From official emails, corporate suits and briefcases to casual dress code and lean ‘n mean organizational structure, we have witnessed a dramatic shift in organization’s culture in the past decade. If you have had the opportunity to work for a firm that never compromises on a very formal culture, then you’ll know what I mean.

Your company’s culture is what you profess on your corporate website and promote at job fairs, therefore, it is important that you align your organization’s internal atmosphere with what you would like your external audience to perceive about you. 

In this article, we will look at some of the advantages of informal company culture that will change your opinion and convince you to see it implemented in your organization. Let’s stop beating around the bush and get right down to business.

• Boost Productivity

When your employees feel at home even at the workplace, it will have a positive impact on productivity. They can focus on the job at hand in a much better way. As a result, you will be able to achieve your targets before the specified deadline.

Smaller aspects such as workplace layout, ergonomic design can also contribute towards better productivity as suggested by this workspace survey. An informal organization also has the similar effect on productivity levels.

• Easy Accessibility

Employee issues are buried under layers of hierarchy and never reach the top management in a steep corporate organizational setup. This frustrates employees more than anything else.

However, in a relaxed and casual environment, employees do not have to climb colossal hierarchal mountains. There are no layers of hierarchy to block your feedback or grievances from reaching the higher management. 

Irrespective of your job role, you can easily contact and share your opinion with top management. In fact, you can also conduct one to one meetings with the people running the affairs in your organization in a casual environment.

• Improves Communication

According to an article published on Fast Company’s website, 85% of the employees are not satisfied with the quality of communication at the workplace and 81% of the employees are ready to switch their jobs and join a company with better communications over a company that is offering other benefits such as gym facility, health insurance etc.

With a stress-free organization culture in place, you can easily get over poor communication problem. In an open organization culture, employees are encouraged to ask questions and share their feedback. This reduces the chances of misunderstandings and lack of clarity and results in strengthing trust and enhancing collaboration within the organization.

• Enhance Collaboration

In a highly strict culture; close collaboration is out of the question. With open communication channels established, bring your team on the same page and making them strive to achieve a common objective is much easier for managers as compared to a formal organization culture. You can also take advantage of task management software and other tools to boost collaboration among your team members.

Better collaboration among your team members and different departments translates into an organization whose employees gel together and are moving in one direction in a unified way and are highly motivated towards successfully achieving the overall objectives and goals of the business. 

• Flexible Working Environment

Consider yourself as an employee of a corporate that exhibits a very formal environment. Can that environment provide freedom and space you, as an employee, demand? The answer is no. In fact, they will force you to religiously follow strict rules even if you do not like it. 

The situation is completely different in an easygoing workplace environment. They understand employee problems and offer them room to wiggle. Policies in such a workplace are designed with the benefits of employees in mind, which is why most employees love to work in a flexible working environment.

• Higher Job Satisfaction Level

Whether you are in favor of informal culture in an organization or against it, you cannot deny the fact that it leads to higher job satisfaction among employees. Most people like to work in environments where they can freely express themselves instead of listening to someone else all the time. 

Being a part of corporate culture will teach you many things but your job satisfaction level will not be the same as if you are working in a firm that offers you the freedom every employee desire. You have less pressure, which saves you from work related stress and increases job satisfaction.  

• Better Relationships

When top management is easily accessible for employees, it will open new avenues for interaction. This paves the way for stronger, long-term relationships between the employees and employers. It also plays a key role in smoother business operations by eliminating the common causes of workplace conflicts. 

In addition to this, better relations can reduce employee turnover rate and enable employers to retain the best talent. All these factors contribute towards the making your company successful and removes all the hurdles. Maintaining good relations is beneficial for both employee and employers as well as for your business.

• Easy Accountability

Accountability is critical to track the performance of employees and hold them accountable for what they have done. Without proper accountability, your company cannot improve and thrive. Establish a transparent accountability mechanism and empower your employees. This will help employees know their responsibilities. Doing this will bring the best out of them.

In a casual working environment, it is much easier to hold your employees accountable as compared to a corporate environment. In a corporate setting, you need to rely on audit firms to conduct an investigation. This takes a lot of time and resources. To add insult to injury, these audits take place less frequently.

Conclusion

If you provide your employee a healthy working environment, they will perform better, have good relations with peers and management and have a much higher job satisfaction level. More importantly, you can also reap the benefits of uninterrupted communications and collaboration if you have a relaxed workplace environment.

After reading this article, your perception regarding informal culture will change. You might think of implementing it in your organization but before you do make sure that everyone agrees to it. Otherwise, things will not pan out, as you want them to.