Job Satisfaction: Company Culture & Non-Traditional Benefits Outrank Pay
No matter the goal, we can be distracted by the idea of a "pill" we can take to achieve desired results. Whether it is weight loss, health, knowledge, and success, there is a rumor floating around that it can be done quickly and with minimal effort. Unfortunately, as most of us have learned, there isn't a "pill" for long-term change. The same goes for a company's ability to attract and maintain talent - it takes intentional and consistent work.
A toxic corporate culture is the best predictor of which companies will suffer from high attrition and low attraction of talent (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2021). The failure to communicate appreciation through formal and informal recognition, maintain a balanced culture, and provide non-traditional benefits to employees can lead to a company's demise. Compensation can of course influence attrition and lower application rates, but culture and conscientious leadership appears to matter more.
This poses the question of what leaders need to seek and avoid. Organizations have to do the work and eliminate any signs of a "toxic" company culture. A toxic company culture isn't determined by preference or working styles, but is about a lack of balance. When a company tips the scales of competing values, it can create a toxic company culture, then deterring quality employees from applying, staying, and innovating.
Adam Grant, best-selling author and organizational psychologist, outlines the four characteristics that when overemphasized, can lead to a toxic workplace culture:
Relationships / Mediocracy. If you prioritize relationships over everything else, you create an environment that thrives on mediocrity and unaccountability.
Results / Toxicity. You value performance and outcomes so much that you are willing to disrespect, abuse, insult, and preform unethical behavior in the name of business.
Rules / Bureaucracy. Too many rules brings a company away from the goal of stability and extends to demoralization, lack of creativity, and disrupting bureaucracy. Now your company culture is built on paranoia, suspicion, and hostility, leaving those to worry about the rules over their work.
Risky / Anarchy. Decisions are made without coordination, alignment, or discussion, which threatens resources without learning from the mistakes.
These signs of a toxic company culture can forecast catastrophic outcomes. A toxic company culture is 10.4 times more likely to contribute to attrition over compensation (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2022) These powerful predictors of attrition are not easy to fix, but can be overcome by implementing an organization-wide commitment to change. Start by listening and polling your workers. In the chart below, compensation continues to fall underneath other elements of culture like respect, supportive leadership, core values, ethical behavior, non-traditional benefits, job security, and stability.
Corporate culture elements that are most important to employees include feeling respected, supportive leaders, leaders live core values, toxic managers, unethical behavior and non-traditional benefits.
Companies looking to see results within six months, while they work towards a steady, balanced culture have offered non-traditional benefits like some of the examples below:
Ways to poll the worker community to find out what is important to them, what they expect from their employer, and what they hope to achieve during their employment. Workers should have ways to provide their feedback anytime and within any format, whether publicly or anonymously.
Predictable objectives including anticipated schedules, clear performance indicators, transparent timeline expectations, and practical working styles to reduce ambiguity in the role. This can be achieved through regular 1:1s, tracking mechanisms, and collaborative tools to track progress.
Formal mentorship and training programs to help motivate employees and provide opportunities for lateral job changes. Implementing job shadowing programs, cross-team collaboration, and presenting to wider audiences supports innovation, creativity, and a culture of purpose.
Wellness programs that support mental, physical, and financial health. You may opt for programs that reward healthy behavior, offer paid sabbaticals, offer on-site health support, and employee assistance programs to support your employee's overall wellbeing.
Paid time off structures and remote work options that allow for freedom to take time off when needed without disrupting the business. Companies now attract and keep "hard to replace" talent by offering these benefits and being cognizant of a balanced life for their workforce.
Phased retirement programs that allow employees approaching retirement age to continue working with a reduced workload as they transition from full-time employee to full-time retiree.
A leader that cares for their employees' holistic job satisfaction over individual performance scores will reap the benefits of a balanced and effective company culture. One of the best resources to determine how you can improve job satisfaction for your workers, is take the B Impact Assessment. See which companies are impacting the lives of their workers beyond working hours (Best for the World: Workers, 2022) and what exactly have they implemented over the last year.
The best way to achieve your company's goals is to lead an organization that invigorates, not drains, the people driving it forward.
