Multi-level marketing (MLM) companies have been around for decades, promising a path to financial independence and success to those willing to invest time and money into their products and recruitment systems. However, the corporate structure of these MLMs are often inherently problematic. These flawed structures are just part MLM corporate culture, but not everyone is aware of how toxic they can be.
Multi-level marketing companies can be very diverse in their industry and product type, but they typically do share one crucial characteristic: One of the biggest issues with MLM corporate culture is the pressure to recruit and build a downline. MLM companies rely heavily on recruiting new members and encouraging them to recruit others in turn, creating a pyramid-like structure. The pressure to constantly recruit and build a larger downline can be overwhelming, with distributors often feeling like they are letting down their team or missing out on potential income if they aren’t actively recruiting. This pressure can lead to a culture of manipulation and exploitation, where distributors are encouraged to prioritize recruiting over actually selling products. In fact, some MLM companies have been accused of being pyramid schemes because their compensation plans heavily favor recruitment over product sales.
Another issue with MLM corporate culture is the emphasis on personal development and self-improvement. While personal growth can be a positive thing, MLM companies often use it as a way to control and manipulate their distributors. Distributors are told that if they just work harder, believe in themselves more, and attend more company events, they will be successful. This can lead to a culture of victim-blaming, where distributors who aren’t successful are seen as not working hard enough or not believing in themselves enough, rather than acknowledging the systemic issues within the MLM industry.
Furthermore, MLM corporate culture can be isolating and all-consuming. Distributors are often encouraged to distance themselves from friends and family members who are skeptical of the MLM model, and to spend all of their free time attending company events, making sales calls, and recruiting new members. This can lead to a loss of social support outside of the MLM community and a dependence on the company for validation and social interaction.
Finally, MLM corporate culture can be financially devastating for many distributors. The pressure to constantly buy products to maintain their status within the company and the expectation that they will invest significant amounts of money into attending company events can lead to significant financial strain. In addition, many distributors are paid only on commission and are not provided with any benefits or job security, making it difficult to plan for their future or support themselves and their families.
The corporate culture within multi-level marketing companies can be incredibly toxic, with a heavy emphasis on recruitment, manipulation, isolation, and financial strain. While MLM companies may promise a path to financial independence and success, the reality for many distributors is quite different. It is important for individuals to educate themselves about the risks associated with MLMs and to seek out alternative ways to achieve their goals.
Workplace culture is crucial to a company’s success. The culture is what determines how employees within the organization behave. When executed correctly, company culture aligns the company’s mission, vision, values, and goals. It is no longer a secret that when employees are happy, they become more productive, and the workplace will likely achieve outstanding success.
Most employees consider a positive company culture highly instrumental to business success. According to Deloitte’s research, an estimated 94% of executives and 88% of employees think a positive and distinct company culture is essential for business success. This is probably because a positive company culture has a way of increasing employee engagement. In addition, a positive corporate culture attracts and retains talented employees committed to working hard to help it achieve its short and long-term objectives.
Many managers and business owners may already know the importance of a great corporate culture. But the big question is; Do they know how to create a work environment where employees want to stay? A great way to start as a manager is by implementing fantastic benefits that improve workplace culture. Here are some of the benefits that can help turn your workplace into a positive and thriving environment;
1. Encourage physical activity
You can help improve your workplace culture by encouraging your employees to be more physically active. Nowadays, the importance of a healthy lifestyle can never be overemphasized. It prevents diseases and keeps people fit, improving their moods and self-esteem. In addition, regular physical activity can improve energy levels and concentration, making your employees excel according to their full potential. Physical activity can also reduce stress, anxiety, and depression among your employees. A healthier workforce can lead to lower healthcare costs and lower absenteeism rates.
There are, however, several ways of encouraging your employees to be physically active. For example, you could provide a well-equipped on-site gym for them, allowing them to exercise after working hours or on weekends. Alternatively, you could subsidize gym membership to encourage them to register at off-site gyms. Also, as a manager, you could start a company’s sports team or encourage your employees to participate in group fitness classes. Whatever you do, make sure there are options for everyone to find an activity that works for them.
2. Offer flexible work hours.
A company that offers flexible work hours has a way of motivating its employees to be highly productive. The significant advantage of providing your employees flexible work hours is that it gives them the freedom to work when they are most effective. For example, with flexible work hours, employees who are more productive in the mornings can work morning shifts, while those more productive later in the day can work afternoon shifts. As a result, flexible work hours improve work/life balance and increase job satisfaction. It can also help attract and retain top talent.
If you need help implementing flexible work hours, you can always start by surveying your employees to see what would work best for them. In addition, you could also offer a trial period to see how it works before making any permanent changes.
3. Provide free or discounted meals.
Free or discounted meals are a great way to show your employees that you appreciate and care about their wellbeing. Besides, providing your employees with free or discounted meals will also help them save money and time. For example, if you offer them free meals during lunch, they may not have any reason to commute to other parts of the city to have lunch during breaks. Also, they get to save money they would have otherwise used to buy their meals.
Nevertheless, one of the best ways to provide free or discounted meals to your employees is to partner with a local restaurant or a catering company. You could also set up a lunchroom in the office with equipment such as a fridge, microwave, and coffee maker. Whatever you do, ensure that the options guarantee healthy eating habits for your employees.
4. Offer paid time off for volunteering.
As a manager, you could also improve your workplace culture by encouraging employees to give back to their communities. The best way to achieve this is by offering them paid time off for volunteering. Paid time off for volunteering shows employees that you value their time and commitment to making a difference in their communities. Moreover, it’s also a great way to build team morale and camaraderie.
However, to offer paid time off for volunteering, start by partnering with a nonprofit. You could also encourage employees to volunteer for company-sponsored events. Whatever you do, give your employees notice so they can plan their time off accordingly.
When it comes to your workplace culture, the costs associated with offering employees a better quality of life while on your team can be far less than the costs associated with turnover. Employee retention goes up and happy employees yield a higher level of output than employees who are dissatisfied with their work-life balance.
The rise and fall of the blood-testing company, Theranos, has already been heavily documented through journalism, a podcast, and a documentary. Consumers have long been privy to the meteoric ascent of alleged wunderkind, Elizabeth Holmes, who started the company when she was only 19 years old in 2003 in the pursuit of developing a method of testing blood that required smaller samples and vastly shorter testing times, all by a machine. As many of us know now, this was eventually proven to be false. While Holmes’ attempts to turn the medical technology industry on its ear may have gone off the rails there has been recent discourse regarding how companies across the entire economy can learn from the mistakes of Theranos’ harmful organizational culture that played a role in its ultimate undoing.
The harmful organizational culture of Theranos likely played a large role in allowing the company to subsist for so long on fraudulent claims to both investors and consumers. Because dishonesty and cutting corners were a major part of the culture within the company, employees at all levels were forced to make a choice to either be complicit in the fraud, or walk away from the operation entirely. However, in examining the culture of fear that Holmes managed to foster throughout her tenure with the company, it’s worth noting how management and executives must be viigilant of similar behaviors within their own corporations to protect themselves against harmful organizational culture.
No Fear Careers
The culture of fear within Theranos was practically by design when it came to defrauding investors. Employees feared they would be subject to litigation or loss of employment if they asked too many questions or became too loose-lipped regarding Edison. This was the first prong in perpetuating the fraud. The second prong was how the harmful organizational culture leaked outside the company to third parties. Not only did it prevent internal employees from blowing the whistle on Theranos’ shortcomings, but it also prevented those outside the company from asking vital questions. Experts who had been contracted to consult or work directly on the project were scrutinizing the capabilities of Edison, but Elizabeth Holmes and her associates were successful in silencing these detractors. As a result, there was never an honest and critical dialogue of Theranos’ mission and values, which contributed to its destruction in 2015.
Discerning Doers
Fear is just one way that harmful organizational culture can poison the company well. One of the greatest marks of a company’s culture can be the measure of those who were either willing or unwilling to hitch their horses to its wagon. It’s easy to dismiss a lower-level employee who could have walked away from the company for a laundry list of reasons. However, the departure of most enmeshed professionals deserves a closer look. Theranos and Holmes poached engineers and technicians from corporate giants such as Apple and reputable scientists to consult on Edison, but when those professionals balked or dissented along the way, they left the project. Advertisers also began to jump ship when their confidence in the product were understandably shaken. What’s important for other business owners to understand is that when there is a pattern of employees or contractors headed for the door, their must be steps in place to ensure the full picture is in crisp focus—things like exit interviews detailing their reasons for leaving, so that any toxic aspects of the company culture will be brought to light.
Corporate Culture Checkup
With the concept of corporate culture encapsulating so many different aspects of a business’ organizational structure, most in leadership are unsure of where to begin when it comes to evaluating it. However, if there’s one main takeaway from the Theranos’ collapse, it’s that corporate culture must be periodically evaluated in order to maintain the company’s mission and values. Because Theranos executives did not prioritize maintaining their corporate culture, a harmful rot was able to infect the organizational structure, and persistently grow over a decade. Not only must leadership invest in having their corporate culture evaluated, but once they have the full picture, they must take concrete steps towards adjusting day-to-day operations, acquiring new tools and methods for reinforcing their culture, and holding any employees who have been involved in misconduct accountable for their actions.
The modern workplace is ever-changing, and with that comes new challenges for employers regarding maintaining a safe and comfortable environment for their employees. As an employer, one of the best ways to ensure your workplace is safe and up to par is by conducting a company culture audit.
A company culture audit thoroughly examines your workplace culture and policies to identify areas requiring improvement. It is often conducted internally to enable managers to see just how well their employees communicate and act and how well the organization’s values are reflected in the employees at every given time.
A culture audit is essential for organizations for several reasons;
It can help point out culture problems.
After a thorough culture audit, the management can uncover several things, including dissatisfied employees, communication issues, and other hidden issues that adversely affect the organization’s culture.
It helps improve the workplace culture.
Managers and business owners can only improve their workplace cultures after measuring them. A culture audit, therefore, helps organizations target all those areas and sectors that require improvements. Besides, a thorough company culture audit can suggest the appropriate initiatives for implementation.
It gives employees freedom of speech.
In most organizations, employees rarely have the opportunity to speak up when they notice a problem with their culture. However, a culture audit allows employees to voice their opinions about the things affecting their culture.
Evaluates how well your efforts have impacted your organization’s culture
As a manager or business owner, you must have taken several steps to create a healthy company culture. Nevertheless, it can be hard to tell the effectiveness of your steps without a proper culture audit. However, through a culture audit, you can get to know the extent your organization’s culture is improving, so you can, in turn, make relevant adjustments.
It helps you retain talents.
Above all, a company culture audit will help you retain your employees. There are indications that most employees would prefer to work in companies with a better culture. According to statistics, 48% of employees who believe their company culture is poor often seek new employment. But then, a company culture audit will help you determine whether your employees are happy, so you can make adjustments and changes before they decide to leave.
However, when conducting a company culture audit, there are a few areas you need to focus on to ensure that your workplace is a safe and welcoming environment for all of your employees. They include;
Workplace safety
Workplace safety comprises an integral part of the workplace culture. Unlike in unsafe work settings, employees are generally happier in safer work environments. Therefore, while doing a culture audit of your organization, you must determine if your existing policies and procedures adequately address safety concerns. You must also find out if the working environment is free of potential hazards. And above all, are your employees trained on how well to stay safe at work? Finally, of course, you should be ready to modify your procedures or suggest actionable steps to improve safety within your organization at the end of the culture audit.
Workplace environment
A favorable workplace environment is undoubtedly more attractive to employees. However, the truth is that when the working environment is conducive, employees can easily work according to their full potential, which is often reflected in high productivity and high-profit margins. Therefore, during your company’s culture audit, you need to determine whether your workplace is comfortable and conducive to productivity. For example, find out if your employees can take breaks when needed and whether they have access to all the necessary resources to do their jobs effectively. Again, after the findings, you should be able to make proposals and take steps toward improving the workplace environment.
Employee wellbeing
Employee wellbeing refers to an organization’s overall physical, mental, emotional, and economic health. Positive employee wellbeing is reflected in high rates of employee retention, higher levels of productivity, and higher profit margins and returns on investment. Therefore, as a leader or manager, you must determine if your employees are supported in their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. And, of course, the best way to find this out is through a culture audit. During the audit, be intentional about finding out if they have access to affordable and quality healthcare. Also, ask them if they have a good work/life balance and take the proper steps to improve their wellbeing.
Diversity and inclusion
Diversity and inclusion are also critical in most workplaces. There is always a cause for concern when certain groups of people feel discriminated against within the workplace. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that diversity and inclusion be one of the most significant areas of focus during a culture audit of an organization. The culture audit is, therefore, the perfect opportunity to find out if your workplace represents the diversity of your community and whether or not your employees feel valued and included, irrespective of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or other identities.
Sexual harassment and discrimination
Whether we admit it or not, sexual harassment and discrimination are more common in workplaces than many people want to admit. And, of course, it takes a toll on individual victims and the organization. Therefore, it is crucial to focus on sexual harassment and discrimination during a culture audit. You should ask yourself whether you have implemented the right policies and procedures to prevent and address sexual harassment and discrimination within your organization. Also, you must determine if your employees know of such policies and procedures.
In the United States, the corporate landscape is ever-growing and changing based on consumer needs. As companies seem to only get bigger, it’s understandable how a working professional would not want to be just another cog in the corporate machine. This is one of many reasons why startups are so attractive in concept to the workforce, especially young professionals who are just beginning to build a resume. The unmitigated potential to rise through the ranks is often one of the biggest reasons former employees choose to dismiss the risk associated with working for a startup. But before you sign paperwork to become part of a unique mission or vision, there are questions you should have prepared for an interviewer with promises of free lunches and an “exciting work environment.”
First and foremost, there is no such thing as a one-sided employment interview. A prospective employee should use the interview as an opportunity to ask just as many questions of a prospective employer regarding how well they will fit into the corporate structure. Before submitting to an interview with any startup, it’s important that a candidate do their research and come prepared with inquiries regarding many aspects of a startup’s mission, vision, and culture.
What is the nature of your current cash flow, and what contingency plans do you have in place should funding evaporate?
Young professionals especially will skip this question, either because they’ve never applied for a startup position, or because they don’t expect to understand the answer. However, there is typically information available about a startup’s capital on the internet before asking in the interview. Additionally, the interviewer’s ability to answer this question is directly relevant to the culture of the startup. Even if the interviewer is not a C-level executive, they should be equipped within reason to answer any and all questions a prospective employee might have regarding the startup’s trajectory. Failure to answer this question to the candidate’s satisfaction could be an indicator that the startup is only focused on recruiting bodies for the organization.
What are the onboarding and training procedures associated with this position?
The idea of receiving little to no training may sound ludicrous to both experienced and novice professionals alike. However, the quality of training in the early stages of a startup can be wildly inconsistent across the board. There are some professionals who will feel comfortable with being thrown in the proverbial deep end and learning to swim on their own, but that is why it is crucial to establish the training protocol during the interview so the candidate can determine whether or not they will be able to thrive in the workplace.
What level of input will I be required to have in decision-making?
Some startups are looking for problem solvers, while others are looking for staff who can support the decision-makers in their vision and strategy for the company. Regardless, it’s important to know what is expected of you regarding your professional opinion on day-to-day operations. It is just as important to know what level of value that opinion will be given by management and how flexible they are in weighing diverse perspectives amongst their staff.
What is my projected rate of compensation, and how much flexibility is there that compensation?
One of the biggest red flags in a recruitment advertisement for a startup is vagueness regarding the compensation, especially if it boasts other perks for the job such as free lunches, employee lounges, or merit-based incentives to inspire employees to reach for the stars. This is a common tactic used to get candidates through the front doors of the startup in order to give them the flashy elevator pitch from inside the allegedly exciting workplace. While it’s true that some startups do offer legitimate perks in addition to adequate compensation, candidates must be on their guard and be prepared to ask detailed questions regarding salary.
What can you tell me about this company’s values, and what is your execution plan for maintaining those values?
Once again, this is a question you should ask in any job interview, and the interviewer’s ability to answer this question to your satisfaction are crucial to your decision of joining a startup. A company’s values—startup or otherwise–should always be made crystal clear for all employees, and therefore any employee should be able to answer. Those values must also be intrinsic to day-to-day operations, and must be part of every decision made within the corporate structure. It will impact how management builds trust within their teams, how employees are affected in their long-term tenure, and how well a startup will eventually reach its projected potential. If the interviewer is not able to clearly explain the startup’s values, it’s a enormous red flag that says you should look for employment elsewhere.
If you’ve never had to navigate the corporate world, you know that startups can be a great place for brand new professionals to begin padding their resumes with relevant experience in the corporate world. Startups can serve as a literal springboard for careers across all industries, but there is often an enormous drawback when it comes to small company just starting out—pervasive, toxic corporate culture. Professionals hoping to launch a startup have a duty to be vigilant of signs of toxic startups in order to preserve the longevity of the company in the future.
Ego in leadership
When those at the top of the chain of command fail to recognize the hard work of those employees working under them, it can foster an unfulfilling work environment. Executives with a history of taking victory laps that belong to their employees are sure to poison the well—driving up turnover, exacerbating burnout, and actively contributing to the decline of the company. In order to ensure ego in leadership does not interfere with the company’s mission, leadership should always go out of their way to acknowledge the hard work of their employees.
“Yes-man” complex
Another one of the signs of toxic startups is when those in leadership are unable to take criticism or hear ideas that might not be 100% aligned with their vision of a project or direction to take the startup. When there is no room for criticism from those heavily involved with the nuts and bolts of day-to-day operations, those operations will never improve or become more efficient over time. Consequently, this also creates a workforce full of sycophancy and yes-men who do not feel comfortable bringing problems or new perspectives to the attention of leadership.
Lack of diversity
When everyone in the company looks the same, they will be inclined to make the same mistakes over and over again. Even in workplace environments where criticism is welcomed by leadership, a lack of diversity ensures that the incoming opinions and perspectives will be limited. Without diversity, it’s also unlikely leadership will be able to anticipate or prepare for inevitable consequences as a result.
High turnover
One of the most common signs of toxic startups is high degrees of turnover. Every business should expect some rate of turnover in the course of their operations, but high rates of turnover are a sign that there are pervasive problems with a startup’s culture that are not being addressed. When those problems are ignored, employees quickly become fed up with the inattention and seek employment elsewhere.
The “family” narrative
The smaller a company is, the more likely employees will develop close relationships in pursuit of the company mission. While strong working relationships are important for a business to thrive, no workforce should think of their coworkers as family. Even in the best-case scenario of the family narrative blurs the important boundaries between the employees’ personal and professional lives. Under the worst of circumstances, the family narrative can be weaponized against employees by forcing them to form emotional attachments with their work that prevents them from practicing healthy work-life balance, and distorting their own sense of identity.
