How To Spot A Fake Company Culture

Employee perspectives have shifted since the pandemic. 

Working from home, spending more time with family and facing the fear of a pandemic. 

It's bound to have changed people's view towards working. 

The work atmosphere since 2020 has led to a rise in the cost of living, flexible and hybrid working being a must and more people taking to freelancing.

We love to see how the working sphere is evolving, but this has led to many companies faking a culture to hire and retain employees. 

We discuss how you can tell if a company is faking their culture. 

Leaders aren’t your equal 

Fake company culture can frequently come from the top down. 

Managers, CEOs and other leaders usually preach company values and work ethics without being an avid team member. 

Those in charge set out company values and culture. 

If you are in a culture where your boss is ‘working’ from different holiday destinations and spending time buying a new helicopter when you’re bound to the office and are on a low wage, it might be time to think twice. 

Company culture should come through example. Hybrid working should be a given if your boss works from anywhere. 

Buying loyalty 

Pool tables, a fridge full of beer and pizza lunches do not add up to company culture. 

It is becoming more and more common for companies to boast about company culture, including games and drinking culture. 

This replaces the usual perks staff look for and need, such as flexible working with your location and hours for a work-life balance. 

Perks include health care, time off over Christmas or other religious holidays and a salary that one can live comfortably off. 

We have seen it recently with companies offering pay rises to match inflation, four-day work weeks and hybrid or work anywhere schemes. 

A company culture prioritising your staff's lives outside of work is very different from the fake culture built around in-office ‘perks’ you can advertise. 

Forced values 

Brand values are essential for any company to have. 

We wrote an entire blog post about why a brand should have them. 

One thing that can, however, make a company culture feel fake is the overuse of brand values. 

They should be outlined and naturally come to staff within their working days. 

However, printed posters, daily reminders and values that don’t feel authentic create a fake company culture. 

Almost as if they have been manufactured to appear relatable to encourage business and staff growth. 

People trust brand values they align with, so it’s no surprise they can be manipulated in an inauthentic manner. 

Feedback 

Having feedback from staff is a fantastic way for a company to grow. 

Hearing first-hand experiences from employees should help a brand identify areas for improvement. 

This is an integral part of company culture to keep staff happy and thriving. Working is a way to support a member of team life and not to be their life. 

Support should always be shown to keep the workplace healthy and happy. 

However, companies with a fake work culture will not likely hear negative feedback or areas for improvement. 

Fake company culture is surrounded by the stifling of genuine opinions and a lack of positive growth, which comes from learning staff perspectives. 

Offering opinions to be shared as part of a company culture yet overlooking negative feedback or immediately calling employees who left the feedback for a ‘chat’ can also be seen as a way to downplay the need for growth. 

Company culture is a huge thing. 

Especially post-pandemic where people have realised the importance of work-life balance. 

Putting your personal life before work is now the norm, and we’re happy to see this finally. 

However, some workplaces are desperate to retain staff and hire more talent with little urge to change with the times. 

They opt for a fake company culture which lures people into working yet crumbles and shows over time! 

Top tip, keep an eye out for business staff retention rates. If your company culture cares as much as you say it does, you won’t see a high staff turnover. 

Trusting, paying and being flexible is a must within workplaces now. 

Here at Breakout Media, we offer expert advice and excellent results while offering our staff a four-day work week for full-time pay, two weeks off at Christmas and flexible work. 

We have a pool table too, but our staff have free reign to play whenever they want! 

If your staff are happy, their work is better. That probably explains why our clients are so happy with their results from our SEO, PPC and social ads. 

If you want the coolest people in the world in charge of your marketing, you should probably get in touch with us! Book a call with the experts and come and see for yourself how great we really are!