Company culture and how it relates to the success of a company will be one of the most buzzed-about topics for HR leaders in the New Year. Company culture is the environment in which your employees work and the company operates. It includes your mission, goals, values and policies. Examples of company culture are a mentorship program, team-wide service projects, career coaching, parental leave, student loan repayment and performance-based compensation programs. And if you are not investing in these things for your employees now, your company will suffer in the future. Why? Three reasons.

3 Reasons Company Culture Matters

1. Company Culture Makes Employees More Productive

Good company culture makes employees happy and happy employees are more productive. U.S. research shows that happy employees perform better than unhappy ones. And company culture is a big factor in creating happy employees, along with compensation. When employees are happy, they work harder, have a great attitude, work well with their co-workers and are more creative.

2. Company Culture Retains Employees

With one in five employees leaving due to company culture, it pays to invest in making yours great. Employee turnover costs your company in time, effort and money. According to SHRM, over the last five years, turnover due to workplace cost companies $223 billion. When employees are happy because due to great company culture, they remain loyal to a company. You can work on instilling that loyalty by providing compensation management programs along with development and succession plans that let your employees know you’re invested in their future.

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3. Company Culture Attracts New Employees

Your ability to recruit new candidates gives you an edge over the competition and while money may be the prime motivator for a potential employee to accept a job, company culture is not far behind. According to a study by Glassdoor, 56% of workers in the United States say a strong workplace culture is more important than salary and three in four workers say they’d consider a company’s culture before applying for a job. The solution? Make it easy for candidates to learn about your company’s culture. Use your company’s webpage to describe community outreach efforts, training and promotions. Take to social media to show your company’s personality. Respond to negative reviews on Google and Glassdoor. Write job descriptions that include popular benefits.

Investing in company culture is not something that can be ignored or put off until another time. It is what makes your employees happy and having happy employees is good for everyone. BirdDogHR’s Integrated Talent Management solutions can help companies track applicants, benefits, compensation and training to ensure company culture is part of every process.