Most professionals don’t even realize that there are many things they inadvertently do that can cause a lot of damage to company values. Such actions can severely degrade morale and even destroy organizational culture itself. Unfortunately, the people who do these things somehow don’t even seem to realize what they have done. This in turn, directly leads to the creation of cliques and groups. Once that happens the members of said groups start ostracizing the ‘other.’ Here the term ‘other’ is a very broad term that includes everyone who is not part of a specific clique or group. By excluding people from groups, these clique members exercise power over them. In time, the non-members are made to feel inferior to the members. Let us check and see for ourselves how employees can destroy company culture without realizing it:
Body shaming
This is the oldest one in the book. Calling people fat, chubby, or walking skeletons can make them feel discriminated against and destroy their morale. Skinny shaming is an equally harmful exercise and does much the same as well. People who are constantly ragged over their appearance are made to feel ashamed of who they are, and as a direct consequence, what they do. This will in due time, directly affect their work as well. It is absolutely crucial to stop such bullying (inadvertent or otherwise) before it totally destroys the team members’ confidence levels.
Inconsistent mechanisms for rewarding hard work
If a person is very hardworking and expects a raise, a bonus, or a well-deserved company-paid vacation – he or she should get precisely that. When people work very hard indeed, only to see the fruit of all their labors being casually sidelined and people who do half the work getting twice the rewards, they will feel demotivated. It will create tremendous resentment and not only will they not work well, but also discourage others from not working too.
Playing Favorites
Whenever the senior management starts to play favorites, it is clear to all and sundry that there are a few blue-eyed people around. This will eventually create a very toxic environment and before you know it, the employee turnover rate will simply shoot through the roof (not counting the favorites, of course). The overall trust levels in the organization will also start to deteriorate very rapidly. This will end up wreaking havoc on the overall culture of the company as the people who are not on the favorites list will feel very resentful towards those who have it easy. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with building a really close relationship with your team members, mere feelings should never dictate the reward and compensation structure of the organization. This will lead to accusations against the favorites, and the workplace will become very uncomfortable for them as well.
Your organization should have certain values
All corporate cultures are based on certain values. They are part of the mission statement of the organization. Here, you will have to stay true to your core values. This way, you will be able to keep your team together. If you go for an ‘everything goes’ policy that will turn the corporate workplace into a cesspool where everyone will be trying to outdo everyone else. Under the circumstances, it is all but inevitable that people will start degrading the efforts of their fellow team members. This can be anything and everything from racial slurs for foreign teammates to deliberately poaching clients to degrading the whole company to come out on top on an individual level.
Hire a PEO to take care of all issues
It is extremely important to pay all of your employees on time, every time. It will also help if you complete your benefits and compensation packages at the appointed time. You can easily do all of that just simply by hiring an expert PEO to hire foreigners, they do not only hire them but pay their salaries as well, all over the world.
Conclusion
If you are not careful, it is possible to destroy corporate culture in your company without you even realizing it. From racial slurs against foreigners to not paying on time, there are many ways to degrade organizational mores and values.
