When you hear the words “great corporate culture” you might picture fun staff events or even dog-friendly offices, and while yes these aspects contribute to a great working environment, there is so much more to it. Culture doesn’t just appear; it’s built over time and needs constant nurturing, effort, and attention.

Culture impacts every aspect of your business from staff retention and business performance to employee morale. Did you know that 68 per cent of Australian senior leaders credit the success of their businesses during the pandemic to a good workplace culture? The first step to a good work culture is up to leaders, managers, and supervisors. They set the tone by enforcing water-tight WHS policies to ensure physical and psychological safety of their employees. Put simply, your HR compliance sets the foundations for your company culture and influences every layer within an organisation.

Interested in identifying if your workplace culture is: a five out of five, could do with a spruce up, or perhaps needs a complete overhaul? Sit tight. In this article, we share some tell-tale signs when workplace culture needs help, and we share our knowledge to help any business rise above the challenge.

What are the signs of bad work culture, and how do you fix it?

1. Do you have a high staff turnover rate? 

Almost every business will have staff resign at some point, but if you have noticed that workers are leaving at a higher-than-normal rate there could be an undiagnosed problem. In this case, open communication is key. Exit interviews and employee feedback surveys will help you get honest information from your staff and identify any areas that need improvement.

2. Has productivity and morale decreased? 

If employees start work with a great attitude and over time, they have a change in outlook or behaviour then it’s worth taking a deeper look. Is the workload too high? Are staff missing their breaks? Is there a deeper reason for the behaviour? Whatever the problem is, once you’ve identified the root cause, you can start implementing a plan to begin making the necessary corrections.

3. No-shows at company social events

We all know that social gatherings are a great opportunity for your employees to get together, network and build relationships – it’s the perfect way to align teams and build good company culture. But how can you build a great culture when no one wants to attend these events?

Picture this: your social committee has spent countless hours organising a calendar of fun staff social events, but only a handful of staff RSVP let alone turn up. While attending social gatherings outside of work hours is not mandatory for staff, scenarios like this are a sign that things aren’t quite right, and your culture probably needs a shape up. So what’s the solution? Perhaps the activities are not in line with what staff want to do, or maybe the time set is not appropriate for all employees. Regardless, you need to uncover the issues at hand and one way you can do that is by implementing a staff engagement survey that’s anonymous – it’s the best way to build trust and gain valuable insights into what your people think about your company’s culture.

Is it time to overhaul your culture?

In short, a positive culture uplifts, but a bad culture drags down your business and staff. So, if you want to make employees feel valued, safe, seen and heard, you need to build a great business culture – and this begins at the top. How you approach your own culture is up to you, but if you notice any of the warning signs mentioned in this article, it might be time to review and make some positive changes. That’s where we come in. Becoming an Employer of Choice and providing a sensational employee experience starts by getting compliance right – all the time. With the resources inside enableHR, you’ll have everything you need to be compliant. And with your compliance handled, you’ll be able to focus on the fun stuff, like strategy, culture and growing your business. Get a demo and see how enableHR allows you to easily manage your people.