As employers try to figure out how best to recruit and retain the best employees, a CultureIQ/HR.com study finds many believe the answer lies in the company's culture.
According to "Employee Culture: A Closer Look — HR.com Insights," 73 percent of respondents believe a great corporate culture gives their organizations a competitive edge, resulting in higher employee engagement and a stronger brand. But, interestingly, less than half — just 40 percent — of executive respondents rate their own culture as "above average," while 33 percent weigh in at "average" and 27 percent admit to "below average."
In addition, a little more than half of respondents — 52 percent — cite management buy-in, or the lack thereof, as the biggest barrier to strengthening culture, while 45 percent say there aren't enough resources to do so. Twenty-one percent blame employee participation (or again, perhaps, the lack thereof).
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One possible reason for the gap between the 73 percent who believe that great corporate culture puts them out in front of the competition and the 40 percent who actually think their companies are above average might be the ways they say they actively manage their culture. More than half (55 percent) use employee engagement surveys, while 29 percent rely on culture committees and events and 20 percent use employee resource groups.
While measuring what employees think about company culture is a step in the right direction — the study says, "You cannot improve what you cannot measure" — that means that 45 percent of companies are not doing that.
Another indication that companies have plenty of room for improvement is the fact that only 1 percent say a culture committee or club drives company culture at their place of work, while, as mentioned above, 29 percent of respondents rely on a culture committee or club to actively manage their culture.
Respondents, asked who drives company culture, overwhelmingly cite executive leadership (83 percent). Three other choices appearing on more than 20 percent of the responses are employees, at 27 percent; senior HR leadership, at 23 percent; and HR people operations, at 20 percent. But with low management buy-in, efforts to manage a company's culture won't go far.
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