Corporate culture: definition, types, how to assess and build your own

Small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners face more external changes than ever while trying to ensure their company’s success.

Performance, innovation and customer focus remain essential, but a strong workplace culture offers a competitive advantage and financial benefits.

In this article, you’ll learn how modern working influences company culture and how to assess and positively influence your own.

What is corporate culture?

Corporate culture is the mix of shared values, attitudes and norms that shape how employees work and interact within an organization. It influences everything from your reputation to employee engagement levels.

For example, a software company may encourage a culture of “transparency”. Leaders share business updates openly, team members give honest feedback and everyone views mistakes as learning opportunities.

In that organization’s culture, people will trust and collaborate freely for faster problem-solving and better cross-team outcomes.

Corporate culture includes elements like:

• Core values (e.g., innovation, accountability or inclusion)

• Dress codes and work environments (e.g., formal vs. casual)

• Communication styles (e.g., structured emails vs. Zoom meetings)

• Decision-making processes (e.g., top-down vs. collaborative input)

• Work-life balance expectations (e.g., clear boundaries vs. always-on availability)

• Recognition and reward systems (e.g., public praise, bonuses and growth opportunities)

These expectations shape how your company operates and how team members feel about their daily work.

4 types of corporate cultures

While every company has its own unique organizational culture, University of Michigan professors Robert Quinn and Kim Cameron identified that most fall into four broad categories.

Knowing which type your company leans toward can help you make better hiring, leadership and growth decisions.

Here are the four types of corporate culture:

While most organizations blend elements from each category, knowing your dominant culture can help you structure and improve processes more effectively.

Why is a good corporate culture essential?

Many sectors are changing rapidly and dynamically. To ensure growth and adaptability, SMB workplace cultures must also evolve to meet new challenges and opportunities.

A strong, healthy culture aligns your teams and gives them a reason to care about the company as a whole.

Here’s how creating one leads to real business value.

Increases revenue

A strong culture drives higher productivity and engagement, naturally improving your bottom line. According to Gallup research, these types of cultures increase net profit by 85% over five years.

When employees understand your company’s mission and feel connected to it, they work with more focus and deliver better results.

A study by Heidrick & Struggles also states that the most successful companies’ culture was the “glue” that held them together in the face of 2020 challenges.

Example: A software-as-a-service (SaaS) company where accountability is a core value. Product teams tie quarterly goals directly to customer outcomes, and sales teams are rewarded for renewals and acquisitions.

This alignment leads to faster feature rollouts and a 15% increase in expansion revenue over 12 months.

Boosts morale

A strong corporate culture shapes people’s feelings about their work, team and leadership. If you create a sense of belonging, people feel motivated and show up fully.

According to McKinsey research, employees with a “higher sense of purpose” are more likely to stay and engage in their roles. High morale also reduces burnout and turnover, which leads to happier teams and lower hiring costs.

Example: An accounting platform builds a culture around flexibility and public recognition. Team members can adjust their hours when needed, and managers regularly highlight wins in meetings.

As a result, people strive to do their best work, employee retention improves and sick days drop by 20% over the year.

Delivers better customer experiences

Happy, supported employees serve customers better. They go the extra mile because they care about the company’s success.

When you embed your culture in onboarding processes to follow-ups, you create a consistent, standout customer experience (CX).

Example: A call center adopts a “customer-first” culture and empowers agents to solve problems without scripts or approvals. That autonomy leads to faster resolutions, a 25% drop in escalations and higher satisfaction scores across key accounts.

Recruits better candidates

A good company culture signals whether an organization is a fit for job seekers. If you’re known for open communication and professional development opportunities, top talent will come to you.

Example: A marketing agency builds its employer brand around a collaborative, creative culture. It highlights these values in job posts and social content and sees a 30% increase in qualified applicants and shorter time-to-hire for key roles.

How has modern working influenced company culture?

The way SMBs work today looks very different from even a decade ago. This shift has reshaped company culture in major ways. From remote work to new generational expectations, employees want more than just a paycheck.

Here are two examples of how these issues impact today’s corporate culture.

Remote working and home offices

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 17% of US employees worked from home five days or more per week. By January 2022, this number had risen to 59%.

According to FlexJobs research, remote working options are now the most important factor for workers considering new careers or job opportunities.

Companies must keep pace with the expectations of potential applicants who value hybrid working schedules. However, this is easier for some industries to accommodate than others. If it doesn’t work for yours, have an open discussion about alternative benefits to find a middle ground.

Generational differences

There are now five generations in the workplace, each with its own preferences and expectations. Companies must stay flexible to consider and accommodate these.

For instance, around 74% of Millennial and Gen Z employees will quit their roles if there aren’t skills development opportunities. According to Deloitte research, these generations crave jobs that balance good money, meaning and well-being.

On the other hand, Baby Boomers are known for being more loyal to employers and comfortable with a hierarchical culture. However, a Checkr survey revealed that they also report the highest dissatisfaction with workplace culture of all generations.

Companies that neglect the opinions of each generation within their workplace culture may find it challenging to attract the best new hires.

11 questions to assess the state of your corporate culture

Before you can improve your organization’s culture, you need a clear picture of your current employee experience and expectations.

Understanding this baseline helps you spot gaps between what you promise and what team members feel so that you can make focused, meaningful changes.

Here are 11 questions to help you assess the state of your overall culture:

1. How do you handle mistakes and conflicts?

2. Do employees stand behind the company, or do they just do the bare minimum?

3. How do employees behave toward each other and leaders?

4. Do you appreciate and communicate small and big achievements?

5. Do you offer childcare or support for caregivers?

6. Is there a clear, organized process for employee feedback?

7. Does the leadership team walk the talk and adhere to company values?

8. Is employees’ work-life balance well-adjusted?

9. What kind of flexible working models do you offer, and how do they impact office culture?

10. Are there forms of health promotion, such as gym memberships and cycle-to-work schemes?

11. Why do employees leave your company?

Your customers’ experiences also reflect your workplace culture. If complaint handling is complicated and slow, it suggests you don’t value after-sales service and could impact future purchases.

When assessing your team and processes, include insights from stakeholders and customers to cover all bases.

How to build a strong company culture

Building a strong culture requires intention, consistency and leadership. When done right, the results speak for themselves.

The Heidrick & Struggles study found that 82% of CEOs increasingly focus on company culture. Those who comprehensively advance change (known as “cultural accelerators”) note a 91% revenue increase compared to 44% for other companies.

However, changes don’t happen overnight. According to Gallup, companies that work to improve their culture often see the biggest gains within three to five years.

Here’s how to start building a strong corporate culture:

• Create a mission statement with management. Solidify what your company stands for and how your work culture will reflect these values.

• Brief your leaders. Explain that managers must act as role models and set the standard for the wider team.

• Organize team training and events. Give employees a chance to socialize outside of work, develop their skills and strengthen team-building.

• Offer your employees perks. Ask your staff about the perks they’d value and create policies that include these (e.g., continuing education opportunities, mentoring advice or hybrid working).

• Encourage information sharing. An office culture where employees create, share and update knowledge through efficient processes (e.g., a knowledge base) allows them to learn from each other constantly.

• Communicate important information publicly. Transparency helps prevent employees from feeling “left out” and shows that you value every team member.

• Ensure candidates are a good cultural fit. Human resources (HR) should assess how well candidates align with your culture to maintain a cohesive and positive work environment.

You don’t need fancy perks to build a positive company culture. What matters most is being open with your team and committing to living your organization’s values.

A positive corporate culture example

The best way to understand what a strong culture looks like is to see it in action. Let’s explore a fictional example.

BrightPath is a growing e-learning platform that serves enterprise clients. It has around 80 employees and is scaling fast.

The company believes that when employees feel connected and valued, they’ll stay engaged and serve customers better. The leadership team focuses on a culture of trust, recognition and continuous growth.

Here are a few ways they bring that culture to life:

• Monthly town halls and weekly team check-ins to keep communication open and honest

• Flexible work schedules that allow employees to choose remote, hybrid or in-office schedules

• “Learning Fridays”, where teams spend two hours each week exploring new skills or e-learning trends

• A Slack recognition system where peers can celebrate each other’s contributions in real time

Over the course of a year, employee satisfaction scores rise by 35%, the product team releases features faster and client renewal rates hit an all-time high.

Rather than making culture a one-off initiative, be like BrightPath and embed it into your everyday working experience.

Final thoughts

Investing in your corporate culture (especially as a fast-moving digital business) can directly impact team performance and profitability.

Companies that succeed create workplaces that attract and retain the best talent, fostering a productive and committed workforce.

When you’ve built this high-performing culture, help your team collaborate more efficiently with Pipedrive’s suite of sales tools. Try it free for 14 days to stay aligned and close more deals.