The Relationship Between Company Culture and Employee Engagement

Research has shown that companies that proactively manage culture demonstrate revenue growth over a 10-year period that is, on average, 516% higher than those who do not. Similarly, studies have indicated that highly engaged workforces outperform their peers by 147% in earnings per share, and their employees are 87% less likely to leave. If you’re looking to increase profits and improve retention rates, you have to maximise the potential of both your company culture and employee engagement strategy.

Culture and engagement are closely tied within the workplace. However, while they typically go hand in hand, there are distinct differences between company culture and employee engagement. It’s worth noting that engagement is an outcome of company culture and its effect on the employee experience. Having a company culture doesn’t automatically mean you have an engaged workforce.

In a nutshell, culture describes the core values of an organisation, whereas engagement relates to the level of emotional commitment employees have toward their place of work. It’s essential to assess culture and measure engagement for business success. To do so, a clear understanding of what defines both culture and engagement is vital.

Company culture is created by the shared values and behaviours of a group of people. A positive workplace culture engages employees and creates a working environment based on business priorities and values which are unique to each organisation. Key characteristics of a great company culture include the development of innovations, company-wide goals and strategies, career development, and a progressive approach to diversity.

Employee engagement is shaped by the employee experience and the relationship between an organisation and its employees. People who are emotionally invested want to contribute. When employees feel valued and supported by their employers, they become more engaged. Importantly, employee engagement levels have an impact on how committed staff are to their work. Employees are seeking recognition for their efforts through benefits and opportunities to contribute, learn, and grow, such as a clear path for promotion, feeling fairly compensated by non-cash incentives, and open channels of communication.

It’s important to assess company culture, as it has a direct impact on retention rates and corporate branding. Undertaking a culture audit and reviewing your business’s mission and vision statements can enable you to identify the core values and specific cultural attributes that make your company unique. Conducting surveys can also capture how employees feel about the work environment and how they view the organisation’s management style, diversity and inclusiveness, and their opinions about how the culture could improve.

Understanding your employee engagement levels can help you to develop a more effective employee engagement strategy. Absenteeism and employee turnover rates will provide a clearer picture of what the employee experience is like in your workplace. Alongside these key metrics, company-wide engagement surveys can identify what is important to your employees and evaluate ‘engagement drivers’ such as trust in leadership, value and recognition, and employee morale.

Employee benefits packages keep staff engaged, and can be aligned with your company culture, whether it reflects wellness through medical care and wellbeing services, or encourages performance goals via online training courses. There’s no doubt that a tailored benefits plan can attract and retain highly capable people, and strong company cultures can sustain employee enthusiasm and also be used as a recruiting tool. That’s why Centralus offers clients the opportunity to tailor their engagement solutions to enhance their company culture, as one cannot exist without the other.