Workplace culture is the most crucial aspect of an employee’s satisfaction in many workplaces. They have different and unique cultures that all the employees and employers adopt when they engage with the company. Culture is the character and personality of an organisation. It is what makes a business or a company unique and is the sum of its values, traditions, beliefs, interactions, behaviors, and attitudes. A positive workplace culture attracts positive minds, and talent impacts happiness, and satisfaction, and drives engagement. Aline Uwamahoro, a sales person, explains that workplace culture is determined by leadership, and a positive culture in the workplace is driven by a good leader. “Leadership shows how things go in a company, if a company or an organisation has a bad leader, the workplace culture will be very negative and bad which affects the employees and it shows that there is a need to revisit the values and behaviors in the company, that is why for a positive work culture to be present the leaders must also a good leader, the one that engages with employees, listens to ideas, accepts change and suggestions and allows participation,” she says. “For workplace culture to improve and be better it must start with the leadership at work. The leader should examine themselves, and listen to employees if there are any changes needed to happen around the organisation, it is important to listen because employees might be complaining about the culture, or they may have suggestions on how they want things to go, basically, there should be a collaboration between the leader and employees,” she adds. Jacqueline Umuhoza, a Personal Assistant, stresses encouraging mentorship in the workplace as a way of improving workplace culture. “In a company, employees are hired every single day, some may come with skills and some others might have no skills at all but the will to learn. When those employees enter a place where they receive a kind of mentorship it drives them to be more engaged and also it signals to existing employees and new hires that the company values collaboration which creates a healthy culture,” she says. According to Umuhoza, in a lot of companies many management staff or leaders think that being transparent in their decision-making, way of leading, or reasoning is weak, but instead being transparent is a good way of building trust in the company and incorporating a good culture. “If in your company, organisation, or workplace you lead without being transparent at all, you might consider improve your ways for the company to improve its work culture transparency needs to be also looked into because when you lead your employees with a shed on it leads them to doubt or second guess your ideas, decision making, and reasoning, a workplace culture also includes being transparent,” she says. Yvan Masabo, an IT officer, says that to improve the workplace culture, companies need to value feedback and seek it periodically. “To help with your recurrent assessment, ask for feedback from your team periodically. When your team raises areas of concern, that unease may be the first sign that your workplace culture is diverging and you must start the process over again, making the workplace a more pleasant place is an important part of being an effective leader. Thus, tweaking your team culture to make members feel more included and comfortable to work at their best is one of the top skills a manager has,” he states. In Matthew Rolnick’s article, the Vice President of sales at Yaymaker, an event management company in Boston, Massachusetts being flexible with employees is a good way of improving the workplace culture. “Every employee has their own unique set of circumstances, personal schedules, and needs. Some employees are morning people, some employees are night people, some employees want extra attention, and other employees want less. Although everyone needs to be on the same page with most meetings, communication, and deadlines, work on being more flexible with your employees’ schedules,” he says. Rolnick’s article also suggests encouraging each of the employees to be their authentic selves as another way of improving the workplace culture. “Everyone has their unique personality, hobbies, style, and passion. No one wants to be a robot or a number. Obviously, there should be some guardrails, but the more you allow your employees to freely express themselves, the happier and more productive they will be,” he adds.
