87 percent of organizations cite culture and engagement as one of their top challenges (Deloitte, 2015). A bad or non-existent company culture can make people feel alienated at work, and can cause them to lose faith in managers. If you don’t feel happy at work and don’t agree with the companies’ approach to its’ employees, you’re unlikely to produce the highest quality of work.
Improving your company culture can’t be done overnight, but it’s easy to make a few quick changes to help you on the way. Below we will give some simple suggestions you can use to help improve your company culture and morale.
Fika
The Swedish concept of Fika relates to getting together for a coffee, normally with cake, and is central to a lot of Swedish culture and business practise. Many businesses in Sweden will take a “fikapaus” (fika pause) once or twice a day, where employees will sit together and have coffee and cake with each other to talk and share ideas.
By getting your team or office to all step away from their desks, and socialise over coffee and food you are building networks, encouraging communication and starting new conversations.
Create “collisions”
Creating places where people bump into each other (not literally) is a simple but effective way to get people talking. Chats by the watercooler are a welcome respite, and can help employees express ideas and feel more comfortable with one and other.
Create a space for people to eat lunch together rather than at their desk, make sure your outside spaces are designed for more than just smokers and get sofas to encourage more face to face interactions.
Coffee
Coffee ties in to both above suggestions. Bring your coffee in-house to help people integrate with each other, share ideas and feel more comfortable at work. You could even set a “no open hot drinks at your desk” rule, to encourage your employees to socialise with each while at work. The coffee machine will create an excellent “collision” in your office, and will keep your employees smiling. You will also save on lost time from people waiting in line at your local coffee shop!
If you think your company culture could benefit by bringing your coffee in-house, please do not hesitate to contact us via phone on: 07715 003 552, or visit our website at: http://www.harries-coffee.com/
References
Deloitte. (2015, February 27). Culture and engagement. Retrieved from Deloitte Insights: https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/human-capital-trends/2015/employee-engagement-culture-human-capital-trends-2015.html