Why Company Core Values Are Important and How to Reinforce Them

Your company's core values serve as the North Star for employees, guiding each person to make the best decisions for your business and to feel secure in those decisions. If you don't commit to regularly reinforcing core values through different touchpoints, you'll have nothing more than an inconsistent brand and a disengaged staff. 

Effects of Core Values on Company Culture 

It's no surprise that company culture is a top priority among almost 50% of job seekers today, but what exactly is company culture? It is a combination of the goals, values, and attitudes of your organization. Culture drives everything from branding to hiring, so without solid core values in place, you can't possibly have a thriving company culture.

As you work to define your core values, think about the kind of talent you want to attract – not just their skills but what drives them. How do they think and make decisions? What do they personally value in their work? Defining your core values early on enables you to build the best team and develop a strong company culture.

How Core Values Affect Employee Engagement

Once you have top talent, you want to keep it! Employee engagement impacts everything from employee turnover to overall company success, so engagement strategies shouldn't be taken lightly. A global study showed that sharing an employer's core values is the leading driver to boost employee engagement. 

Core values provide employees with a sense of belonging and clear expectations, both of which are linked to increased employee engagement and reduce turnover. People want to know how they fit into your organization, and clear values make it easier to see how each department and individual role contributes to your mission.

How to Reinforce Your Core Values 

As an essential part of company culture, core values should be addressed throughout your recruiting and hiring processes. From day one, a candidate needs to know your values drive how you do business. They need to hear how those values fit into their role no matter what level of the hierarchy they're in within the organization.

What happens after you have hired an employee, however? How do you keep those values top of mind across the organization? One of the best ways to reinforce your core values is by strategically designing recognition programs around them. Assembly enables you to quickly strengthen your core values by celebrating individuals and teams for the kind of work and behaviors you want to see. When integrated with Slack or Microsoft Teams, you can select the person or team you want to highlight and the core value they exhibited in their work.

Establishing core values is a critical step in building any successful business. Still, without regular reinforcement to live out those values each day, your employees are left with nothing more than nice buzz words on a conference room wall. If you want an organization that is well-aligned and successful, commit to integrating your core values in everything you do and make a point to recognize them in action.