8 Unique Work Culture Ideas to Try In Your Company
Easy, cost-effective and impactful ways to hone your company culture and boost employee engagement!
By Kimberly Chang on 2023-11-27 at 7:11 AM
Updated on 2024-05-16 at 8:44 AM
Malaysia's diverse and dynamic work environment calls for equally vibrant workplace culture strategies that boost employee engagement without straining the budget.
There’s no use in boasting a list of core values and company culture with no practice to show for it.
Whether you’re looking for ways to reinforce your existing culture or contemplating shaping a new culture entirely…
Here are 8 unique, fun and engaging ways to foster the company culture and help revitalise the employee working culture in Malaysia. They’re doable, cost-effective and employee-led, all done to improve employee engagement and morale!
A Lunch-and-Learn program involves employees sharing knowledge over meals. It's a popular method to enhance the working culture in Malaysia, providing a platform for continuous learning and personal growth.
Some companies use this time to complete training or teach each other skills not directly related to their work. It’s a great way to train existing employees while attracting new hires who love learning new things.
Companies like HealthMetrics have their own Brown Bag Sessions – an open discussion where employees can talk and learn about any topic under the sun!
They’ve found that it was successful at drumming up new interest in employees and fostered healthy communication between different groups.
Check out HealthMetrics’ Hiredly Company Profile here.
Thinking of introducing your own lunch-and-learn sessions? Keep these in mind:
Initially introduced by software engineer Kent Beck in Extreme Programming, Pair Programming is an agile software development technique that requires two programmers working at one workstation.
The idea is that one programmer writes the code, while the other reviews each line typed in.
Menlo Innovations co-founder Richard Sheridan swears by the pair programming method in his book on building a joyful work environment, Joy Inc.
You don’t have to be a techie to engage in Pair Work either! You can apply this concept to other non-technical tasks too. At Menlo Innovations, other roles like Project Managers have also benefitted from Pair Work.
Related read: Pairing Up: The Advantages of a Team of Two at Work by Laura Stack
While working adults like us are quick to associate Show & Tells with child’s play, there’s merit in introducing this activity in a work setting.
Gamestorming (a team of business professionals who encourage the implementation of games to promote creativity and innovation) suggests having Show & Tell sessions before anything you and your team work on. It could be a new project, an organizational restructuring, or even a change in the company’s mission or goals.
The method is simple. Before a meeting or discussion, ask your employees to bring an object that they think represents what you are working on to show and tell at the start of a meeting.
It’s a good way to break the ice and warm people up before a discussion. But ultimately, the goal of this practice is to get a deeper understanding of their perspective. Take note of the keywords they bring up and write them down so you can address them during the discussion.
This technique not only helps in clarifying any ambiguities but also ensures that everyone's views are considered, fostering a more inclusive working culture in Malaysia. This approach not only enhances the decision-making process but also strengthens team dynamics by showing that all contributions are valued.
Want to learn more about this form of Show & Tell? Check out Gamestorming’s article on How to Play here.
The culture committee is a team of employees from different departments that embody the essence of your company’s culture.
It’s an employee-led group that comes together to discuss and organize everything that pertains to the team culture. This can go from planning team events and activities to screening candidates for hire.
At Hiredly, we have our very own Culture Committee that actively screens potential hires before they join the team.
Because culture fit is a huge deal for us, a culture interview is the final stage of our job interviewing process. Even after a candidate has passed their technical interview, if our cultures don’t match, they don’t make it in.
A mentorship program is when you match an experienced employee with a less experienced one to speed up learning.
Tech companies like Google and Uber have official mentoring programs to help their existing employees get better at their jobs.
If your company depends on creativity, take a cue from the animation giant Pixar and introduce a ‘Fail Fast’ policy.
The idea is to create a culture that does not revolve around fear of failure. Avoiding trying new things because the team is afraid of failing is a mistake no company that prides on innovation can make.
Introducing a ‘Fail Fast’ policy encourages employees to make mistakes and get it wrong earlier in a task or project. Making mistakes earlier on lets them learn quicker and clears up any fundamental misunderstandings before the project or task has gotten far enough – potentially leading to even bigger errors.
Failing fast isn’t just about not being afraid of making mistakes. A core tenet of the policy is also learning from the error and doing your best to not repeat it. This approach is particularly beneficial in fostering a positive work environment in Malaysia, where the emphasis on rapid growth and development can sometimes create undue pressure to perform without error.
Related read: Why Organizations Should Encourage Employees to Recognize Mistakes and Learn From Them
A self-explanatory practice, No Meeting Fridays (or any day you choose for that matter) is when you set a day where no meetings will be had at all. Straight and simple.
In a survey by Harvard Business Review, 71% of senior managers found meetings unproductive while 64% found them disruptive to their work.
Follow the likes of companies like Zapier and reevaluate your meeting frequency by adopting No Meeting Days!
It’s a simple and effective form of employee recognition. The best part is it doesn’t need scheduling ahead or preparing any items (unless you want to!). All it takes is a loud voice and a round of applause from everyone in the office.
At Hiredly, we have our own version of the Spontaneous Applause each time an employee gets confirmed. The announcer rings a bell to get people’s attention and the quick announcement usually follows a brief congratulations and a brand new Hiredly hoodie for the newly confirmed staff!
Or take inspiration from Typeform and do it to celebrate any achievements sans gifts! The effect is just as meaningful.
These ideas to improve company work culture are specifically tailored to fit the dynamic work landscape in Malaysia. By improving work culture in Malaysia, companies can ensure higher employee satisfaction, better retention rates, and ultimately, a more thriving business environment.
By Kimberly Chang on 2023-11-27 at 7:11 AM