Creating an organizational culture that encourages employee motivation and retention
A company’s culture is the distinctive, unwritten, informal code of conduct that governs its
behavior, attitudes, relationships, and style. In many small companies, culture is as important
as strategy in gaining a competitive edge. Culture has a powerful impact on the way people
work together in a business, how they do their jobs, and how they treat their customers.
Company culture manifests itself in many ways- from how workers dress and act to the
language they use. A company’s culture has a powerful influence on everyone the company
touches, especially its employees, and on the company’s success.
An important ingredient in a company’s culture is the performance objectives an entrepreneur
sets and against which employees are measured. Effective executives know that building a
positive organizational culture has a direct, positive impact on the financial performance of an
organization. the intangible factors that make up an organization’s culture have an influence,
either positive or negative, on the tangible outcomes of profitability. Sustaining a company’s
culture begins with the hiring process. The hiring process must focus on finding employees
who share the value of the organization and the result is a team of people who give their best
ideas and efforts to the business.
Nurturing the right culture in a company can enhance a company’s competitive position by
improving its ability to attract and retain quality workers and by creating an environment in
which workers can grow and develop. As a new generation of employees enters the workforce,
companies are discovering that more relaxed, open cultures have an edge in attracting the best
workers.
Modern organizational culture relies on several principles that are fundamental to creating a
productive, fun workplace that enables employees and the company to excel.
Hiring for cultural fit- the best companies know that the only way to sustain a winning culture
is to continue to hire people who fit into and support it. Respect for work and life balance-
successful companies recognize that their employees have lives away from work.
A sense of purpose- one of the most important jobs an entrepreneur faces is defining the
company’s vision and then communicating it effectively to everyone the company touches.
A sense of fun- A workplace that creates a sense of fun makes it easier to recruit quality
workers and encourages them to be more productive and more customer-oriented.
Engagement- employees who are fully engaged in their work take pride in making valuable
contributions to the organization’s success and derive personal satisfaction from doing so.
Diversity- companies with appealing cultures not only accept cultural diversity in their
workforces but embrace it, businesses must recognize that a workforce that has a rich mix of
cultural diversity gives the company more talent, skills, and abilities from which to draw.
Integrity- employees want to work for companies that stand for honesty and integrity.
Participative management- company owners and managers must learn to trust and empower
employees at all levels of the organization to make decisions and to take the actions they need
to do their jobs well.
Learning environment- progressive companies encourage and support lifelong learning among
their employees.
Building an Entrepreneurial Team: Hiring the Right Employee
As a company grows, the people an entrepreneur hires determine the heights to which the
company can climb- or the depths to which it will plunge. Experience managers understand
that the quality of their workforce affects the company’s ability to thrive. Acquiring that human
capital, however, can be difficult. The problem is particularly acute for small companies,
which usually cannot afford to match the salaries and benefit packages their larger rivals offer
employees. Half of small business owners say that they can find few or no qualified applicants
for job openings. The decision to hire a new employee is an important one for every business,
but its impact is magnified many times in a small company. One new employee represents a
significant investment and a significant risk. However, in a small company, one bad hiring
decision can poison the entire culture, reduce employee productivity, and disrupt any sense of
teamwork.
Hiring mistakes are incredibly expensive, and no company, especially small ones, can afford
too many of them. The higher the position is in an organization and the longer the tenure of
the person who holds that position, the higher the cost associated with replacing a bad hire.
Replacing a bad hire often leads to burnout among existing employees, who must pick up the
slack left by the vacancy. In addition, the poor work habits of bad hires are highly contagious,
can infect everyone in the company, and are difficult to eradicate. The most common causes
of a company’s poor hiring decisions include the following:
Managers rely on candidates’ descriptions of themselves rather than requiring candidates to
demonstrate their abilities.
Managers fail to follow a consistent, evidence-based selection process. Employers often rely
on intuition when making hiring decisions.
Managers fail to provide candidates with sufficient information about what the jobs for which
they are hiring entail, which results in a job-skill mismatch.
Managers are so desperate to fill a position that they hire candidates who are not as qualified
as they should be. The result is almost always an expensive hiring mistake for the company.
Managers fail to check candidates’ references.
A weak employer brand limits the size and quality of the applicant pool and reduces the
probability of making a good hiring decision.
Managers succumb to pressure to fill a job quickly.
The following guidelines can help entrepreneurs become employers of choice to hire winners
as they build their team of employees.
Commit to hiring the best talent: smart entrepreneurs follow the adage” A players hire A
player; B players hire C players.” They are not threatened by hiring people who may be smarter
and more talented than they are. They recognize that doing that is the best way to build a
quality team.
Elevate recruiting to a strategic position in the company: the recruiting process is the starting
point for building quality in a company. By investing time and money in the crucial planning
phase of the staffing process, entrepreneurs can generate spectacular savings down the road
by hiring the best talent. Attracting a pool of qualified job candidates requires not only constant
attention but also creativity, especially among smaller companies that often find it difficult to
match the more generous offers large companies make. The following techniques help:
Look inside the company first: one of the best sources for top prospects is inside the company
itself.
Look for employees with whom your customers can identify: for an entrepreneur whose
company sells women’s shoes, hiring young women straight out of college to manage the
company’s social media presence makes sense.
Encourage employee referrals: to cope with the shortage of available talent, many companies
are offering their employee bonuses for referring candidates who come to work and prove to
be valuable employees.
Make employment advertisements stand out: getting employment ads noticed in traditional
media is becoming more difficult because they get lost in other companies’ ads.
Use multiple channels to recruit talent: many businesses are successfully attracting candidates
through other media, particularly the Internet.
Recruit on campus: from many employers, college and university campuses remain an
excellent source of workers, especially for entry-level positions.
Forge relationships with schools and other sources of workers: internships and co-op programs
can be excellent sources of future employees.
Recruit “retired” workers: many of the baby boom generation employees continue to work
past their retirement ages to support their lifestyles, and small businesses should be ready to
hire them.
Consider using offbeat recruiting techniques: to attract the workers they need to support their
growing businesses; some entrepreneurs have resorted to creative recruiting techniques.
