Over past decade, organisations are struggling to understand why employee experience is not moving the needle on attracting great talent, inspiring employee engagement, and keeping great talents around. According to Gallup study, these challenges faced by companies are due to poor management in corporate culture. Culture is the key to unlocking organisation’s greatest potential, yet leaders and professionals often struggle to identify and leverage functional aspects of their organisation culture. Therefore, its power cannot fully reach to enhance business brand, improve business productivity, and fulfil organisation’s purposes.

Why culture matters

As stated earlier, culture is crucial key that potentially unlocks business lives out its purpose and delivers its brand to customers. In the report, Gallup stated that a strong culture can function as a differentiator in the tight marketplace. Thus, if you want to attract both customers and employees, retain them, and turn them into brand advocates, you should first focus on your company culture improvement. “In our experience with clients, employees and teams who most align with their organization’s culture consistently perform higher on internal performance metrics than those who least align,” Gallup added.

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Gallup research showed a direct link between employees’ understanding of their organisation’s purpose and culture and key measures of business health. However, despite strong culture is obviously advantageous for business, it is worth noting that not all culture considerations necessarily drive performance metrics. For example, you might think that “fun” culture is valued by employees, but it does not mean fun culture actually drive business performance. That is why to gain benefits of strong culture, leaders and HR departments must identify, measure, and regularly monitors both their organisation’s culture and its relationship to its most important performance metrics.  

Another notable research by O.C. Tanner found that there are essentially variables in company culture every organisation should be paying attention, including purpose, opportunity, success, appreciation, wellbeing, and leadership. These so called “talent magnets” can attribute to your organisation attractiveness to great talent.

Based on O.C. Tanner’s research, companies that focus on these six yield incredible business results. For instance, 53 percent of respondents are more likely to have highly engage employees. 29 percent are more likely to have employees innovating and performing great work. And 54 percent show that their employees become promoters on standard NPS (net promoter score) scale. It signifies that leaders can shape work environment/culture by focusing on these 6 aspects that matter most.

A proven sequence on where to begin

As talent magnets are proven to be effective in creating better workplace culture, improving in all of them will surely improve positive business result. Nonetheless, if you have no idea where to begin, you need to consider these following steps proposed by O.C. Tanner.

#1 Start with leadership

Leadership influences other magnets. Research shows that great leadership elevates sense of wellbeing and appreciation on team. Thus, it will be difficult to excel in any other areas unless you develop leadership culture within your organisation first.

#2  Continue with appreciation and wellbeing to increase employee retention

38 percent respondents say their employee are less likely looking to leave. This step is profound evidence that when leadership, appreciation, and wellbeing improve, people are more likely to stay. Additionally, ability to keep existing employees is beginning of an attractive culture.

#3 Follow with purpose and opportunity to increase engagement

Wellbeing and appreciation have impact on the sense of purpose and opportunity. It is proven by a data that 44 percent employees are more likely to be highly engaged in this third step. And 32 percent say they are more likely to be doing great work. It is because providing purpose to work and focusing on giving employees opportunities to work on meaningful projects can make a difference. It also delights other, helps people connect with, and gives discretionary effort to work.

#4 Finish with success to attract new hires

With all the step above being completed, you get a successful organisation that new employees find irresistible. It is mentioned that 23 percent respondents are more likely to have new talents coming in last year after implementing this behaviour within company cultures. Therefore, you should be able to use all those strategies to work on success which will make your company like an apple in new hires’ eyes.

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