We’re in the era of office culture, and IT talent—or any talent, for that matter—is attracted or repelled by the image you project. If you have a cubicle-entrenched office dripping with old-school harsh rules, Houston, you have a serious problem.
Everyone knows how difficult it is to attract and retain top IT talent in a 4% unemployment market. Having a positive culture could mean the difference between filling or not filling the seats on your bus. Here’s how you can change and then use your culture to attract new candidates to your business.
Building Culture
Good workplace culture doesn’t happen accidentally; it must be built. Workplace culture permeates the air with a strong sense of purpose in the work you’re doing. It’s collaborative and focused on building, growing and sometimes, beating out the competition. It’s an intentional process of setting standards for the work and accountability for employees, but this is done in an engaging way with more carrot and less stick.
Building a company culture starts with a hard look at your organizational goals and values:
- Why do we exist?
- What do we believe?
- Where do we want to go?
While free snacks and an occasional happy hour is part of work culture, it is these tangible goals that will motivate and inspire your employees’ best work.
Support Employee Growth
If a job candidate is looking at you and your nearest competitor, how do your efforts to help your employees grow differ? Today’s tight labor market means these benefits matter more than ever before. Encouraging professional growth is just as important as sponsoring employee events; both are ways to engage and inspire teams. Then, when employees take the plunge to learn new skills, reward them just as loudly as you can for their extra effort.
Lead by Example
You cannot dictate culture from the top of an organization; you must join the team in living it every day. Real culture goes beyond an email or calendar invitation. Culture and the vision and values behind it should be embodied at every level in the organization. From the CEO to department heads and managers, everyone should know and carry forward the culture baton. Good culture is the beating heart of any team and it is something intrinsically a part of every company that has it.
Use Your Culture to Attract Talent
If you want to attract creative, hardworking teams, build and then advertise your culture. The biggest mistake companies make when trying to find new talent is selling the job and not the culture. Especially in IT—we guarantee there are a dozen similar roles out there for most developers. What makes your job special? If the answer is a good workplace culture, you just may find help when you need it the most.
When was the last time you spoke to your employees about your workplace culture? Do you even know what they want? If you don’t, you may run the risk of losing the talent you worked so hard to find. Talk with the Blackstone team about your corporate culture and finding the right IT talent to fit your unique business environment.