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The Dos and Don’ts of Great Company Culture

Katie Williamson September 26, 2018

We all want to create a better place to work. In fact, it’s in our very DNA here at PerkSpot as we stand by the mission to “inspire employees everywhere to love where they work”.

In light of this goal, what can we as managers, human resource officers, or even individual contributors do to make every place a great place to work?

Here are the Dos and Don’ts of Great Company Culture:

Do Keep Your Values in Check

From planning a meeting to working on an article, it’s vital that your values stay at the forefront of what you do at work. Our values at PerkSpot are “we aim high”, “we stay humble”, “we value people”, and “we have fun”. They are practical and applicable in almost every situation. If your values aren’t serving you and your company in the same way, consider revamping them or find ways to live these out on a daily basis.

Don’t Micromanage

Think you’re not a micromanager? Here are a few signs you might be more than you think:
You’re never quite satisfied with deliverables.
You are often frustrated at the way the work is completed.
You take pride and/or pain in making corrections.
You constantly want to know where your team members are and what they’re working on.
You prefer to be CC’d on emails.

Do Communicate

While you shouldn’t micromanage, it’s still important to communicate clearly with your employees. Need help? Start by explaining the “why”, not just the “what”. It may seem frustrating that you have to spend time explaining why something needs to happen (especially when you’re the boss!).  However, taking an extra five minutes to explain the reasoning behind what you’re doing will not only save you time in the long run but will empower your employees or coworkers to own the task at hand. They’ll produce better work when they feel ownership and responsibility, which is the key to a great culture.

Don’t Think Corporate Jargon Makes You “Cool”

Have you ever been in an interview or a meeting where the person spouted off an endless string of pretentious (and meaningless) words? Corporate jargon is a trap many companies fall into, but in the end, does nothing for company culture. Avoid using buzzwords and say what you mean. This will help you communicate more clearly and also seem more approachable to prospective employees.

Do Keep Learning

One of the marks of a great company culture is one that fosters an environment of learning and professional development. After all, we never stop learning and growing and that’s exactly why we go to work in the first place! The best place to start is with yourself: grab a book, take a class, and encourage others to go with you. Hunger for growth is contagious.

Don’t Try to Be an Expert at Everything

Just like there is a little bit of micromanager in all of us, there is also a desire to be an expert at everything. This type of drive can be great when it comes to wanting to learn and grow. However, we can often overdo it by trying to be the very best at everything. It’s important to recognize and depend on your team to provide their expertise and to try to hone your skills in your area. We aren’t saying you can’t always get better at excel, even as a creative, or take a painting class as an accountant. Learning opposite skills is great, but thinking you’ll be the very best at everything is just plain wrong. Not only that, but it can cause tension when others are not given the opportunity to also show their strengths.

These are just a few tips to make your company culture stand out. What ways are you making your office a better place to work? Leave us a note in the comments!

Shocking Statistics: The State of the Workplace in 2018

Katie Williamson August 29, 2018

2018 has proven to be an exciting year for employee engagement. As we ramp up our efforts to engage and retain more of our workforce, how are we doing?

Here are a few shocking statistics we think you should know about the state of the workplace in 2018 and a number of ways to combat them:

The Shocking Stat:

80% of workers feel stressed on the job.

The Solution: Implement Professional Development Opportunities

While it may seem counterintuitive to add more to an employee’s plate, 48% of employees say that investing in professional development is one of the highest-impact strategies to combating stress that their company can do. Providing opportunities for employees to learn and grow and investing in them as individuals can do wonders for their overall well-being.

Think this seems obvious? Maybe it is, but only 30% of employees say they have someone who encourages their development at work which could be a reason why we’re seeing 80% of the population pulling out their hair.

If you want to do more to encourage professional development at work, start here.

The Shocking Stat:

Of the 5 billion people on the planet, only 1.4 billion have a good job, and just 16% of those are engaged.

The Solution: Offer Competitive Benefits and Perks

Start by considering what makes a good job in the first place. According to 21% of Millennials, a good work environment is defined as one that offers incentives and perks.  Are your benefits competitive? Do your employees constantly stress about their physical or financial health?

Find ways to ease the burden by offering competitive benefits plans and/or a perks program to help employees stretch their paycheck.

The Shocking Stat:

89% of bosses believe employees quit for more money. The truth? Only 12% of employees actually leave for more money.

The Solution: Empower Leadership

If it’s not salary, what is the problem? Studies show that 75% of employees leave their job because of their boss. This could be because 58% of managers today have not received any form of management training.

Professional development should not be limited to lower level employees. Make sure you’re empowering your management teams to lead well. This means focusing on transparency and mentorship among your leaders and again, creating those opportunities for them to learn and grow as well.

The Shocking Stat:

12% of businesses are happy with their current level of employee engagement.

The Solution: Recognize, Reward, Retain

Although 90% of leaders think an engagement strategy would help, less than 25% actually have one. How can we expect to improve employee engagement without setting a real strategy in place?

One of the biggest ways to impact employee satisfaction and retention is with a simple “job well done”. It’s easy to forget to recognize employees’ achievements, but doing so can make or break employee happiness. In fact, 47% of employees say they would like to receive rewards spontaneously.

Creating strategies to reward and recognize employees, like PerkSpot’s recognition program, means making a difference for your employees and your business.

Want to find more solutions for your employee engagement strategies? Chat with us today about how PerkSpot could change the state of your workforce.

Keys to Developing a Mentorship Program

Katie Williamson August 13, 2018

Employees today crave trust and independence and shake their heads at micro-management. With this new trend comes a greater emphasis on professional development in the workplace. Through a mentorship program, you can provide the guidance many of these employees need and want.

Why Mentoring?

There are a number of ways mentoring can have a positive, lasting impact on your workforce.

  • Mentorship trains new employees or employees stepping into new roles efficiently.
  • Mentorship builds junior employees into leaders.
  • Mentorship provides opportunities for employees to work cross-departmentally, helping them to work more collaboratively and openly.
  • Mentorship contributes to a dynamic company culture.
  • Mentorship improves employee loyalty and satisfaction.

Getting Started

There are a number of benefits that can come from a mentorship program. For that reason, it’s important to identify which of these objectives is the most valuable to you and your business. Perhaps it’s the focus on cross-department collaboration to improve processes. Maybe you’d like to focus on developing junior employees to step into higher roles. Whatever you’re looking to achieve with your program, make sure you define this goal from the start to ensure success.

Not sure of where to start? Try an office survey to poll your employees on where they see the potential for improvement.

Possible Programs

Most of us probably think of one-on-one sessions from a superior to a lower level employee. However, there is more than one way to implement a mentorship program in your office:

  • Group mentoring: one mentor leads multiple mentees.
  • Peer mentoring: people in the same job function mentor one another.
  • Reverse mentoring: junior employee mentors a senior employee (a great initiative for diversity and inclusion efforts)
  • Team mentoring: similar to group mentoring, but with multiple mentors contributing ideas and experience
  • Supervisory: the traditional superior mentor leads junior mentee.

Consider a combination of these different types of mentoring for your workforce. Some of these work better in casual environments and others work better in more structured workplaces. Whatever method you choose, find what works best for your employees. When in doubt, just try it! Your mentorship program should always be evolving, so don’t be afraid to fail.

Market Your Program

Once you’ve established the type(s) of mentorship program you’d like to implement, it’s time to get the word out. Because some people may feel awkward participating, it’s important to cast a clear vision for how the mentoring will work. Make sure leaders in the company are participating and sharing their interest as well. Again, office surveys are a great tool to kick-start the program, whether that means using it to pair people up or even surveying interest in different types of programs.

Collect Feedback

As we said before, mentorship programs should constantly be evolving. Gain feedback after the first month or so and find out where your pain points are. Obviously, no one should feel forced into this relationship and should have a clear way out at any time. There should never be any pressure to participate and if employees aren’t enjoying the process, find out why and make some changes.

It may not be an easy process, but investing in and developing your employees should be a top priority for any business. A mentorship program may be the tool you need to ramp up your employee happiness.

Creating Development Plans That Work

Katie Williamson May 23, 2018

Professional development plans can make a huge difference when it comes to retention and engagement for your employees. If your company hasn’t invested time in creating plans for each of your employees, stop what you’re doing and make this a priority.


Here are our steps for creating and implementing a meaningful professional development plan for your employees.

Where Do You See Your Business Going in the Next Year?

It makes sense to start with this question because if your employees’ goals aren’t aligned with the business’s, it’s a recipe for disaster. Consider all the objectives you want to accomplish in the next year and how each department fits into these goals. Determine what skills, knowledge or competencies your employees need to obtain to support where your business is headed. By spending time on developing your current employees, you’ll save valuable resources on recruiting and onboarding.

What Do Your Employees Want?

The next step is to consider what your employees want. It’s important to remember that just because an employee is great at X project or skill doesn’t always mean they love working in that particular area. Take time to chat through areas they want to grow and improve and items they would rather not be working on. Providing an open space for vulnerability will go a long way. You may discover they have interest in an area you were looking to expand. This is a great opportunity to explore what that might look like.

What Do Your Employees Need?

Just as you ask them to explore their interests, also ask them to share resources or knowledge they might need to make this possible. Many people may be afraid to speak up (we’re talking about you, introverts) and discuss areas where they are feeling overworked or lack support. Think through how this aligns with your business goals and objectives. Additional training for existing employees may outweigh the costs of recruiting and hiring someone from the outside. Since they know your business well, they may be able to add more value than an outside hire.

How Do Their Desires Align With Your Business Objectives?

You know where you want to take your business. You know what your employees want and need. Now it’s time to put goals in place that satisfy both of these objectives. Of course, your customer service rep may want to learn graphic design, but it doesn’t make good business sense. You can’t always bend over backwards to satisfy these hopes and dreams, but you can listen and give good feedback, especially if you find your employees in need of some motivation. Set goals in place that will provide a development for your employees that make sense. Use SMART goals to make sure they are measurable and can be easily evaluated in their next review.

Team Building Activities Just in Time for Summer!

Katie Williamson June 13, 2016

The sun beams down warming your face through the window. You can smell the fresh air peeking through as you take a sip of your iced tea, relaxing in your chair. Your eyes wander and your mind is clear. Summer is here.

But, unfortunately, this isn’t you on a tropical vacation. This is the distraction of summer making its way into your office. As the temps warm up, our minds tend to dream of greener pastures.

Don’t fight the feeling: take your work and your team outside and engage in some fun team-building activities.

team building activities perkspot culture employee engagement

Fox Business states, “When the global marketing firm McCann WorldGroup surveyed 7,000 Millennials in 2011, it found more than 90% of those surveyed rated “connection and community” as their greatest need.”

I know what you’re thinking, but we aren’t talking about blindfolding someone and leading them through a maze or practicing trust falls. These age-old activities are outdated and more likely to make your team groan. True team-building happens when you have fun, laugh and share an experience together.

Here’s a few ways to build up your team this summer:

Give Back

Take some time this summer to give back. Encourage employees or coworkers to volunteer in the community. Find ways to give back at volunteermatch.org or catchafire.org. In fact, when employees spend their time on other people, they often feel like they have more time to spare!

Ready, Set, Sports

There are many ways to use sports to bring your team together. Grab your colleagues and join a city league. David W. Ballard of the American Psychological Association says this of teams who practice physical activities together, “Employees have lost weight and report a higher awareness of wellness issues, strengthened sense of community, improved morale, and increased motivation.”  For the observers, check out a baseball game or cheer on your company athletes as they go for the gold.

Strap On Your Fanny Packs

Summer is the perfect time to explore your city. Visit famous monuments, tour a museum or hop on a Segway tour. You’ll create memories and learn something along the way.

Learn Something New

For many offices, summer is a slow season. Take the opportunity to learn something new together through professional development courses or attending a conference. This will leave your team rejuvenated and impassioned upon returning to work.

Save money on your next office adventure with exclusive tickets, entertainment and even local discounts through PerkSpot!

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