FROM THREATENING TO THRIVING: MY WORKPLACE CULTURE STORY

If you had asked me ten years ago about the importance of having a positive workplace culture, I would have laughed out loud. Why would an employer proactively focus on the employee experience when margins were tight for their product or service?

Had somebody tried explaining to my accounting self that company culture was key to improving a company’s bottom line, I would have rolled my eyes. Pseudoscience, folklore, fantasy – call it what you want, it was all just theory, right?

THE TOXIC WORK CULTURE I KNEW

Sometime after college, I landed a position in the accounting department of a security company where I worked for the next 12 years. But as I worked my way up, I eventually had a manager who, over time, used me as a scapegoat to unload his stress.

At some point, this security company partnered with a PEO for their outsourcing services. I remember their team came in with such positive energy. They were genuine with the way they talked to us, they believed their product would truly help our company, and overall, they were just kind.

With this PEO handling all the administrative tasks in the background, I didn’t really know they were there – other than they were handling our tax filings. My personal interactions with them had been limited to this initial onboarding experience.

Until I caught COVID.

I was the first one in my office to catch COVID-19, so I was told to contact Stratus HR, our PEO. When I called in, everyone I talked to was so helpful. They knew what needed to be done and which forms I needed to complete so I could still get paid. These people took something that was so scary in the middle of a pandemic and put me at complete ease.

About a year after this, our management team decided to part ways with Stratus and brought things in-house. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any power or sway to maintain that relationship.

From here, my boss got progressively worse with the yelling. It was a cycle of emotional abuse where he would scream at me and then later apologize to smooth things out – over and over. I went to the owners for help, but he was the CFO. Whatever they said to him would create a temporary change to where he almost seemed apologetic. But then he would slip back into this toxic cycle again, only worse than it was before.

Things finally got to the point that I dreaded waking up to go to work. Even though I needed a job and had no secondary plan, the money just wasn’t worth it anymore.

As I considered my options, I remembered my interactions with Stratus. I knew their employees were friendly and the company had been in business for a while. After doing some research, I decided that whatever it took, I had to get my foot in the door.

I applied for every position they had available, even though I wasn’t qualified for most. Thankfully, the perfect position in their accounting department opened up and I was hired.

DISCOVERING A POSITIVE WORKPLACE CULTURE

My first few days at Stratus were eye-opening and invigorating. They held an all-hands meeting called Winning Wednesday where I was blown away! It was all I could do to sit there and soak it all in.

They started off with celebrating birthdays and work anniversaries, showed us graphs and statistics, and then opened it up for people to share their “wins” for the month. Nearly everyone chimed in with compliments about coworkers – from their own firsthand experiences to great things clients had shared over the last few weeks. It was a downpour of tributes! The meeting ended with an announcement for employee-of-the-month, which is a story of its own, and then everyone ate a company-sponsored breakfast together.

There was so much positivity said and expressed and encouraged, I almost cried. It was amazing! In all my former work experiences, an all-hands meeting meant there were fires to put out or we had done something wrong. It was nothing like this experience.

HOW MY FIRST MISTAKE WAS HANDLED

While I’d like to say I rode off into the sunset and everything was perfect, I’m still human. The first mistake I made was a reconciliation error, and I knew I had to tell my new boss – who was, once again, the CFO. I immediately felt anxious about how this conversation might go.

I walked into her office feeling extremely apologetic, prepping myself to be yelled at. I explained what had happened but was caught completely off guard by her response. There was no yelling! Instead, she told me that mistakes happen, that this was no big deal, and that we could fix it. She was so understanding and kind, I couldn’t believe it!

My boss then showed me how to do the reconciliation correctly going forward. I’m not sure how well I hid my shock when comparing my previous work experiences to what was happening at that moment, but I was once again unbelievably reassured that I was in the right place.

MY NEW UNDERSTANDING OF HOW WORKPLACE CULTURE BOOSTS THE BOTTOM LINE

Having been with Stratus for nearly two years now, I could go on and on about the workplace culture here. I’ll simply say it oozes with positivity, and it’s addicting. My personal health is so much better, and I wake up excited to see my coworkers. I never imagined a work environment like this could exist.

While I still spend my work time crunching numbers, I’ve learned this: there IS monetary value behind positive workplace culture.

Not only is it incredibly rewarding to work for a company whose leaders value and respect their employees, and where coworkers look for the good in each other, but all of this nurtures loyalty. Loyalty translates into employee tenure, which means lower employee turnover. The lower your turnover, the higher your bottom line. And when employees are loyal to a company and love what they do, that seeps into positive interactions with others – vendors, clients, customers, the public – all of which impact the bottom line.

Despite being a numbers person and having a hard time quantifying it, my experience has taught me firsthand that workplace culture matters. And it goes much deeper than accolades.