Developing a Caring Culture Within Your Company

Establish a Caring Corporate Culture

For fairly obvious reasons, establishing a caring corporate culture ought to be something that all businesses are looking to do.  Staff who feel that senior management respects them are more likely to work to the best of their abilities at all times.  This is something that will benefit a company, not just in terms of boosting profits, but also in helping it be seen as a benevolent employer that people will want to work for and command respect from suppliers and other key stakeholders.

No matter the size of your company or the nature of its operations, it’s important you create a working environment where employees feel at ease. Although you might think this is something that can be easily managed, it can involve a substantial amount of time and effort.

So, how do you create a sense of compassion within your organization?  I think it’s important that all workers, from junior colleagues to older board members, feel like their individual contributions are appreciated.  While I’m sure you actually do value employees’ work, it’s important that you make this crystal-clear on a regular basis.

Of course, a simple ‘thank you’ (whether it’s said in person or by email) ought to be the first step in doing this.  However, it can also help to hand out financial rewards, incentives or corporate gifts.

“We have a caring corporate culture and our dress code is enjoyable — diapers only”.  Little Daddy Hugging Baby Doll by Pink Sherbet Photography, on Flickr.  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Give Promotional Gifts

Distributing promotional gifts to your team as part of an employee rewards program is a great opportunity to raise brand awareness.  Obviously, your employees won’t need reminding of the name of the company they work for, but giving them a gift that features your logo and slogan should help to create a favorable impression of your organization as well as reinforce a sense of togetherness amongst your team.  Research from the British Promotional Merchandise Association backs this up, as 56 percent of people questioned claim to have developed a more positive opinion of an organization after being given a promotional item.

So, when’s a good time to hand out promotional gifts to develop a caring corporate culture within your business?  Well there’s really never a bad time to do it and if it’s something your company is yet to do, you should begin as soon as possible.  You might want to give out presents in the build-up to annual events and festivities, such as Christmas and Easter.  Alternatively, you could use promotional gifts to mark certain milestones such as a five or ten year long service award.

It’s important you choose a promotional corporate gift that is suitable for all employees.  The last thing you want to create is the perception of favoritism because you gave an engraved pen to one worker for their birthday and a notepad to another.  Allocate a suitable budget so that your range of business gifts act as a good motivator and create a buzz around the particular scheme.  Some healthy competition between team members to win the ’employee of the month’ award or to be recognized with ‘most client wins of the month’ is certainly no bad thing for the organization as a whole.

Do you work in HR or own a small business looking to create a new corporate culture?  What action are you taking to ensure that your organization is seen as a kind, caring employer?  Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.