What are the benefits of a workplace community culture?

Positive change, or any change for that matter, within the workplace, can be hard to implement and manage without a clear objective matched with realistic business goals along the way. If you’re looking to change up your company culture, increase employee engagement and re-address your company’s core values all in the aid of creating a sense of community culture in the workplace, we’d love to help.

The value of a community culture

We know some businesses are embedded in a strong corporate culture, however, this might not work for all types of businesses. Creating a community culture in the workplace can be a great way to encourage a positive workplace culture, great for employee satisfaction, productivity, and collaboration as well as a shared sense of responsibility and ownership. You invest in your staff and it’s highly likely your staff will invest in you right back.

Why investing in employees is important

Investing in personal development and employee skills is a great way to invest not only in the business (more on this in a moment) but also show your employees how much you value them. Improve productivity, staff and team morale, cultivate a strong community culture leading to higher engagement (happiness at work=higher productivity=great for business=great for profit) and reduce turnover, which leads on well to my next point.

Back to investing in the business: further training encourages and cultivates growth within the business, reducing turnover. You prepare individuals for the roles they’re set to fill in the future, whether that’s a promotion or a simple step up in responsibility, think of it as investing in the long run, reducing the need to hire eternally. This is great for staff morale and overall workplace culture. Offering individuals security and opportunities within the business so they’re more likely to stick around.

How to create a sense of community in the workplace

Ok, so back to cultivating a healthy company culture and a stronger workplace community. Both are incredibly important and can be achieved with many activities and investing in personal growth and business tactics. Here’s how:

Activities that bring teams together

Organise volunteer opportunities: giving back to the local community as well as creating opportunities for employees to bond in a casual, non-work environment.

Reward staff & raise employee experience: targets surpassed? deadlines met? Someone do something great?! How about an employee rewards programme? Whatever amazing things they’ve done, say thank you with a team away day, social, half day off, etc helping reinforce that sense of shared purpose, the end goal, the journey

Workday activities: Lunchtime yoga, after-work socials, breakfast club, extra skills or wellness training, team building, external speakers, fundraising activities

Show the support you offer

Shout about the support you offer your staff: health and wellness training programmes as well as your employee health services/healthcare or who are your mental health first aiders. Ensure you have something in place to show you are invested in your employee’s well-being and health

Listen, communicate & be inclusive

Listen: Listen but ask too. Ensure you are carving out time to understand what your employees need or want from you as a business. Give everyone a voice, let them be heard. If someone has something to say it’s usually because they feel strongly or passionately about something, let them share this. If it’s feedback for the company, listen and see what can be done to address this. Be open to suggestions and hear what your assets have to say. Employee surveys, suggestion boxes, dedicated council sessions or meetings where individuals can raise any concerns or feedback for the business and or vote on these are a great way to encourage a sense of community culture and belonging

Communicate with employees: be transparent, but also keep the lines of communication open, circulate great work, business updates, news, shout about company values, talk about the community you are trying to build!

How to create a more inclusive workplace culture

Creating a more inclusive workplace culture, to begin with, is all about education. Ensure you are sensitive and educated in protecting individual characteristics and qualities. As a business, practice sensitivity towards inclusivity through appropriate training so you can go on to encourage company-wide inclusivity and equality

Speak up about inclusion, address it, nurture it, support and celebrate differences, and most importantly: practice it. For advice on how to do this, we recommend training programmes designed to build awareness around diversity, most importantly addressing: the adoption of a workplace culture, promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.