How to maximize CSR programs using the right solution
- Corporate social responsibility
- Employee giving
- Employee volunteering
- Corporations
- Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate values, purpose, and vision are crucial to every company and its culture. To motivate and retain top talent, companies must incorporate their values into their everyday work culture. Doing so enhances a business’s brand, which also helps to attract new employees.
To help your corporation define its values, communicate those values to employees, and ensure they’re incorporated into your workplace, this guide will answer a few common questions about company values and culture.
Company values are the ideals your organization strives to project into the world and promote internally. It’s also how employees interact with and feel about one another, leadership, and their everyday tasks.
Your business leaders should ensure that your company’s values are actually represented in your everyday culture. For instance, an organization that strongly values collaboration and community would seek to create a workplace that minimizes competition between employees, rewards teamwork, and encourages positive internal relationships.
It is important to clearly communicate your company’s purpose, vision, and values right from the start. These “core values” or “statements of purpose” guide company decisions, actions, and employee behavior.
If you are reworking or establishing new company values, consider using these examples to communicate to your employees what your values are and what they should look like in practice:
Choose values that will shape the workplace culture you want to cultivate at your business. For example, a business with a fast-paced dynamic environment will likely be interested in values of independence and decisiveness, whereas a business primarily focused on team projects may instead value collaboration and seeking input from others.
Companies with established values and a culture that supports those values have staff that understand their purpose, conduct themselves properly in the workplace, and have a passion for what they do.
Studies have found that happy employees are 13% more productive. When your company’s values and culture are practiced daily, employees will know what to expect and strive for while they’re at work. This direction increases workplace satisfaction and ensures your entire team is working toward the same goals with the same supportive outlook.
Plus, organizations with clear, meaningful values will develop a positive reputation in their industry, helping to improve retention and attract top talent.
Establishing a workplace culture that aligns with your values requires deliberate effort and planning. To cultivate the right work environment for your company, try these strategies.
You can communicate your values to employees by asking them to share their own principles and thoughts about work. This will allow them to relate their own philosophies and ideals to your business, helping to establish buy-in.
You can learn what your employees’ values are and give them space to consider how they correspond to your company’s by:
Company values should be a mutual commitment made by every member of the organization to operate with a common purpose in mind.
Seeing members of leadership follow company values can go a long way toward facilitating a value-centric culture at all levels of your organization. You can jumpstart a new deliberate work culture effort by selecting a few well-respected, enthusiastic employees to champion your programs.
Empower these employees to organize events, mentor new employees, share their ideas, and otherwise spread your values throughout the company.
When employees work to better your company culture and embody your values, recognize their accomplishments. Doing so at a meeting, whether it’s your regular company-wide meeting or each department’s internal meetings, displays your values and celebrates employees for embodying them.
When recognizing employees who work to create a better company culture, highlight the specific value they are displaying. For example, if an employee had a new idea to streamline communication with clients and drafted a plan to roll it out to the rest of your team, you would honor their accomplishment by tying it to your company’s value of innovation.
You can show employees you care about the same causes they do with a workplace giving program. Workplace giving programs are a form of corporate philanthropy and can take various forms depending on your employees’ interests.
For example, you might organize a company-wide volunteer day where a group of employees all go volunteer together. Or, you can let employees choose what causes they would like to support independently and then show your commitment by creating a matching gift program. In this program, employees can fill out an application after they make a donation to a cause they care about. Then, the company can verify their donation and match their contribution, showing your company’s investment in the causes they care about.
Company values and culture shape the way your business operates. Get started by defining your company values, communicating them to employees, and consulting with them about how those values resonate with them. After all, a company that has its values reflected consistently in its culture will have happier, more successful employees who are eager to work.
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