Do you really want to hurt me? If you ignore your company culture, it's going bring some very bad karma (chameleon) on your CU. I'll tumble for you to get you to pay attention to how critical building and promoting your company culture is. I've tapped out on my Culture Club references, but just getting started on the importance of developing an actual culture. It's impact is global within an organization if executed well. It's largest impact can be seen in staffing, and in particular in the new hire process.
What is Company Culture?
If your company is a physical human body, culture is the soul. It's all the things you can't necessarily see that make you the most you you can be. Culture encompasses all the values and behaviors of every person in your organization that contribute to a unique social and psychological environment. That culture is then displayed, shared, and taught to the world through every avenue possible - messaging on your lobby walls, advanced credit union technology both in house and in product offerings, the protocol for a staff birthday party, the holiday donation drive you run, the bonus for biking to the office once a week - whatever you think fits with the culture you're creating. Identifying what your culture is the first step. Then deciding how to make it permeate every nook and cranny is the herculean task that comes next. If it's so hard - is it worth it? Absolutely. Here are four ways a strong credit union culture can bolster your recruiting efforts alone.
Creating a "Right" Talent Magnet
If you put your culture everywhere, any job seeker will be able to look at your website, your reviews on Glassdoor, your LinkedIn profiles, and get a sense of A) whether they like your culture, and B) whether it's the culture they want to be a part of. Not only does this help attract the type of people who are picking up what you're putting down, it also dissuades people who are not feeling it. That is going to increase the likelihood that you get new talent that is going to last, and decrease the time wasted on people who are just not a right fit.
Hiring Process Expectation Management
Throughout the hiring process, there should be indicators of how your culture plays out in the workplace - things like diversity matters, expectations of behavior, how the hierarchy works - should all be made visible. The candidates will continue to be exposed to your culture and be able to make decisions based on this environment being one they can thrive in. You manage their expectations so you don't end up going through a new hire training only to have them leave before they actually get to work.
Onboarding Made Easy
Defining your culture allows you to build defined processes around it - and this is true for onboarding as well. Put all those cultural norms and expectations in a guide for any new hire. Make it simple for them know how to do their job and where to go when they need help. Better onboarding can improve employee retention in the early months of employment and diminish the chances of them regretting their decision. It also frees up time so they can start bonding with their team instead of having to hunt down IT to get their laptop up and running.
Curating Evangelists
If you've attracted the talent that fits with your culture and they thrive in it, they are going to tell the world how great it is. They will spread your word, and it will likely be heard by folks that are similar and inspire them to want to be a part of it too.
Company culture is an often overlooked practice because it takes work. But without clearly defining your culture, you run the risk of high employee, and member, turnover. They will certainly come and go, and you don't want that, boy George! (80's music references? #NailedIt)
