More and more people now understand that good workplace culture is not a luxury or a nice-to-have, it’s not pandering to work-shy staff or throwing money down the drain. It’s a non-negotiable which will affect every aspect of what you do, from the happiness of your staff to the quality of the food you serve, and even (especially!) that all-important bottom line. And because the bottom line is looking shakier than ever in our current economy, getting a handle on your workplace culture is more crucial than ever.

If you’re not sure of the positive benefits, you only need to see what happens when company culture goes bad. Unhappy staff means higher staff turnover, and that means higher recruitment costs, higher training costs through direct spend or time taken to get new recruits up to speed. It can even mean lower spend through your staff’s lack of familiarity with the offering, or inexperienced customer service. Unhappy staff means that morale plunges and so does the quality of your output – corners might be cut, less care is taken, you might even find that that cleanliness suffers. That means that customers are less likely to return, and less likely to spend money.

On the flip side, happy staff means that people take pride in their work and their establishments. Teams are stronger, the output is better, your customers spend more money. And the best outcome of all? A great brand reputation means easier hiring AND more customers. It really is that simple. But how do you get there? That’s less simple. Here are 5 things that you need to look out for, whether you’re running or owning a business, or you aspire to do so, or whether you want to know the signs to spot for when you’re choosing a great role. 

1. Harmony between teams

2. Clear boundaries

We’ve all heard it – the chefs say that front of house get the easy unskilled job away from the hot kitchen, the front of house say that they’re too scared to come to the kitchen with dietaries, the people on the ground say that they never see anyone from the office and resent their authority, and so it goes on. But the restaurant wouldn’t run at all without each component, and it won’t run well without each team working in harmony. At its heart this is all about mutual respect – you need to ensure that every single person understands the value of everyone else, and you need to make sure that any murmurings are nipped in the bud – not through discipline, but by working out what the root of the problem is and addressing it head on.

Quite often you’ll find that the issue isn’t actually the one that’s being complained about. It might be that someone is trying to assert themselves because they in fact feel undervalued, or people resent decisions from the top because they don’t have insight into the reasons, or you might find that they’re calling out someone’s work ethic because they’re being overworked themselves. So you could be looking at a better feedback culture, or better communication, or better rota management!

Being clear and direct about your expectations is so crucial, and applies to everything that you do: professional behaviour, quality of output, interactions with staff members and customers. You can’t expect people to know how to behave unless you tell them. You can implement boundaries in a number of ways – some of these will be really clear-cut and easily defined and can be drawn up in the company handbook. Others should be led by example, through behaviours modelled by management – e.g. focusing on being professional and friendly rather than friends. Others should be core company beliefs, such as a work/life balance and respecting personal time.

The long hours and emphasis on interpersonal relationships in hospitality can mean that boundaries can easily break down, but being clear and firm is a kind thing, not a detrimental one – if it’s done right it will create an invaluable atmosphere of trust, respect and security.

3. Meaningful perks

4. Consistent communication

The most meaningful perks are the ones that your staff members really want, and that will differ from business to business. Offering benefits such as gym membership can sound fancy and enticing, but if no one uses them they are expensive to implement and meaningless for the team. If you are able to, think about ways to reduce the number of doubles, or to guarantee that people have two days off in a row – the perks that people really enjoy are the ones that really impact people’s life and work, day-to-day. The benefits you put in place do not have to be expensive, and if you get imaginative then you can tap into the resources that you already have: how about putting together a monthly veg box for your staff, from your suppliers? That could be very welcome in a cost of living crisis!

But you may also find that no one in your business wants veg boxes, or that people want to work all their doubles in a row so that they have more days off, or that no one wants that, or that people really do want gym membership. Talk to your team and find out what is really meaningful to THEM, ensuring that you are aware of the cost of each option so that you can make comparisons.

Feeling HEARD is the most important thing, for both teams and management. It means that everyone feels respected, everyone feels able to raise issues, everyone feels safe and supported, everyone feels that their ideas and input is valued  – and that sense of being valued is absolutely crucial for job satisfaction and workplace happiness.

This should take the form both of structured communication via regular meetings, and through more casual catch-ups and a sense of visibility and availability. It can feel as though taking time to listen is hard within a frantic day, but not doing so will cost you more time later. Having a truly great feedback culture means that everything is sorted before anything gets out of hand.

5. Inspiring management

Great culture starts from the top, setting the tone for the entire organisation. There are many core principles that management needs to put in place that are key to positive culture – clear career progression paths, support, empowering autonomy within teams. But on top of this, their values, behaviours and attitudes influence everyone else: when management is inspiring, supportive and positive it encourages the team to adopt the same behaviour.

A clear vision and direction is key; that’s both in the vision and direction for the company and the vision for the day-to-day workings of the team. When employees understand the missions and goals they are empowered to work towards them themselves and are much more likely to be passionate and fulfilled. And when all that is backed up by trust, clear direction, development and support? That becomes company culture gold.