7 Major Benefits of Having Company Core Values
Business, as I have seen it, places one great demand on you: it needs you to self-impose a framework of ethics, values, fairness, and objectivity on yourself at all times.
This was Ratan N Tata, Chairman Emeritus of TATA Sons, India's largest and oldest conglomerate's view on company core values and their importance.
What comes to your mind when you think of a company or an organization?
Most probably a group of like-minded people working together towards a common goal of bringing in profits by delivering services or products.
Well, if this was your definition, then you were correct!
However, have you ever thought about what keeps them together?
Drives them to deliver results on time?
Keep up with their productivity? And also maintain the highest work ethics at the same time?
If you haven’t, let me tell you it’s the company core values.
These are the values on which a company aims to establish itself, thrive, and prosper over the due course of time. These company values play a very vital role in keeping the entire workforce right from top to bottom levels attuned.
Importance of Company Core Values
Company values are critical, keeping in mind that it gives purpose to the organization's functions.
And like I said, having a well-laid set of company core values will keep each and everyone from top to bottom in the organization on the right track.
Furthermore, when we associate value with a certain thing or activity, it emphasizes the importance of the same. Also, it is worth noting that employees or job seekers on their lookout for the best workplaces prefer the ones that have got a sound vision and goal.
At its early stage, the values adopted by a company also acts as the base for carrying out long-term plans and prioritizing its major functions.
As an example, here are 5 company core values of TATA Group that shaped their business ethics.
Integrity: We will be fair, honest, transparent, and ethical in our conduct; everything we do must stand the test of public scrutiny.
Responsibility: We will integrate environmental and social principles in our businesses, ensuring that what comes from the people goes back to the people many times over.
Excellence: We will be passionate about achieving the highest quality standards, always promoting meritocracy.
Pioneering: We will be bold and agile, courageously taking on challenges, using deep customer insight to develop innovative solutions.
Unity: We will invest in our people and partners, enable continuous learning, and build caring and collaborative relationships based on trust and mutual respect.
7 Positive Impact of Company Core Values
1. Employee Engagement
Every employer desires to have a performance-driven company culture. However, cultivating the same within the organization is impossible until and unless proper emphasis is put on engaging the employees.
Employee Engagement has now become the buzzword for the same across the corporate industry. The reason here is that with changing times, the motion of providing your employees with the best is shifting from a handsome paycheck to a wide range of other benefits. And with the competitive nature of the work environment taking over workplaces worldwide, adopting policies that benefit your employees gives an employer a competitive edge over the other.
2. Employee Retention
Adopting strong core values in your work culture also helps you to retain your top talents.
If you’re wondering how?
Then let me ask you if you would rather stay in an organization that hasn’t got a vision or move to another that thrives on a set of core values.
You’ll choose the latter. Adopting specific values right from inception adds stability to the functions in the organization. And with stability comes satisfaction which motivates everyone to work together towards a better future. Thus, keeping the workforce together on track and fuelling their zeal to achieve more.
3. Talent Acquisition
Since you have read about retention, you might have got this point very well then.
Talent acquisition is where every organisation needs to ensure they get the best people for their workforce. However, the catch here is money may not be everything to attract them to work for you.
Challenging the status quo, the top talents now first lay their eyes on the organization's future. They desire to be a part of an organization with a predefined vision and learn and grow there.
As such, organizations must emphasize creating a culture based on solid workplace values supporting long-term goals.
4. Company Branding
This is where company core values play the trump card.
First, let’s not confuse company branding with the logos and tagline that are used on its products or services. The deal here is not to sell products but to project your organization as the perfect destination for business and recruitment.
Every successful company has some core values associated with it. These values act as the pillars that help the organization earn goodwill. Thus, creating a much needed positive image for the organization that affects it both internally and externally.
Internally, the employees feel good and stay motivated as the positive image adds more value to their work and themselves.
Externally, attracting the top talents and businesses to work for and with you becomes much easier.
5. Customer Satisfaction
To grow in your field of business, you must always keep a check on your customer satisfaction levels. The happier you keep your customer, the better your business is going to be.
Many of the successful companies around the globe ensure top customer service to their clients as a part of their company values.
Why?
As I said earlier, company core values allow organizations to implement their goals efficiently and continuously improve them. On the bottom line, ensuring the best customer service depends mainly on the employees of the company. As such, core values help employers instill the same principle in the minds of every employee.
6. Fair Business Practices
“You can make money without doing evil”
Did you ever come across this sentence?
No?
Then let me tell you it is one of the 10 core values adopted by Google.
Corporations often go rogue with regards to their business practices in the lust for more revenue.
Situations like this put everyone associated with the company in jeopardy, causing a loss of trust and integrity within the organization.
However, this can be kept in check and avoided from happening by firmly abiding by the set of core company values. When applied by an organization in its day-to-day activities, these values would prevent malpractices from nurturing.
7. Growth and Stability
The company core values play a vital role in its growth and stability. The workflow becomes more smooth when everyone knows the end goal based on the core values.
As in a survey by Imperative on LinkedIn found that, 58% of companies with a clearly articulated and understood purpose experienced growth of +10% compared to the rest 42% that don’t lay much emphasis on purpose.
When employees are connected and showed the purpose of their work, they involve themselves at work in a much better way.
And with better involvement in the workplace comes greater stability that further fuels the growth of the organization.
Here were some of the benefits of abiding by company core values that I could think of now. However, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
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