Why company culture is more than free pizza

Don’t get me wrong, free food is always a popular perk. Well, it certainly is in this office anyway – Sushi Tuesdays are a worldwide thing, right? However, company culture should go far beyond a free pizza on a Friday, it needs to be about how you make your employees feel. 

Are they heard? Do they feel appreciated?

Firstly, if you don’t know the answer to that question, then you need to make sure you are asking. But more importantly, are you setting your business up so that the answer to those questions is a yes?

Company culture is deeply rooted in the goals, missions, views and visions of the business and the business leader and if the foundations aren’t there to start with, then it’s very difficult to foster a culture that makes your employees want to stick around. 

So what can you do to ensure your company culture goes further than free food?

• Treat everyone as an individual

One size does not fit all, and whilst there are legal boundaries on how you can individualise an employees experience, there are certainly ways you can do this that HR won’t disagree with. 

Get to know your employee’s, their drivers, their goals and their challenges. By doing this you will be able to better understand how you can support them to not only grow in their role but also feel fulfilled about their work/life balance. 

• Ask, but also listen!

Asking your employees how they feel about your company culture is fundamental. 

It may be anonymous or not, ideally both, but it needs to happen. Factor it into regular reviews, ask your employees on an ad-hoc basis and also encourage an open forum where employees can discuss their thoughts with their line manager and the wider team. 

But don’t just stop there.

It’s a great start to ask how employees feel, but if you don’t listen to that feedback then it’s a pointless exercise for everyone. Make sure the feedback makes it into actionable tasks that have deadlines and follow-ups. This way your employees will feel included, listened to and like their feedback is not only making a difference to their working life but also to others. 

• Include them in your growth

One thing lots of businesses don’t do very well is be transparent about their growth plans and the action plan to get there. Transparency across a business will not only make employees feel included but also allow them to take the ride with you. After all, if the business grows, so does the individual. 

It is important to share with your employees what their future might look like if they take this journey with you and how they will be rewarded along the way. And this doesn’t always have to be about salaries, it can be about training, enhancing skill sets, additional perks, a better work environment and flexible working amongst others. But when you work and grow as a team, everyone benefits. 

So next time you are ordering that Friday pizza, think about whether your company culture goes further than that free slice of pepperoni. If it doesn’t, then it might be time to think about implementing a plan to help your employees feel more heard and valued. 

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