While it’s no secret having a healthy workplace culture benefits everyone, it’s not always easy to find.
A strong culture essentially means an engaged workforce - it unites your team around the organisation’s vision, values, and goals. It encourages and enables the team to actively participate, share their ideas, and look for ways to do things better. A strong culture also motivates and inspires your team to do their best work to develop and grow.
Below are some of the benefits the team at Sandfield get out of having a strong workplace culture.
1. Celebrating success and having fun along the way
At Sandfield the work we do is challenging which means we tend to work hard. To achieve a balance, it’s crucial we take time out to celebrate success. Having a good flow of events every month keeps energy levels high, and gives the team regular things to look forward to.
We have a diverse range of cultures and personalities at Sandfield. It’s important that we create an environment that supports diversity through the types of events we run and where our team feels comfortable to share ideas.
We don’t have to ask for permission to organise team and company wide events, everyone is given the chance to be involved or take the lead. This creates a happy and exciting work environment where success is celebrated in many different ways.
2. Attracting top talent
Our team is constantly growing. As we look to attract the right people to come and work for us we’re finding that the deciding factor for jobseekers is often workplace culture. People want to work for an organisation that has a sense of community and belonging, where they can be part of a team.
When you step into the Sandfield offices, you won’t be greeted by a reception desk. Instead, visitors are approached by a friendly team member. Anyone new gets taken out for coffee by our director to welcome them.
The floorplan is open, the office is buzzing from the open collaboration going on and the kitchen is a central hub where groups of people take time out of their day to make a cup of tea or coffee and catch up with their co-workers.
It’s not true what they say about developers, we really are a social bunch! Our vibing culture at Sandfield tends to attract more outgoing, open-minded people. Newcomers are quickly “plugged” into our communication and chat channels to help them come up to speed and settle in easily.
3. Creating a sense of community
We have a number of events throughout the year where friends and family are also welcome - it’s always nice to meet the significant others of those we work with. These events give us an opportunity to be able to connect and chat with each other in a more meaningful manner rather than the typical “How are you”, “Good” exchange.
There’s always a group of us keen to grab coffee, have tea breaks, go out for lunch and share a drink on Friday afternoon to wind down after a fun but challenging week. Everyone is invited and we make an effort to ensure all the team feel included.
Titles and hierarchy don’t have a place at Sandfield. We all have the same title and have access to the same opportunities and benefits. We work in an open plan office space so everyone is accessible and that includes the management team.
4. Anyone can be involved in event organising
At Sandfield our event planners are a group of software developers. None of us were chosen, everyone in the team has the chance to step up and get involved in developing our culture.
Being involved in planning events is a great way for us to develop and grow our broader leadership skills. We regularly get together to brainstorm ideas for fundraisers, events and social activities. All suggestions are taken into consideration and each individual is responsible for backing up their own ideas and putting together a plan or pitch to get it over the line.
5. Encouraging interaction and communication with a variety of people
We’ve found that regular team or company events bring people closer together and help develop trust and respect for each other. At work you’re not just working to get a project done, you’re working to bring success for your clients and team.
On a day-to-day basis, most of us work in project teams. Some of us can go for years in the same team making it difficult to interact with others beyond chance encounters in the kitchen. Having regular events is an easy and effective way for us to help people connect with those outside their daily project teams.
The depth of talent and expertise we have at Sandfield show the benefits of a strong workplace culture. When people are happy, they stay and grow - a lot of the team has been here for more than 10 years, so we think something is obviously working.
Some of the Sandfield events we run are pictured below to give you a taste of our culture - you can also keep posted on the different things we’re getting up to by following our Facebook page.
