5 Examples of Great Company Culture
We have often talked about company culture on this blog. Good company culture, or corporate culture, can set an organization apart in countless ways. Turnover becomes lighter, productivity rises, and revenues tend to increase. And it works both ways – bad company culture can severely hurt an organization, and stop it from succeeding.
While every company is different, and you will have to put work in to define what company culture means to your workplace, we can borrow ideas from some industry leaders. Here are five examples of innovative company culture that you can use as inspiration to make your company culture even stronger.
Patagonia: Embracing Flexibility and Work-life Balance
Patagonia sets the bar high when it comes to prioritizing work-life balance, with a 3-day weekend every other week and a focus on flexibility. They want to work with people who love the outdoors – so if an employee wants to make the most of a beautiful day and take advantage of a swell, Patagonia encourages them to grab their board and head out to the beach.
They were also trailblazers when it came to family and work-life balance – they started offering childcare way back in 1983. All of this, plus their emphasis on hiring people who love their brand, has resulted in a staggeringly low company turnover of 4% (with the national average around 27%).
Salesforce: Cultivating Wellbeing and Philanthropy
Salesforce doesn’t treat wellbeing as a buzzword. It’s a fundamental value. Their brand is centered around providing customer support and relationships. This can only happen if employees take care of themselves. They recognize the value of having good mental and physical health – and they prioritize mindfulness and self-care.
Additionally, their robust philanthropic programs empower employees to give back to causes they care about, fostering a sense of fulfillment and community engagement beyond the workplace.
Southwest: Empowering Leaders and Recognizing Excellence
Southwest Airlines stands out for its commitment to empowering leaders at all levels of the organization. By providing comprehensive leadership training, Southwest creates an environment where every employee feels valued and empowered to contribute. Additionally, their peer-to-peer recognition system allows employees to formally shout out their fellow workers, fostering a culture of appreciation and camaraderie.
HubSpot: Transparency and Collaboration
HubSpot's "no-door" corporate culture is all about transparency. All employees get access to a huge amount of data that would usually be reserved for leadership: financial data, strategic information, and other key insights. They want a culture of trust and collaboration – so they start with trusting and collaborating with their team. This sense of inclusivity pays dividends, strengthening the relationships between team members and encouraging cross-company collaboration.
Zappos: Cultivating Communication and Distributed Leadership
Zappos exemplifies a company culture rooted in effective communication and distributed leadership. In the first month after being hired, all employees spend a week in the call center – no matter what level they come in at. Zappos pride themselves on having incredible customer service, and want everyone to understand how important communication is.
They also have a groundbreaking leadership structure. Power is distributed across the company, so authority is spread horizontally rather than vertically. It isn’t just top down – resulting in a much more collaborative atmosphere and a sense of ownership and accountability across the organization.
Take What Works for You
Not everything is going to work for your company – so the first step in any of this is defining your values. A common thread in all of the great examples below is how their company culture ties into what they care about as an organization.
Don’t just jump into redefining your culture and making huge, sweeping changes – take a second to think deeply about what makes your company unique. What do you care about? Center on that, and company culture will follow – as will happier workers, more profit, and a better workplace environment in general.
Meridith Marshall is the CEO and Founder of Uncharted Way and has seen firsthand how people and organizations can navigate the most difficult of circumstances with clarity and openness to improve employee experience and culture in their workplace. She is an industry-recognized expert in using a data-driven approach and is a therapist and certified Co-Active coach.