Company culture can make or break any work environment. Culture defines your workplace atmosphere and determines success in your business every day. Everyone wants to work in an environment with great culture, but it takes a lot of work to build such culture up. More and more business leaders are realising this and are taking the necessary steps to make their workplace one that attracts and retains the best talent.
To give you more insight into what it takes to create great culture, we’ve rounded up some thoughts from Australian and New Zealand businesses on creating the best workplace environments.
Vino Mofo
To the founders of Vino Mofo, Justin Dry and Andre Eikmeier, culture is the difference between retaining talent and losing it to their competitors. When they hired their first employee, they were wondering, “how to make this really enjoyable for him, (so) he can grow and develop and have this great job”. They’re now all about creating an environment that brings the best out of their employees. This means yes to table tennis, free lunches and social outings.
Atlassian
Atlassian has a culture that most of Australia would envy. “We want to build a company that will stand the test of time,” says co-founder Scott Farquhar. “That’s why we spend a lot of time on company culture.” Atlassian is all about doing what’s right for the team and creating an environment that feels less like work and more like home. They value innovation and collaboration and this means lots of hackathons and creative opportunities for their employees. But ultimately, what makes them a great place to work is that their employees love what they do and they’re all encouraged to freely express their ideas.
Sidekicker
Sidekicker values a positive workplace culture because as CEO and co-founder Tom Amos says, a positive workplace allows them to help “Sidekicks and customers reach their potential. The culture this cultivates within our internal team has resulted in a workplace where people genuinely love coming to work every day”. They’re all about loving what you do, and so this means the freedom to come into the office dressed in what you like, work from home or play your music in the office. Oh, and they love dogs! And that’s why they were named the Coolest Company In Australia at the Anthill Cool Company Awards!
Canva
To CEO and co-founder of Canva, Melanie Perkins, “creating a good team culture is about creating a place where everyone loves coming to work”. There are no strict company rules, just as long as everyone cares for each other and enjoy being in the company of each other. It’s the little gestures that make Canva a good work culture – from encouraging staff to each lunch together right through to spending time together outside of work.
MixBit
MixBit’s culture is about creating an environment where you don’t feel like you’re coming to work. They’ve got a cool beanbag and chill room and their employees can work away from their desks and be as comfortable as they like. They also provide holidays for their long-serving staff and encourage “organic fun”. They make their environment fun so that their employees can enjoy their work and embrace the company values.
Overland Footwear
Everyone loves coming to work at Overland Footwear, who was named New Zealand’s best overall workplace for 2017 at the IBM Best Workplace Survey awards. General Manager for People and Culture, Melissa Quirk, loves going to work because “It’s a lovely culture to work in, there’s a lot of passionate people that are highly engaged, high performing, that strive to do a really great job”. Their culture is heavily dependent on their employees. The people they recruit align to their values and are passionate in what they do. They are also very open to accepting and giving feedback.