How to Create the Best Work Culture in a Startup

As the tech industry witnesses high attrition rates, work culture is in the spotlight again. Given the abundance of funding in the ecosystem, startups have to offer more than just the best compensation; the right work culture may just be the differentiator that attracts high-quality talent. Let’s first start by understanding what “work culture” actually entails.

Work culture is a combination of vision, attitude, values, that defines the way your people act and react to different scenarios. This builds the overall atmosphere in a workplace. Typically, in start-ups, the culture is strongly influenced by the founders of the company vs. the larger organisations where the culture is promoted and invested in heavily with conscious effort.

Spoiler Alert: You Already Have a Work Culture

Work culture is crucial from the time we set up a company and hire the very first employee because this becomes the organization’s foundation to overall happiness, productivity, and growth.

In the initial stages of startups, founders are usually busy setting up their business, and more often or not, culture gets neglected. They believe it’s something they will focus on down the track, when they hit 50 employees, 100 employees or more.

Little do many realise, that they have a culture from the moment they take on an employee. In fact, your culture has already kicked in if you have two or more founders. You may be unaware of it, but there’s already a culture attached, and it is up to you to help craft a strong, positive one.

Key Benefits of Positive Work Culture

Work culture is as vital as your business strategy because it can either strengthen or undermine your objectives.

· Employees can get on with their jobs, improving productivity, rather than focus on what is going wrong with the organization and the leadership team.

· Employees are proud to work for positive organizations and share their experience with their social networks, enhancing the company brand.

· Knowledge and experience are shared between employees, which improves efficiency, productivity, and performance.

· People enjoy coming to work and are more committed to the organization, reducing the immense costs of turnover.

· Employees go home happier and more satisfied, which impacts their families and friends.

Work Culture

Examples

”People Over Process.”

Netflix has a set of ideals in which they strongly believe and want their employees to live out in their job.

“Culture of Camaraderie”

Customers are embraced as part of their culture; they even bake a cake each time a new customer goes live.

HubSpot’s Culture Code Treats Culture Like a Product

Transparency and trust are essential to HubSpot’s success, operating with a default to open policy.

Employees are considered insiders, ensuring they know everything that affects the company before the press or investors do.

HubSpot’s culture is built on the foundation that power is gained by sharing knowledge, not hoarding it.

Airbnb: A Culture Where Anyone Belongs

Airbnb has managed to build a culture that is not only committed to its purpose and core values but also, a relentless belief in candid two-way communication.

The thumb rule is that nobody should hear about anything externally until they are first told internally.

The perfect example of this are leadership meetings – employees get the notes of everything that was discussed just 24 hours after each executive meeting.

How to Set up the Right Work Culture?

· To start building the work culture of your dreams, first, emphasize your core values.

· These should be the foundation of everything that happens at your company and guide your organization’s evolution.

· Dedicate as much time as necessary to ensure everyone is aligned and include leadership, long-term employees, and HR representatives so all significant parties can weigh in.

· In the end, you should have a concise list of values that accurately reflects your current company culture and long-term goals.

· Then, think about the type of work culture you want to create. Consider everything from the physical layout of the office to how frequently employees interact with their colleagues, managers, and members of the C-Suite. From there, the real work begins.

In Summary

Creating a positive, strong company culture at a startup is one way to help ensure the longevity of your business. Taking time out to find out how the team is feeling and what your shared values are is an excellent start towards building a company culture that will last as your team expands and your business gets bigger.

Even at an early stage, you are creating a culture, whether consciously or not, so set aside time to nurture it the way you want it to grow. At the Affine DeepCamp accelerator program, I mentor startups to establish a framework for a workplace culture that can sustain and fuel the high pace growth momentum.