Companies are losing staff who haven't set foot in their office. That's a huge problem.Posted about 3 years ago by Nick Boulton

Is company culture dying? Not a chance – but it is changing forever.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve sat on endless Zoom meeting with companies who’re hungry to hire.

One theme keeps cropping up.

“How do we hire, integrate and on-board people AND embed company culture in this new world of remote working?”

Easier said than done. Funnily enough, our own team is grappling with this too as we look to grow.

I might be contradicting myself, but I think the answer is simple: It takes planning and buy-in from management.

You can’t half-arse culture, even while your teams are working from home.

If you want to hire the best talent and still drive revenue, you must ensure you’re on-boarding and integrating them as best you can. Think of the upfront cost when actually finding the best people in the first place. It’s more than money, it’s time too.

(And doesn’t time = money anyway?)

So, why wouldn’t you do everything you can to make sure your new team members have the best possible experience when joining? You only get one chance to make a first impression.

For businesses to succeed and keep pace with their competitors, it’s going to become even more important how you integrate and drive company culture throughout your business. Gone are the days where management stood on their preverbal soapbox and rally the masses with motivational missives.

Having a well thought out, continuous channel of communication, support and guidance is going to be vital for staff morale, success and continued happiness.

Never has the importance of a good company culture been more relevant. I’m not sure how well we would have coped without the strong bonds, common goals and shared values of my colleagues during lockdown, 1.0,  2.0, 3.0…….?

I feel it has been these common traits and the culture that has guided us through these turbulent times and has made us all the stronger for the experience.

Why am I so certain that this is the recipe for success, you may well ask?

We are just starting to see the first candidates looking for jobs who joined their current employers during lockdown 1.0. After interviewing these candidates, what is interesting and slightly concerning is they all tell the same story.

“Company culture, what culture?”

• They have never been into their current employer's offices
• They have never met any of their colleagues or peers face-to-face
• They have never had time with their managers or the business owners in a face-to-face capacity
• They know little to nothing about the direction, ethos or values of their company

These are worrying signs of things to come if businesses don’t get their houses in order.

During our first Talking Tech webinar with CWJobs’ Dominic Harvey last year, we discussed the importance of culture. The debate hinged on data gathered that alluded to Generation Y or Millennials not thinking company culture was important.

Now obviously this was a pre-pandemic view, but according to the people we speak to and my experience of all our staff, never has it been more important for any business to have a clear identity and culture.