Is Your Workplace Toxic? It Could Be Costing You Millions of Dollars

We’ve all heard the jokes online that if someone says “we’ll treat you like family” in a job posting, it’s best to run—it’s the final thing a company will actually do. To be completely transparent, I once consulted with a friend who worked at a company that said this and had an incredibly high turnover rate.

Employees at this company were making calls and sending Slack messages at all hours of the day. The manager expected employees to be available 24/7, though the company itself operated on a regular 9-5 schedule. The manager held a monthly team meeting where he would call out every person on the team to inform them what they’d done mistaken during the month—in front of everyone. Accomplishments were never recognized at these team meetings.

On the other hand, my friend also worked at one other company where the employees absolutely loved the work culture. If you made a mistake, the owner of the company owned as much as it and helped you understand learn how to improve in the future. There was never any punishment or scolding. She encouraged everyone to treat it as a learning experience.

She also recognized people’s strengths and actively approached them about other opportunities. For example, she noticed that one worker who was originally hired to reply the phone had a knack for numbers and liked budgeting. With a lot of encouragement from her team and a little training, the receptionist was promoted to inventory management.

Jokes and web memes aside, the culture of your organization can make or break what you are promoting.

The cost of a bad organizational culture

According to Society for Human Resources Managementit might probably take 6 to 9 months of an worker’s salary to seek out a alternative. That means losing an worker value $60,000 could cost you as much as $45,000 trying to seek out a alternative. To put that in perspective, the company in query with the terrible work culture had an average worker turnover rate of every six months across a team of 15 people. Let’s say everyone was paid $60,000. That means every six months, the company was essentially burning through $675,000—$1.35 million per 12 months. As you possibly can imagine, the company went bankrupt.

Of course, company culture is about much greater than money. Morale, productivity, and finding top talent all suffer because of a dull workplace climate. Without a positive attitude and recognition of success, employees feel like they’ll never do anything right, which results in low morale, and consequently, low innovation and enthusiasm for the job. If someone doesn’t care about their job, they won’t do it well, which can result in external problems for the company, resembling poor customer support and missed deadlines. And if a company can’t innovate in our rapidly changing world, the business won’t survive.

This results in employment problems. Companies with a bad repute will have a hard time hiring top talent because no one desires to work somewhere where they are not valued. According to estimates published by Gettysburg CollegeThe average person spends 90,000 hours of their life at work—about one-third of their life. People don’t need to spend that point in a place that stresses them out or pushes them to the brink. That’s true for current employees, too; people don’t need to work in a place where they’re consistently afraid of losing their job; so many people (once they realize the toxicity of the workplace culture) will leave. This results in an countless, vicious cycle of talent coming and going, leaving the company with no room to grow.

Create a culture that retains talent

There’s been a recent shift where people aren’t staying in their jobs so long as they used to. You’ve probably heard of individuals who worked for the same company for 50 years or more. It’s more common today to listen to of someone who’s worked for multiple firms in just a few years. That’s because of the type of work, the advantages offered, and—you guessed it—the company culture. Having worked in the recruiting industry for almost two many years, here are ways to create a company culture that can retain your top talent, prevent money, and help what you are promoting grow:

1. Be presentToo many people need to own a business without being there to run it. If you don’t need to work there, why would your employees need to work there?
2. Set an example. Everyone is human, and even AI tools make mistakes. Use a mistake or problem as a learning experience, and you possibly can even turn it into a marketing opportunity.
3. Empower employees. Give your employees the opportunity to further their careers with training, certifications, etc. If someone wants to enhance, help them!
4. Celebrate achievements. Recognize successes and create goals that can lead your team to rewards.
5. Communicate openly. If something is going mistaken, it is advisable to point it out. Do it professionally so the team can address the issue.
6. Promote work-life balance. Especially with distant work, people are attached to their devices. Make sure they take breaks and vacations, and set a work schedule that encourages that balance.
7. Offer incentives as part of the job package. Benefits also play a big role for potential recent talent. See what your organization can offer to entice employees to affix your workforce.

If you’re undecided what to alter in your workplace culture, go to the source and ask your employees. Their invaluable feedback will provide help to create a culture that encourages employees to remain and helps your best talent grow with your organization.