When it comes to daily priorities, particularly for small and medium sized companies, it makes total sense that a company vision and culture falls down the list. We also see large companies who have ‘mission statements’ or company visions eviscerated in the press for not living up to their standards; it can sometimes seem like such a shallow exercise or mere window dressing that will do little to impact your day-to-day or bottom line.

But from a recruiter’s perspective, I’m here to tell you that when done properly, having clear values can set your company apart from others, and as a result, attract great talent that will contribute to your team. I didn’t just dream this up, either; 80% of Forbes 100 businesses publicly announce their values, and those with values outperform their competition by 400%.*

Employees who work in places where values are reinforced are more productive, more engaged and stay with your company for longer, lowering onboarding costs and increasing client satisfaction.** An added bonus? Not only do employees love working at a company that they can feel proud of, consumers tend to support mission-focused brands, as well.

One thing I often hear when I ask about company culture and values is that there’s confusion about what they are or should be. Another thing that’s quite common is that organisations have values but they’re often informal and uncodified. If you already have values but haven’t done much to let your employees and clients know what they are, formalise them: write them down, talk about them and demonstrate how those values underpin things you do through performance, actions and feedback from clients and employees.

If you aren’t sure what your values are, there are some great resources available, such as this article in Forbes about how to start to define your values and this article in the Harvard Business Review about how to craft and implement mission statements, values and purpose. One question to get you started: what kind of workplace would you like to work in, and why? Having values is not about ticking some superficial box or creating fluff but should be rooted in authentic motivations that are interwoven in the way your company and its employees work, speak with people and interact with the working world.

Once you’ve done some work in refining what your company culture is (and is not), you’ll see some of the benefits described above. You’ll also have a much easier time articulating answers to questions about your company culture and values, which often helps when selling a role and differentiating your company in the ever-competitive game of attracting high quality talent.

The best part about this? There’s no cost (in pounds and pence) to articulating these values. Only the benefit of differentiating yourself from competitive organisations.

Many job seekers want to know more about what it would look like to work at a company but often don’t know how to ask those types of questions. I’ve found that asking about the company values and culture is a great way to get stuck in, as organisations with an articulated culture will be able to give you specific answers to this question.

However, if you are interviewing at a company that doesn’t have a culture so fully fleshed out, you can always ask the interviewer to describe the company or team as if they were a person: what values would that person stand for? How would they take on tasks, and deal with customers? This is a great way to get talking and understand more about the company you’re interviewing with.

*   https://open.buffer.com/creating-values/
** https://www.fastcompany.com/3028201/5-reasons-you-need-to-instill-values-in-your-organization