Home How We Help Be a better employer Managing people How to create a positive workplace culture that lets your employees be their best

Managing people

How to create a positive workplace culture that lets your employees be their best

Does your business have a strongly driven, values-based culture? Do your employees share beliefs and ideals? Is there a sense of community, where everyone is valued and appreciated?

When everyone from the CEO down finds alignment between their personal values and the organisation’s values, and live the values they preach, it manifests itself in optimum motivation, engagement and employee performance, and a strong commitment from everyone to the organisation’s vision.

How does business benefit from a positive workplace culture?

The result of creating a good work culture is that your business will be more productive and profitable. These values guide not only your employees’ behaviour but also decision-making and strategic direction. They become embedded in your organisation’s corporate image, reinforcing its professionalism and ethics and shape community expectations and attitudes.

Salesforce case study: living the values and the dream

Salesforce was voted Fortune’s No. 1 best company to work for globally in 2017 and 2018, named one of Forbes’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies” seven years in a row, and one of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” nine years in a row.

What makes a good work culture? The Salesforce example

Picture this: you step out of the lift and are enveloped by a sense of peace and tranquillity. Natural light pours through large windows framing unbroken harbour vistas. The open floor plan offers relaxed and comfortable seating and furniture for doing business, collaborating or simply relaxing.

There are employees working in this relaxed space, or in the occasional office, or in meeting rooms with spectacular harbour views. Mindfulness areas are available for employees to recharge whenever they feel the need. Or they can enjoy each other’s company and a little downtime with snacks and beverages in the beautifully appointed social lounges.

Inspiration from nature and zen-like atmospheres are everywhere. Large framed photos of smiling staff having fun beam down from the walls.

It’s obvious that collaboration and fun are not only encouraged but almost mandatory. People are friendly, smiling and happy. And why wouldn’t they be? They work in a business that thrives on meaningful work, good people and unparalleled rewards.

This is an organisation that displays appreciation, gratitude and kindness in everything it does. An organisation that gives back to the community in spades.

Life and work embraces the Hawaiian culture of Ohana, which means family.

However, we are not in Hawaii. This is the Sydney office for Salesforce, and this design and culture is consistent across all their offices globally. Their newest offices have Ohana floors at the top where customers, partners, friends and the community are welcome, and it is one of the best great work culture examples in the city.

We are family

This organisation lives and breathes a strongly driven, values-based, family culture, with shared beliefs and ideals. It is community oriented and philanthropic. Life at Salesforce centres around their Ohana values of trust, growth, innovation, equality, customer success, transparency, giving back, wellbeing, and fun.

Ohana binds employees together. Everyone from top to bottom is considered ‘family’. Their Ohana is built on four core values that inspire everyone to live these values, while being the best they can be, and at the same time working everyday towards improving the world.

The four core values of Salesforce

Trust: They communicate openly with their customers, and do what it takes to keep their data secure.

Growth: They’re obsessed with their customers' success and take pride in their achievements.

Innovation: They pursue ideas that could change their company, their country – and maybe even the world.

Equality: They respect and value employees from every background and thrive as a result.

Salesforce: a profile of a values-driven culture

What does a culture that values and shows appreciation, gratitude and kindness to its staff look like?

It promotes a culture of appreciation and gratitude. It thanks and rewards staff for good work and extra effort.
It allows and encourages employees to be the best they can be.
Men and women are treated 100% equally. Women are given the same professional and financial opportunities as men.
It fosters equality in the organisation and in the communities it serves – whether it is gender, LGBTQ, racial, national origin, or religious equality.
It has flexible working policies with remote working and part-time working opportunities.
Employees take pride in their work, trust and enjoy working with their colleagues, and appreciate their work environment.
It inspires each other and the industry through their values of trust, growth, innovation and equality. Their culture comes to life through their staff’s behaviours and experiences.
It encourages a sense of belonging and inspires authenticity and connection amongst staff at all levels.
It cultivates and champions a diverse employee community with a wide range of mindsets, cultures, experiences, and perspectives. It has a strong recruitment policy of diversity.
It lives and breathes its commitment to helping employees connect and collaborate with customers easily. It does this by working with the right people and leveraging data and technology through a close collaboration between HR and IT.
It rewards its valued staff magnanimously, offering rich rewards for employees who refer new hires.
It zealously encourages employee philanthropy and as an organisation donated $177,200,000 in 2017.
Its staff live, breathe and exude the core values of trust, innovation, growth and equality.
It embraces and encourages volunteer and community work and the sense of responsibility to the community – employees get paid 56 hours a year to volunteer in their community.
It supports environmental sustainability, undertaking environmental impact audits, renewable energy programs, recycling programs, carbon offset programs, and locally sourced foods programs.
It provides employees with numerous and generous wellbeing benefits, including Wellness Reimbursement, Mindfulness Zones, and a Parental Leave program.
It offers an exclusive club, the Koa Club with special offerings, to employees who have been with Salesforce and their acquired companies for 10+ years.
Annually it holds Dreamforce, a conference bringing together thought leaders, industry pioneers and thousands of IT professionals, and wowing and inspiring people around the world.