Resources

What does HR do to create corporate culture? I think the role for HR is not to create it, but to communicate and reinforce it at every possible opportunity. Look at every opportunity to interact, whether internally or externally, as a way to share what makes us different.

A few areas to communicate your unique culture (just in the areas of recruiting and selection):

• When you write job ads, talk about your company and what makes you different. But don't do it in a corporate-sounding way. Be as different as you are able to be.
• During interviews, talk about what it's like to work at the company in a more in-depth way. Talk about your core values and how you expect your employees to meet them.
• Orientation--It's time to turn it up a notch. If you have slides or a presentation for new hires, make reference to the culture aspects of your company multiple times. Offer a cheat sheet within the new hire packet with info on what to expect.
• Onboarding--This is an extension of the orientation process and a great opportunity to continuously reinforce the tenets you explained early on. Most people learn about the company culture ins and outs by making a misstep. [You] want them to be aware long before that happens.
• Everything else! Keep it up. It's tough to do it continuously, but completely worth it when you have a culture employees are rabidly in favor of.

I know it might sound simple, but it makes an amazing difference in the quality of the people you hire and how they perform their work. So many employees just want to know what is expected of them. It might be because a supervisor isn't great at communicating that. Whatever the case, take some of the responsibility on yourself and make sure it gets done.