What does culture have to do with talent management? Everything. According to Deloitte, 88% of employees agree that a strong culture is an important factor for business success.
That belief drives employee behavior, too. For example:
- 69% of job seekers won’t work for a company with a bad reputation.
- 53% of employees want a role that supports work-life balance and wellbeing.
- Highly engaged employees who also have a strong sense of wellbeing are 59% less likely to leave their organization.
Culture also plays a key role in engagement, retention, and turnover, especially since the pandemic. People want jobs that support them as whole individuals, not just employees.
As we’re learning from the Great Resignation, it’s now more important than ever to design a workplace culture that values workers, contributes to wellbeing and fulfillment, and offers flexibility.
The Key Factors That Impact Culture
Culture can be a squishy concept. Executives, for example, rank things like compensation and business performance as important aspects of culture. Employees are more likely to pinpoint intangible components such as communication, recognition, and positive relationships with managers as most important.
In truth, culture encompasses all of those things, both tangible and intangible. It includes:
- Leadership vision – How do leaders envision the company’s future, and how does that impact their goals and methods for getting there?
- Growth and expansion – How must culture change or be codified as the company grows to include more employees, multiple locations, or new regions?
- M&A – How can two separate cultures be blended after a merger or acquisition?
- Manager and team interactions – Do employees have open access to leadership? Are teams designed for collaboration or competition?
- Talent dynamics – How do turnover, retention, and talent priorities impact the way employees feel about their jobs?
- Remote work – How can culture be preserved for remote workers? Is remote work itself a key component of culture?
The culture of a company should reflect the values and vision of its leaders. But that’s not always the case. Sometimes culture evolves on its own without intentional strategic direction. When that happens, it tends to be less supportive of employees because it hasn’t been designed to create a positive environment.
The good news, though, is that an employee-centric culture that helps you achieve your company mission is well within your grasp.
How Your HRIS Supports Strong Culture
Culture starts at the top. When leaders have a clear cultural vision and a structure in place to carry it out, they set the tone for the entire organization. That vision serves as a foundation for the specific cultural elements you want to prioritize.
This is where your HR platform can be an invaluable resource. Let’s take a look at three ways your HRIS platform can help you build a strong culture:
1. Communication
Good communication is positively correlated with happy employees who feel valued at work. According to Deloitte, engaged employees are more likely to say their boss talks to them frequently about culture (57%) and senior leadership regularly communicates values and beliefs (75%).
Your HR platform is a great place to centralize your communication about culture using tools like:
- Branding – On your employee portal, include branding elements such as images and taglines that highlight your company’s most important values.
- Cultural Messaging – Emphasize cultural values as you communicate company highlights and accomplishments. Help employees make the connection between company success and the underlying culture.
- Message Boards and Chats – If your HRIS has a forum or chat built in, use it to encourage cultural conversations. For example, post about company values, create a culture corner, or have managers incorporate cultural ideals into their team interactions.
- Two-Way Communication – Your HR platform can facilitate communication between leaders and teams, as well as among peers. Encourage questions and feedback from employees on issues they care about like benefits, leave policies, and scheduling.
2. Onboarding
Onboarding done well can boost engagement and reduce turnover, especially during the crucial first year. The process of onboarding should include more than just completing paperwork and getting new acquainted with the details of their job. It should also intentionally communicate cultural values and provide opportunities to connect with people, both of which predict longer tenure.
Use your HRIS to support cultural onboarding initiatives with tools like:
- Training Videos and Webinars – Build cultural training into your onboarding process to help employees connect with your values and company mission. You can also build onboarding checklists and tasks into your HRIS so that managers can keep tabs on progress.
- Connection – Assign a mentor to each new employee, and ask that person to be on deck to answer questions. Most HRIS platforms will have communication tools to make this process easier.
- Chatbots – Chatbots can answer most straightforward questions about things like policies, pay periods, benefits, and open enrollment.
3. Performance Management
Build regular communication about culture into your performance reviews and ask employees for feedback about how they perceive team dynamics, company values, and leadership interactions. Frequent, specific feedback from managers to team members is also critical for helping people feel valued and understand how they’re doing. That’s even more important for younger workers who care more about culture than previous generations when looking for a job.
Keep that feedback fresh with tools like:
- Goal Setting – Build goal-setting into your culture and use your HRIS to track progress and offer encouragement.
- Learning and Development – Provide opportunities for professional development that aligns with employee interests. Most platforms have built-in learning libraries or can connect with external resources such as LinkedIn Learning.
- Social Collaboration – Use built-in social channels or third-party tools like Slack to facilitate communication between teams, managers, and peers.
As employees become increasingly bold about leaving jobs they don’t enjoy to do something they love, company culture will be one of the most important investments you can make in talent retention and engagement. As you build a stronger culture, use your HRIS to support your efforts with flexible tools and features.
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