Culture Codes of Best Places to Work

Building and maintaining a great company culture is key to becoming a contender for Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list. While not every culture is the same, there are key traits that strong cultures share. Here are the top five, plus tips for achieving them at your company.

Trait #1: Strong Mission and Values

Company mission and vision go hand-in-hand with values. The ease with which employees find themselves aligning with a company’s mission contributes highly to their satisfaction and engagement — both strong drivers for employee retention.

Mission and values checklist:

• Define your company’s mission and use it across your communications, both internally (e.g. on posters throughout your office) and externally (careers page, Glassdoor, etc.)
• Establish a well-defined set of values that your people can refer to as a code of conduct

Trait #2: People

The people that make up an organization are the vehicles for putting company culture to work. One way to ensure your company hires the best people who will live and breathe your culture is through your interview process. Then, once hired, you can retain them through engagement.

People checklist:

• Consider using personality quizzes, like psychometric assessment tools, to screen applicants based on their alignment to your core values
• Incorporate behavior-based interview questions to get a better sense of how people behave as employees
• Help retain hires by fostering their professional development, so they can continue growing their careers and skills

Trait #3: Company Policies

Company policies and procedures establish the rules of conduct within an organization, outlining the responsibilities of both employees and employers. Policies are like the constitution by which your organization is run and are an important driver of positive culture.

Company policies checklist:

• Establish expectations and processes for the grittier aspects of collaboration, like conflict and disagreements
• If it works for your particular organization, consider shortening and simplifying policies to make them easy to pin up around the workplace

Trait #4: Perks and Benefits

Perks and benefits are one of the top five factors job seekers take into consideration when deciding to apply to a job.¹ Although perks should not be confused with company culture, they often help support the kind of working environment that suits your company.

Perks and benefits checklist:

• Make sure you’re selecting the right benefits offering for your employees
• Do a competitive benefits analysis to determine whether your offering is attractive
• Advertise them loud and proud on your careers site, job descriptions and on Glassdoor

Trait #5: Physical workspace and location(s)

Physical workspace impacts the way your employees feel when they come to work each day. The amenities you provide and the location of your workplace can enhance employee satisfaction and productivity, which in turn can have an effect on your company culture.

Physical workspace and location checklist:

• Add personality to your workspace that reflects your culture, whether through decorations or design elements like art or conference room names
• Promote your location’s benefits (in the city center, near the beach, close to great restaurants, easy commute, etc.) in your employer branding