Even today, you still hear a lot of talk about company culture. It was especially prevalent in the dot-com era of the nineties. Tech companies had bean bag chairs for their employees or a basketball hoop in their breakroom. Fun and edgy was the name of the game.

People were given cool titles like Chief Fun Officer and corporations touted the cool things they were doing to attract and keep good employees. Doing so, also made their office a fun place for clients and vendors to visit.

Many things are done to project an air of cool, catch media attention or attract new shareholders. However, good companies recognize the real benefits of company culture: happy employees, less turnover, and more productivity.

It’s always been a focus at HenkinSchultz. Here’s why.

Company Culture Celebrates People & Benefits Everyone

It’s common in any business to hear, “It’s all about the client.” “It’s all about the customer.” or “It’s all about service.” None of those things are bad things, but at face value, they overlook that you need excited people to deliver on those things. You need engaged employees.

HenkinSchultz does a lot of simple things to celebrate our team. We celebrate birthdays with the most horrendous rendition of “Happy Birthday” any human has ever heard. We recognize anniversaries and other milestones. But celebrating people is so much more than that.

We try to engage people in their personal passion, whether it be decorating the office, writing a funny song for our boss or planning a chili cook off. On the surface, these are little things. But in a deeper sense they say, “You are a valued contributor, here.”

We give back to our beloved community here in Sioux Falls, SD by working with organizations like Feeding South Dakota to help those in need. In our most recent campaign with Feeding SD, we were able to donate just over 150,000 meals to those in need and are still taking donations each day.

People who feel valued work harder and create better work. Google is often celebrated for their company culture and frequently referenced as an example of workplace success.

Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Any business can sign up for countless seminars on strategies to promote company culture. HS finds it’s easier to just do it.

When we began kicking around the idea of what it means to be Crazy Obsessed, our leadership tasked us to take ownership of it in a very real way. How? We were all challenged to create an image that explains what Crazy Obsessed means to us personally.

Each image was mounted to create a collage in our front entryway, a very tactile representation of the diversity of thought in our office. It’s a simple reminder when you walk into work that your personal contribution is part of a bigger picture.