The True Definition Of Company Culture (Hint: It’s Not Vacation Days)
I have an issue with “company culture” discussions.
The popular definition of “company culture” is how many ping-pong tables you have, how many beer garden outings you take as a team, how comfortable the chairs are in the entryway, whether you get 10 days of paid vacation time or 15 days of paid vacation time, how good your 401k plan is, how many weird fun facts you know about your employees, etc.
A perfect example of this is the tech start-up world.
“Company culture,” as it is formally defined, is immediately followed up with descriptions of the office, how much time you get off for lunch, the fact that you can write on the walls in Crayola marker because it’s “more creative.” And to a lot of people, these environments seem like dreams.
They are the David of the working world, slinging rocks at corporate Goliath.
But I’ll say for me, the above has nothing to do with how I define company culture.
For me, company culture comes down to one thing and one thing only:
How you treat what it is you’re doing for eight-plus hours a day, five (sometimes six or seven) days a week.
