Starting a company from the ground up presents some unique challenges. However, you also have an opportunity to create a strong company culture that employees love and never want to leave. Low employee churn can result in a thriving company with growing expertise that outperforms every competitor.
Every new business owner makes a few mistakes along the way. If you can pivot, recover and learn from the experience, you'll slowly make progress toward a more profitable future. Since company culture impacts everything from churn to hiring and training expenses, ensuring you create an amazing environment can attract top-notch candidates. Here are some problem areas to keep in mind and what you can do about them.
1. Employee Burnout
SHRM's Employee Mental Health 2024 report found 44% of those surveyed in the United States feel burned out from their jobs and about 45% feel their work is emotionally draining and uses up their brain power each day.
In the early days of a company’s birth, it’s natural to rely on some people more than others. Everyone has special skills and people who are great at marketing and development may find much of the responsibility of getting things going falls on them. The problem is that they can become overworked when they’re the only ones who can complete a task and burn out quickly.
2. Communication Issues
With so many different tasks to complete to get a new brand up and running, it’s easy to forget about the little things like the importance of developing good communication channels amongst employees and leadership.
Some things you can do to ensure your startup culture starts off strong and continues to be open and engaging is to offer team building exercises. The better co-workers know one another and understand communication styles, the less likely major conflicts will arise. Give them the tools to navigate a disagreement proactively and in positive ways before any arguments happen.
3. Fear Over Finances
Building a strong financial business requires separating personal and company finances. In the early days of a startup, some people have office or warehouse space in their family home and may have fronted the money to get things going out of their personal savings.
Business owners must secure financing for incidents of cash flow issues. There comes a time in the life of almost every small business where the money going out exceeds what’s coming in. Perhaps a client doesn’t pay on time or at all. For those selling a physical product, a contract with a big box retailer often requires them to send the merchandise and get paid later or accept returns, which can create negative cash flow.
4. Inconsistency
Set clear policies about employee benefits and how conflicts are handled. Establish a clear chain of command. If a worker has a problem with another employee in the company, who is the first person they go to in order to resolve the situation? If that doesn’t help, how do they escalate it? Spend time thinking through the worst-case scenarios and who and how to handle them.
Spell out how they should notify the company of sick days, personal days and paid time off. The more straightforward policies are, the happier your employees will be because they’ll know what to expect.
5. Work Values
Each individual who enters your company will have a different set of work and personal values. Spend time during onboarding explaining what the company’s values are and why it’s crucial everyone embraces the same mindset to move the company forward.
Work with each individual to set long and short-term goals. The hardest working employees can get easily frustrated if their contributions aren’t recognized while others who do far less get rewards and promotions. You won’t realize you’ve lost a valued member of the team until they are gone and their loss is felt throughout the company.
Proceed with caution when handing out accolades. Is there a quiet person who isn’t as outgoing who puts in just as much if not more effort than the one being recognized? Make sure favoritism doesn’t play a part in recognition.
6. Diversity
Millennials and Gen Zers want to work for companies that embrace people from all walks of life and are highly inclusive. If they feel they aren’t welcome, they’ll quietly quit until they find a position with another company.
As society grows more aware of handling things in an equitable manner, diversity and inclusion become more important to job seekers. Many won’t consider working for a brand that doesn’t make a statement about social issues or exemplify the same beliefs they do.
Learn From Those Who’ve Gone Before
Making missteps as a startup founder is common. When it comes to building a strong company culture, talk to mentors who have an excellent track record in building happy employees. Ask them what mistakes they made, learn from their advice and avoid the same pitfalls. With a bit of attention to creating the type of company you’d want to work for, you’re likely to attract the best candidates in the industry and eventually pull ahead of the competition.
