Jenn Lim, CEO of Delivering Happiness, gives advice to employers about evaluating and improving company culture.
What is your definition of “Company Culture”?
Company culture, whether you choose to define yours or not, is the way employees communicate, act, and interact with one another and everyone the company touches. It isn’t just cool stuff like ping-pong tables or meditation rooms, it’s how your employees see their job in alignment with their livelihood and legacy, hand-in-hand with the purpose of the business.
What do you feel is the most important thing to know about company culture?
Your culture, unbeknownst to you or leadership team, can move your company in all sorts of directions – good and bad. But now more than ever you have the power to create a foundation that is authentic and can scale and inspire in a way that is both positive and sustainable over time.
What kind of impact does company culture have on employee engagement?
We’ve seen employee engagement scores for some of our clients go up by at least 40 percent, but the impact can extend further than just a score. Our approach integrates purpose and values into the everyday work of an employee, so it’s not surprising that we get reports on more feelings of happiness, meaning, positivity and therefore more productivity from them.
How can employers better evaluate and improve their company’s culture?
If you aren’t already, you need to audit your culture. Our version of a culture audit dives into both the qualitative and quantitative, to see how your culture is tied to process and performance. Improving your culture isn’t a “flavor-of-the-month” initiative, it takes time, but the payoff after just one or two years can be tremendous.
