Regardless of their size, for any business, culture matters. Having a positive, solid company culture sustains employee enthusiasm- improving their work ethic and meaning that the business is more likely to achieve their overall goals.
This is one thing which all businesses can learn from the culture at Google. While work can be challenging, at the end of the day employees should enjoy working with their colleagues, the office environment and their job itself. This type of working environment isn’t expensive, it all depends on laying the right foundations for cultural success.
While Google has a culture renowned for offering its employees additional perks, such as massages, catered meals and nap pods, all of these benefits are built from a base which any business can create.
We’ve selected our top three things which Google’s culture has, which can be implemented by any business:
1. Understanding the knock-on effect of happiness
One thing that Google’s culture displays is that they have a firm understanding that the happier their employees, the more engaged they are at work. Google gives employees total freedom to be creative either physically, in how they work, or in how the come up with solutions to resolve problems.
This leads to greater productivity and creativity, benefiting the business overall as all employees are working towards its success. Subsequently, business owners become happier as their stress is minimised.
2. Having clear values
Having clearly outlined values is what helps Google to remain an industry leader. When it comes to hiring new employees, they look for people who reflect these values and will fit into the culture that they want to build and the vision that they’re working towards.
3. Organisational Structure
Famously, Google has a flat organisational structure which is designed to allow communication between employees at any level. This encourages all employees to share their voices and opinions and helps them to know that these are valued by the organisation. Not only does this encourage employees creativity, but also illustrates that Google value all employees contributions; preventing them from becoming complacent with work.
By breaking away from the idea that ‘culture’ has to be costly or time-consuming, and instead focusing on implementing actions which change behaviours can lead to a positive company culture which breeds productivity and creativity.
If you’re interested in improving your company culture, and laying the foundations like Google has, read our blogs on ‘The Key to Creating a Cultural Change in Business’ and ‘How to Change a Toxic Company Culture’, or contact Park City for personal guidance on how to start creating cultural change.
