Think of the worst job you’ve ever had.

What exactly made it so terrible? Was the work tedious? Was the pay too low? Was your boss incompetent? 

Or was the company culture just unbearable?

Company culture has a huge effect on employees’ overall happiness. If you’re doing what you love and being paid well to do it, a terrible office culture can spoil the whole thing.

When you’re starting a new business, building a great company culture is absolutely paramount. After all, you need great people around you to help your startup succeed, and a great business culture can attract them in a hurry.

Here are seven reasons why company culture is so important.

1. Shared Success

How motivated would you be to make someone else successful?

Probably not very much—after all, you are an entrepreneur, aren’t you?

However, if you’re not sharing your company’s success with your employees, that might be exactly how they might feel. They’re just working their butts off to make some jerk at the top (read: you) rich. 

It’s not rewarding, they lack motivation, and they underperform.

But if your company culture communicates that they share in your success, that gives your employees more ownership in the success of your company. When the company does well, they do well. 

When your employees see their success as tied to the company’s success, they work hard to make the company even more successful. And that increases your bottom line. 

2. Increases Engagement

A business is only as effective as its people. And if your employees feel like they’re just checking off tasks on a to-do list to make you more successful, they might not be very engaged in their work.

But if your company culture demonstrates your business’s core values, your employees will feel like they’re doing more than just trying to make a profit.

People want to do something that matters. And if your company’s mission is something that they believe in, allowing that mission to inform company culture will get people excited to come to work every day. 

They’re not just earning a paycheck—they’re doing something that matters. That increases employee engagement and boosts company culture in fell swoop.

3. Employee Retention

No one likes to deal with employee turnover, but it can’t be avoided. 

Whether your workers are leaving your company en masse or if an employee just isn’t cutting it, it often comes down to an issue with company culture.

Employees don’t feel valued. They aren’t sharing with the company’s success. They don’t identify with the company’s mission. 

But if your company has a positive culture where people feel appreciated and share in the company’s success, it’s much more likely that they’ll feel invested in the company themselves.

When people are part of a great corporate culture, they want to stick around. After all, who quits a job they love?

4. More Effective Recruitment

If your company is a great place to work, that doesn’t stay within your existing staff.

Everyone wants a great job. A 2014 survey by the Boston Consulting Group found that the top factor for workplace happiness was being appreciated for their work. 

If you create a positive work culture where employees feel appreciated and share in your success, other people want to be a part of that.

Suddenly, recruiting new employees stops being a chore. Skilled workers want to be a part of the culture you’ve created.

5. More Than Just Employees

What’s the relationship like between yourself and your employees? Do they have the freedom to share criticisms or push for new ventures? Or do they just keep their heads down and do whatever you tell them?

Or worse…are they yes men?

As entrepreneurs, we’re used to operating with a significant amount of independence. We self-starter are built with a singular, self-imbued focus. We set much of the direction for our company on our own.

But that kind of isolation can be dangerous. It can lead to burnout, tunnel vision, and self-destruction. 

We need people around us who can bring honest insight. We need people who can see things that we can’t. 

While a business mentor is valuable, they often lack the intimate insight that our employees have from working with us day in and day out.

But if we create a company culture where there is a clear wall between us and our staff, we can miss a lot of valuable insight that they might bring.

6. Valued Employees Bring More Value

Let’s say that a mother on your staff has a child that’s too sick to go to school that day. Or another employee is battling depression or anxiety and needs to take a mental health day.

Your reaction to these events can have a huge impact on company culture.

Your employees have vast, vibrant lives outside of your company. They are far more than a tool to get you more sales. 

But many employers only value their workers for the monetary value they bring to the company’s bank account. And it shows.

However, if you create a company culture where your employees are valued for their non-monetary contributions to the workplace, they’re much more likely to bring more value to the table.

This is when employees stop meeting the bare minimum and start bringing new ideas to the table. And when that happens, your company grows.

A Great Company Culture Changes Everything

Let’s face it: many companies’ work cultures are toxic, soul-sucking, and thankless. 

But if you build a business with a truly great company culture, it can take your startup from a promising new venture to a commanding presence in the marketplace.

Want more advice to lead your company? Read this post on the leadership skills that drive startup success.