It is highly evident that office culture is a vital factor in ensuring a company’s success. As discussed in our previous article, The Power of Persuasion, a company’s culture can influence employees to leave, stay, or join a new business. With the average London accountant spending 50+ hours in the office each week, it is really very unsurprising how great an affect an office environment can have on staff retention. However, what is often overlooked is the impact company culture can have on the corporation’s actual profit margin.
It is clear that a positive corporate culture leads to higher employee production levels and an increased quality of work.  Research carried out by Duke and Columbia Business Schools showed that 90% of respondents claimed that culture was regarded as an important part of their company’s make up; with over half stating that corporate culture affected key profit growth indicators such as productivity, creativity, growth rates, and company value.
Additionally, 92% said that by improving the company’s corporate culture, the firm’s value would increase; but a large proportion of the respondents (85%) said that their company could improve its corporate culture. Evidently the benefits of an effective culture are far greater than the downsides of an ineffective culture
Research also shows that a good corporate culture leads to higher employee retention. Your current employees are far more likely to want to stay if they get to spend their working week in a positive environment. Consequently you will have fewer hiring expenses e.g. fees for talent acquisition, less marketing and advertising charges, and lower training costs. This means HR won’t be spending from the company purse trying to replace team members. Furthermore, increased employee retention leads to improved relationships with clients as they have an opportunity to develop and strengthen, which in turn will optimise the chance of repeat business occurring, thus cumulating profit for your firm.
Over half of the respondents feel that the current CEO is the biggest influential factor on a company’s culture and that senior management also have a large role to play in the process. Duke’s Campbell Harvey says that “CEOs and CFOs are very clear that getting the culture right enhances value” yet not all companies are getting the culture balance right. Going forward, it is evident that companies need to focus on improving their corporate culture or risk it having a negative impact on a business’ growth, success and profit.