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What Is The Importance Of Company Culture Training?

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by Simon Lythgoe

Company culture is currently a hot topic. Ever since the New York Times exposed the reality of Amazon’s business culture as “bruising” in 2015, a process of self-examination has been undertaken in many organisations across the globe. If one of the most successful businesses in the world could have such a negative culture then any enterprise could suffer the same fate. Today, thanks to the focus the media has placed on creating a healthy company culture, the likes of Amazon, as well as Google and Netflix have all begun to make this a priority.


Defining company culture

The nature of company culture is that it is a shared way of doing things. It’s the thinking and approach that most people within the business take, and do, on a day-to-day basis. Company culture can be positive or negative – it can also be non-existent. It’s increasingly becoming something that potential employees enquire about when looking for a new role and also has a big part to play in brand perception.

 

Company culture training

Currently, the large majority of businesses don’t provide company culture training for new, or existing, employees. Rather than focusing on company values, mission, and culture any training that is provided to new recruits tends to be more about compliance, technical skills and business practices. This is despite the fact that new hires are usually much more concerned about issues that relate to the culture of a business they are joining – such as fitting in – than about the technical aspects of a role. As a result of this disconnect, only around a third of new employees feel that they received onboarding training that was adequate to equip them to tackle the challenges that lay ahead in a new job.

 

Why is it so important to integrate company culture training?

  • To build (and reinforce) a company culture that will benefit your business. Without company culture training, new – or existing – employees won’t be aware of what the business really values and what its goals and objectives are. The only way to ensure that these are truly shared is to provide training.

  • Giving new employees a positive first impression. If you want to welcome people into your business and enable them to integrate effortlessly, it’s essential to provide at least some company culture training. Otherwise the onboarding experience that many people have can be disappointing and frustrating.

  • Avoiding attrition. There is evidence to suggest that many employees are looking to work for organisations that share their visions and values. Where there is an obvious fit, and effort is put into preserving culture via training etc, staff are much more likely to stay for the long haul. This can help to reduce the disruption of high attrition rates and create more of a sense of loyalty and being part of a team.

 

Company culture is an essential consideration for every organisation today. Training is one of the simplest and most effective ways to ensure that the culture that underpins your business is strong.