When was the last time you did a health check of your organizational culture? When sat in the executive suit, it can be easy to imagine that the rest of the workplace is a hive of productivity; a well oiled machine. But what if your organizational culture is eroding right in front of you, and you haven’t even noticed?
Employees like knowing that their voices are being heard. So much so, that a recent Salesforce study revealed that this factor alone can infuse your team with a staggering 4.6x capacity to yield their best performance.
To tune into how morale really is on the work floor, an increasing number of businesses turn to organizational culture surveys. Today, we’re going to look for the qualities that should be built into your surveying strategy if you choose to take this route. We’ll also examine when a corporate culture audit may be a better fit for your business needs. So lets get right down to it.
Why Keeping Up With Company Culture is More Important Than Ever
The instability of the last few years has certainly taken its toll on business culture—not only across the United States but around the globe. Where rolling out organizational culture surveys annually would have once been considered an aspirational achievement, these days it doesn’t really make the cut.
The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, transitioning too and from working from home, climactic stresses, and economic uncertainty triggered by the war in Ukraine all add new layers of complexity to your organization’s cultural vulnerabilities. The good news is that keeping tabs on your team with tools like organizational culture surveys or corporate culture audits can enable you to stay ahead of challenges and build in the resilience that will ensure your business thrives no matter the bumps in the road.
Key Features To Look For in Organizational Culture Surveys Software
If you decide to go the organizational culture surveys route—or even combine multiple culture monitoring resources—what kinds of features do you need at your disposal? Digital survey building tools can be exceptionally handy, especially when they have been created with this kind of use in mind. You’ll want to be able to curate tailored questions that are relevant to your business and add company branding as a starting point, but let’s look at what else you’ll need.
Consider whether you’ll want to roll out different types of surveys, such as those looking at Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) which measures how likely your team are to recommended your organization as a good place to work, or pulse surveys which are—as they sound—brief and frequent in nature.
Finally, you’ll want to consider what kinds of analytics you’ll want at your disposal. The right survey software should allow you to track results over time so you can identify the evolution of corporate culture and zero in on teams and departments individually. You may also want access to benchmarks data, letting you compare your business culture’s performance to that of other companies.
When a Corporate Culture Audit Is the Better Option
Surveys certainly sound good on paper, but they need to be structured and strategically targetted if they are going to be an effective tool. Factors such as survey exhaustion—when employees get tired of seeing all those tick boxes—or bias unintentionally built into your survey can compromise its efficacy. If organisational culture surveys aren’t getting you the results you’d hoped for, it might be time to call on something a bit more comprehensive. If you haven’t surveyed your organizational culture before, it may be better to launch into the practice with a more insightful process than a survey alone. Similarly, if you are experiencing an escalation of signs of eroding corporate culture such as clique behavior, employee thefts, high turnover, workplace bullying, and even white collar crime, then organizational culture surveys are going to be akin to applying a band aid to a broken leg.
As part of an ongoing series, Lauth Investigations International is highlighting how poor corporate culture in professional sports starts at the top, and how changes in leadership can change an organization for years to come.
Even those who just casually follow sports news are already aware of the low threshold of behavior required of professional football players to remain in action. The standard of reprisal against football players for bad behavior has rarely even approached the level of appropriate, depending on the misconduct in question—but the Cleaveland Browns have set a new low in dealing with the fallout of Deshaun Watson and the sexual assault allegations made against him by 24 women who refused to be silenced with hush money. Despite these claims (which Watson continues to deny), it seems that at least the repercussions he will face within the NFL will be woefully lacking.
Initially, an arbitrator proffered that Deshaun Watson would face a 6-game suspension from the Browns in light of the allegations made against him, but those stakes were raised when the NFL instead decided to almost double that suspension to 11 games—and threw in a $5 million fine on top of that. While $5 million may seem like a girthy number, it’s nothing compared to the record-breaking contract offered to Watson valued at $230 million to be the team’s quarterback.
When asked about this decision, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam commented that they became “comfortable” meeting with Deshaun Watson following those allegations by the 24 massage therapists, and still decided to award him the contract. Haslam defended this decision by citing the precedent he set with running back Kareem Hunt after he was booted from the Chiefs after video footage surfaced of Hunt knocking a woman to the ground and kicking her. “We strongly believe [Deshaun Watson] deserves a second chance,” Haslam said, “We gave Kareem Hunt a second chance and that worked out pretty well.”
Haslam’s decision to give Deshaun Watson a second chance has already emboldened fans to show support for him in some truly tasteless ways. Outside the Browns’ stadium, one man was selling t-shirts in “support” of Deshaun in the Browns colors that read “B*TCH GIVE ME A MASSAGE!”. In another classless display, a man and a little boy appearing to be his son were also standing outside the stadium holding signs that read “F*CK THEM HOES,” AND “FREE WATSON,” respectively.
The prices that sports teams have willingly paid to keep athlete misconduct quiet and fans happy is far too high. Winning does not fix everything. The willingness to trivialize the literal dozens of accusations against Deshaun White that have been levied in recent months is the kind of inaction that breeds dissatisfaction and malcontent amongst players, employees, and fans themselves. From leadership to fandom, these actions can have very negative ripple effects throughout the organization. To learn more, visit our corporate culture audit page.
As part of an ongoing series, Lauth Investigations International is highlighting how poor corporate culture in professional sports starts at the top, and how changes in leadership can change an organization for years to come.
Vince MacMahon
The world of wrestling has changed significantly for the first time in nearly 40 years. Vince MacMahon, the man whose name is synonymous with the professional wrestling world, has finally retired from the world of what he calls “sports entertainment.” However, after a checkered history in front of the camera as a fictionalized version of himself and behind the scenes as the WWE’s CEO and creative director, those working in the WWE have reported a ‘night and day’ change in the federation following the exit of Vince MacMahon.
Since taking over the business from his father, Vince MacMahon has been largely credited with uniting the professional wrestling world by buying up competing factions of wrestlers throughout the United States and merging them under one banner, what we know today as the WWE. In 2021 alone, the WWE reported more than $1 billion in revenue in their fourth quarter report. At the age of 76, MacMahon announced his impending retirement on July 22 in the wake of a report released by the Wall Street Journal that he had made over $14.6 million in hush money to various women to quell allegations of sexual misconduct.
Following his retirement from the WWE, MacMahon’s daughter, Stephanie MacMahon has been named chairwoman of the company, becoming a co-CEO alongside Nick Kahn, the former head of CAA’s television department. Stephanie MacMahon’s husband, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who rose to wrestling fame in the 1990s, will now be in charge of talent relations and creative—a position previously heavily supervised by Vince MacMahon himself.
The change in leadership is already showing signs of strengthening the company’s corporate culture where it was previously buckling amidst MacMahon’s reported misconduct. According to Mike Johnson from the PWInsider, “One department where that change has been described as ‘massively night and day’ has been inside the company’s production end…there isn’t anyone yelling at the production truck or the announcers anymore since Vince MacMahon, who was extremely heavy-handed verbally over the course of TV productions, is no longer here.”
Since MacMahon’s departure more than a month ago, there have been reports of a dramatic uptick in morale throughout the WWE, with the work environment being characterized as less hostile. The feeling of “walking on eggshells” has disapated with at least one production employee reporting that the change in leadership has “allowed them to ‘feel like it’s fun to work here.”
Within the go-getter world of business, it may seem contradictory that an ethical outlook is essential for success. The hard truth is that when unethical attitudes are adopted in the name of profit, any progress will usually be undermined when the inevitable fallout finally comes knocking. That’s why it’s so important to be familiar not only with the legal hot water that poor business ethics can land you in, but also the brunt that will be born by your team, your company reputation, and ultimately your long term prospects. Read on to discover the need-to-knows on business ethics plus what to do if your organization’s morals have already gone astray.
Bad Business Ethics and Legal Repercussions
A range of laws established and enacted by federal and state governments operate as an ethical safety rail, protecting the economy and America’s citizens from the damage that can be done when business ethics go out the window. Of course, at times larger companies may decide that breaching these laws and paying the associated fines is profitable enough to leave their morals at the door. However, these kinds of decisions often result ultimately in criminal charges and litigation that may eventually even sink the ship. The question is, would you see the iceberg coming in time to course correct?
Poor Business Ethics Are a Poisoned Pill For Corporate Culture
There is nothing like spiraling ethics to destabilize the strength of a team and undermine employee performance, and yet the recent Global Ethics Survey revealed that pressure on U.S. employees to compromise their standards is the highest it has ever been. The sad fact of the matter is that without clear parameters within which to operate, employees can quickly step into loose cannon shoes, disregarding essential protocols and making costly errors in the name of proving their worth. Simultaneously, other employees who see colleagues or leaders bending and breaking the rules are likely to become demoralized. Team-wide trust can quickly be dismantled, with collaboration and creativity sacrificed in the name of hitting short-term targets.
This kind of disengagement and mistrust can rapidly set the stage for an acceleration of things like employee theft, malingering, workplace bullying, and even white collar crime. High-caliber employees who operate with integrity won’t stick around in such an environment, so turnover can be the next sign that the hull of your business ethics vessel has been breached. At this juncture, damage to corporate culture can begin to manifest very much like an infection, with knock-on impacts seen in every area, and complaints and losses leaving leadership and HR running around in circles.
A Crisis In How Your Company is Perceived
With information sharing on social media at an all time high and review sites like Glassdoor growing increasingly popular, you can be certain that news of a business ethics crisis won’t remain under wraps for long. In an era that sees consumers value integrity more than ever when choosing where to invest their hard-earned dollars, the repercussions can be severe is your company’s credibility comes crashing down. Once this particular dam has burst, restoring consumer confidence can be a lengthy and costly undertaking. The key is to strike while the iron is hot—if you know that business ethics are not up to standard within your organization, act now to ensure that the many potential impacts of unethical activities are not allowed to ripple outwards.
How a Corporate Investigator Can Help You Get Business Ethics Back on Track
Many corporate leaders imagine that corporate investigation services are something to call on when crisis point has already been reached and a breach or crime has occurred. While it’s true that this kind of reactive investigative work is a facet of what we do, the corporate investigator also has a powerful role to play in risk prevention and pursuit of optimal performance. Business ethics and corporate culture are intricately interlinked, and an investigation into one will almost always shed light on the state of the other. For any company wishing to raise their business ethics profile—whether aiming to prevent a downward spiral or mitigate damage already done—a Corporate Culture Audit is the best place to start. Our expert corporate investigators will illuminate the root causes that undermined your enterprise’s ethical status in the first place, and help you steer a course toward forging a thriving corporate culture that ensures productivity, innovation, and progress in all the right ways. Learn more about our comprehensive corporate auditing services today, or connect with our team to discuss your unique needs.
In the wake of the so-called “Great Resignation” triggered the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses across America are struggling more than ever to recruit and retain the talent they need to drive profit and progress. What many don’t realize is that while the pandemic may have knocked over the first domino, toxic workplace culture is often the true culprit that keeps them tumbling. So much so, that research indicates that the impact of a vacuum in corporate culture is ten times that of perceived under-compensation when it comes to an employee deciding to quit.
When leaders think that they can pay off the problem without tapping into workplace culture from the employee perspective, it remains impossible to slam on the breaks of runaway turnover. So what is the key to fixing workplace culture and restoring employee retention once and for all? In these instances, a Corporate Culture Audit is the ultimate resource. Only when the holes in workplace culture are seen and understood can the work of repair begin.
Why Improving Retention Should Be High on Your Agenda
Not only can a company expect to have to fork out 200% of an employee’s salary to replace them after they head for the door, but the problem is more pervasive than that. Recent research reveals that employees jumping ship often convince their co-workers to go with them. In fact, so rife is this issue that 38% of employees say they have encountered a coworker who encouraged them to leave their current positions with them. Allowing workplace culture to erode is a sure-fire route to a domino-effect that escalates exponentially.
Going beyond the core issue, it’s also worth considering the fact that poor retention can be only one symptom of a far larger problem. When workplace culture has degraded, productivity is likely to plummet, customer care collapse, and misconduct issues ranging from malingering to employee theft and even white collar crime become far more likely to occur.
What Investing in Workplace Culture Looks Like
If retention issues sit among a cluster of warning signs that workplace culture has gone awry, what is the solution? Job satisfaction is key, but boosting this metric is not as simple as flipping a light switch—it calls for assessing workplace culture holistically. Factors such as strength of communication, leadership styles, achievement recognition, development opportunities, and supportive environment-creation all play their part.
Equally, rooting out negative behaviors and habits is essential if they are to be tackled decisively. Re-evaluating company values and improving development programs will only go so far if workplace bullying and time theft is commonplace. Correcting workplace culture cannot be a band-aid solution—it needs to be approached accurately and comprehensively with no stone left unturned.
Building a Road Map to Stronger Workplace Culture
According to Harvard Business Review, satisfied employees reward their employers with 31% higher productivity, 37% higher engagement, and no less than triple the creativity. If you want your team to excel and innovate, the process begins with understanding your current workplace culture standing.
To aid in this process, Lauth Investigations is proud to serve businesses across the country with comprehensive Corporate Culture Audits. With our assistance, a clear picture of the state of play can be realized and a course can be set towards the kind of high-caliber corporate culture that will enhance employee retention, increase performance, and grow your bottom line. Are your ready to get started? Discover more about the process or reach out to our dedicated corporate investigations team to discuss your needs.
When running a business, there are a number of threats, both internal and external, that could quickly unravel the entire corporate structure, and some in leadership may be uncertain of how to proceed. Whether it’s fraud, employee misconduct, or IP theft, without the proper background in oversight of these challenges, the solution may not be obvious. That’s why many businesses choose to invest in themselves by virtue of retaining a private investigator. Hiring a private investigator for different types of corporate threats is the best way to ensure that leadership is getting the full picture when it comes to making decisions for their businesses.
Private investigators are uniquely suited to investigating corporate threats—both internal and external—because of their autonomy, experience, and their objectivity as a third-party. Different types of corporate threats demand investigators with specific backgrounds, but the base skills needed to neutralize a corporate threat are within a private investigator’s toolchest. Private investigators can have different specialties, like child custody or infidelity, so when vetting candidates for retainer, it’s important to inquire about their specific experience. Types of corporate threats that private investigators can neutralize typically fall into one of two categories: Internal or external threats.
External threats:
Theft – Businesses with physical locations and material capital to steal can find themselves vulnerable to thieves if they do not have the appropriate security measures in place.
IP Theft – When your copyrighted intellectual property is at risk from outside entities, documenting the evidence is crucial and uniquely suited to a private investigator’s skillset.
Security risks – Security risk do not only constitute property, but also the physical safety of all staff working in an office or worksite. Whether the risk is a disgruntled employee or an active shooter, private investigators can survey weak points in business security.
Cyber attacks – Threats to security can also come in through the network. Working together with experts, private investigators can cover those holes in security.
Internal threats:
Internal theft – When capital is disappearing within an unbroken sphere of security, a private investigator can get to the bottom of disappearing property or money within any business or organization.
FMLA and Workman’s Compensation Investigations – Sometimes a staff member’s integrity may be called into question when it comes to FMLA or worker’s compensation claims, but with surveillance operations, private investigators can uncover the fine details of those comprehensive investigations.
Non-compete violations – If there is a reasonable suspicion that a non-compete agreement being violated, private investigators can document that perpetrator’s actions for any impending court action.
Executive misconduct – The more power an employee has, the more damage they’re able to do within their organization, so it’s crucial that due-diligence is performed in investigating claims of executive misconduct.
Harassment and discrimination – Harassment and discrimination are two of the most powerful malignancies in any workplace, and must be dealt with swiftly. In these circumstances, to have an independent third-party like a private investigator to determine who is responsible for the incident.
