Company culture has a big impact on how your company runs, who works for you and even who stays with you.

Your company culture should reflect your company’s beliefs, its mission and even its employees.

Think about it, those who work for you, represent you and your company. You want the company culture to do the same.

So when you are hiring, do you try to match your employees to your culture? Do you consistently try to improve the culture of your business, to make it more efficient, more magnanimous, and more financially successful?

Often, those finding their spot in the corporate world consider corporate culture during the job hunt.

Remember, the people you are interviewing are interviewing you as well. They want to work somewhere that reflects them, their values, and their goals.

Are You Employees Truly Happy?

The happier someone can be at work, the more successful they can be as well.

Whether you are hiring engineers, writers, attorneys, you name it – they are all looking for a positive work environment and for many, corporate culture can be a deciding factor.

As the following article looks at, let’s stick with our engineer example and think about why many top engineers choose company culture over big names.

And remember, it’s not just engineers, but many potential hires who have a lot to offer.

Look at factors like:

• Pride – You want to create a company culture where your employees take pride in what they do. The more pride and value they have in their work, they harder they’ll work. As an employer, show they are valued.
• Trust – It’s important for your employees to be in a trusting environment. Here they can feel free to share ideas without feeling threatened. The more ideas consistently flowing, the more successful ones you’ll have out there. Engineers, like any other employees, need a trusting place to work and have their best foot forward at all times.
• A place to be themselves – Perhaps your engineers don’t want to have to wear the business attire that your sales people wear. Maybe their hours could be a little more flexible. If your culture allows them to be themselves and not try to emulate everyone else there, they can be more successful.
• Build on what works, let go of what doesn’t – Some things you do are going to be great and your employees will thrive. Others won’t. If you find your culture is more successful and employees happier with less mandatory meetings, let some of the meetings go. If it works for you to have team-building events and you see more success and productivity flowing afterwards, go for it.

You will find that what your company stands for will be reflected in your culture.

It should come naturally because you can’t turn something into what it’s not. If your company’s culture does reflect its values and mission, great hires who fit right in will be drawn to you.

Think about the saying, “If you build it they will come.”

That applies not only to baseball fields, but company culture, too.

In fact, sometimes company culture can even trump those big name guys.

About the Author: Heather Legg is an independent writer who covers topics related to small business, social media and working from home.

You’re a solo entrepreneur. Business is doing well, but you are burning the candle at both ends and your family is no longer pretending to expect you at mealtime.

That’s no bueno.

It might be time to consider hiring some help.

You Might Need to Hire Some Help If…

• Your customers are seeing you less and less (especially if you’re in the consulting business).
• You are doing tasks that aren’t in your sweet spot of skills (hello accounting, graphic design).
• You are spending 100% of your time putting out fires and no time planning your business (recipe for disaster).

Think about the last month. Do any of the items above resonate with your schedule? Then it’s worth at least exploring whether you’re ready to handle hiring someone.

You’re Ready to Hire Help If…

• You are prepared to delegate work and manage another person.
• Your profit margins can support the investment. (Consider salary and benefits.)
• You’re mentally ready to fire the person if it isn’t working out.

If you feel comfortable with the items above, you can move to the next step, which is defining your biggest need and writing a detailed job description. This might be the hardest part, because you may need skilled help in multiple disciplines.

Time to sit down and gut check what you really need. How many hours worth of work do you need for each task or skill-set? Maybe you don’t even need a full-time person.

Some Alternatives to Hiring a Full-Time Employee

• Virtual help, virtual assistants – there are tons of resources out there for virtual employees. They can help with tasks like scheduling appointments, copywriting/editing, and more.
• Part-time help – you could consider hiring someone for a few hours a week. See if it’s working out, if you’re comfortable delegating responsibilities, if it’s helping you get more business.
• Freelancers – hiring a freelancer is a great way to accomplish a one-time, defined project. Be sure you specify, up-front, exactly what the job entails and what the delivery date will be. Get a signed agreement.

Have you been thinking about expanding your business?

You’ve got to spend money to make money. Don’t be afraid to invest in your business and yourself.

By Lindsey Tolino

Have you heard you shouldn’t play favorites with your employees? Do you try to be fair, but try as you might, there are still some employees you can’t help but favor?

‘Playing favorites’ has always been condemned as poor conduct. I’m not here to tell you that you shouldn’t play favorites. I’m more interested in why your favorites are your favorites and how that can help you manage your business.

We are logical beings and even if it’s not immediately evident why someone is your favorite, on some level you have a reason for it. It’s important to get down to why someone is your favorite because the more you know why, the better you can manage your business.

Let’s look at an example

Say you have three employees – Bob, Julie and Sam. Bob and Julie are your favorites. Sam isn’t. When you think about it, you discover Bob is your favorite because he is fun to be around, easy-going and is always smiling. You realize Julie is your favorite because she does a significant amount of excellent work to keep the business going. You’ve remarked before that you wish you had ‘three more just like her.’

But Sam isn’t your favorite. You realize it’s because Sam is always cautious, weighing pros and cons and discussing the difficult practical steps that your vision will require. This rubs you the wrong way because you feel like Sam is always trying to shut down your dreams. But when you think about it further, you realize that some of Sam’s cautious actions, like getting that extra insurance, have protected your company from what could have been a disaster.

The way to crack the code

In this example, you can see the value of examining why your favorites are your favorites. When you discover the “why” behind your favorites, you may recognize the value that some employees offer that you hadn’t noticed before. This may cause you to respect their opinion and value their contributions, which is far better than just going with how you felt about them previously.

It’s easy to say ‘don’t play favorites.’ It’s much harder to actually not do it. The way to crack the code and actually not play favorites is to dig down into why certain people are (and aren’t) your favorites. When you discover the “why”, you may not have to worry about ‘playing’ favorites because you value everyone for their unique contributions.

The dark side

Let’s go back to the example and talk more about Bob. Bob is fun to be around, so you don’t want to lose him as an employee. But when you really think about it, you realize that Bob hasn’t really done his job. Furthermore, the work he does do isn’t that good. You’ve justified keeping him on payroll because he’s good for morale. After examining why he was your favorite, you realize that he may not be the best fit for your business.

Digging into why your favorites are your favorites may not always come up roses. You may realize that you need to make changes and that can be hard. But examining the ‘why’ will lead you to discover what is best for your business. I recently watched this video where Barbara Corcoran explained how firing the bottom 25% of her sales staff was best for the business and actually what was best for them. Just because it may lead to hard decisions doesn’t mean you should abandon digging into the “why.”

Dig in, it’s best

Your business runs on your management. If you know why your favorites are your favorites, it will enable you to better manage your business. Dig in to your ‘why’ today and change your management accordingly. It’s what’s best for your business.