What is a Culture Committee?

A culture committee is a group of people from different parts of an organization who meet and interact regularly to help promote, address, and work on shaping a company’s culture. This group is not responsible for culture or for “fixing” any issues. Instead, their job is to promote a positive company culture to make the business a pleasant place to work. Members also regularly communicate with team members and leadership, acting as a direct link between employees and the executives at the company.

Culture committees meet regularly to discuss ideas and create initiatives that can better the company culture.

However, the committee may differ depending on a company’s needs. At a new company, for example, the culture committee may be focused on creating company traditions. At a larger, established business, the culture committee may be primarily working on team building and ensuring culture stays consistent across multiple locations.

Should You Create a Culture Committee at Your Company?

A culture committee is a grassroots effort that allows people from all levels and areas of your organization to shape your company culture. There are many reasons why this approach can be beneficial:

• Gain new perspective: Committees can communicate with and survey team members, allowing them to get a sense of what employees think of the existing culture and where improvements could be made.
• Encourage satisfaction and engagement: Employees are more likely to engage their work and fellow teammates if their company creates a positive environment.  In fact, businesses with actively motivated and engaged employees see 27% higher profits and 50% increases in sales and customer loyalty.
• Attract talent: Company culture is a top priority for job seekers. Making your business a great place to work will attract the best employees.
• Foster new ideas: A successful committee can bring forward new and more effective ideas, such as special events your company can celebrate or recognition programs to make employees feel appreciated.
• Address challenges: It can be difficult for remote and hybrid workers to really feel their company culture without in-person meetings. A culture committee can address this and work to consciously create a sense of community by encouraging workers to stay in touch, promoting team bonding, and keeping culture at the forefront of company priorities. 

How Can You Create a Successful Culture Committee?

Culture committees need leadership support. While leadership and executives may not take part in culture committee meetings, they should champion their efforts and help their ideas become reality. To create a culture committee, make sure to:

• Inform your team: Discuss what a culture committee is and why the company is creating one, and help your team understand what they can approach committee members about. You can use Connecteam’s company newsfeed to quickly tell your whole organization about your plans at once.
• Seek diverse, cross-functional volunteers: Ask team members who might be interested in taking part and narrow down volunteers to build a diverse committee. You may also want to look for individuals with more critical viewpoints to bring new perspectives to meetings. 
• Create clear, written expectations: Decide what role each member of the committee will take on and how they’ll document meetings. Create a list of goals to shape the committee’s work, and who they’ll report to. At some companies, HR oversees this committee, but in other organizations, committee members may report directly to a manager of CEO. 
• Set a budget: Create a budget for events, special treats, and meetings. Even a modest budget can allow the committee to bring in treats like coffee and dessert occasionally to boost morale.
• Set up meetings: Decide how often your culture committee needs to meet and schedule meetings in advance. You can use an app like Connecteam to set up group chats so that ideas can be discussed in between meetings, ensuring that initiatives move forward.
• Consider evolving your committee. Think about whether you want to rotate volunteers every year or two. This approach allows more team members to get directly involved in your company culture, and lends different voices to your committee.

What Initiatives Can Culture Committees Develop? 

Once you have created a culture committee, the team can start brainstorming ideas. Here’s a few to consider:

• Surveys: Conduct polls and surveys of your entire organization to find out what is and isn’t working in your company culture. What behaviors or practices don’t they like and what culture initiatives would they like to see?
• Celebrations: Consider which holidays your company would like to celebrate and how. Think about how you could reward your employees and how often you might want to recognize them. Ideas include employee birthdays and national holidays. 
• Retreats and meetings: Get-togethers don’t have to cost much and can be held online to include everyone on your team. You can host company events like weekly casual lunches, meditation meetings, and simple catch-up chats. You might also like to occasionally take your team to a hotel conference room, national park, or other venue for a self-care or personal development retreat. 
• Culture training: Your culture committee can offer culture training to help all team members become familiar with the company’s values, mission, and culture. Mentorships and onboarding culture training can also help everyone get familiar with how things are done at your organization.
• Company perks and benefits: Do your perks and benefits fit with the culture you’re building? If, for example, your culture is built around giving back to the community, do you offer paid time off for volunteer work? If your culture is focused on developing a healthy community, do you have a wellness program?
• New tech: Consider an app that lets your employees talk to each other without sharing personal phone numbers. This can make it easier for workers to connect and communicate about work while getting to know each other, helping to build a stronger culture.
• Interest groups: Create chat groups that reflect the interests of your team members, whether they like cooking, hiking, knitting, or other hobbies. Being able to chat with co-workers about hobbies can create a closer team.
• Company goals, mission, and values: Reviewing your company’s values, mission, goals, and purpose can help you determine if these elements of your company are bringing you closer to the culture you wish to create. If not, you may wish to make changes to these parts of your business.

Committed to Culture

A culture committee helps your business create a positive company culture. With a diverse team of employees, the committee can help everyone at your company feel appreciated and happy to come to work.