Steps To Building A Positive Company Culture

company culture, workplace culture

After years of research, renowned psychologists and leaders compiled enough data to determine that a positive workplace culture is the bedrock of a successful business. It’s understood that a culture that supports employees’ growth as well as values them is imperative in today’s job market. Company culture reaches far beyond the behavior of its employees; it’s more about how people interact and function within an organization when no one is watching. In this blog post we discuss six steps to help your business build a positive company culture.

1. Set Clear Expectations

What are some of the ideal characteristics that you want to incorporate into the current company culture? There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach; each company will be different based on the organization’s priorities. Developing policies and procedures around new ideas can help you get started.

2. Establish Trust

Most effective leaders know that creating a healthy work culture requires establishing trust with employees from the outset. Motivating employees to improve using honest lines of communication goes a long way. Aligning your behavior with company values will naturally reflect a top-down leadership role. Keep in mind that trust is earned over time and takes consistent effort.  Begin by determining your current workplace culture. As a leader, your perspective might be wildly different from your employee’s. It’s best to understand this from a broader perspective and invite an open discussion to help with the process. If you still face challenges, sometimes hiring a third-party consultant can offer some much-needed clarity.

3. Increase Employee Engagement

Employee engagement can be measured through quantitative factors such as loyalty, emotions and satisfaction. A recent Gallup poll notes there is a direct correlation between low engagement, high turnover and poor performance. Improving engagement helps companies outshine their competition. Creating a productive and inclusive company culture is more vital than ever. 


Take Google for instance; they employ thousands of people a year. Google sets the bar high when it comes to company culture and they track employee happiness through an annual survey on culture, salary, managers and career opportunities. Creating a positive environment where everyone feels included and important is no easy task, but when done well, every individual feels that they’re working toward something bigger than themselves.

4. Focus On Learning

A culture of continuous learning can be pivotal for keeping employees engaged. By allowing your employees to develop certain skills, you express a commitment to their development and prepare them for greater responsibilities. Scheduling one-on-one meetings or check-ins with workers to offer feedback is a reliable resource and a motivator for employees. By encouraging them to accept the idea of continuous learning, they are more likely to make valuable contributions.

5. Conduct Employee Surveys

Feedback surveys can provide valuable information as to why employees leave an organization. It’s possible that the poor performance lies with them; it’s also possible that there’s an undercurrent of dysfunction that you’re not aware of. Until you begin performing exit interviews or conducting surveys, it’s likely you’ll remain in the dark. In addition to manual surveys and check-ins, there are quite a few employee engagement tools that can offer assistance. One resource available is TINYpulse. This tool enables businesses to customize surveys and even generate analytics based on the results.

6. Set The Tone During The Onboarding Process

Sharing your company culture with employees from the beginning allows them to manage expectations and understand their role and the roles of those around them. Many organizations adopt onboarding across all departments so that workers don’t feel siloed. It’s also essential to involve new hires in team meetings from the outset. All of these strategies send a clear message to your employees that they’re part of something bigger —a part of the team. Of course, being warm and welcoming goes a long way too. 

There are also a lot of third-party resources, known as collaboration software, to welcome new hires. If this isn’t an option, you can develop your own checklist for employees to get better acquainted with the company. The principle here is to give people ample tools to feel supported and comfortable along the way.

The various constituents that make up company culture can be as narrow or broad as a company envisions. Determining how to engage employees is a win-win for workers and managers alike.

How To Use Social Media For Recruiting Top Talent In 2022

Recruit employees using social media

Social media is everywhere. In this peak time of technological revolution, your business should prioritize the best practices to ensure your relevance. In 2022, recruiting through social media remains one of the most effective ways to reach high-quality candidates. Explore this article to learn how to use social media for recruiting employees.

Why You Should Use Social Media To Recruit High-Level Employees

What are the benefits of using social media platforms to reach potential candidates? As 79% of job seekers use social media for their job search, utilizing social media for recruiting is one of the most efficient means to reach serious job applicants. Here are some more benefits of recruiting through social media.

Social Media Recruiting Reduces Hiring Costs

Recruiting employees through social media platforms saves both time and money. Social media posts are consistently visible to potential applicants at any time, allowing potential candidates to find your company at any hour of the day. Furthermore, recruiting through social media often requires far fewer resources than through other platforms. Setting up and maintaining a social media presence doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor!

Social Media Recruiting Reaches Passive Applicants

Passive job seekers aren’t actively looking for another opportunity, but they’d happily accept a better offer. Eighty percent of employers find more passive candidates from recruiting on social media. There are often many more passive job seekers than active candidates, so social media is a powerful way to reach more of your target audience.

Use Social Media To Recruit Top Talent By Building Your Brand

Building your brand on social media doesn’t just help find customers: it can help potential job applicants learn more about your company. Use your social media to highlight your company culture. Show off your work values, celebrate your employees’ victories and showcase any charitable activities.

Engage Your Candidates For Successful Social Media Recruitment

To effectively recruit on social media platforms, make sure to engage job seekers. Engaging your online audience is important for any business. By interacting with potential applicants, the company builds trust, comfort and a positive reputation. Engaging with your potential employees can be particularly effective for targeting passive job seekers.

Recruit More Employees On Social Platforms With Appealing Images

Visuals are powerful: content with relevant images receives up to 94% higher views. Apply attractive images to improve your reach on social media platforms and reach more potential applicants. Creating strong imagery can be a simple way to optimize your social media recruitment strategy.

Which Social Media Platforms Should My Business Use To Recruit Employees?

Social media sites differ from each other. When choosing which social media platforms to recruit with, consider your brand and your target audience. Here are some more things to consider about recruiting on each major social media platform.

Social Media Recruiting On LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the most popular platform for social media recruiting. More than 90% of recruiters search for potential applicants on this platform, cementing LinkedIn as one of the most prominent means of reaching possible employees. Develop a company profile on LinkedIn to start looking for candidates, join relevant industry or skill set groups to showcase your company’s worth and appeal to interested individuals in your field or utilize LinkedIn ads to target a specific audience and find applicants quickly.

Social Media Recruiting On Facebook

Facebook holds a high user retention rate that spans a vast audience. This means Facebook is a great platform to build a brand and engage passive job seekers! By interacting consistently with your audience and winning their trust, you will improve the application rate of passive applicants. Encourage your employees to interact with your Facebook presence to further improve engagement. Facebook ads are another effective practice for recruiting on this social media platform.

Social Media Recruiting On Twitter

With a limited character count, building your brand on Twitter can be deceptively challenging! To engage potential employees, employ a captivating, relevant image with your tweets. Also, make sure to use the hashtag system to target relevant keywords for your industry.

Social Media Recruiting On Instagram

Instagram is among the most engaging social media platforms. Recruit employees through Instagram by utilizing appealing imagery combined with Instagram’s effective hashtag system to catch the attention of potential job applicants. Posting on Instagram is an effective way to build your company brand and attract the attention of more potential employees at the same time!

How Businesses Managers Can Retain Employees During The Great Resignation

Business managers must learn how to retain their employees

As waves of workers walk out on their employers, business managers need to understand how to retain employees during the Great Resignation. Consider the immense cost of replacing an employee. Advertising job openings, interviewing and selecting the right candidates, training and waiting for them to reach the same productivity level as the previous employee all requires a large amount of time and money, not to mention the added stress to you and the other employees who need to pick up the slack after every job vacancy. Hiring new employees is much more expensive than retaining employees who are experienced and fully trained. So what’s required of businesses to prevent employees from leaving? Below are some practical tips for how to retain employees during the Great Resignation.

Increase compensation

It’s imperative that your employees receive the right amount of money for their services, especially as the cost of living increases. If raising hourly or salary wages seems infeasible for your company, Harvard Business Review writers recommend paying out bonuses, student loan reimbursements, work-from-home stipends, travel compensation or other valuable benefits as strategies to retain employees.

Offer benefits for employees and their families

The past two years have put tremendous burdens on families. Consider an employee who needs to cover child care costs and medical insurance for their family. Offer subsidized day care, medical and dental coverage and additional paid time off if you want to retain employees. 

Provide opportunities to grow during the Great Resignation

Rather than starting from scratch with a less experienced new hire, offer a path forward for your current employees. Perhaps some of your employees have other skills they want to utilize in their role. Instead of searching for another job to realize their potential, offer opportunities for your employees to grow where they are now. Additionally, provide upskilling training for ambitious employees looking to expand their repertoire.

Improve company culture to retain employees 

Despite the shift to remote work, it’s crucial that you maintain positive relationships with and amongst your team. Per Boston Consulting Group’s research, “employees who reported satisfaction with social connectivity with their colleagues are two to three times more likely to have maintained or improved their productivity on collaborative tasks.” Team-building activities and celebrating achievements are additional ways to improve company culture and retain employees.

Be flexible with your employees’ needs

Before the next employee turns in their resignation notice, sit down to learn what they need to stay at your company. You might discover how to retain employees during the Great Resignation by listening and adapting to your current employees’ needs. They have the answers; it’s time to be flexible with your team in order to sustain your business.

5 Healthy Snacks That Will Increase Employee Engagement

Remaining consistent in healthy eating habits while at work can seem like a second job! With all of the time, energy and planning that goes into preparing healthy snacks, hitting a drive-thru can seem like the easier option. Although opting for convenience may sometimes feel like the better choice, after eating a high carb meal energy and productivity levels pay the price. By keeping healthy snacks on hand in the break room, you and your employees will be able to conveniently stay on track and on task. 

By keeping healthy snacks at the office, you will likely notice an increase in employee engagement and productivity. Here are 5 easy healthy snacks that can be left out for your staff to enjoy throughout the day.

1. Dried Fruit and Nuts

Nuts and dried fruit make for a healthy, non-perishable snack mix. This filling combination has an outstanding balance of all three macronutrients, with healthy fats and protein from nuts and good carbs from dried fruit. Both of these snacks are loaded with fiber, which will leave your team feeling full between meals. By keeping your staff’s carbohydrate intake low, you will likely see a jump in employee engagement.

2. Greek Yogurt with Granola or Fruit

It’s sometimes difficult to peer into the fridge and look past what could be a delicious, but energy draining snack and opt for the Greek yogurt instead. But by offering a healthy alternative, you give your staff the chance to choose a snack high in protein and calcium. If you keep granola and fresh fruit on hand, employees can customize their Greek yogurt even more, too! There are numerous options for different types of granola, meaning each day they can incorporate a different flavor into their plain Greek yogurt.

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5-Minute Team Building Games Your Employees Will Actually Like

Team building exercises should be both educational and enjoyable for your staff. By implementing five-minute games into your meetings, your employees will develop their communication and problem solving skills while also growing and learning about one another. We have outlined our four favorite team building games for you to try at your next staff meeting. 

Four 5-Minute Team Building Exercises For Your Staff

1. Play a Quiz 

Create a quiz with five to 10 team building questions on it about your company history, future company goals, the boss’ background or any other relevant topic. Once your employees have finished the quiz, go through the questions and reveal the correct answers. If an employee gets an answer wrong, they are out. The last one standing wins!  

2. Describe and Draw 

Pair off your employees into teams of two. One person on each team will start with a blank piece of paper and the other’s paper will have a shape (e.g. circle, square, triangle, etc.) on it. Whoever starts with the paper with a shape, will need to describe the shape to their partner without saying the name of it. Their partner will need to listen and draw their interpretation of whatever they think their teammate is describing. At the end, have a short de-briefing and learn how each employee communicates and receives messages differently.

3. Object Memory

Create a list of at least 30 words. They can be related to a topic of your choice or random. Display the list for your employees to view for one minute while they try to memorize as many words as possible. After one minute, hide the list and ask everyone to write down as many words as they can remember. See who remembered the most. Repeat this game with a new list of 30 words, and let your employees try in teams. They will quickly see that they can remember more words when they collaborate. Debrief and discuss assumptions about working individually vs. collaborating. 

4. Purpose Mingle

This is a quick and easy team building game that will improve your employees’ productivity and get them thinking about how they will contribute to an office meeting. Before your next meeting, have each individual walk around and share what they hope to contribute to the meeting with as many of their colleagues as possible. If applicable, you can offer a prize to the employee who shares with the most people, and another for the employee who successfully contributes what they intended.

Developing an efficient team doesn’t have to be tedious or an overwhelming challenge. Most leaders and managers today are beginning to understand that we get more out of our employees when they feel valued, and team building activities are an easy way to get employees recognized. Entertain your employees while reinforcing company values in an engaging and lasting manner. 

At Josephine’s Professional Staffing, we offer solutions to staffing, retention and productivity issues. For more recommendations on building your team, read additional articles on our blog today! Or, if you’re looking for a new position, see our current job listings!

How to Increase Employee Motivation: Avoid These 4 Mistakes

In seeking low-cost and time-efficient methods for employee motivation, managers often make a few crucial mistakes that can actually harm morale and lower engagement at work. Every office and individual is unique so it can be difficult to please everyone, and managers often have the best of intentions when they try to encourage their team, but they don’t always hit the mark. We have outlined four ways your own actions can work against your goals when it comes to motivating employees. 

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6 Easy Desk Exercises for the Workplace

Wellness initiatives can seem like an extravagant use of time and money to companies that have not yet adopted them. However, according to the federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, they have several benefits to employers – not the least of which are increased employee retention and reduced sick days. One of the easiest ways to emphasise wellness into the workplace is by introducing simple exercises that can help offset the negative effects of working long hours at a desk. 

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