Why your business culture is critical to attracting top talent

Generally, company culture is shaped by those at the top – and it trickles down throughout the company, influencing behaviour and attitudes, say experts. If your workplace culture is resulting in low retention, unhappy employees and lots of difficulty when you’re trying to recruit, it could be time for a culture audit.

Here’s why company culture is so important when you’re hiring.

It’s your calling card in the market

How is your company perceived by the outside world – by employees, suppliers, customers? And as importantly, to candidates you’re hoping to hire? If your image and company culture needs work, you’ll hear about it online – on one of many sites where employees can leave reviews. While you can’t control negative social proof, you can take steps to redress it.

Your strategy should be for company leaders to always respond to bad reviews if possible, be specific in addressing points, thank the reviewer for their feedback and ideally, share the steps the company is taking to improve. It’s an important step in improving your company image.

A good company culture shows your core values

What are your company’s core values? These relate to the vision, mission and principles you business operates. Your core values may be things like ‘integrity’, ‘honesty’ and ‘efficiency’ – and these values may be front and centre on all your marketing.

But sometimes, a company culture doesn’t reflect its core values – and this can be seen in how you conduct business, how you treat your customers, and how employees feel about the company overall. Your core values just become lip service, rather than a meaningful reflection of your company culture – and that does your image no favours! Do you need to check that your core values and how you operate as a company are in alignment?

If employees value the company culture, they’ll talk about it

Good word of mouth is priceless, and a strong, positive company culture can turn your employees into your biggest cheerleaders. They’ll tell their networks about what it’s like to work at your company, and potentially even share your job ads with people they know.

What kind of company culture has this power? It’s the kind where leaders are collaborative, flexible and open to feedback. They recognise good work and reward it (even with just a thank-you). Teams are given autonomy and trusted to do their work, and they have knowledge of the company’s goals and a sense of purpose around what everyone is trying to achieve. Bonus tip: a strong company culture helps you retain staff, because they’re happy at work.

If your employees are tight-lipped about what it’s like to work for you and don’t seem happy or engaged, you may need to look at what’s going on under the hood.

Positive company culture believes in wellbeing

Our 2022 Feel Good Index Report found that wellbeing is one of the top priorities for candidates right now – and companies who weave wellbeing into their corporate culture are ultimately going to be far more attractive places to work.

That might mean not just talking about how you offer work/life balance but actively helping employees to achieve it, perhaps by scheduling shifts to help support employees’ family commitments and creating employer initiatives around health and wellbeing.

If your company has dedicated wellbeing policies – especially ones that your employees have asked for and you’ve delivered on – that can go a long way towards improving your company culture and recruiting and retaining top talent.

Want more data from our Frontline Feel Good Index Report?

The report is available for download now; it’s packed with the latest stats and insights about what makes us happy at work – or how to create a happier working environment.