How to Align Company Values with Employee Needs

I was asked in an interview recently how do you build culture in an organization. My thoughts. 1. Align Culture with Organizational Strategy • Define the Desired Culture: Start by identifying the behaviors, mindsets, and attitudes that will support your organization’s strategic objectives. • Communicate the “Why”: Ensure employees understand how cultural values connect to the company’s purpose and success. Clear messaging from leadership about how behaviors tie to business outcomes is crucial. 2. Embed Values into Everyday Practices • Recruitment and Onboarding: Hire people whose values align with the organization’s. Reinforce cultural expectations from day one. • Performance Management: Build values into goal-setting, feedback, and evaluation processes. Recognize and reward employees who exemplify the desired culture. • Leadership Modeling: Leaders must embody the culture in their actions, decisions, and communication. Culture flows from the top down. 3. Build Systems that Reinforce Culture • Recognition Programs: Celebrate employees who demonstrate behaviors aligned with company values — not just top performers but also those who uphold integrity, innovation, or teamwork. • Training and Development: Provide learning opportunities that reinforce cultural values. For example, if adaptability is key, offer change management workshops. • Policies and Processes: Ensure HR practices (e.g., promotion, performance reviews, and rewards) reinforce the desired culture. 4. Empower Employees to Drive Culture • Culture Champions: Identify and empower employees across levels to model and promote cultural behaviors. • Employee-Led Initiatives: Create space for employees to suggest ideas that align with the organization’s values 5. Reinforce Culture Through Communication • Storytelling: Share real examples of employees living the culture in newsletters, meetings, or company-wide platforms. • Rituals and Routines: Develop meaningful traditions that reinforce values. 6. Measure and Evolve the Culture • Employee Feedback: Regularly gather input through engagement surveys, focus groups, or one-on-ones to assess cultural alignment. • Track Cultural Metrics: Use data like retention rates, (eNPS), and performance outcomes to measure cultural success. • Adapt as Needed: Culture isn’t static. Reassess as business strategies evolve to ensure alignment. Key Takeaway: An amazing culture is built when values are embedded into how the organization operates — from hiring to leadership behavior, performance management, and recognition. When culture directly supports strategy, it becomes a driving force for employee engagement, retention, and business success.

I have been thinking about an alternative approach to help positively affect company culture, which we know starts with how we lead: What if we link a portion of Executive level compensation to the Employee Experience? While the norm is to measure success and compensation based on the Client Experience (CX), which is crucial for the bottom line, we must also recognize the importance of a healthy balance with the Employee Experience (EX). Performance ratings and, ultimately, compensation at the Management levels, I believe, should include the following criteria to help measure success: - Employee Satisfaction Survey results - We don't place enough of a premium on these metrics the way we do client satisfaction results - Employee Turnover rates - Employees quit bosses and not their jobs - let's examine this metric given the costs associated - Organic and internal promotions relative to external hires - Shows how we develop talent and our future leaders while mitigating the cost of hire - Reverse Performance Reviews - I believe adding this dynamic to be able to provide a formal review of management will organically enhance accountability and demonstrate to employees that their opinions are valued How we evaluate success and compensation is never perfect. That said, injecting criteria that convey the employee experience will translate to more effective leadership and, in turn, a healthier work culture. #employeexperience #leadership #culture #wecanbebetter

A pressing question for every company is: How can we retain good employees? There's no simple answer, and there are many approaches. But last week I observed something that gave me a new insight, and something practical to work on. Siemens Energy deploys hundreds of employees for months at a time to build and maintain industrial power plants throughout the United States. These employees are away from home, living in hotels, missing their friends and family, and working really hard. Training people to build and maintain power plants is not easy; retaining them for years given this lifestyle is even harder. So how does Siemens do it? I found out last week when Melanie Gnecco from Siemens contacted me about a Poplin/Siemens partnership. She wanted Poplin to handle their employees' laundry needs while they were deployed. She saw that laundry was a pain point for them, and she thought that Poplin’s on-demand personal laundry service would make their life on the road a little easier. What struck me was the depth of Melanie’s understanding of the employees' life on the road, and her desire to address every detail, down to the mundane task of laundry. Every employee wants to feel taken care of by their company. And of course strong comp packages, health care benefits, PTO, career development opportunities, and other conventional benefits help, of course. But what every employee wants most–what every human being wants most–is to be understood. And people feel understood when we make the effort to take care of their UNIQUE needs. Everyone needs money, health insurance, time off; these are table stakes for comp packages. But I would imagine that retention skyrockets when employees feel deeply understood, and that happens when their employer takes care of them in ways that are unique to their needs. Conventional benefits are scalable, and that’s the way they sometimes feel to employees: impersonal. Tailored benefits and one-time gestures designed to accommodate the UNIQUE needs of individuals, on the other hand, are more personal, and foster a genuine relationship, which contributes to retention. I tend to write about what I most need to learn, so I claim no expertise here. Melanie was my teacher last week, and I just wanted to pass on what I learned. Ideas like this, similar to core values, are usually part descriptive and part aspirational. I’ll let my team judge how descriptive. In the meantime, I’ll keep aspiring. Melanie, thank you for reaching out. Poplin looks forward to providing a better life for Siemens’ employees on the road and contributing to your employee retention efforts.