Building a strong company culture is about more than having a mission statement or a set of values on paper. It comes from the way your business communicates, supports employees, manages day to day processes, and creates a consistent experience for staff. For SMEs in particular, the right HR system can play an important role in shaping company culture by improving communication, supporting onboarding, and helping employees feel more connected to the business from day one.
HR systems offer some very clear benefits to a business in terms of streamlining processes and making them slicker and more efficient but have you ever considered that a HR system can help you to establish and embed your company culture? Whilst it might not be the first use of a HR system that springs to mind, there are at least five ways we think that a HR system can help you establish your company culture.
1. Communication
As well as the obvious applications for it, you can use a HR system to communicate with your employees. This can be as simple as banners or scrolling messages or even a happy birthday or happy work anniversary pop up notification, to more creative content such as videos or podcasts, assuming your system allows that functionality. Whatever the format, by communicating and reinforcing key messages with structured, relevant content that fits the tone and ethos of your culture you can use your HR system to communicate with staff and establish and embed company culture.
2. Time Saving
One of the main benefits of using a HR system is that it saves both managers and employees time, it reduces the administrative burden and gets rid of things like recording holidays on spreadsheets and using forms and wall planners. The time that is created is not insignificant so why not use it to do something worthwhile like reflecting on your company culture or talking to staff to ensure that they understand the culture and their part in it.
3. Onboarding & Induction
Your HR system isn’t just for existing employees, you can also use it as part of your onboarding and induction process for new hires. By giving new starters access to the system so that they can upload documents and familiarise themselves with it you are again helping to establish your company culture and you’re doing it before they’ve even stepped through the door. This can be really powerful as a new employee who understands the culture of the business from the outset is likely to hit the ground running and be more engaged and more productive.
4. Engagement
Staff are far more likely to buy into and live and breathe a company’s culture if they are engaged in their work and one way of engaging staff is by getting the most out of your HR system. If your HR system is seen as the go to place for support and information on anything and everything people related, it will help you to create a culture of staff feeling valued and looked after.
5. Compliance
People are naturally protective about their personal information and by using a HR system you are reinforcing the culture that you place value on looking after data in a secure and confidential way that makes use of up to data technology.
A positive company culture does not happen by accident. It is built through clear communication, consistent processes, employee engagement, and a working environment where people feel informed, supported, and valued. While an HR system is not the only factor, it can provide the structure and tools needed to help businesses create a stronger and more connected workplace culture.
If you want to strengthen your company culture with practical systems and better day to day people management, contact us today to explore how HRX can support your business with HR software and services designed for growing teams.
