At the risk of stating something obvious, we must emphasize that millennials and zoomers (Gen Z) have a different set of expectations about the workplace than previous generations.
Why are we telling you these things? Because these desires are deeply involved with something called company culture. Most executives and managers are looking for ways to improve company culture because a positive culture usually has a positive effect on the bottom line.
If you’re looking into corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs for your company, you might also want to consider how it might affect the culture. Spoiler alert: We think CSR can elevate company culture. How? Let’s take a closer look.
Does company culture actually matter?
Yes, company culture is actually quite important in reducing employee turnover and maintaining stability within an organization. Logic tells you that employees generally don’t want to stick around a toxic workplace, but the importance of a strong corporate culture might be higher than you think.
According to a study of workers who left their employers between April and September 2021—the height of the “Great Resignation,” so it was called—a toxic workplace culture was a much more prevalent reason than low wages for the millions of resignations. In fact, it was more than 10 times as prevalent.
When your company has a toxic workplace culture, it will experience high rates of turnover. High turnover rates mean higher costs of hiring, onboarding, and training new employees.
Common Types of Company Cultures
Before determining the best ways to improve company culture, it may help to recognize which one best describes your employer’s culture. Many company cultures exist, and plenty of them have overlapping characteristics. The list below is not exhaustive, but it does touch on three relatively discrete cultures.
1. Hierarchy Culture
The hierarchical company culture describes businesses with traditional top-down decision-making and execution approaches. Each employee knows who their boss is and what is expected of them.
Companies that embrace this culture often prioritize efficient, orderly operations that offer little room for lower-level employees to offer new ideas. Hierarchy culture used to be the dominant one in the corporate world, but it has lost its prominence over the years.
2. Adhocracy Culture
The adhocracy culture is extremely different from the hierarchical culture. Adhocratic companies give employees a fair amount of flexibility to test out new ideas, collaborate with coworkers who might be in different departments, and generally push the envelope.
Adhocracy culture is often associated with the move-fast-and-break-things mantra that many Silicon Valley startups have adopted.
Companies with the adhocracy culture may have unclear hierarchies and job descriptions, which can sometimes add to workplace stress. Managers must often refocus efforts in these environments.
3. Clan Culture
Smaller companies often adopt the clan culture, which emphasizes a family-like atmosphere that may shun traditional hierarchies. Employees are often expected to pitch in to help others as necessary. Communication is usually relaxed at clan-culture companies, which sets the tone for honest discussions among coworkers. This type of culture may not always prioritize maximizing revenue and profits.
3 Ways to Improve Company Culture Through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
If you have any interest in starting CSR programs for your company, you might also want to consider how it can impact employee turnover and satisfaction. More specifically, you’ll be pleased to hear that workers respond positively—overwhelmingly so—to corporate CSR initiatives. That can, in turn, help foster a productive and positive company culture.
Below are some specific CSR programs you may find useful in improving company culture to make things better than ever.
1. Employee Volunteerism
There might be no better way to foster closer bonds among coworkers than to organize impactful volunteer programs. Groundswell’s intuitive software makes it easy for CSR professionals to organize volunteer events, track participation, and gain actionable insights from the program.
Our platform even lets employees spearhead volunteering efforts, which provides great opportunities for positive content on company social media accounts. Sit back and watch your workers initiate fun, impactful activities to improve company culture.
2. Donation Matching
Employees have consistently shown that they want their employers to spend more on charitable endeavors.
A great way to get the ball rolling on this front is to implement employee donation matching programs, which allow workers to make the first donation move. Your employees will get opportunities to identify and help causes near and dear to their hearts.
Groundswell prioritizes lightning-fast donation matching and fund distributions, which cannot be said for most of the legacy CSR software providers.
3. Employee Assistance Fund (EAF)
If your employees are stressed about finances, chances are high that their worries are affecting how well they’re able to concentrate while they’re at work. Stressed employees often leave their workplaces in search of greener pastures.
One bulwark against financial stresses among your employees is something called an employee assistance fund (EAF) or employee hardship fund. These accounts consist of donations from both employers and employees that help ease the burden of a sudden financial loss – such as providing support during a loved one’s cancer treatments, for example.
Our CSR platform makes it easy and simple for employees to apply for assistance from EAFs and for employers to review applications.
CSR Programs Support Long-Term Company Culture Improvement
So, we’ve reviewed a few ways that CSR initiatives can improve company culture at your workplace. Bonding with coworkers at volunteer events, matching employee donations, and supporting workers through financial hardships are all positive developments.
Another way that the right CSR software can improve company culture is by reducing tedious administrative paperwork. Making the world a better place shouldn’t give CSR professionals a bunch of headaches.
Groundswell consolidates and streamlines the administrative burden by up to 90% so that workers have more time to actually engage in high-impact charitable activities.
Our team is eager to demonstrate how our cutting-edge CSR software can help you develop strategies to improve company culture and make a positive impact in the community. We’d be happy to answer your questions or set up your company with a personalized demo.
