Culture and Employer Brand - Go Hand in Hand!

Sometimes culture is defined in terms of business features, like financial health and reputation of the business, tone of contractual terms and employee benefits offered, cutting-edge perspectives in technology, etc. Other times workplace culture aligns with employee sentiments, a place where everyone feels comfortable, safe, supported, and valued. A place that creates a sense of belonging and an opportunity for everyone’s voices to be heard. Both approaches view culture as an invisible hand that guides and shapes the organisation. 

Culture is a company’s sense of purpose that drives its employer brand promise. It is like a unique DNA that cannot be replicated or duplicated and it definitely cannot be built in a day by a few select people. It is a collective effort made by everyone in the organisation to live by and uphold the values and principles that guide the culture of an organization. It is a unique differentiator that helps you attract world-class talent, retain and grow them and ultimately turn them into brand ambassadors even after they move on. It also helps the company build the best client relationships because their cultural ethos aligns with yours. All of this ultimately leads to bigger, better and bolder ideas and solutions and creates a win-win situation for everyone.

While there may be many ways to define and describe a company’s culture, if you look at all aspects closely, it simply boils down to ‘how we do things’ or ‘our way of working’. Landor is the world-leading brand specialist. Our Manifesto acts as a lighthouse - from how we work, how we behave and how we run our business across various touchpoints throughout our employee, client, vendor and stakeholder lifecycle.

Pick any listening survey and a question on culture is imperative. How it drives personal and professional results is a very important touchpoint. According to a study conducted by Gallup, the global analytics and advisory firm, employees who feel connected to the company’s culture are:

• 4 times more likely to be engaged at work.

• 5.8 times more likely to strongly agree they would recommend their organization as a great place to work.

• 62% less likely to feel burned out at work very often or always.

• 43% less likely to be watching for job opportunities or actively looking for another job.

This proves that a great company culture can go a long way in boosting the overall success of its business and creating an enriching and rewarding experience for everyone.

If you look at culture as an offshoot of positive psychology, happy people make happy companies as their behaviours at work are shaped by the organization’s collective beliefs and values. These beliefs and values have to be authentically crafted, nurtured, celebrated and most importantly exhibited and reinforced by leaders and managers to constantly drive positive cultural change. Communication and consistency is key here. Seniors need to walk the talk and reassure people that there is one common ‘passion’ that is fuelling the company’s core. But just like yin & yan, there are great company cultures and toxic company cultures. If a company has to survive this highly competitive world, it has to focus on driving a positive company culture and modelling company behaviours and values to create a healthy workplace.

So the next time you want to find out about a company’s culture, don’t just go off reading internet reviews that may seem more negative than positive and might not be a true reflection of everyone’s sentiment. Do your research and have candid conversations with people in the company. Follow social media channels and find out more about their leaders. Go beyond frivolous gossip and identify the green flags that work for YOU and the absolute red flags that don’t. Money is not the only driving factor. Culture is the special glue that binds people together and inspires them to stay. Ask the right questions to make a more informed decision:

1. Can people speak up without the fear of retribution? 

2. Does the company trust its people?

3. Are they creating a psychologically safe workplace?

4. Do employees feel like they belong? 

5. What kind of professional development opportunities does the company provide?

6. Does the company offer flexible work arrangements?

7. How open and transparent is the communication style?

8. What is the feedback culture in the organisation?

Ultimately culture matters. If you get the culture right, everything else will fall into place!