How Fun in the Workplace Can Change Corporate Culture for the Better

by Carie McMichael | Aug 21, 2023 | Corporate Culture

Take a moment to imagine the kind of workplace where productivity stalls, employees become resentful, and misconduct runs amok. What do you see? As Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie famously said, “There is little success where there is little laughter.”

As seasoned corporate investigators, we know that the kinds of professional environments where such negative symptoms have taken hold are usually not much fun to be in. When corporate culture has gone sideways, the atmosphere is likely to be strained at best. At it’s worst, it’s potentially downright toxic. So, how might leaders and CEOs shape a healthier alternative?

As counter-intuitive as it may seem to those who have long prayed at the altar of strict and formal productivity, encouraging fun in the workplace can work wonders for nourishing employee happiness, fuelling purpose, and inspiring greater engagement. However, fun at work should be balanced and constructive if its value is to be maximized. Read on as we discuss the power of fun in the workplace and its role in improving corporate culture.

The Advantages of Encouraging Fun at Work

If you feel unsure about whether your employees perceive their working environment as a fun and friendly space, a corporate culture audit can be an ideal starting point for ensuring future camaraderie. However, before we look at the structural foundation required for effectively harnessing employee enjoyment, let’s look at the advantages that it can provide for ambitious businesses on the move.

Reduces Absenteeism and Turnover

When employees don’t enjoy their time at work, they are more likely to seek opportunities to avoid it. So much so, that studies show workers who have fun at work take notably fewer sick days than their counterparts. What’s more, when fun becomes an organic part of the working day, it has also been found to reduce turnover.

Improves Teamwork and Collaboration

Encouraging employees to collaborate in play allows them to flex the synergistic muscles that will also allow them to work together on behalf of your business. In this regard, creating shared fun goals offers greater value than encouraging competition. When intra-office rivalry gets out of hand, it can prevent teams from thinking and functioning as one. Meanwhile, effective team building can improve work ethic and innovation by as much as ten times.

Keeps Workplace Stress in Check

While pressure is bound to ebb and flow in most working environments, stress levels don’t need to follow in its footsteps. In fact, facilitating employee enjoyment can help keep elevated stress and tension at bay, supporting a healthier corporate culture over time. When we consider that 55% of Americans feel stressed each day, it becomes clear that introducing a little fun in the workplace is an excellent way to ward off burnout.

Making the Most of Fun in the Workplace

There is a delicate balance to strike when it comes to achieving optimal employee enjoyment at work. Fun activities should be structured, inclusive, and delineated from work duties. They must also accommodate the option to opt-out for those who might feel uncomfortable.

Complementing this, a supportive, friendly, and communicative atmosphere should be forged around professional duties. This makes unity, optimism, and proactive problem-solving core features of all collaboration.
Would you like to understand employee enjoyment, engagement, and corporate culture more fully? Consider a corporate culture audit for your team and allow our expert advisors to set your team on track for success.

How to Handle an Angry Employee

by Carie McMichael | Jul 6, 2023 | Corporate Culture

A healthy working environment is crucial for the success of businesses, and an angry employee can be a symptom of sickness When a working environment is favorable, employees can quickly excel according to their full potential. The reason is that employees play the critical role of assisting and supporting top managers and executives to help the company achieve its short and long-term objectives. Therefore, as a manager, leader, or business owner, you must always ensure your employees are motivated enough to stay committed to your organization’s culture. 

However, you can’t always control the emotions of all your employees. Sometimes, your employees may be dissatisfied, but how well you handle the situation could change the outcome. Of course, angry employees are bad for your business, and it doesn’t matter if the cause of their anger is work-related or personal. And failing to address the situation could result in unethical behaviors that could affect several aspects of your business, including its reputation and level of productivity.  

Leaders, therefore, need to have a certain level of emotional intelligence to handle a suddenly angry employee. While different businesses have policies and best practices when dealing with angry employees, these tips can apply to most organizations, companies, and business settings.  

Acknowledge the feelings of the angry employee 

The first step in dealing with a suddenly angry employee is to acknowledge his feelings and allow him to be, even if the cause of anger does not make sense to you. Realize that employees come from different cultural backgrounds, have different upbringings, and have different ways of handling emotions. So instead of just downplaying the feelings of an angry employee, you should make him feel like his voice has been heard. But this does not mean you should condone unacceptable behaviors like shouting, cursing, and other displays of aggression.  

Let the angry employee express themselves 

Letting an angry employee vent his anger can be therapeutic. This can make him realize how much you care about his feelings. The truth is that some angry employees will express themselves to you, not because they expect you to provide an instant solution to their problems, but simply because they want to feel relieved enough to continue with their day’s job. So the best you can do is to listen carefully to them. However, consider your safety while allowing the angry employee to express himself. For example, do not let an angry employee threaten, brutalize, or shout at you in a manner that compromises your workplace culture.  

Look at things from the perspective of the angry employee

Most managers are so used to being objective and protecting the interest of their organizations that it can be so difficult for them to look at situations from the employees’ perspectives. So instead of using your logic, try to put yourself in an angry employee’s position and imagine how you would feel if the same thing happened to you. This could help you sympathize with the employee without sounding condescending. 

Thank the employee for their feedback 

It’s crucial to thank the angry employee after listening to their problems. Consider all they said as constructive criticism, even if you find it damaging your ego. Realize that every complaint you receive from an angry employee could be the perfect opportunity to make improvements for the betterment of the organization. It will help if you think positively, as it takes a lot of courage for employees to express their feelings to their bosses or superiors openly.  

Communicate what they expressed back to them

According to HR professionals, it is of the utmost importance to repeat the problem to the employee to ensure that you both have communicated effectively. Tell him a summary of your understanding and ask if that is correct. Remember that some people find it hard to be coherent with their explanations at the peak of angry emotions. So it would help if you summarize all you understood to him to be sure you both are on the same page. After all, you can only solve a problem if you have understood it. 

Apologize to the angry employee

It will also help if you apologize for the frustration the angry employee could be going through. Even if you are not responsible for their anger, apologizing will make them realize how much you care about their feelings. In addition, such an apology is also proof that you have offered a listening ear to them. However, you must ensure that your apology is sincere and not condescending. An insincere apology might instead end up provoking more anger.  

Take an actionable step 

After listening and apologizing to the angry employee, you need to take actionable steps to ensure the problem is solved and things like that will not repeat. All your actions should, however, aim to improve your organization’s culture and work environment. For example, some actionable steps could include firing the person responsible for the anger, promoting or demoting some employees, modifying the organization’s policies, scheduling a meeting with the problematic team, or buying new equipment. Even if you cannot take immediate action, it will help if you start drafting down your plan of action.  

Follow up with the angry employee later. 

After taking actionable steps to solve the problem, make it a duty to follow up with the employee later to find out how they are fairing. There is no specific timeline for follow-up, as it could be a week later, months later, or even one year later, depending on the severity of the matter. However, holding such private meetings will make the employee realize how much you care about their well-being, making them respect his management more.  

Improving workplace culture starts at the top: Here’s how 

by Carie McMichael | Jun 30, 2023 | Corporate Culture

Workplace culture refers to shared values, norms, and beliefs that characterize an organization or enterprise. It is like a social operating system that influences how employees interact, communicate, and collaborate. Of course, improving workplace culture goes a long way in influencing how employees interact with clients and their communities at large. A company’s culture can either positively impact the organization by making it thrive or adversely affect it by causing it to suffer. 

As a leader, you need to continuously strive hard to improve or upgrade your operating system to help your organization achieve its short- and long-term objectives. Of course, there is no specific strategy to improve workplace culture, but so far, most leaders have focused on carrying out a culture audit, which helps them identify the existing cultural problems and take the proper steps to overcome them.  

A strong workplace culture is essential for the success of every organization. While there can be many strategies for improving workplace culture, the most effective ones often start from the top. Here are a few key ingredients that the management could use to enhance workplace culture; 

Define a clear and inspiring mission for the organization. 

One of the most crucial things the top management can in improving workplace culture is to define a clear and inspiring mission for the organization. Employees are more likely to be at their best and work according to their full potential if they believe in the organization’s missions. A clear and inspiring mission will make employees think they are part of something larger than themselves, pushing them to work even harder. In addition, when employees become aware of their organization’s mission, they start to understand exactly how their efforts can contribute to its overall success.  

Define the core values of the organization. 

An organization’s core values are clearly stated principles regarding its vision, mission, and regulations. However, core values that promote growth, development, commitment to open communication, and balanced life will likely reflect positively on your organization’s culture. For example, when employees feel free to share their ideas and feedback without fear of retribution, they are most likely to come up with great ideas to help the organization achieve its short and long-term goals. Similarly, when employees feel they have opportunities to learn and grow within the company, they become more committed to using their existing resources to work according to their full potential. In addition, when employees feel like they can balance their work and personal lives, they become mentally sound and motivated to do their best at work. So, defining the correct core values is a crucial step for top-management to help improve workplace culture.  

Encourage employee recognition 

Encouraging employee recognition can also help improve your company’s culture. Of course, employee recognition is different from employee appreciation. While appreciation helps make employees feel valued for their talents, contributions, and positive attitude toward work, recognition focuses more on showing appreciation through actions. An example of employee recognition is officially appreciating the best worker in every department with a car gift, cash, or a trip to a beautiful resort at the end of the year. Nevertheless, employee recognition is essential as it goes a long way to raise employee engagement. According to statistics, an estimated 78% of employees claim they become more engaged in their workplaces whenever they receive strong recognition from their organizations. However, aside from rising engagement levels, employee recognition encourages innovations and high productivity levels and also goes a long way to attract and retain qualified employees.  

Create positive experiences for employees. 

Creating positive employee experiences can also help improve your workplace culture as a manager. Company culture and employee experiences are intrinsically connected. Employee experiences, however, refer to the combined feelings of your employees about their experiences within the organization. Therefore, factors, including conversations, interactions, work tools, and processes, can form the overall experiences of employees. Positive experiences will contribute to a great employee experience. In contrast, negative experiences such as lack of team connection, inability to access working resources, and degrading comments from superiors could result in a poor employee experience. So as a leader, you need to be intentional about fostering positive employee experiences, which can, in turn, result in greater employee engagement and increased enthusiasm.  

Give teams autonomy 

The importance of autonomy in teams within workplaces can never be overemphasized. As a leader of an organization, you must give team members self-governing powers to build a culture of teamwork and contribution. So instead of trying to micro-manage all the teams within your organization, it’s better to encourage team autonomy while simultaneously setting the tones and expectations of these teams. For example, it would make more sense to guide the teams within your organization instead of always telling them what to do. Your responsibility as a leader is to mentor, inspire, connect, and trust your units instead of dictating what must be done. After all, autonomy goes a long way to paving the way for creativity and innovation.   

Organize one-to-ones periodically 

Another important way of improving workplace culture is to organize one-on-one meetings periodically. Such meetings are a perfect opportunity for you to converse with your employees and discover the problems affecting them individually and within the organization. During such meetings, you must allow them to speak openly while you carefully listen to them. Remember, you could use the outcomes of such meetings to upgrade or improve your organization’s procedures, leading to greater employee engagement and higher productivity levels.  

8 Signs You Need a Corporate Culture Audit

by Carie McMichael | Jun 19, 2023 | Corporate Culture

Corporate culture is the manifestation of the relationship between leadership and their employees. It is sometimes referred to as organizational culture. It concerns how policies and communication from the top of a corporation can directly influence the level of employee engagement and satisfaction at multiple levels of an organization. When a company’s management does not show initiative to improve operations surrounding these types of complaints, it can create a culture of silence & resentment within the workforce. Healthy corporate culture creates a cycle of satisfaction and productivity that both benefits the bottom line and improves employee engagement for a balanced, stream of operations. When your corporate culture has declined significantly, an internal audit is necessary.

Signs You Need a Corporate Culture Audit

How do you know when your business or organization needs a corporate culture audit? The fact of the matter is that you don’t have to be an educated risk assessment investigator to identify the signs. Many employees can trace their workplace woes back to an internal process or another employee they do not like. Sometimes it’s difficult to discern whether your organization needs a corporate culture audit. Here are 8 of the most prevalent signs that leadership should watch out for when it comes to declining corporate culture.

8. High-Pressure Environment

There is a plethora of high-pressure jobs that can create tension in the workplace, like media conglomerates, financial firms, and law offices. When stress is part of the job, many employers go the extra mile to ensure that their employees can have good work-life balance, such as paid-time-off, vacations, and comprehensive benefits. In high-pressure jobs where these things are not available to employees, the workforce regularly experiences burnout and lack of engagement. When leadership is ignorant or inattentive to these issues within their corporation, it drives corporate culture down and contributes to the overall detriment of the workplace.

7. Employee Apathy = Poor Corporate Culture

Every employee has substandard days for a myriad of reasons, but when the workplace is constantly plagued by low energy and low morale, it spreads like a cancer throughout the organization. Employees who are engaged in the workplace increase productivity and customer experience. When apathy spreads throughout the workplace, it usually indicates that the root cause is pervasive, effects everyone, and needs to be neutralized as soon as possible.  

6. Pervasive Problems

If your organization is running into the same problems quarter to quarter, this is a major red flag. The nature of the problems are insignificant—whether it’s a problem with internal processes or multiple complaints of harassment, the fact that the problem continues to thrive within the workplace indicates that there is a fundamental issue with internal processes or personnel. While each issue may have resolved initially, the root of the problem was never identified or addressed. A healthy cycle of corporate culture cannot grow in such an environment.

5. Poor Investments in People

When it comes to hiring and promoting employees, sometimes leadership does not always make a sound investment in a single employee. It happens in every business, where a new hire or promoted employee does not meet expectations as predicted. This can bring internal operations to a screeching halt, whether executives elect to correct this poor investment via termination and turn-over, or to ignore the issue and allow that employee to continue stalling the corporation’s mission.

4. Questionable Ethics

“Questionable ethics” does not mean that it’s apparent that there is illegal or ethically unclear practices taking place within the workplace—otherwise it would be much higher on this list. “Questionable ethics” actually refers to individual employees’ understanding and ability to explain their company’s values. Regardless of intent, corporations are sometimes vague about their mission or values, using rosy words that denote a company with integrity and passion for bringing their products and consumers together. This can make it difficult for employees to intellectualize company goals and vision. When the workforce does not have a clear, common goal to achieve as a whole, employees can easily become detached and apathetic.

3. Lack of Accountability

When corporate culture is healthy, there is a mindful unity throughout the workforce, in which individual employees are content, engaged, and working towards the same goal. When the corporate culture is poor, individual employees at all levels refuse to take responsibility when something goes wrong. Lack of accountability for a mistake or oversight leads to a great deal of finger-pointing and shrugging in meetings and over email, and slows down the wheels of progress within a corporation or organization.

2. Bad Behavior in Leadership

Corporate culture audits can catch some of the most elusive culprits of tainting corporate culture: Executives and leadership. The old adage goes, “The fish stinks from the head,” meaning that most distasteful things within a company or organization can be traced back to leadership. Whether it is a supervising manager or an executive, bad behavior on behalf of leadership always trickles down into the rest of the workforce, because the supposition is, “If the boss is doing this, it must be okay.” This applies to all levels of bad behavior, from theft to malingering and everything in between.

1. Lack of Diversity

The number one indicator that your company or organization might need a corporate culture audit is a lack of diversity in the workforce. Any corporate culture that is homogenized with regards to race, gender identity, sexual orientation, or even age lacks the inherent ability to grow and change. Leadership in the workplace—management and executive positions—are dominated by cisgender, straight, white men, who are statistically projected to hire other individuals who are also in this category. Individuals in this category are hired, mentored, and promoted more than others, which feeds into a cycle of stagnation that will ultimately hurt the company or organization. The value of diversity comes with the support of trusted employees from many walks of life—employees who have had different life experiences and have a perspective that can reinvigorate an organization’s vision or mission—ensuring that the pursuits of the workplace are growing and changing along with the rest of the economy.

Why Missing Office Supplies Are a Sign of Poor Corporate Culture

by Carie McMichael | May 24, 2023 | Corporate Culture

When you’re at the helm of an enterprise in motion, it might not seem that a missing stapler could derail you, but what if this tiny example of employee theft is just the tip of the iceberg? In truth, a steady drift of office supplies should be seen as stark waves of warning—because they are a measurable metric for the health of your corporate culture. 

Yes, someone raiding the supply closet might not seem like a serious form of employee theft, but don’t be fooled. When culture in the workplace begins to erode, it often marks a beginning of a steady slide into more troubled waters ahead. If you want to avoid future woes such as inventory losses, malingering, embezzlement, and fraud, then this article is for you. Let’s look at the facts.

Why Small-Scale Employee Theft Requires a Serious Response

While its true that missing office supplies can be the handiwork of a single trouble-making employee who slipped through the net of your recruitment screening process, it is important to ask yourself: might it suggest that there is a problem with your wider organizational culture?

Perhaps you’re a whiz at spotting employees engaged in the act of petty theft—you might even enjoy apprehending them. However, if you’ve come to expect their presence and encounter them frequently, then you are accustomed to an unnecessary reality. In fact, not only is it unnecessary, but you also have to wonder, what is the accumulated value of all of those drifting supplies? What if employees comfortable with stealing are finding other ways to rob you of your assets? Perhaps most poignantly, what will this be doing to the morale of your honest employees—are you losing high-caliber talent because your company culture has soured?

Fixing Corporate Culture to Eliminate Employee Theft

Sure, some people feel entitled to steal from the get-go, but in many cases, this behavior didn’t manifest in a vacuum. Employees who feel disgruntled in one way or another can often slide into feeling that the company owes them recompense. This might be due to poor leadership attitudes, an unhealthy cliquey environment, being overlooked too many times for advancement without understanding why, or feeling stressed and overstretched by unrealistic expectations and a lack of work-life balance—to name but a few examples.

Making matters more complicated, as soon as a company grows beyond a small team, it becomes increasingly challenging for the central leadership team to keep tabs on culture as it evolves. At times, it is the most trusted and long-serving managers who are unwittingly dropping spanners between the gears, while at others, a bad hire can become a bad apple that rots much of the barrel before being identified. This is exactly why those little office supply losses should be viewed as a canary in the coal mine. 

If you’re lucky, then company culture breakdown is in its earliest stages and you can course-correct immediately. If you are less fortunate, you’ll at least be able to uncover serious problems and stop financial losses before they get any worse. In either case, a Corporate Culture Audit is an excellent place to start. 

We Can Help

This savvy service from Lauth Investigations International will afford you a birds-eye view of your organization’s inner workings. Once armed with the facts, you can explore following our guidance on how to enhance the health of your corporate culture, launch fully supported investigations into any employee misconduct discovered, and eliminate any procedural vulnerabilities to minimize future risk. Are you ready to learn more? Then connect with our corporate investigations team today and lets get those office supplies back where they belong.