Culture in the Workplace

"When people come together, culture happens. Building and maintaining workplace culture is as important as business strategy when it comes to recruiting and retaining top talent."

Creating a culture of shared values in a domestic environment is difficult enough but maintaining an ethical and cohesive culture across national boundaries presents an even greater challenge. Today's workplace is more global than ever, in attribution to the increased global connectivity that we experience due to improvements in communication technology. International sales or workforce managers are no longer the only employees who need to develop cultural competencies. Now, employees at every level have the potential to serve as internal and external ambassadors for their company.

Think about an employee who sits by a telephone with a contact number that is published on the company website or voice directory. Outside callers, from anywhere needing anything, can reach them directly and they will be the de facto spokesperson for the company. This initial interaction will set the tone for every subsequent interaction they have. Having a culturally competent and aware individual receive that first call eliminates the need for maintenance in the relationship process down the road.

For the in-house work environment, employees come together to achieve organization productivity goals through the synergy of coworkers and teams. Employees are cast from a variety of cultural molds; therefore, choosing to ignore culture in the workplace can undermine production and create unnecessary deficits to employee productivity. It is not only prudent, but efficient to proactively address cultural diversity in domestic on-boarding as well as during international exit training.

When people come together culture happens