Company culture. It’s a term you hear thrown around pretty often these days. But, what is it exactly? How do you define it and why is it important?

If you ask us, company culture is the personality of a business from an employee’s perspective. It includes the mission and expectations of the business in addition to the atmosphere.  It’s a giant blend of the values, beliefs, and symbols that businesses develop over time.

Whether you have it written down or symbolized in the business logo, culture is what determines an environment. For example, one company and work culture that we admire a lot around here is Google.

What Determines Your Company’s Culture?

Google employs 61,000+ people and yet the people who work there consistently describe it as having a small company feel. Google believes that it’s the people who make the company and that’s something that we believe very strongly in as well.

In our culture at Z Coast Media, we strive to maintain an open and hands-on feel where everyone feels comfortable sharing opinions and ideas. We encourage teamwork, solo projects, good conversation, and having a life outside of work.

Each work culture has different tactics and unique qualities. But, universally, like Google says, it’s all about the people in your company and making sure they have a fun and productive work environment.

Why Does Having A Rich Work Culture Matter?

The simple answer: Better moods = better performance.

Boring and/or hostile work environments are not sustainable and the workplace shouldn’t be something people dread every day. Employees should look forward to doing their jobs and while work may be hard sometimes, company culture shouldn’t add stress to the work.

You want your employees  to be happy because happiness means more productivity. In fact, businesses with happy and engaged employees:

• Outperform the competition by 202% (Source)
• Experience an 18% higher customer retention rate (Source)
• Have 37% less absenteeism and 41% fewer quality defects (Source)

When you make it a priority to build and sustain a rich, healthy company culture, your whole business will benefit from it. The guiding principles that define your work culture will help you make tough decisions, keep everyone on the same page and for all intents and purposes, serve as the glue that holds your business together.

How to Build Your Company Culture

If building up your company culture isn’t already a priority, it should be.  Here’s how you can get started:

• Be original. As much as we admire companies like Google, Nike, Zappos and whoever else’s culture you can think of that rocks, we are not any of those companies and neither are you. If you want to establish a winning work culture you have to be authentic and keep your brand consistent. What works for one business’ may not work for yours. Company culture thrives on originality.
• Take the time to outline the type of people you want your business to grow with. Defining the type of people you would like to be a part of your business—their skills and personalities—is essential to building your company culture. As tempting as it can be to hire people who think and act exactly like you do, it’s diversity that will help accelerate your company’s growth. Embrace individuality and different personalities.
• Put people first. You want to be successful and have a company culture that entices people to come work for you? Build your company around life—the things that make us human—instead of asking employees to build their lives around work. Your people, your employees, are your most valuable resource and deserve to be treated as such. When people feel valued and supported, they’re more inspired to achieve great things.

Whether your company is well-established or you’re just starting up, it’s never too late to focus on what you want your unique company culture to look and feel like.