But just what is required to turn around a company culture that is entrenched in historical and organisational legacies that foster a less than motivational staffing climate?
Workplace relations expert Jeremy Aitken recently sat down with ZDNet Australia to offer his vision for what makes a utopian working environment and provide some tips to help local companies achieve this dream.
Is there such a thing as a perfect work culture?
I believe there is certainly an ideal work culture. It is a culture that brings out the absolute best in everyone. A culture that excites and inspires everyone. A culture that generates complete commitment. I could go on and on. It may not exist as yet - but it is something to aim for.
Which obstacles traditionally prevent this ideal from becoming a reality?
Reality bites - none of us are saints and nobody can give 100 percent all the time. So the challenge is to build cultures where the total culture can cope with individual bad days from time to time.
What are the most common mistakes made by companies who try to establish a positive work culture but instead foster bad staff relations?
In my experience, it is when management get all fired up about a cultural change, and then attempt to impose the new idea on everybody else in the organisation. People naturally resist, even if they agree with it, because they were not given a say at the outset. Moral of the story: get everybody involved from the start.
What are the most common barriers to achieving a good employment culture within a company?
Vested interests, fear, uncertainty and doubt - the usual suspects in any cultural evolution. That and fear of change.
Do tech workers thrive in a different type of job culture to that of other non-tech employees?
In specific terms, yes but in general terms, no. Amongst other things, people want their job to provide the opportunity for challenge, interest and, dare I say it, creativity. What that means to tech people is different to a non-tech person, but the song remains the same.
Is there a particular industry sector, such as finance, IT, retail, that is traditionally better at fostering a positive employment culture?
Definitely. Any industry or organisation that competes in a highly competitive marketplace, one that typically requires highly skilled, loyal and creative people in order to thrive in the market. These are the kind of operators that need to invent their culture so that they are known as a really great place to work. Because, if they cannot attract and retain the best people, it is not going to happen for them. And mostly they know it too. What they do about culture sometimes misses the mark.
How does Australia compare in the global stakes when it comes to an appreciation of and an ability to foster a good work culture?
It's hard to make useful comparisons because of prevailing local customs and the local work ethos. Remember in the 80s how everyone wanted to ape Japanese culture? It worked up to a point, but Australians have a different cultural context to the Japanese. I'd say that we are up there. However, we are better at gadgets than we are at new concepts and cultural change tends to be a conceptual exercise, at least at the outset.
Do Australian organisations face any unique challenges in this respect?
Yes - the past! All of our traditional ways of doing things stand in the way of cultural evolution. Obviously all countries face this and we are not unique in this regard. Where every country is unique is in the nature of the traditions. In Australia, I could sum up the main challenge as a lack of trust between managers and staff. To invert that mistrust we must be prepared for much more transparency around management agendas. Because, even if management does not have a hidden agenda about cultural evolution, it will be assumed they do anyway, because that is the way that managers have always behaved.
As soon as companies start hiring people who know how to use computers, IT staffing problems, sickies and turnover will drop.
The greatest stress anyone in a Helldesk has to cope with is that bloody idiot user ringing yet again to find out how to do a mail merge, or cut and paste, or cant boot, and only after half an hour of grilling will they admit to deleting the contents of the windows folder "to save on disk space".
If they dont know how to use a computer, either hire someone that does, or dont give them one until they learn.
Sure it may be elitist, but technology is truly wasted on the stupid.