Why culture is important? Here is a successful and inspiring case study for you to easily understand.
Have you heard of Zappos.com? The famous online shoe retailer in the United States which slowly expanded its wings into clothing, handbags, and accessories. We all would have learned about it after Amazon acquired it for $1.2 billion.
What do you think is the reason for Zappos’ success? It is because of their strong culture that has a deep connection to the organizational core values.
How Zappos is Different from Other companies?
Zappos considers its core values as a way of life, which eventually led to creating a strong culture. Its primary focus is to WOW the customers. Through performance management systems, onboarding, hiring, HRs remind and reinforce the core values in the employees. As a result, employees understand What the management expects from them, what they are supposed to do, and how to react to any situation.
Yeah, Core values are something that every company has. How different are the core values of Zappos? Zappos’ core values are uncommon and quirkier. That approach provides them a competitive advantage.
The most interesting fact is that these core values were created based on inputs from its employees. HRs and recruiters at Zappos hire a candidate who perfectly fits their culture. Why? Because they want every single employee to represent the brand and work together in delighting the customers. They hire people who believe in what Zappos believes. Thus, they are able to maintain a closely knit family-like culture that includes fun, sincerity, commitment, quality, hard work, trust, growth mindset as well as a wee bit craziness.
Now, We Realize Why Culture is Important!
There is another real-time example too. A software developer who is brilliant but also an introvert attended an interview at a reputable company. The candidate cleared all the rounds that comprised of written tests, aptitude, group discussion, etc. But he was not selected. The reason the recruiters gave was shocking yet understandable: “You’re brilliant but we look for a person who fits in our culture.” That’s the importance the organizations give to culture.
What are the Benefits of Organizational Culture?
“Organizational Culture is the sum of values and rituals which serve as glue to integrate the members of an organization.”
-Richard Perrin
You can win the war for talents. Your strong culture will attract the best in the industry and the candidates who believe in you and your vision. Aren’t you looking for such people? To create a strong culture, you have to transform the processes of your organization so that the operations reinforce the organizational core values and encourage people to think innovatively, share ideas, and stay committed.
The other benefits of a strong organizational culture include:
- Higher performance and increased productivity as the employees work as a team and will be happy if the company succeeds.
- The rewards and recognition program, which is the part of a culture, motivates and gratifies an employee. Therefore, the employee’s mental health is maintained without any stress.
- Drives growth and an employee’s individual development.
- Healthy organizational culture enhances employee engagement and experience at a company.
- When every employee gives his/her best, the revenue of the company increases.
- A happy culture increases the image of a company in the industry.
- Motivated employees come up with great ideas and make sure that they reach the market successfully.
- The employee retention rate goes up for sure as the employees who see growth opportunities in a company do not leave it easily.
Measure Your Organization’s Culture Score Often
You cannot plan people strategies unless you know the adherence level of employees to the company’s core values. You have to conduct frequent surveys with the help of advanced HR tech tools to identify what concerns the employees and how they demonstrate the core values of a company in their everyday actions. Today, people’s first question when they hear about a job opening is,
“How is the company’s culture?”