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Using Company Culture to Maximize Performance in 2019

What Is Company Culture and How Is It Maximizing Performance in 2019?

Company Culture and Core Values Defined

According to Merriam-Webster, culture is defined as “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization”.

For companies and their employees to excel and grow their business, it is imperative to have a clear corporate identity and set of values. Hubspot puts it simply: “Culture is to recruiting as product is to marketing.” As a company goes through the hiring process, culture match is a big part of the conversation.

However, it’s not just about having a clear sense of identity to find the right people to work for the company. Forbes did some research on a sample of businesses in the same industry selling the same product. They found that, “an engaged culture marked by high levels of involvement, consistency, adaptability, and a transparent mission improves sales and customer satisfaction.” How does it translate numerically? The businesses reported:

  • 65% increase in share price
  • 26% reduction in employee turnover
  • 20% less absenteeism
  • 15% higher employee productivity
  • 30% higher customer satisfaction levels

The Company Culture Movement

What defines “good” or “bad” culture? Is it all about stocked office snacks, flexible schedules, and pet friendly offices? As nice as some of these things are, they are not to be mistaken for what makes a company’s culture good or bad.

In January 2018, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the median employee tenure was 4.3 years for men and 4.0 years for women.” That’s around 10 jobs in a career lifetime. So, why are people leaving their jobs? Here’s some of the reported reasons:

    1. Higher pay
    2. Relocation
    3. Career change
    4. Better benefits
    5. Better alignment between personal values and organizational priorities

What does this all mean? More importantly, what kind of movement has been generated with regard to company culture as a result?

The past couple decades have unveiled the age of social media and instant access to information. Exceptional company cultures are being documented, shared, and are going viral. Let’s take a look at a couple virally awesome company cultures.

Google

Google offers gyms, free meals, free haircuts, free car washes, free dry cleaning and even on-site health care. Again, that is not what it’s all about. Google lives and breathes by their ten core values:

  1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
  2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
  3. Fast is better than slow.
  4. Democracy on the web works.
  5. You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
  6. You can make money without doing evil.
  7. There’s always more information out there.
  8. The need for information crosses all borders.

Hubspot

With a no door policy, unlimited vacation, free food (and beer), games, and flexible work hours, work life at this company seems pretty pleasant.

According to the Hubspot company code, “HubSpot culture is driven by a shared passion for our mission and metrics. It is a culture of amazing, growth-minded people whose values include using good judgment and solving for the customer.

Employees who work at HubSpot have HEART: Humble, Empathetic, Adaptable, Remarkable, Transparent.”

The employees at Hubspot are considered experts and work for a purpose, rather than a paycheck.

Google and Hubspot are just two of many companies who have started a movement demanding higher standards for company culture.

Why is Pinckney Marketing Different When It Comes to Culture?

Here at Pinckney, everyone lives by our five core values. These values are stitched into the fibers of the agency: literally and figuratively. They are painted on five different walls throughout our office and integrated into each individual employee’s Key Performance Indicators.

At our agency, we truly value our team member’s voices. We polled the staff and asked them: what is important to you? What would a client want to see in a marketing agency to help grow their business? We selected the values that our agency’s staff unanimously agreed upon, and – voila! Our team chose these values:

  1. Have a get it done attitude
  2. Be willing to help
  3. Love what you do
  4. Solve the problem without excuses
  5. Respect the Agency (Our clients, Your co-workers, and what we do)

When we evaluate which interviewees and clients are a good fit for the agency, we reflect on our core values.

It certainly helps that we keep beer on tap, have flexible schedules and a dog-friendly office, host ping pong matches, and participate in community outreach events. However, the perks are not all that differentiates us from the agency up the street. What makes us better is that everyone truly works within our core values.

Pinckney Marketing’s amazing culture and core values translate in the following ways:

1. We love our jobs.

When Monday rolls around, we aren’t wallowing in dread. We are saying hi to whichever dogs came in today, grabbing some coffee, asking about each other’s weekends, and inspiring each other to have a great day. Happier employees = happier clients.

2. We go the extra mile.

Bringing value to our clients is what we do. Every client is different and that is why we offer customized solutions. We love going above and beyond to show that we are different and to make our clients feel truly valued and understood.

3. We empower our clients.

To us, it is not just about providing amazing service. We empower clients to understand exactly what is going on with their business by identifying opportunities and showing them how we are providing solutions.

At the end of the day it is simple: We love our people, our people love our clients. Nobody on the Pinckney team is a number, and neither are you.

Does it sound like a good fit? Use our Agency Fit Quiz to see if our agency is a match. Take The Quiz