Today’s job market is ultra-competitive. Never has it been more important to have a winning, healthy culture within your company. As a business owner, you must be ever cognizant of your business’s culture and look for signs that it might be heading in the wrong direction. It is to your benefit as an employer to get ahead of any negative trends and right the ship so to speak before you crash into the rocks. Below you will find eight key signs that could indicate your company is in need of help. It will also explore how to make the necessary changes to get your brand heading back in the right direction:
1. High Employee Turnover
In nearly all cases when you note a high turnover percentage, meaning your employees are constantly rotating with very few lasting longer than a few months, this indicates a toxic company culture. To know where you stand, consider that according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2021, the average turnover rate for all employees was 47.2%. Obviously, you want to aim higher and achieve an even better-than-average employee turnover rate. Ideally, you want to aim for a turnover rate of no greater than 10%, though this is a lofty goal to be sure.
How To Fix It
In order to alter your company’s culture when it comes to getting employees to stay put for longer, you need to carefully and honestly look at what is going on in your business. Consider conducting an anonymous employee survey and then evaluate the results objectively. If you see trends emerge that reveal several employees have the same concerns, this would indicate an area that needs and deserves to be addressed and perhaps corrected. Ideally, you want to get to the root of the problem and then work from there to improve your overall culture.
2. No Work-Life Balance
Do we live to work or do we work to live? That is the age-old question. However, in nearly all cases, when businesses have noted high turnover rates, this correlates to a poor work-life balance within the company. In other words, these companies expect employees to be available virtually 24/7, even when on vacation. It can also include a refusal by those in power to grant sick or vacation days in the first place. While the work employees do can be a source of pride and even create feelings of accomplishment, they should never feel they cannot take a must-deserved break every now and then. In fact, employees who have a more healthy work-life balance have been shown to be more likely to stay put in their jobs. According to an Ernst & Young Study, employees who took all their vacation time were more likely than others to stay at their company.
How To Fix It
Evaluate your team’s demands and if they are overworking, and if they are or are not taking all their vacation days. If you notice an issue, make sure that all employees are encouraged to take the vacation days they are owed and are allowed to create a healthy balance between their personal and work lives without criticism from supervisors.
3. Cliques, Exclusion, and Gossip
We all saw the harsh reality of high school and the cliques and exclusion that embodied that environment played out in the movie Mean Girls. No one wants to have to work in that type of environment. It stands to reason that a culture of gossip causes a workplace to split up, become clique-like and eventually turn against itself. This is not a healthy or desirable working environment.
How To Fix It
If you see signs that gossip is becoming prevalent, cliques are forming or rumors spreading among your staff, it’s your job to put an end to the issue. Address the problem head-on even if this isn’t exactly fun and put an end to this issue. Good employees who don’t want to work in such an environment will thank you for your leadership and those who wish to only stir up strife will quickly show themselves.
4. Communication Problems
A lack of healthy and productive communication within a business can hinder productivity, stifle ideas, and create a less-than-desirable working environment. After all, everyone wants to feel like they have a voice and that they matter. Consequently, having a work environment that doesn’t allow communication is toxic.
How To Fix It
Get your employees talking and working together by building teams. One way to do this is through team-building activities. Overall, information is less likely to be trapped when engagement and transparency are encouraged from the top.
5. Unfriendly Competition
Healthy amounts of competition can motivate employees and even promote more stellar performances. On the flip side, if you focus too much on competitiveness throughout your company, you can risk breeding animosity instead of encouraging productivity.
How To Fix It
Teamwork should always be encouraged and competitive performances must be held in check. While you can praise employees most certainly, performance on its own should never become the primary focus as this is an overvaluing of just one aspect of being a good employee.
6. No Recognition
No matter how long an employee has been with your business or what their day-to-day tasks entail, they want to feel valued. When you only reward a few employees and only do so occasionally, this will create an environment of rivalry and animosity among employees. This can easily and quickly lead even good, loyal employees to look elsewhere for employment.
How To Fix It
Aim for positive reinforcement always as this motivates good employees and allows them to create meaningful relationships among themselves.
7. An Absence of Company Values
In an absence of company values, your company’s culture is likely to progress without much direction. Having well-defined company values is also an important part of giving employees workable and defined goals as well as letting them know what behavior is and isn’t acceptable. Outlining desired behavior and providing a measure of accountability are all a part of creating a good company that upholds defined values. This goes for management too, though, not just employees. There should never be an overarching feeling by those in charge of “do what I say not as I do.” All employees, no matter their position, should adhere to and understand the values that make up the bedrock of your brand.
How To Fix It
In order to ensure you don’t have this particular problem that can lead to bad company culture, make sure that you develop and publish your list of company values. This should represent the ideals that drive your team and your brand and what it takes to achieve company goals.
8. Lack of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
In today’s society, the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion has never been more important. Therefore, if your company lacks these factors, it can be a sign that your business is ignorant of the issues surrounding women, LGBTQIA+, and people of color. Your business should ensure that these groups are effectively recruited, hired, and then retained to ensure that you have a healthy environment full of compassion and diversity.
How To Fix It
The easiest way to address this issue and correct the problem of diversity, equity, and inclusion is to draft and implement diversity, equity, and inclusion policies with your HR team.
You Can Make The Necessary Changes
While highlighting potential issues within your company might not feel exactly pleasant, you can’t fix a negative work environment without first recognizing there is a problem. In addition, you likely won’t be able to fix it immediately or with just one sweeping action. Instead, you will have to commit time, creativity, and an earnest desire to creating a healthy environment. Thankfully, if you know which cultural problems to address, you are that much closer to creating effective solutions.
