There are a million things that one has to think about when starting a company, however it is extremely important to not overlook the most important one of all, corporate culture. Corporate culture is set from day one, and it starts from the founders to top executives and down the chain.
A good culture is to be enforced daily and if done properly it will make all employees want to come to work, it will make them proud of where they work at, and make your company feel more personal. Setting up a culture is not an easy task to do. It requires communication, setting up guidelines, expectations, deadlines and contingencies. What time should I come to work? What is the dress code? Who do I report to? Can I work from home? Can I bring my pet to work? Can I take a longer lunch and stay longer at the office? Do I need to work weekends? How many sick days do we get? How many vacation days do I get? What happens if I don’t meet a deadline? What if I decide to work longer hours but come to work at 10am? Does the company give equity? If so, how does it work? These are few of the many questions that you should have an answer for when setting a culture.
When setting up a culture have one thing certain, not all employees will meet the requirements to sustain a healthy culture level. Sometimes it’s a good thing to have a trial period with new employees to see if they are a match or not. If you have doubts of a culture match, let that person go. He or she will will become a greater headache / liability down the road and it will be more difficult to get rid of them at a later time. One bad employee can spoil a company’s culture, causing miss communication and failure in accomplish goals and deadlines.
As a founder or top executive at a company you should remember that it’s better to have greater work load in a healthy environment than less work in an unpleasant place of work. If you are feeling that personalities are not interacting effectively and efficiently, take a look at it and fix it. Don’t let it drag, probabilities are that time will not fix personalities, and time is your most valuable asset, so cherish it.
One bad apple spoils the bunch.
