Strengthening Corporate Culture with Employee Recognition

If your corporate culture is nothing to write home about, you’re probably missing the most important ingredient: recognition. Unfortunately, this potent tool is significantly underutilized. Research shows employee recognition drives better results when integrated into your company’s ethos. The good news is that there are steps you can take right now to correct course. When you truly understand and define your organization's culture, you can leverage recognition to access untapped potential and enrich your employer brand. Let’s explore the top 4 ways to strengthen corporate culture with employee recognition.

What Exactly is Corporate Culture, Anyway?

Corporate culture is the sum of values, beliefs, attitudes, systems, and rules that define and influence employee behaviour. Simply put, it’s the heart of your organization. Culture shapes how your team interacts, and how the outside world views your brand.

But it’s important not to confuse culture with organizational goals or the mission statement. While these elements certainly influence corporate culture, they do not define it. Corporate culture is created through consistent and authentic behaviour, not by press releases or general policy documents.

The Importance of a Strong Corporate Culture

The importance of a strong and healthy corporate culture cannot be underestimated. When well formalized and defined, it yields numerous benefits for the business and your team. Here are the top reasons why you should invest in corporate culture:

• Differentiates you from competitors
• Reduces conflicts and increases employee performance
• Builds a positive employer brand
• Improves the staff selection process

In the latter case, a clear, well-defined, and especially formalized corporate culture helps attract new talent better aligned with your organization's values. This improves performance and reduces employee shortages.

Understanding the Relationship Between Employer Brand & Corporate Culture

The relationship between employer brand and corporate culture is undeniable. The employer brand represents your reputation as a company, based on internal and external perceptions of talent. How your employees perceive the company and act at work defines your company’s culture, which informs how the outside world sees you. Therefore, company culture has a direct impact on your brand image.

However, not all companies manage to align their employer brand with their actual internal culture. Some create recruitment campaigns without really knowing their employees' feelings, leading to an inauthentic image.

Transparency is the new normal. Platforms like Glassdoor allow employees to anonymously share their experiences, thus exposing a company’s true culture. Therefore, your employer brand depends heavily on the authenticity of your corporate culture.

Strengthen Corporate Culture with Employee Recognition

To strengthen your company's culture, here are some best practices to follow:

Step 1: Ensure your corporate culture values align with your business strategy

Your corporate culture should be consistent and tailored to your business strategy. Moreover, it should play a major role in engaging your employees and achieving your goals.

When using recognition to build corporate culture, start by identifying the cultural goals you want to achieve. By defining practices that support your company's goals, you can move forward knowing exactly where strategic recognition should be directed.

Step 2: Use recognition to express the goals & values of your corporate culture

Once goals and cultural values are firmly established, you can tap into the full potential of employee recognition. You must strategically recognize team members who demonstrate the actions and behaviours you want to see. 

In doing so, you leverage key principles of social learning, including positive reinforcement and modelling. When employees are publicly recognized for certain behaviours, they feel valued. This helps strengthen the bonds between employees and their understanding of your company's culture.

Step 3: Continuously assess & refine your recognition strategy

Like any cultural transformation, integrating recognition into your corporate culture and mastering it effectively can take time. To do this, it is essential to frequently assess employee recognition programs to ensure they are fostering your pre-established goals. Through the reinforcement that recognition brings, your employees will better understand what is acceptable and encouraged within the company.

Step 4: Promote quality recognition within your company

If meaningful recognition is not truly embedded in your culture, the benefits will be diminished or negated entirely.  As an employer, you have the responsibility to create a high-impact recognition model. For recognition to become a true element of corporate culture, it must be integrated at all levels of the organization. This means you must be able to recognize your employees' achievements, whether big or small.

Accolad Helps You Successfully Improve Corporate Culture

A strong corporate culture is the secret sauce of a successful organization. It results not only in engaged and satisfied employees but also in a significant increase in performance and profits. A proven way to strengthen this culture is workplace recognition, a powerful act that creates lasting bonds between employees and the company.

This is where Accolad stands out as the uncontested leader in the field of employee recognition. Through our unparalleled expertise, we offer an employee recognition solution that goes beyond just a pat on the back. We provide memorable and customizable gifts that demonstrate your sincere appreciation for each of your employees.

Accolad has helped employers in Quebec, and around the world, recognize their employees during special events. In return, they’ve reaped the benefits of a strong company culture.