As an international employee from Australia, company culture is very important to me. It makes me feel more at home and also makes me feel comfortable around my workmates. According to 2019 stats on company culture, 50% of North American CEOs and CFOs have said that company culture influences productivity, creativity and profitability. However, only 15% admitted that their company culture isn’t where it needed to be. When I mean company culture, I’m not talking about events where you’re forced to hang out because it’s someone’s birthday. I’m talking about the type of company culture that people get excited to be a part of. JSDesigns has a unique company culture and I am going to give you some tips and creative ideas to make your company culture exciting!
Pranks
This is a big tradition in our office. Whenever someone takes PTO, there is a 99.9% chance they will be pranked. Please remember, we are not trying to send our fellow workmate to PTSD counselling, but instead reminding them that we are always thinking about them. It’s a fun activity and really showcases everyone’s creativity. Check out our best pranks yet:
We gift wrapped Jeff’s desk
We turned Wilman's desk into a miniature one
..... And they wrapped all of my things as if they were leftovers (sigh)
Window Displays
If you've got a window, you've got a canvas. Think of it as a diorama on steroids. We are fortunate to have a big window facing out towards the street and we love seeing people’s reactions when they see our window displays. It might be a pain in the butt building it, but once you finish it, it’s pretty bittersweet. You have something that you and your coworkers can look at and be proud for (other than your actual work …right?)
A few basic things you need to consider before building a window display:
1. Theme – Is it holiday-oriented (Christmas, Halloween, etc.) or centred around your company’s
message?
2. Timeline – How long from start to finish will it take? What are your checkpoints?
3. Budget – How much are you willing to spend. Remember, it’s really easy to spend a lot of money
when you’re doing something this exciting!
4. Recyclables – What material can you recycle for the next window? Can you make the piece
yourself?
5. Expiration date – How long will the window display be up for?
Check out our past window displays for some inspiration!
Fortune Teller Window
Easter Window – Guess how many eggs are in the window
Halloween Window – Miranda the Spider
Christmas Window – A window display we created for the Downtown Plano Arts District
Competitions
Who doesn’t like earning bragging rights? Competitions are a good way to get people involved and to show off their creativity. It could be simple as a baking contest. We did a JSD bake-off where our baking queen Meredith was the judge (she won a blue ribbon AT THE TEXAS STATE FAIR, so we are inferior to her). Another idea is our Christmas ornament competition where everyone crafts an ornament using JSD colors. We then put it on our social media and get our followers to vote for their favorite one. In the end, we hang everyone’s ornaments on the Christmas tree (I know right, we are so cute).
2018 Christmas Ornaments
Special Days
Don’t wait until it’s someone’s birthday to go out together. According to NationalDaycalendar.com, each day has something going on. Go and grab a burger together on National Burger Day, or go bowling on National Bowling Day. Use the quirky national day's calendar as an excuse to out and have fun together!
I’m sure you can guess what day this was
Work Anniversaries
We don't celebrate work anniversaries because we are thankful they didn't leave. We celebrate them because we are really thankful for their contribution to the last year. We are thankful that we had a great art director, account director or designer to make JSD what it is today. We usually celebrate everyone's annual anniversaries with a team lunch or the other team members work together to get a badass gift. For my anniversary, I got a hand-made snuggie and a piñata to go to town on. Cool, huh?
The bottom line is to not make company culture a forced aspect in your company. Make it something your employees will enjoy and look forward to. They might like working just a tad more because of it.
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