With Google increasing the parental leave from 18 to 24 months, debates around company culture are again in trend. Company culture is a concept that is easier to experience than to describe. It is beyond perks and benefits, shiny workspaces and goodies and even though it seems abstract, culture is the only sustainable competitive advantage that is completely within the control of the entrepreneur/leadership.
That’s why Louis Gerstner, former CEO of IBM said so well, “I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.” A study by the University of Warwick titled ‘Happiness and Productivity released in 2021 echoes this- ‘When a positive culture is implemented, happy employees are a result and they are 12% more productive than their counterparts.’
It’s not just the tech companies- culture permeates every industry. Starbucks in particular has been a leader. The CEO of Tata Starbucks, India, Navin Gurnaney explains, “The goal of Starbucks is not just to make the workplace safe, but also to ensure that people can enjoy their work at their own convenience. We always prefer that our people commute for not more than one hour. In fact, there have been instances, where, keeping in mind the convenience of commuting, we have transferred women employees from one shop to another, sometimes even to another part of the country post their marriage.”
Quick Service Restaurant (QSRs) too, have realised that while it is easy to focus on a spotless environment for customers, it is even more important to have a positive environment for the employees. And company culture keeps doesn’t cultivate itself, it needs to be nurtured.
Dheeraj Gupta, MD of Jumboking talks about persistent training as a key factor that impacts company culture. “Talent is a multiplier. However, A company can never buy emotional commitment from its managers by spending alone. It is the vision and intent of the entrepreneur that matters. “
What Gupta is saying also extends to the fact that not only are companies evaluating potential employees, but also vice versa. Given that we have all survived a very ambiguous future during COVID, gifted professionals are definitely not willing to risk a future of working in an organisation that does not value them.
Perhaps that’s why the worlds leading QSR, McDonald’s has a workplace culture that supports the company’s industry positioning goals. The company uses its organizational culture to attract customers and qualified employees. McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski says, “When I joined the organisation, I tried to mail every employee for what we stand for and what they look forward to from the organization. We look forward to a better journey, but culture matters the most, it decides where we want to be and what we aspire as a company.”
Perhaps Paulo Coelho said it best, “Culture makes people understand each other better. And if they understand each other better in their soul, it is easier to overcome the economic and political barriers.”