This post was contributed by Andy Howell, CEO of Uncommon Giving.

At your company, you have an assortment of people with varying skills, perspectives, and motivations. So, how do you unite these diverse individuals into a collective force that drives growth, yields profit, and provides lasting value to your community? The answer lies in developing a strong set of company values.

Instilling clear, shared values across your company allows you to align your teams on how to make business-related decisions, collaborate, and work toward the company’s goals. The more connected your employees feel to your culture and values, the more likely they are to feel invested in their roles and stay with your company for the long term.

In this guide, we’ll explore why company values are so important to your lasting success and walk through four tips to effectively incorporate them into your workplace.

The Benefits of Strong Company Values

By establishing values that everyone at your company can get behind and infusing them into your work environment and communications, you can tap into the following benefits:

• Increased talent acquisition. In addition to a reasonable salary, many job seekers are looking to join a company that will provide them with a sense of purpose and belonging. Having well-defined company values can attract talented individuals who hope to embody those values and join a team environment where those values are front and center.
• Higher employee engagement. According to Double the Donation, highly engaged employees are more productive, enthusiastic, and likely to go above and beyond. What excites your employees about showing up to work every day? Company values provide a clear sense of direction and guidance, allowing employees to see how their daily actions and decisions contribute to your company’s overall success.
• Improved reputation. By openly communicating your company’s values, your business will come across as more authentic and trustworthy. Plus, if your values resonate with certain individuals, they may feel inspired to become customers. Let’s say one of your values revolves around sustainability. Knowing this, environmentally conscious consumers might feel more drawn to your company over its competitors because they appreciate that you won’t sacrifice the health of the environment over profits.

At the same time, remember that developing and sharing your company’s values is only the beginning. To truly tap into these key benefits, you’ll need to find ways to integrate your values across both your internal operations and external messaging.

An Example of Company Values

Your company values should be more than just a list of words. They should define what sets your company apart from others and energize your employees in their everyday roles. Squarespace, for example, is a mid-sized website building and hosting company with six core values:

1. Be the customer.
2. Design is not a luxury.
3. Build the ideal.
4. Learn fast, act fast.
5. Protect creativity.
6. Simplify.

Squarespace features these values directly on its “About Us” page, so anyone from job seekers to customers can understand the company’s guiding principles.

4 Tips to Reinforce Your Company Values

Your company values should extend from the very top of your leadership structure all the way to your newest recruits. To implement values that promote alignment and unity at your company, start with these basic tips:

1. Collect input from both leadership and employees.

Choosing a set of company values isn’t about forcing your employees to conform their beliefs, habits, and principles to fit into your workplace. Instead, your values should reflect a shared vision of success among everyone at your company and how you plan on getting there together.

Take the time to discuss how you define and articulate your values by asking members of leadership and employees questions such as:

• What is important to our company as a whole?
• What does success mean at our company?
• How does our workplace culture differ from others?
• What values do you use to guide your workplace decisions?

These brainstorming and feedback sessions can take the form of values workshops, values inventories, ongoing surveys, or focus groups. Find out what matters to the people at your company—maybe they’re incredibly passionate about volunteering or they strongly believe in having diverse perspectives on their team, for instance.

2. Introduce your company values during onboarding.

Set clear expectations and help new employees get used to your company culture by introducing your values on day one. Gallup found that only 20% of employees strongly agree that their colleagues are committed to their organization’s values and that their manager explains how the values influence their work.

Demonstrate to your employees that your company values are more than just for show with onboarding ideas such as:

• Directly referencing company values in training materials.
• Sharing stories highlighting when existing employees embodied a company value.
• Pairing new hires with mentors who exemplify and promote your values.

While laying a solid foundation at the start is essential, keep the momentum going even after new hires have settled into the business. Maintain continued communication and discussion surrounding your company values by having managers incorporate values-based feedback in performance reviews and other one-on-one discussions with employees.

3. Engage employees in workplace giving.

By launching a workplace giving program, your company can actively engage employees in initiatives that align with your values. According to Uncommon Giving’s workplace giving guide, there are four popular types to consider:

• Matching gifts. When an employee donates to an eligible nonprofit, your company matches their donation amount at a 1:1 ratio or higher.
• Payroll deductions. Employees can choose to automatically deduct a portion of their paycheck to donate to a nonprofit.
• Corporate volunteering. Your company can broadcast upcoming volunteer opportunities with nonprofits or host your own team-wide events.
• Volunteer grants. When an employee volunteers a certain number of hours with a nonprofit, your company will make a donation to that organization based on how many hours the employee has volunteered.

When deciding on workplace giving initiatives to pursue, survey your employees on the causes they care about, and focus on those areas. Doing so increases the likelihood that more employees will get involved in your program.

4. Recognize employees for embodying your values.

It takes more than a fair compensation plan to make employees feel continually appreciated and motivated at your company. Because of this, you need to keep an eye out for opportunities to acknowledge their good performance and hard work. Whenever your employees uphold your company values, give them a shoutout to demonstrate that you noticed.

Several ways you can reinforce your company values through employee recognition include:

• Spotlighting employees on social media.
• Awarding small gifts or gift cards.
• Hosting a team-wide celebration.
• Providing additional paid time off.

Additionally, you can build community and strengthen connections between your employees by giving them the chance to recognize one another in their day-to-day activities. For example, you might encourage employees to send an eCard whenever they see a team member embodying a company value well.

In bi-annual or annual surveys, ask your employees to reflect on your values and how well they think your company upholds them. Stay on the lookout for ways to improve, whether that’s researching software like workplace giving platforms or brainstorming new recognition strategies. Over time, you’ll be able to bring your core values to life and use them to propel your company toward its vision of success.

---

About the Author

Andy Howell

Andy Howell is the CEO of Uncommon Giving, a Charleston-based social impact platform that helps companies engage employees in workplace giving and volunteering—think of it as “generosity-powered” employee engagement. Uncommon Giving provides modern, cost-effective tools for employers to live their corporate values, improve employee morale, and enhance brand reputation.

Andy has spent the majority of his career working with SaaS companies serving the nonprofit, HR, and social impact spaces, including Blackbaud, Benevity, Benefitfocus, and Bloomerang. In his role today, he brings a distinct point of view to the meaningful connection between corporate social responsibility, employee engagement, and the desire to make the world a better place.