Top 5 tips for great company culture
Always stack the office dishwasher correctly. If I could offer you only one tip for improving office culture, correct dishwasher etiquette would be it. Don’t put plates in diagonally or overload the cutlery tray. The long term benefits of stacking the dishwasher have been proven by scientists, whereas the rest of this advice has no basis more reliable than our own meandering experience.
1. Be transparent
Lots of businesses share success with employees but are reluctant to involve everyone in difficult decisions and concerns. The employees at atom are involved in a lot of high level company decisions and get a clear view into how things are done. There should be a good reason for something to be kept a secret; if there’s no good reason then it should be shared.
2. Get to know your colleagues
Actually knowing who our employees and colleagues are makes us feel like the office is a home from home. Another great benefit of getting to know people in the office is that you will know how to reward them in ways they will truly love.
3. Set a high standard
The only way to achieve high standards of work is to set them and expect them every time. For this to be successful, you need to take time and care in recruiting people who will follow this high standard. Managers set the bar high with their own work and then, whenever a team member does something great, they share it. This slowly raises that bar of quality. It’s tough to begin with, but people do get a kick out of knowing the work they do is of high quality.
4. Catch people doing things right
If you let people know when they’re doing the right thing then they stand a better chance of doing the right thing next time. This means feedback has to be specific, honest and soon enough after the event that they remember it. An honest culture may be difficult to respond to, especially when giving constructive feedback, but in the long term it promotes happiness.
5. Be passionate about happiness
Even if your project fails, if you fail passionately and with happy people who also care passionately, it will be an enjoyable learning experience. We should always put happiness first. We do this by getting out the office every fortnight to chat one on one to understand what makes us happy and stressed. Remember, in the long term, happy people work better, harder and for longer.
In summary, be friends with your co-workers. Going that extra mile to see the individual and not just a cog in a machine means people stay longer and work harder.
