Get Your Culture Right – World Mental Health Day 2023

Burnout has been experienced by 88% of UK employees in the last two years, according to a recent survey. Art Health Solutions explains why it is everyone’s job to have a better, fairer, and healthier culture at work.

A positive workplace culture is the responsibility of everyone in an organisation. Keeping the working environment healthy takes implementation from the top, support from all departments and managers, and the desire to nurture positive relationships and systems from all employees.

While culture may seem a vague concept at first, the benefit of ensuring a strong culture is in place are very tangible. Employees who believe they have a positive culture at work are nearly four times more likely to engage with their role.

The impact of organisational culture on individuals

A recent survey of 3,200 workers in 40 countries has shown that a strong culture plays a big part in driving better business outcomes, while 69% of senior business leaders credited continued success during the pandemic to the existing positive culture.

Aside from business benefits though, culture has a huge role to play on the individual level.

Employees who are part of a positive environment are more likely to trust each other (according to Arbinger) and are less likely to suffer from mental health issues such as burnout and stress (a recent global culture report found that 56% of burnout was caused by poor management and a negative work culture).

Also, put simply, employees in a positive space are far less likely to mentally check out (quiet quitting) or quit altogether. Rapid turnover is a quick way to grow a negative reputation, when fostering a happy workforce is far more desirable.

How to build a better company culture

Ensuring that employees are valued is a good start, as research from the Pew Research Centre showed that nearly two thirds of employees who quit their job did so because of a lack of opportunities to advance their skills, knowledge, and position.

An increasingly vital aspect of cultivating a culture that motivates employees involves actively prioritising their physical and mental well-being, as well as acknowledging the life outside the office and being mindful of providing a work/life balance that isn’t skewed massively and unfairly in favour of work.

To put the importance of free, personal time into figures:

• 76% of employees are openly looking for jobs with greater flexibility.
• 36% of staff have thought about quitting if they’re denied the chance to work remotely.
• 77% believe that greater flexibility would help them improve their health and wellbeing.
• 86% of workers believe they would be less stressed if they had a flexible job.

All of this and more leads to a company culture that puts the people first and leads in turn to a more dynamic and loyal employee base. Again, this is borne out by the numbers, with 76% claiming they would be more likely to stay in a job with greater flexibility, and 57% of employees being shown to be more loyal, productive, and present when their mental health is supported.

A positive culture has benefits on every level of a business, supporting the individual so that the larger organisation can thrive. For it to work though, those same people on every level of the business need to get on board to create that better, fairer, and healthier culture.