While the job market has been healing and even reaching numbers of job vacancies that surpass pre-pandemic levels, what is known as the Great Resignation is still ongoing. In fact, recent statistics show that the Hong Kong workforce has reduced in the last 3 months compared to early this year—but why?
Mass resignations are happening for various reasons – decreased job satisfaction, low salary, a lack of recognition and so on. Any business would be frustrated by a constantly shrinking team, but why this happens boils down to one thing: company or organisation culture. In simpler terms, the unhealthier an organisation’s culture is, the poorer employee retention is going to be.
Why Is Organisational Culture Important?
A successful business isn’t one that’s excellent at just raking in profits, it’s also one that recognises the driving force behind that success—the employees. And for those employees, the culture practised in their work environment acts as a guide on how to be a valuable member of your organisation. Your company’s vision and mission, values and practices will help an employee determine if they eventually want to be in for the long haul or jump ship at some point.
Now that you have a general idea of why organisational culture is crucial, let’s look at how it plays a part in employee retention:
- It helps you save money – your employee resigns, and you might think that having one less person on your payroll cut costs, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The amount of money (and time) you’ll spend to source, hire and train a new employee will be much more than just retaining a seasoned employee who knows how to do the job. A study by the Society for Human Resource Management showed that replacing an employee can cost a whopping 6 to 9 times their monthly salary, on average…which brings us to the next point:
- It can prevent a ‘turnover contagion’ – ever notice how in some organisations, resignations are almost…contagious? You see one person who’s unhappy with the company quit and then weeks later, another one bites the dust…and another…and another. It’s no secret that when a crucial member of a team resigns due to internal issues, the other team members can start to lose their morale and also want to leave. That one initial resignation can trigger the realisation that there are red flags in your company, causing your employees to look for greener pastures.
- It’s crucial for your company image – good organisational culture isn’t just important for those within the company, it’s also for those on the outside. Potential employees, stakeholders and customers will all be able to tell if your work environment isn’t a healthy one. And in the long run, that’s just going to drive people away from your business. In short, happy employees are proof that your organisational culture is healthy.
Qualities Of a High-Performing Organisational Culture
A company with a great organisational culture strives to bring out the best in their employees, and
these are some ways you can identify such a company:
- Encourages open communication and transparency – a business with a healthy organisational culture will always stress on good communication at all levels. The goal is to ensure that your employees know that they can reach out to you easily if they have any issues, and that the management will do its best in resolving them.
- Checks in on employees frequently – quarterly performance reviews are great and all, but that alone won’t suffice in ensuring that your employees are actually thriving – instead of just surviving. Employees who get to speak to their superiors often are more inclined to being open and honest with them. At the same time, organisations that have one-on-one chats with staff members often are able to quickly identify potential problems and work on rectifying them fast.
- Has avenues for employees to grow – a company that truly has their staff’s interest at heart will always want their employees to reach their full potential by learning at the workplace. This can be done by organising seminars and workshops for them to attend, or even paying for any courses they take at higher learning institutions. While an upskilled employee is beneficial for the company, the employee will also see your business as more than just a place of work and find value in staying with you in the long run.
3 Easy Steps To Improve Your Organisational Culture
- Build a bond with your employees – your staff members are more than just people who work for you, and you should make an effort to know them. Employees who feel more seen at work will automatically know their value to the company. These are some ways you can build a better connection with your employees:
- get them to introduce themselves to the rest of the team when they join
- arrange for frequent get-togethers between different teams and divisions
- give all members of a team a chance to share points at meetings
- ask them about their day when you bump into them
These are simply but important ways to show your employee that your value people more than profits.
- Walk the talk – in order to make it more appealing for potential hires, companies can sometimes oversell themselves and promise the moon and the stars – guaranteeing a fantastic work experience. However, it’s wise to remember that a good leader will practise what they preach. If you truly believe in work/life balance and your employees having sufficient time off, then your policies must reflect just that. This is also one solid way to gain your employees’ trust.
- Ask your employees what they want – a flourishing business will listen to their employees needs instead of just implementing what they feel is right. This doesn’t mean that your employees will dictate to you, of course. Rather, you’ll be giving them an avenue to voice their valid concerns which in turn will benefit the business as a whole.
The bottom line is to remember that organisational culture and employee retention go hand in hand. Employees that no longer find their company a conducive environment to be in will be more prone to look for opportunities elsewhere. However, by taking some steps such as those listed above, you can create a workplace culture that will employees will find motivating and encouraging.
At Links, we constantly strive to make our organisation a healthy, inclusive and motivating place to work in. We believe in work-life balance, which is why our staff have the option of working from home or at flexible hours. We have a mobility scheme, which give employees opportunities to work overseas, and even a Level Up scheme where the company will reimburse courses taken by employees to upskill themselves. Apart from these, we have culture checks where we frequently get feedback from staff on how the organisation should move forward, because we want their voices to be amplified.
Links is currently actively hiring, and if you’d like to be a part of our organisation, you can check out all our vacancies at https://linksinternational.com/about-us/work-with-us/ or email your CV to Grace Wong, our Regional HR Business Partner, at @grace.wong@linksinternational.com