HR’s Role in Creating a Positive Organizational Culture

For any employee, their job involves much more than just completing their responsibilities and getting paid for it; the culture of their workplace is also an integral factor in job satisfaction and engagement. As more employees and employers alike focus on culture, it has become a significant differentiator in attracting and retaining talent. It is important to note that culture is more than just offering free lunch on Fridays or having an annual holiday party. Culture affects how work gets done, how colleagues interact across all levels, and ultimately, how engaged employers are with the company.

A company’s culture is a direct result of its leadership – the CEO is the one who sets the tone for the company. How the person at the top behaves and interacts often funnels down through the rest of the team. If organizational leadership has a very passive-aggressive style of managing, that passive-aggressive attitude will permeate throughout the entire company culture. The results of such a culture can be disastrous.

Successful and competitive company’s possess a strong mission, a strong vision and defined core values. Without these along with proactive and positive leadership, it will be difficult to instill and maintain a culture that aligns around the common cause. If people don’t feel they are involved in something bigger than their daily job responsibilities, disengagement will follow. If the company lacks a strong culture and leaders who can drive the company’s values, the company will be taken over by bureaucracy. The end result:  people will come to work not because they want to, but because they have to. It is therefore incumbent upon leadership to give employees reasons to come to work beyond the paycheck.

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