When do workplace incentives become disincentives?

by Guest Author

Does your incentive program bolster company culture or diminish it?  Guest poster Catherine Spence explores how companies can design incentives that strengthen engagement and reinforce organizational values.  
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“Company culture” is a hot term in human resources circles right now. But what does it actually mean? Is it all just about the perks? Yes, a company’s culture may be partly comprised of material benefits, like free vending machines or foosball tables in the break room, but these aspects don’t capture the whole picture.

In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first definition of the word “culture” is “The beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time.” That’s really what company culture is all about, too: the collective values that govern a group’s daily practices.

Thus, for many HR executives, company culture is made up of the conceptual values that they feel employees should embody. Often, these are conflated with the ways in which company leaders want customers to experience their brands, leading to a nebulous and vaguely defined cultures.

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