiasm, where employees are always open to giving feedback and supporting each other toward achieving their goals.
A healthy workplace culture will see a fluid network of communication among all employees with minimal conflicts since everyone is familiar with the goals and values of the company, which facilitates cooperation on projects for better results.
Motivated employees are always open to feedback, whether it’s positive or negative, in order to improve their skills and work on their shortcomings.
Now that you know more about the signs of motivated employees, here’s how to use your company culture to achieve these results:
By setting clear goals and company core values, your team will be able to work toward achieving those goals. Additionally, your employees are able to align their own goals to match those values.
In order to make it easier for your team members to stick to your core values and goals, you have to start from the recruitment process.
One of the benefits of having a well-established company culture is that you’ll be able to pick those employees whose goals and values align naturally with yours.
Having unclear responsibilities can make it harder for your team members to understand and align with your company’s cultures and core values, which might drive them to leave their job.
On the other hand, employees are up to 23% more likely to stay in their job if their managers clearly explain their roles and responsibilities.
A study by Fierce found that 86% of employees blame workplace failures on a lack of communication and collaboration.
One of the easiest ways to encourage teamwork and keep your employees engaged and more familiar with the workflow is by involving them in the decision-making process.
One of the best ways to retain your employees and encourage them to give out their best is by making them feel appreciated.
In fact, when a sample of employees was asked, “What can employers do to improve employee engagement and increase workplace performance?” around 58% of respondents mentioned recognition of achievements as the main answer.
A company culture that celebrates its employees is essential to a business's success. Find out how you can integrate Workhuman's Community Celebrations and Life Events into your organization. Let’s go!
Staying in touch with your employees is a huge step toward increasing productivity and performance in the workplace.
If employees can share their feedback, it will encourage them to be more proactive and ready to take initiative when asked to.
According to a report by Zippia, companies with healthy and consistent feedback channels have seen up to 14.9% lower turnover rate, 12.5% higher level of productivity, and up to 8.9% higher profitability.
Several elements of organizational culture can drive high performance, employee development, and productivity among employees. Here are some factors that affect culture:
People work harder when they feel their work makes a difference. However, a motivated employee willing to give 100% requires an equally motivated leader.
Here are some essential tips that can help leaders generate higher levels of performance and success in the workplace:
Building a company culture in a global organization that includes employees of different ethnicities and backgrounds can be tricky.
Here are some essential considerations that you need to keep in mind to foster an inclusive environment and a supportive company culture:
Corporate culture is a term that refers to all the different behaviors, values, and guidelines that determine how the company’s personnel (from entry-level employees to management) interact with one other.
Company culture is also concerned with attitudes, practices, and ethics codes of the workplace, so it has a huge impact on the performance of employees, their sense of purpose, and motivation from an emotional and/or practical perspective.
Company culture is classified into different types, and each has a unique approach that contributes to building a solid workplace foundation.
The four main types of organizational culture are clan (collaborative) culture, hierarchy (control) culture, creative (adhocracy) culture, and market (compete) culture.
There are also other classifications with different types of company culture, such as task-oriented culture, role-based culture, purpose culture, and customer-driven culture.
There you have it! A brief guide that shows you how company culture shapes employee motivation and impacts their professional careers!
Having a solid organizational culture in your workplace that supports and recognizes its employees has a massive impact on the performance levels of the whole team.
Additionally, an appreciated employee is always motivated to give their best when it comes to innovation and problem-solving.
One of the easy ways to create such a culture is by using a peer-to-peer recognition app to help everyone feel appreciated for who they are and what they do, so make sure that you check out Workhuman’s Social Recognition®.
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