Why Naked Finance Focuses So Much On Workplace Culture
We talk about culture... a lot. We talk about it in team meetings, in one-on-ones, in board meetings and during the hiring process. We talk about it so much that we sometimes get asked, "Isn't culture just a 'nice to have'? Shouldn't the focus be on clients, revenue, and growth?"
As we view it, culture is not separate from those things. Culture is the tool that makes all those other things possible. And it is not just us saying it. Research from Harvard notes that employees working in companies with a positive corporate culture are happier, healthier, more productive in their role and less likely to leave. Gallup found that positive workplace cultures experienced a 21% profitability and 59% lower turnover of staff. You can learn more about these findings in the Global Banking report here.
Workplace culture is not a 'soft' issue. It is a business issue, and Naked Finance treats it as such.
The Human Cost of Ignoring Culture
The average person spends 1/3 of their lives at work. That is 90,000 hours at work across their lifetime. That would feel like a staggering amount of time to spend in an environment that does not support you.
A poor workplace culture has farther-reaching effects than simply making staff unhappy. It can impact their health, motivation and overall wellbeing which can lead to burnout, disengagement, and high staff turnover. And if you lose your best people, the business and its performance will suffer.
At Naked Finance, our leadership team have experienced firsthand how much of a difference a positive workplace culture can make. Having all come from various financial roles, they have all experienced negative cultures at some stage which is why they are so driven to do things differently. When a team feels valued and supported, they bring their best selves to the table to do the best they can for their clients and the business.
What Do We Mean When We Say "Workplace Culture"?
Free lunches, Friday afternoon drinks and sticking your company’s pillars on the wall are often considered 'culture', but the true meaning runs deeper than this. Effective culture requires commitment from every person, including senior leadership, to model their behaviour to support the core values that the business bases their identity on.
At Naked Finance, we build our culture on a few key pillars.
Trust and Psychological Safety
Psychological safety is when people feel confident that they can speak up without any negative repercussions to their work life. Staff trust that they can share their opinion, even if it is against the opinion of management, without fear of retribution. This creates a dynamic of contributing to ideas, raising concerns, or even admitting to mistakes they have made.
We have worked hard to create this kind of environment in our office as we keep working to make our staff feel comfortable to challenge, to ask questions and bring their full selves to work every day. When people feel safe, they are more likely to step out of their comfort zone and drive innovation.
Professional Development
The financial industry is an ever-evolving beast with technology and legislation advancing constantly. This is why it is critical that we invest in our team's development so they not only have all the tools to do their job today but have the opportunity to develop the skills they will need in the future.
Naked Finance will pay for staff to obtain qualifications for different financial services. If they want to expand their horizons, they can do so with the financial support of us.
We block out personal development time in everyone's calendar every week for all staff to ensure the team remains focused on developing their skills on a regular basis.
We promote our staff to find seminars, programs and workshops that are of interest to them and Naked Finance will support them in paid time off and help towards entrance fees where appropriate. All we ask is that they come back to the office and share what they have learnt with the whole team.
Flexibility
The pandemic taught businesses how to work differently; the stringent 9-to-5 is not an essential ingredient for a successful business. Allowing staff flexibility in their start and finish times means that they can manage their personal lives whilst staying dedicated to their work with Naked Finance. Work will (should) never win in a competition against your personal life and by recognising that and trusting our staff to stay committed to their roles, we have happy and loyal staff who appreciate a work-life balance.
Culture Starts at the Top
Corporate culture starts at the top. At Naked Finance, our leadership team is committed to modelling the positive behaviours we want to see throughout the business. We are not perfect (no organisation is), but we strive every day to create an environment where our team can thrive.
Why This Matters for Our Clients
You might be reading this and wondering, what does any of this have to do with me? I am not an employee or a client.
The answer is: everything. When our team feels good, they do good things and there is every chance that those good things will keep spreading wider. Maybe other companies will notice the positive impacts of a good work culture and invest in their own.
Our culture is our competitive advantage. It is what allows us to attract and retain top talent. It enables us to deliver exceptional service. And it is what makes Naked Finance a place where people want to work and where clients want to stay.
Culture is a big part of why we joined the B Corp movement. We wanted to have accountability to both the environment and community we work in, but for the people who work for us too. If you want to learn more about our B Corp mission, check out the information here.
