Has there ever been a more important… and more nebulous… concept than company culture? Candidates are looking for companies with an exciting culture; employees will leave if culture doesn’t work for them; “improve company culture” is often top of the list for many HR departments’ metrics and goals. In the HR world, we talk about company culture all day long, but it’s hard to define and even harder to plan for.
At a glance
- Company culture describes how people work, communicate, make decisions, and experience everyday life inside an organization.
- HR can strengthen culture by promoting psychological safety, supporting employee well-being, and enabling better collaboration across teams.
- Practical HR strategies include improving cross-departmental collaboration, empowering employee advocacy, using engagement technology, and creating meaningful employee initiatives.
- Leaders are key culture carriers: they need training, accountability, and support to model healthy, inclusive, and respectful behavior.
- Strong company culture starts with clear core values, psychological safety, employee well-being, and accountable leadership.
- Culture change only works when it is lived consistently — through communication, leadership, feedback, recognition, and support systems that employees actually experience.
Listen, sometimes you just need a good To Do List. And we’ve got you covered! In this guide, we’re breaking down seven action items you can start on right now to improve company culture at your organization. Begone, wishy-washy company culture plans! Your strategic guide is here.
What is company culture?
Company culture is the shared set of values, behaviors, norms, and working practices that shape how people experience work inside an organization. It influences how employees communicate, collaborate, make decisions, give feedback, handle conflict, and connect with the company’s mission.
In other words, company culture is the soul of a company: the mix of processes, values, leadership style, team dynamics, and everyday behaviors that determine how work actually feels. And while everyone contributes to company culture, HR has a particularly strong role in shaping, strengthening, and improving it.
7 HR Strategies to Improve Company Culture
HR strategies to improve company culture are often the most actionable because they turn abstract values into concrete structures, rituals, policies, and support systems employees experience every day.
Here are seven strategies to get you started.
1. Define and Communicate Core Values
The foundation of a strong company culture lies in its core values, and the HR team can work closely with company leadership to define and articulate these values clearly. These values should reflect the organization’s beliefs, principles, and goals. Once established, HR should ensure that these values are effectively communicated to all employees through various channels such as employee handbooks, internal communications, and onboarding sessions. Consistent reinforcement of core values helps employees align their behaviors and decisions with the company’s overarching mission, and fosters a sense of purpose and belonging.
2. Foster Psychological Safety and Prioritize Employee Well-Being
A healthy work-life balance is essential for employee satisfaction and overall well-being. HR can implement initiatives aimed at promoting employee wellness, such as flexible work arrangements, wellness programs, and mental health support services. Additionally, you could organize team-building activities, social events, and recognition programs to foster a sense of community and camaraderie among employees. By prioritizing employee well-being, organizations can reduce burnout, improve morale, and increase productivity. But fun initiatives alone won’t work to boost employee well-being: clear communication and an open feedback culture are crucial, as is centring psychological safety at work.
Creating a mentally healthy workspace is one of the most important ways to boost and prioritize employee well-being. But, like any element of our health, mental health is complex and requires holistic and professional attention and care. That’s why providing professional mental health support to ensure your team’s mental health is supported is a great way to ensure that you’re creating a psychologically safe company that will benefit everyone. The nilo platform is a solution that offers one-to-one counseling and self-guided digital tools, as well as a HR dashboard to make your job easier.
3. Facilitate Cross-Departmental Collaboration
In HR, you have the chance to play a significant role in breaking down silos and promoting collaboration across different departments within the organization. By organizing cross-functional projects, team-building activities, and collaborative workshops, you can encourage employees to work together towards common goals. This fosters a culture of teamwork, innovation, and knowledge sharing, leading to improved communication and efficiency across the organization.
4. Empower Employee Advocacy
HR can empower employees to become advocates for the company both internally and externally. This involves providing opportunities for employees to participate in employer branding initiatives, social media advocacy programs, and community outreach activities. By highlighting employee success stories, promoting a positive work culture, and showcasing the company’s values and achievements, employees become ambassadors who attract top talent and strengthen the organization’s reputation in the marketplace.
5. Promote Leadership and Accountability
Strong leadership is vital for creating a positive company culture, and ensuring your company has the best leadership possible doesn’t stop at a successful hire! Instead, try identifying and nurturing leadership qualities in managers and executives through leadership development programs and coaching. Additionally, hold leaders accountable for upholding the company’s core values and fostering a culture of inclusivity, respect, and integrity. By setting clear expectations and providing regular feedback, HR can ensure that leaders lead by example and inspire their teams to excel. Cultivating strong leadership not only strengthens the organizational culture but also drives employee engagement and performance.
When considering leadership training, make sure to take mental health into account. Research shows that managers have a major impact on mental health, affecting nearly 70% of the population more than any other person in their lives. But too often, leadership don’t have the training or knowledge they need to support their team’s mental health… or their own! Your mental health plan should take leaders into consideration, for example with nilo’s specialized program to support, educate and empower management.
6. Embrace Technology for Employee Engagement
HR can leverage technology to enhance employee engagement and streamline HR processes. This includes implementing employee engagement platforms, pulse surveys, and social collaboration tools to gather feedback, measure employee sentiment, and foster communication and collaboration. By embracing technology, HR can create a more connected and engaged workforce, facilitate remote work arrangements, and provide employees with the tools they need to succeed in a digital workplace environment.
Here too, your mental health support options can make a huge difference. If you have a remote team, for example, you could provide online roundtables like nilo’s. And make sure you consider your team’s needs, by providing mental health support available in multiple languages and time zones.
7. Think Outside the Box
People drawn to HR are often an imaginative, creative bunch, so don’t forget to have fun as you work to improve your company culture! Try some more unusual approaches, like:
- Implementing random acts of kindness – either from HR to your colleagues, or encouraging your colleagues to spread the joy amongst one another.
- Reverse Mentoring Programs, where junior employees mentor senior leaders to provide valuable insights into the perspectives and experiences of everyone in the company, as well as fostering a culture of collaboration and mutual learning.
- Fun and unconventional team-building activities like themed costume days, scavenger hunts, or escape rooms.
- Promote financial wellness programs to help employees manage their finances effectively, with workshops on budgeting, saving, and investing, as well as access to financial planning resources and tools.
Does your HR team need a helping hand? We’ve got you.
Conclusion
Company culture changes when HR turns values into clear behaviors, supportive structures, accountable leadership, and everyday employee experiences. By focusing on psychological safety, well-being, collaboration, feedback, and meaningful initiatives, HR can create a culture where people feel connected, supported, and able to do their best work. Strong culture is not built overnight — but with consistent action, it becomes one of the strongest drivers of engagement, retention, and performance.
Frequently Asked Questions About Improving Company Culture
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What is company culture?
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Company culture is the shared set of values, behaviors, expectations, and working practices that shape how people experience work. It affects how employees communicate, collaborate, make decisions, handle feedback, and feel connected to the organization.
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How can HR improve company culture?
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HR can improve company culture by turning values into everyday behaviors, systems, and decisions. The most effective levers are:
- Values and communication: Define clear values and make sure they are reflected in hiring, onboarding, internal communication, and decision-making.
- Psychological safety and well-being: Create an environment where employees can speak up, ask for help, and access support when they need it.
- Leadership and accountability: Train leaders to model the desired culture and hold them accountable for how they communicate, give feedback, and support their teams.
- Feedback and collaboration: Build regular feedback loops, encourage cross-team collaboration, and act on employee input.
- Policies and rituals: Make sure culture is reflected in everyday policies, team routines, recognition formats, and ways of working.
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What are examples of HR initiatives that improve company culture?
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Examples of HR initiatives that improve company culture include:
- Leadership initiatives: leadership training, coaching, feedback training, and accountability frameworks for managers.
- Employee listening: regular engagement surveys, pulse checks, stay interviews, and structured feedback formats.
- Recognition and belonging: recognition programs, employee resource groups, onboarding improvements, and internal community formats.
- Collaboration and communication: cross-functional projects, team rituals, all-hands formats, transparent internal updates, and collaboration workshops.
- Well-being and support: mental health support, flexible work policies, work-life balance initiatives, and resources that help employees manage stress.
The best initiatives are not one-off perks. They are connected to the company’s values, repeated consistently, and supported by leaders, so employees can feel the culture in everyday interactions.
