Can investing in your company’s culture pay off? After these challenging few years, HR leaders are rethinking their strategies and revamping the company cultures. The bottom line is culture matters. Investing in your organization helps attract and retain talent, cultivates the next generation of leaders, ensures employees remain engaged and fosters workforce wellbeing. By boosting your culture, you increase your competitive edge.

It may be daunting to start revitalizing your organization’s culture. Which areas should you tackle first? Let’s explore three key areas where HR professionals can develop a culture that supports employee and organizational growth.

Tech for the good of the office

The future of work isn’t in the future — it’s now. As digital transformation takes hold in nearly every industry, it’s imperative to stay ahead of the curve and the competition. Look at the innovations in video communication and AI to see how you can streamline daily operations and better connect teams.

AI can create business efficiencies, particularly with daily HR functions. Learning and development systems can provide feedback through analyzed progress data. Also, HR can achieve new candidate equity with bias-detecting software. By using AI-enabling software, daily tasks are efficient, and your business’s culture can be transformed.

Another massive shift to a digitally-minded workplace is looking into what video can do for you. Sure, Zoom and other video conferencing platforms have made waves, keeping coworkers connected and engaged over the past few years. Still, organizations can use video in a variety of other ways. Using video for learning and development programs or company announcements can be a welcome alternative to drawn-out reading materials or emails. Investing in video can diversify workforce communications and activate an innovative, digital-centric culture.

Fortify your team building 

For better connections and more collaboration, you must invest in your people. Of course, “invest” can mean cash flow, but team building isn’t about injecting money—it’s about time.

Open communication and time are precious to building a collaborative environment. How can leaders invest their time wisely? Arrange regular coffee chats with employees to understand more about them as individuals and to gather insight into workforce health. Encourage other leaders and managers to do the same, and then watch as teams build rapport and connect more with their peers.

Cultivating camaraderie will not happen overnight — it requires consistent interaction. While intermittent team-building exercises can bring employees together, simple weekly icebreaker questions can also provoke fun conversations that bond colleagues.

Another way to fortify a collaborative environment is to request quarterly feedback on the state of the work culture. Getting a pulse on the office can tell you what’s working, what issues are at hand and if employees feel valued. Regular feedback creates a culture of transparency and ensures communication between leaders and employees is a two-way, equitable street.

Highlighting employee-centric initiatives

The past few years have not been the kindest to most employees, causing HR leaders to put employee wellbeing and growth at the forefront of their initiatives. Whether your work environment is hybrid or not, your company can adopt initiatives that fit your employees’ needs in this changing environment.

Perks such as pizza parties and care packages show your company cares but improving wellness standards like quarterly mental health days or wellness stipends can be even more meaningful. Combining small perks with more substantial benefits can improve employee engagement, productivity, and job satisfaction.

Tackling tools, team collaboration and wellness are seemingly small initiatives that can have a significant impact on your workplace. Revitalizing your culture through these actions can bring profound meaning and balance to your organization.