No matter their talent or oversight, no business owner or CEO has eyes in the back of their head. Indeed, it is often the case that corporate culture—also known as workplace culture or organisational culture—goes sour before leadership notice the slide. Big problems like employee theft, workplace bullying, sexual harassment, fraud, non-compete violations, and all sorts of other unpleasantries can run rampant under the radar. That’s when it’s time to trigger a corporate culture investigation.
For anyone experiencing an escalation of grievances among their team, bringing in the workplace culture cavalry may be the best possible option. When internal investigations don’t seem to be improving the situation, an overarching corporate culture audit will uniquely illuminate all the real root causes that currently remain in the shadows.
In some instances, corporate entities incorporate an organisational culture audit into their standard practices in order to ensure that pervasive rot of this kind never gets the chance to take hold. However, for those unversed in the value of the corporate culture investigation, read on to discover red flags that should make contacting a workplace culture investigator the next thing on your to-do list
1. Your Team and Leadership Keep Passing the Buck
Accountability is a strong barometer of workplace culture, and when attitudes have devolved to finger-pointing, shrugs, and deflection, you can be certain that corporate culture services are required. When people are passionate about what they’re doing and believe in the values that drive their everyday role, they rarely hesitate to step up to the plate. A corporate culture investigator will be able to map out the issues behind negative patterns, and plot a clear path towards reinvigorating your team’s accountability.
2. Productivity Has Bottomed Out
A drop in productivity and an increase in passing the buck often go hand in hand, but this isn’t always the case. When productivity slows to a snail’s pace, it may be a sign that employees are unhappy, a hostile environment has developed, or communication is not flowing as it should. A workplace culture audit will reveal the source of the down-shift before helping your team get back up to speed.
3. Employees Have Lost Their Moral Compass
Strong employee ethics are a core element of a thriving corporate culture, and when evidence suggests that morality has taken a tumble, it likely means that your team is in the grips of an identity crisis. Fixing this issue requires not only reviewing mission statements and values, but also utilising an organisational culture assessment to see how those ideas are playing out day-to-day. Taking this work further, a corporate culture ethics audit will also reveal if any members of your workforce are behaving nefariously, so you can put a stop to damage being done from the inside.
4. Workforce Diversity Has Diminished and Cliques Are Taking Hold
Modern companies are increasingly clued up on the value of diversity when it comes to building game-changing brands. Conversely, when homogeneity sets in, you can be certain that your company’s potential is being stunted. A lack of diversity in terms of race, age, gender identity, or sexual orientation should always be considered a culture audit red flag. A clique mentality will degrade morale, while blinkered approaches to personnel will rob you of vital talent and innovation.
5. Returns On Your HR Investments Have Stalled
If you keep throwing resources at recruitment, training, and retention, but aren’t seeing the results you desire, then its time to answer some important organizational culture assessment questions. Leadership often don’t realize that they’ve fallen into a groove of poor recruitment, promotion, and training practices, and are actually perpetuating their own disappointment. A corporate culture audit will examine and evaluate these processes, and can even be expanded with corporate background checks.
6. You Can Cut the Tension With a Knife
The idea that working under extreme pressure is valuable has happily long been debunked. Of course, a little healthy adrenaline can be exciting in the workplace, but the balance must always remain tipped away from the perils of workplace burnout. To keep your team firing on all cylinders, it is important to shine a light on the origins of workplace tensions. A corporate culture audit will help you right the ship before it runs aground.
7. Resolving Workplace Problems Has Begun to Feel Like a Game of Whack-A-Mole
Disciplinary procedures, underperformance records, harassment complaints forms, internal corporate investigations: are these pieces of paper beginning to give you a Ground Hog Day vibe? If you’re stuck in a holding pattern, throwing resources at reoccurring issues and trying to patch up the holes made by profits lost along the way, it’s definitely time to make a change.
Does any of that sound familiar? If the answer is yes, then it’s time to change the record. Comprehensive corporate culture investigation provides a wide-angle view of why businesses can’t escape their current groove. More importantly, workplace culture services also aid in building a strategy to step out of that pattern once and for all, uniting teams and driving productivity as never before. Discover more about Corporate Culture Audits from Lauth Investigations, or contact our team directly to discuss your organization’s unique cultural needs.