Company culture is the real, day-to-day experience of working in your organization. It shows up in how people make decisions, how leaders act under pressure, who gets recognized, and how safe it feels to speak up. If you are asking what company culture is, think of it as the shared habits and values that guide every interaction and every choice.
In 2024 and early 2025, culture was tested. U.S. engagement hit a decade low, and only about one in five employees worldwide reported being engaged. That is not a blip. It is a signal that the basics matter more than ever. If you want to improve company culture this year, start small, stay consistent, and fix the things your people feel every week.
This guide shows you how to improve company culture in practical steps. You will see quick wins you can launch this week, simple ideas for how to assess company culture without heavy tools, and clear ways to improve company culture across recognition, meetings, flexibility, and coaching. Use it to build momentum now and to set healthier norms for the long term.
Quick Culture Wins You Can Start This Week
Before we get into the deeper work, here are fast, low-cost moves that help right away. They do not need big budgets or complex approvals. They build momentum and trust.
- Create a #wins channel and post daily
Start a short, specific shoutout habit. Ask managers and peers to post one sentence that names the person, the action, and the impact. Recognition is strongly tied to retention and motivation. Done right, it lowers voluntary turnover risk in a measurable way.
- Run three question “stay” check-ins
Once per quarter, ask each person: What keeps you here? What would make you leave? What is one change we should make this quarter? Capture the answers, share a short summary, and close the loop.
- Hold a 15-minute values huddle
Pick one core value and ask for quick examples of decisions that matched it. You are training judgment in public and keeping values practical, not abstract.
- Swap one video 1:1 for a walk-and-talk
People often share more when they are not on camera. A phone-based walk builds rapport and reduces screen fatigue.
- Do a Friday demo hourInvite anyone to show work in progress. Keep it friendly. Silos soften when people see how their work fits together across teams.
These quick wins warm up the system. They make it easier to move into the larger shifts below.
Table of Contents
What Is Company Culture and Why It Matters
Company culture is the pattern of values, behaviors, and shared habits that shape the everyday experience at work. It is how meetings run, how decisions get made, who gets promoted, and how people treat each other when deadlines hit.
What Contributes to Organizational Culture?
Culture forms on purpose or by accident. If you do not design it, it still happens. The main drivers are clear:
Leadership behavior. People copy what leaders do, not what they say. How leaders handle pressure, share credit, and admit mistakes sets the ceiling for everyone else.
Policies and processes. Hiring, promotions, performance reviews, compensation practices, and meeting norms are loud culture signals.
Peer dynamics. How teammates give feedback, share knowledge, and split work shapes the daily experience.
Rituals and symbols. Onboarding, demo days, all-hands, offsites, and how wins are celebrated tell people what matters.
Tools and environment. The tech stack, workspace setup, and how easy it is to do focused work all play a part.
Flexibility and choice. Most remote-capable employees still want hybrid or remote options. When flexibility is credible, trust rises and so does retention.
How to Assess Company Culture
You cannot improve company culture without a clear baseline. Treat this like a light audit rather than a heavy project.
You can go deeper with data and diagnostics in a separate project, but these steps will surface the biggest gaps right away.
What a Positive Company Culture Looks Like
In a healthy culture, people know what is expected of them, they get regular recognition, and they can do focused work without constant interruption. They have a clear path to grow. Conflicts are resolved directly and fairly. Leaders share context, not just tasks. People feel safe to raise risks and suggest improvements. Teams ship good work and do not burn out to do it. This is not about perks. It is about trust, clarity, and momentum. Research shows that when people rate their culture as good or excellent, motivation to do high-quality work is much higher than in poor cultures.
Common Signs of a Poor Company Culture
Negative cultures have a distinct pattern. Look for these flags:
- Decisions are slow or unclear.
- Managers do not give feedback until review season.
- Recognition is rare or generic.
- Meetings fill the calendar and leave little time for real work.
- People avoid raising risks or new ideas.
- High performers carry the load while underperformers face no consequences.
- Turnover spikes in specific teams.
- Leaders talk about values, but promotions do not match the words.
- Return-to-office or scheduling rules feel arbitrarily enforced.
- Slack or email tone is sarcastic or passive-aggressive.
If two or more of these show up in your org, start with the 15 actions below.
15 Simple Ways to Improve Company Culture
Each idea includes a short image concept. Use these to brief your designer or your in-house team. Place an image or illustration under each heading in your blog.
Embrace Transparency from the Top
Share more context than you think you need to. Explain the why behind decisions, not only the what. Give a monthly numbers snapshot to everyone, not only to managers. Publish decision logs for big bets so people can see how trade-offs were made. When leaders are visible and honest, employees trust the process even when the news is mixed.
Recognize and Reward Valuable Contributions
Make recognition specific, timely, and tied to values. Encourage peer-to-peer shoutouts and manager-to-team notes. Layer in a structured program so people can earn points for behaviors that matter and redeem them for meaningful rewards.
If you want help, see Brandscape’s Point Rewards approach for building a simple, fair system that scales
High-quality recognition correlates with lower turnover risk over time, so treat it as a core habit, not a side task.
Break Down Silos and Encourage Collaboration
Silos are a process problem and a relationship problem. Fix both. Map common projects end-to-end so teams see how work connects. Run short demo hours where teams share progress every Friday. Rotate facilitators in cross-functional meetings so no one function dominates. Set shared goals and joint retros for projects that span teams.
Offer Flexibility to Support Work-Life Balance
Most remote-capable employees want hybrid or remote options. If your business needs in-person days, explain why and give teams real input into the schedule. Offer core hours and protect deep work blocks. Provide home office stipends and clear guidelines for asynchronous work. Flexible, thoughtful policies support retention and widen your talent pool.
Teach Managers to Coach, Not Only Direct
Managers carry most of the day-to-day climate. Train them to set expectations, give useful feedback, and ask good coaching questions. Provide a simple 1:1 template that covers wins, blockers, growth, and energy. Recognize managers who build strong teams, not only those who hit short-term numbers.
Make Meetings Smaller and Shorter
Adopt a default of 25 or 50 minutes. For status, use async updates. For decisions, write a one-page brief and invite only the people who can decide or who will do the work. Close five recurring meetings this month and see what improves.
Document How You Work
Create a living handbook that explains how you plan, build, and ship. Include how to request help, how you do performance reviews, and how you resolve conflicts. Keep it short and searchable. Good documentation reduces friction for new hires and helps teams move faster.
Build Psychological Safety on Purpose
Open meetings with a short check-in. Use a “disagree and commit” note when you reach a decision. Normalize saying “I do not know” and “I was wrong.” Invite dissent first by asking junior or quiet voices to share before senior leaders. Safety is not a vibe. It is the result of consistent behaviors and clear expectations.
Set Clear Growth Paths
Publish role levels and what success looks like at each level. Use skills matrices to show how someone can grow in place, not only by becoming a manager. Tie development plans to real projects. Offer regular calibration so growth feels fair.
Make Onboarding a 90-Day Experience
Pair each new hire with a buddy. Give them a 30-60-90 plan. Schedule quick intros with key partners. Provide a mini-glossary of acronyms and systems. Good onboarding lifts time to productivity and reduces early attrition.
Invest in Learning and Sharing
Offer bite-sized learning budgets and give people time to use them. Run internal talks where teams share lessons learned. Host lightweight hack weeks that produce real improvements to internal tools and processes.
Give Recognition a Rhythm
Create a simple monthly rhythm: manager notes in week one, peer shoutouts in week two, leadership spotlight in week three, and quarterly awards in week twelve. Keep it human. Tie each recognition to a value and a measurable result.
Align Perks With Real Needs
Skip gimmicks. Focus on benefits that help people do great work and live real lives. Examples include childcare stipends, mental health coverage, and meaningful home office support. Ask employees what helps most and re-allocate budget from low-usage perks.
Strengthen Feedback Loops
Feedback matters when people see action. Publish a short monthly “You said, we did” note. Close the loop on survey themes even when the answer is “not yet.” Teach people how to give clear, kind feedback. Reward teams that fix issues quickly.
Celebrate Milestones and Tell Stories
Mark product launches, customer wins, and internal improvements. Share short stories from across the org about how people solved problems. Stories make values tangible. They also build pride and belonging.
Related read: 10 Employee Engagement Ideas to Build Company Culture
How to Improve Company Culture in a Remote Workplace
Remote and hybrid teams face unique challenges. Isolation creeps in. Miscommunication is easier. Alignment can drift if the only connection is a weekly standup. The answer is not more meetings. It is better rituals and clearer agreements.
Start with a few practical moves:
- Codify async first. Use written updates for status and decision briefs for choices. Add deadlines and owners to every thread.
- Create dedicated channels. Set up Slack channels for help requests, learning, and social chat so people are not guessing where to post.
- Leverage recognition tools. Use lightweight shoutout tools or a points system that plugs into the tools your team already uses. Recognition still lowers turnover risk when it is specific and timely, even when everyone is remote.
- Run better virtual bonding. Rotate hosts for short games, show-and-tells, or coffee chats. Keep it optional and varied.
- Hold quarterly hybrid meetups. Even two days of in-person collaboration can reset trust and speed for months.
- Design remote-safe policies. Clarify core hours, response time expectations, and camera norms. Protect deep work.
- Create a digital onboarding path. Use a checklist, recorded welcome notes from leaders, and a buddy system.
A branded company store gives remote employees equal access to on-brand gear, welcome kits, and reward items. It removes the extra work of packing and shipping care packages to dozens of home addresses, keeps product quality consistent across teams, and makes it easy to manage budgets and approvals from one place.
With an Online company store, you can automate fulfillment, offer pre-approved bundles for new hires, and track redemptions for rewards or recognition. The result is a smoother experience for admins and a simple, self-serve shopping experience for employees no back-and-forth emails, no last-minute scrambles, and no off-brand swag.
Rebuilding Trust After Culture Damage
Sometimes the wheels come off. Maybe there was a round of layoffs, a failed policy, or a public conflict. You can still rebuild, but you need a plan.
- Name what happened. Be clear, not vague. Share what you know and what you are still figuring out.
- Acknowledge impact. Explain how the event affected work and how it likely felt for people.
- Show the fixes. Share the changes you will make to prevent a repeat. Assign owners and timelines.
- Invite questions. Do live Q&A and collect anonymous ones.
- Commit to a follow-up. Give a date for the next update and keep it.
- Reinforce the basics. Double down on recognition, 1:1s, and growth conversations. These rebuild trust fastest.
Remember that toxic patterns carry a high cost. Getting culture right is not only a values move. It is a retention and performance move with real numbers behind it.
Conclusion
Improving company culture is not about slogans. It is about how people feel at work and how work gets done. Start with the quick wins. Teach managers to coach. Make recognition specific and frequent. Give people flexibility where the work allows it. Document how you work so teams can move faster with less friction. If you work with remote teams, design for asynchronous collaboration and give people equal access to recognition and on-brand gear through a company store.
If you want help building a points-based recognition program or a company store that remote employees will actually use, you can explore Brandscape’s services. Keep the tone practical and human. Fix the week, and the quarters will follow.
FAQs: How to Improve Company Culture
How can leadership influence company culture?
Leaders set the ceiling for behavior. People copy what leaders do during hard moments. When leaders communicate openly, share context, give credit, and admit mistakes, trust rises. When leaders tie recognition to values and results, those behaviors spread.
How long does it take to improve company culture?
You will see signs within weeks if you launch quick wins and keep your promises. Deeper shifts in trust, retention, and performance take quarters. Culture changes when habits become normal, not after a single campaign.
Does company culture really impact employee retention?
Yes. Analyses from the Great Resignation period showed culture was a much stronger predictor of attrition than compensation. Recognition that is specific and timely is also tied to lower turnover risk over time.
How often should we assess our company culture?
Run a light pulse every quarter with a few core questions. Do a deeper review once or twice a year. Pair surveys with stay interviews and 1:1s so you hear real stories behind the numbers.
What role does employee recognition play in culture building?
It is central. When you recognize the behavior you want, you get more of it. The key is to make it specific, timely, and tied to values. Consider layering a simple points program so people can redeem rewards that feel personal and fair. The link to retention is clear.
Can employee surveys help improve company culture?
Yes. Short, regular surveys help you spot patterns and track progress. The value comes from what you do after you collect the data. Share the results, pick a small number of fixes, and report back on what changed.
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