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I remember when I was getting my first car [yes, it was longer ago than I would like to admit]. I needed a job to pay for the car, and I needed a car to get me to the job! Sometimes life is like that, and it can be hard to navigate which opportunity at hand should be of higher priority.
When it comes to workplace culture, we tend to put that on the “when we have the money list” then let’s invest in culture. But, the ironic thing is you can’t wait to invest in something that critically determines the success or failure path of your business. Would you wait to invest in hiring a sales team or liability insurance?
Culture, even though, often unseen and at times viewed as an intangible resource is very much alive and breathing even if you haven’t taken the time to define it, embed it, and live it.
“Culture is rooted in the way your employees think, act, and interact. Companies have cultures whether they define it or not – good or bad – they are their culture.”
- Jenn Lim, CEO and Co-Founder
Here are two major reasons your culture can’t wait any longer…
1) PEOPLE | Retention, Stress, Innovation
Having the right team in place and the right culture for that team to grow and flow is critical! No one likes recruiting, hiring, and training new people for the same position repeatedly — not to mention the cost involved. A 2016 survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM] discovered the average cost-per-hire for companies is $4,129.
Once I was working at a company where someone left a post-it note on their computer resigning and went home at lunch — guess they couldn’t take another minute!
What is your workplace culture like and are people eager to join or eager to quit?
In addition to your culture helping to attract and retain the best talent, it also affects innovation. Shawn Achor found through research into his book, Before Happiness: The 5 Hidden Keys to Achieving Success, Spreading Happiness, and Sustaining Positive Change, that happier engaged employees can lead to a 300% increase in innovation.
What’s more, a high-stress culture leads to involuntary turnover of nearly 50% according to research. It also stifles innovation since employees do not feel safe to take risks and experiment with new ideas. Creating a positive culture that empowers your team and gives them autonomy over their work allows those brilliant, new ideas to surface.
It’s time to make people a priority.
2) PROFITS | Sales, Productivity, Savings
How can a positive culture affect sales? Martin Seligman, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, discovered that a happier, more positive sales team can lead to an increase in sales by 37%. If it takes a while for your team to close a sale, they may lose optimism. One way to keep the positivity flowing throughout the team is to celebrate the progress made along the way. This is also one of the key elements we use inside our DH Frameworks.
Have you ever experienced disengagement? A feeling where you were going through the motions of a task but not really connected to the purpose or the why behind it. Then, suddenly realize an hour has passed and you didn’t accomplish much?
In Gallup’s 2016 Q12® Meta-Analysis Report: Ninth Edition, it was learned that higher levels of employee engagement could also lead to a 21% increase in productivity. Lastly, this same research from Gallup also showed that highly engaged employees increased profitability by 22%.
A happier, more profitable workplace starts with your employees.
What’s next for your team?
Use our new ROI calculator to discover what a happier culture could do for your sales, retention, and productivity.
Then, contact us for pricing and more information on a DH Masterclass unique to your culture challenges.
