How do you establish a company culture adapted to Gen Z?

1. Company culture, definition and challenges

There is one thing that Generation Z, or the Z generation, closely scrutinizes during interviews: company culture.

Those aged 18-25 understand it well: they won't thrive in just any type of company. Earlier than their predecessors, they can engage in this introspective journey, understand their needs, and grasp the practices and codes of a company. Consequently, they can determine if they are compatible with its corporate culture.

Now an essential step for recruitment teams, corporate culture is shaped, worked on, and communicated. This practical guide aims to guide you in this meticulous work, at the intersection of employer branding, recruitment processes, branding, and HR communication. You will learn:

• The simple definition of corporate culture
• Why it is crucial in the recruitment process
• How to establish its foundations within your organization
• How to strengthen it
• How to communicate it externally

JobTeaser wants to help you meet the expectations of Generation Z (Gen Z) through a company culture that reflects who you are. An authentic, embodied, and vibrant corporate culture.

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JobTeaser is the preferred job board of employers and the preferred career service of European schools and universities. Whatever your recruitment needs, we can support you in recruiting and retaining the best young talent.

1.1. Corporate culture: what it is not 

Corporate culture refers to the set of values, beliefs, norms, and behaviors shared within an organization. It represents the identity of the company and influences how employees interact with each other and external stakeholders.

Corporate culture encompasses several elements, such as:

• Values: the fundamental principles and beliefs that guide the actions and decisions of the company.
• Norms: the expected and accepted behaviors within the organization. This may include communication standards, collaboration, respect, or ethics.
• Work environment: the physical and psychological aspects of the workplace, including layout, management style, or level of flexibility.
• Rituals and traditions: recurring events and practices that reinforce the company's culture, such as team meetings, celebrations, or recognition programs.
• History and symbols: the company's legacy, past achievements, shared stories, symbols, or logos representing its identity.

It is important to note that corporate culture can vary from one organization to another and may evolve over time based on internal and external changes.

While it doesn't change overnight, corporate culture can evolve:

• Slowly and spontaneously over the years and with team turnover.
• More rapidly and intentionally during acquisitions, changes in leadership, or strategic shifts.
• On specific subjects (management, organizational aspects) or comprehensively.

1.2. Objectives and utility of corporate culture:

Is Corporate Culture a Key HR Topic? Certainly, many human resources and communication professionals would affirm that corporate culture is indeed a primary HR topic.

Corporate culture serves two main functions:

▶ Unifying Teams and Sustaining Engagement in a Common Project

A positive and shared corporate culture among all employees fosters a sense of belonging, increases motivation, and promotes team loyalty.

However, HR faces challenges such as:

• Difficulty in recruiting certain technical or rare profiles.
• The inclination of young talents to navigate from one experience to another.
• The growing aversion of individuals aged 18-25 to projects lacking ethical and ecological meaning.
• Increasing demands for benevolent management, quality of work life, and the balance between professional and personal life (especially through telecommuting).

Thus, defining and promoting a strong corporate culture internally means:

• Establishing and maintaining a conducive environment for the fulfillment of employees who resonate with these values, codes, and work modes.
• Creating a sense of common belonging among company talents, regardless of their seniority, age, or position, instilling pride and commitment.
• Involving employees by making them active participants in maintaining this corporate culture, one that resonates with them and is co-constructed by them.
• Motivating everyone to pursue a common goal through a mission and clear objectives for all.

For all employees, corporate culture could be seen as the guiding light steering their goals, actions, behaviors, and providing direction.

Far from being a cosmetic or accessory element, corporate culture is, therefore, a strategic HR issue, especially concerning talent retention and engagement. 

▶ Enhancing the Company's Brand Image with Clients and Talents

Regardless of the type of organization (public or private, association or business), it aims to create a positive reputation for two purposes:

• Promoting its product and/or service for economic viability, fundraising, or activating sponsorship.
• Attracting individuals who resonate with their project and will help them achieve their goals.

Allow millions of future employees to discover your exceptional corporate culture with us today.

▶ Improving Sales through an Ethical Corporate Culture

In an era where a portion of consumers increasingly favors fair and ethical trade sources, they closely examine what happens within companies. In this regard, knowing that a company:

• Promotes and practices virtuous values.
• Chooses and evaluates its suppliers carefully.
• Respects the work-life balance of its employees, etc.

provides reassurance for consumers.

Online, posts from executives praising cultural choices to promote companies and their products are becoming more common.

▶ Attracting Top Talent through a distinctive corporate culture

In the second scenario, brands and their official representatives (leaders, communicators, HR) or unofficial ones (everyone through employee advocacy) share information about the corporate culture to enhance recruitment. The goal is to showcase that the employee experience is exceptional in this company.

A study conducted by Glassdoor reveals that 77% of talents surveyed across four countries (United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany) examine the corporate culture of a potential employer even before applying.

If little information exists about this culture or if it appears unclear, candidates may:

• Hesitate to submit their CV.
• Lose motivation during the recruitment process if the answers to their questions about the corporate culture do not align.
• Struggle to envision themselves within the structure and opt for another opportunity.

On the contrary, if the company offers a job board that highlights the strengths of its employer brand, for example, on JobTeaser:

• Talents will apply with a clear understanding.
• The distinctive corporate culture will serve as an initial filter, screening out individuals who do not align with the rest of the teams.
• The promise of the corporate culture, including the mission, values, and rituals, will particularly motivate individuals who resonate with them.

2. How to establish the foundations of your company culture ?

Is corporate culture something that is forged or observed?

Corporate culture is a complex and dynamic concept. It can be both observed and shaped. In reality, corporate culture arises from the interaction and balance between what is intended by the leaders and key talents of the company and what the team naturally brings to the table on a daily basis.

2.1. Crafting a company culture in your image 

Corporate culture is often deliberately shaped by the leaders and key employees of an organization.

It can be influenced by their values, beliefs, goals, and standards promoted and supported within the company.

Members of an executive team play a crucial role in creating a corporate culture through the intentional implementation of policies, procedures, and practices that reflect the values and principles they wish to prevail within the organization.

For example:

• Shine has implemented a fair and transparent salary policy across the entire company.
• Alan, the health insurance company, promotes a unique corporate culture characterized by salary transparency, few or no meetings, written communications, asynchronous work, and unlimited time off.
• Similarly, 360Learning, a collaborative learning platform, organizes its organization around the concept of convexity: remote work at will, a culture of writing, no meetings, a culture of frequent and reciprocal feedback (intra-hierarchical), and total transparency on project progress.
• Zappos has established a customer-centric corporate culture. Their philosophy called "WOW" encourages everyone to provide exceptional service to each customer.
• The founder of Zoom wanted to create a fully remote company where he would want to work for years. The structure takes care of its employees with an attractive benefits package for health insurance and additional perks, such as funding for a gym of choice, a budget for mental health care, and assistance with fertility-related procedures.
• Pixar has forged a strong culture of collaboration, with meetings designed to encourage unconventional ideas and eliminate mediocre ones. They deliberately create an ecosystem conducive to creativity. For several days, employees work on 'notes,' solving problems unrelated to their daily work and being creative.
• Vendredi, which democratizes employee engagement during working hours for causes, offers the same benefits to its teams. They can use paid working days to engage in projects of their choice, often associated with charities. As you may have guessed, Vendredi's corporate culture is positive, dynamic, and overall activist.

Once the founders have instilled the broad cultural lines of their company, they:

• Actively communicate the mission, vision, and values they propose.
• Ensure that these are embodied and implemented at all levels of the company.
• Establish mechanisms to recruit talents that align with these ideals and can also embody them.

2.2. Embracing an organically developing corporate culture 

Once the broad outlines are set, more often than not, it is the day-to-day interactions within each structure that shape corporate culture.

Indeed, corporate culture is far from being an artificial construct; it also naturally emerges from the interactions and behaviors of employees in their daily work.

Corporate culture can be observed by examining:

• How team members behave,
• How they make decisions,
• How they communicate with each other and with clients,
• And how they handle conflicts and challenges.

In this regard, Benoît Serre, former HR Director of the L'Oréal Group, stated:

« The behavior of each individual expresses the culture, not the grand statements displayed on office walls. »

In essence, it is the collective actions, rituals, and shared norms of the organization's members that define corporate culture.

Thus, corporate culture is both the result of deliberate efforts by leadership to create a specific work environment and the product of social interactions, shared values, and behaviors adopted by employees over time.

It can evolve and change based on new influences and organizational changes. Corporate culture is not just a slogan on a wall or an official statement but rather a reality experienced by team members. Therefore, companies concerned about their culture must not only create conditions conducive to positive values and virtuous behaviors but also carefully observe how these elements manifest in practice.

They must also be ready to adjust and refine their approach based on what they observe.

According to our recent study on recruitment barriers in partnership with Maki People, 21% of young individuals have terminated a recruitment process due to the misalignment between the discussed job responsibilities during the interview and those listed in the job offer. The same applies to the displayed and actual cultural codes. If a Gen Z individual takes a position and discovers an atmosphere completely different from what was pitched, it is likely that they will seek opportunities elsewhere.

2.3. The five pillars of corporate culture

Here are the essentials of corporate culture. These are the five aspects on which you must unite the teams of an organization and build common landmarks.

• The history and heritage of the brand
• The shared vision and mission
• The values around which to unite the teams
• The codes around collaboration and work
• Rituals and meetings.

Let's delve into each of these pillars of corporate culture.

▶ The history and heritage of the brand

The grand narrative, often referred to as the "big H," forms the basis of a company's corporate culture. It can be built upon various elements:

• Charismatic Founders: Founders who serve as the figurehead, symbol, and sometimes the voice of the company (while alive):
  • For example, André Citroën, a feminist ahead of his time, coined the slogan "The modern woman travels only in Citroën" at the beginning of the century.
  • Or Apple, propelled in part due to the tumultuous and eccentric personality of Steve Jobs.
• Anecdotes: Stories that make the brand memorable and partly explain its mode of operation:
  • Microsoft is known to have started in a garage. In 1975, at the ages of 20 and 22, Gates and Allen founded their software company in a rented shed in Albuquerque, quickly becoming too small for all their equipment.
• Awareness or Shock: Often true for socially conscious brands that go beyond addressing everyday consumer issues:
  • Judith and Justine, founders of the cosmetics brand Même, designed for people affected by cancer, met through their mother's illness. Only one of their mothers survived. Their daughters felt a shared mission related to the self-esteem of women affected by the disease.
• Cultural Heritage: In luxury, art, gastronomy, music, fashion, and more, many brands rely on national craftsmanship, French elegance, culinary traditions, etc.:
  • Hermès has built a globally recognized and unique heritage around its historical activity as a saddler, giving it worldwide renown in leather crafts. Its communications draw on the history of its founders and their passion for equestrian art.
  • The Nantes-based biscuit brand LU leverages its century-old local roots, proudly displaying elements of its history in a visitable museum in its former factories, now a must-visit in the city.
  • Le Slip Français, a successful French clothing brand, has built a blue-white-red branding and storytelling around the re-localization of its production in France. Its communication takes consumers on tours of its factories and emphasizes, with powerful portraits of textile workers, the unique French know-how it helps preserve. The brand is a success, likely because this chauvinistic discourse resonates as much as its humorous identity (a brand of underwear that doesn't take itself too seriously).

The longer a brand has existed, the more it capitalizes on a rich history. Most of the examples cited above intersect in their historical attributes.

Taking just one example, BlaBlaCar serves as an example of:

• A charismatic founder,
• A disruptive force in the world of mobility, etc.

These layers contribute to its grand story, reflecting on its corporate culture.

2.4.  Shared vision and mission

To rally teams, company leaders must primarily engage goodwill and expertise around a common project. The younger generation is in search of meaning; emphasize this crucial element. This is where the vision and mission come into play.

The mission represents the backbone, the raison d'être of the company. It is an immutable element that is not expected to change. Let's explore this with the mission of SNCF, the French railway company:

"As a public company, SNCF's mission is to deploy seamless, door-to-door mobility everywhere and for everyone." The purpose of this company has not changed since its foundation.

The vision, on the other hand, is how, in a given period, a company finds a way to fulfill its mission. This can evolve. 

Let's look at the difference between mission and vision with the example of OpenClassrooms, an online education company.

Mission: Make education accessible.

Vision in 2021-2023: Make professional education accessible.

The difference between the two is subtle but provides valuable insights into the firm's short and medium-term strategy, where revenue is then based on the courses sold in collaboration and with public institutions such as Pôle emploi.

Some questions can help define the organization's mission:

• What problem are we addressing?
• Why is it central?

As for the mission, the questions will be more circumstantial:

• How are we currently addressing the problem that constitutes our mission?
• Is our response likely to evolve in the medium or long term?

The mission and vision must be well-known to the employees of a company and its stakeholders (suppliers, freelancers, clients). This is what defines the purpose and strategy.

2.5. The Values Around Which to Unite Teams

This pillar sparks significant discussion, particularly because young talents pay special attention to it when applying for a job.

The numbers speak for themselves:

• 45% of candidates research a company's values before applying (Work4, 2022).
• 56% of Generation Z believe that the work atmosphere is crucial in their desire to stay in a company (Mazars, 2019). Values influence corporate culture and, consequently, the behavior of those working there.
• Over 49% of young talents surveyed by Deloitte in 2022 revealed that their personal ethics guide their professional choices.
• 70% of Generation Z takes into consideration a brand's willingness to contribute to those in need (Stratégies, 2022).

▶ What is a brand value? 

« It's something around which we gather. A beacon, a lifeline that testifies to what we want to uphold. All companies have values, but not all have defined them. »

— Jean de Maupeou, Co-founder of FlexJob

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A value is the cultural compass emanating from the company culture (how we work as a team, how we collaborate within the organization, how we interact with clients and suppliers, how we select our colleagues) and can be formalized with words.

A company value can be:

• Static: a backbone to which we cling to maintain our course
• Evolving: regularly reworked to accompany the growth of a company, for example.

▶ Does a value need to be formalized? 

A corporate culture can be shared by everyone without a brand value being specifically named and defined. This is explained by Dominique Raze, an independent employer brand consultant and former employer brand director at Carrefour.

« In many companies, values remain implicit. At Carrefour, where I worked for several years, values are embodied without being the subject of specific communications. It's powerful. »

Dominique Raze, independent employer brand consultant

Working on values also depends on the stage of development of the company. Small or young structures may wait for their corporate culture and values to take shape over time.

« Some companies, because they are SMEs, startups in early-stage, for example, have not defined their values. But they function very well because the values are in intangible form. And often, these are much stronger values than those that are defined without having been lived first. »

Jean de Maupeou, co-founder of FlexJob

Some firms have a strong corporate culture without explicitly putting words to what employees experience.

That being said, verbalizing one's values is useful:

• to make the culture more tangible internally to engage teams
• to transmit it to people joining the company
• to define behavior frameworks that stem from the values

« I'm going to use a strong word, but writing down your values leads you to 'sanctify' them. It transforms them from something diffuse that you feel into something concrete, specific, and actionable. »

▶ Everything comes from within: Organic values vs. tranformational values 

Initially, the value originates from the feelings of the collaborators: in this case, it is organic (and often implicit). Company values exist internally first and foremost; otherwise, they wouldn't be values.

Once well-established, transformative values can be added because the company needs them at a specific moment, such as during an acquisition or a period of transformation of its business model, for example.

« Values are the verbal expression of what constitutes the engine, personality, and collective action principles of the company. They exist before being put into words. »

Dominique Raze, independent employer brand consultant

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In any case, brand values serve as a common foundation for collaborating efficiently and harmoniously, representing a significant aspect of the corporate culture for any commercial organization.

2.6. Unlocking the secrets to successful professional collaborations

Embedding company culture also involves defining the parameters of collaboration and what is expected from employees in terms of attitude and deliverables. In this regard, there are as many secret recipes as there are organizations.

• Some companies follow a paternalistic, highly vertical and authoritative hierarchical style, leaving little room for initiative. Others have embraced horizontal collaboration, sometimes even without hierarchical superiors.
• Meetings may be at the core of collaboration or completely prohibited (as is the case at 360Learning or Alan, where all teamwork is done asynchronously, and documentation is paramount).
• Providing feedback to hierarchical superiors may be encouraged or taboo.
• Regarding what needs to be produced, a specific work rhythm may be established (a certain number of files processed per week, a maximum client response time, and a monthly number of manufactured products), or conversely, an employer may leave open spaces to foster team creativity.
• Certain collaboration methods, such as Lean, agile, or sprints, may be widespread, or the company may prefer working in silos.
• A company may have a patriotic or international DNA, and be inclusive or focused on a specific population of employees (such as visually impaired individuals at restaurants in the dark or at Café Joyeux).
• Working hours can be long and rigid, or the company may adopt a results-based schedule rather than one based on attendance, with flexible hours. Some even adopt a four-day workweek.
• In many organizations, the manner of collaboration is quite formalized (in writing, orally, with non-violent communication, during specific time slots, etc.). Those who deviate from these implicit or formalized rules may face consequences.

In short, as you may have understood, the way we collaborate and what is expected at work is also a strong element of company culture, which may align perfectly with some personalities and not at all with others. This explains why it's important to detail it in job offers and discuss it during job interviews.

2.7. Rituals and meetings

Finally, each company has its own habits to bring its teams together. Here are some of them:

• Weekly or daily meetings (daily stand-ups).
• Team lunches.
• The onboarding process for new recruits.
• Themed days or team-building events.
• All-hands meetings, popular in startups, where the numbers and successes of successive teams are reviewed.
• Moments of recognition for specific achievements, seniority, or accomplishments, with or without awards.
• "Post-mortem" meetings where the success or challenges of a project are evaluated.
• Farewell parties to bid farewell to departing colleagues, and more.

If these practices are recurring and institutionalized, they can complement the successive layers of company culture.

Now that you have a good understanding of the five pillars of company culture, let's delve into different topics:

• Company culture and teams.
• Company culture and the work environment.
• Company culture and work methods.
• Company culture and skills development.
  

3. Team: Creating a humane environment conducive to the development of Young Talents

Young talents are particularly sensitive to the people around them.

Our study on recruitment barriers in partnership with Maki People recently highlighted that, with equal salary and working conditions, 52% of individuals aged 18 to 35 would choose the company where they had a positive interaction with their future managers and colleagues.

In these circumstances, what are the subjects on which you can establish a healthy culture conducive to the development and fulfillment of young talents?

3.1. Management: Low Jerks Policy* & horizontal collaboration 

People often leave a company due to dysfunctional leadership.

A concept from the United States, the Low Jerks Policy (*anti-jerks policy), posits that by dismissing toxic leaders, two significant benefits arise: 

• It discourages juniors who may have considered adopting toxic management styles from becoming toxic leaders themselves and promotes healthier forms of management.
• It retains the former subordinates of the jerks, who would have eventually left to escape them, and who possess good soft skills.

Kévin Bouchareb, Future of Work Manager at Ubisoft, explains that young individuals he interviews express their disagreement with toxic management. 

« I increasingly observe that Gen Z is absolutely allergic to jerks. Remove a jerk, and you'll keep the healthy elements with potential. You'll also make it clear to potential jerks that they don't belong in the organization if they don't change their ways. The best talents I encounter daily tell me unequivocally that they will not stay in a company with toxic management: all the more reason to clean house! »

 To identify toxic managers, who are often overly sweet with their superiors:

• Listen to the subtle signals from juniors.
• Implement anonymous surveys within teams.
• Foster a climate of trust among employees, HR, and employee representatives, so that harassed individuals can confide in someone.
• Conduct intra-hierarchical feedback sessions.

Once you are sure you have identified a toxic manager, show courage and firmness, and separate from them as quickly as possible.

3.2. Recruit fairly and without bias

Even the best HR professionals have cognitive biases that may lead them to prefer candidates who resemble them or to dismiss individuals based on stereotypes.

Several tools, such as structured interviews, make recruitment more objective.

Don't see this as a philanthropic choice: it's proven that companies with more diverse profiles are more creative, innovative, resilient, and profitable.

3.3. Inclusion and diversity

An inclusive and diverse company commits to creating an environment where all individuals are respected, valued, and represented equitably, regardless of their differences.

This can encompass the following topics:

• Reducing professional inequalities to support all employees in their career development.
• Gender equality and diversity: to recruit equitably and promote greater social diversity in the organization.
• Parenthood and work-life balance: to provide proper support for all individuals affected by parenthood and create a balanced framework for everyone.
• Health and the work environment: to raise awareness among teams about women's health issues and establish a healthy and suitable environment for all individuals.
• Sexist and sexual violence: to raise awareness among teams about everyday sexism and take action against violence.
• Solidarity and the common good: to support organizations working on these issues and mobilize teams.

Some flagship initiatives that can become integral to your company culture:

• Training teams on recruitment biases and inclusive hiring.
• Ensuring inclusivity in job postings, particularly in their wording.
• Conducting an assessment of gender diversity in the company and making necessary adjustments.
• Raising awareness among teams about racist violence.
• Taking daily action for more inclusive meetings.

3.4. The promotion of profiles in situations of disability

Another proposal for a more accessible and open corporate culture is a policy squarely focused on the inclusion of people with disabilities. This can encompass both visible and invisible disabilities, whether they are physical or mental.

Here are some possible initiatives:

• Making offices accessible to people with reduced mobility.
• Providing a working environment adapted to the neurological needs of employees: some may need to work in isolation and in a quiet environment.
• Implementing more regular follow-ups for these profiles to ensure they have optimal conditions for advancing in their careers.
• Subscribing to health insurance that includes what they need in terms of care.

3.5. Advancement of women's and non-binary careers 

Gender parity is still a complex issue, with organizations at varying levels of progress. To ensure that young talents feel equally welcomed regardless of their gender (including non-binary individuals), some adjustments are necessary.

Here are some ideas to adopt to create a fair corporate culture:

▶ Equal pay

• Create a recruitment index based on gender and adjust recruitment if there are significant gaps.
• Establish a transparent salary grid.
• Reevaluate professions where women are overrepresented.
• Offer bonuses to women and non-binary individuals interested in entering predominantly male-dominated professions.
• Provide training for all employees on salary negotiation.

▶ Parenthood and Work-Life Balance

It is well-documented that parenthood disrupts women's career opportunities. Here are some ideas to address this:

• Sign and implement the Parental Act.
• Combat everyday sexism.
• Adopt childcare solutions and flexible schedules.
• Implement the right to disconnect.
• Establish a harassment alert system.
• Align paternity leave with maternity leave.
• Provide workplace menstrual product options.
• Offer miscarriage leave.
• Subscribe to health insurance that covers genital surgery.

4. Gen Z: how does the work environment influence corporate culture? 

Another significant aspect of corporate culture is the work environment you aim to provide for your employees.

4.1. Flex culture: the importance of remote working

77% of Gen Z individuals place great importance on benefits in a job offer, especially the option to work remotely. Working from home has become somewhat essential, so companies that do not offer this option or provide it in a restrictive manner (such as one day a week, excluding Mondays and Fridays, for example) are disadvantaged in terms of recruitment.

A corporate culture that fully embraces remote work, not just because it has to but with conviction, is appealing to the Gen Z generation.

Here are some examples of initiatives to implement to integrate remote work into your corporate culture... and make it successful.

▶ Define the work environment with precision

• Set specific working hours: Leaders and managers must lead by example to give teams permission to adhere to them.
• Ensure the right to disconnect is respected.
• For executives: Define a common timeframe for all, during which remote meetings can be organized.

▶ Provide good equipment

• Provide equipment to prevent musculoskeletal risks at home.
• For example: a keyboard, an ergonomic mouse, and equipment to elevate the laptop. Some individuals may even request a second monitor for their home setup.

▶ Implementing a culture of documentation

One challenge that can arise with remote work is the dispersion of information. However, with a good documentation system and by raising awareness among teams, communication works very well.

• Centralize employees' work on a collaborative Wiki (for example, Notion or a proprietary tool).
• Instill the habit, for each project, of documenting the steps and their progress.

For every meeting, appoint a scribe to provide a summary.

▶ 100% remote: still an advantage? 

57% of individuals aged 18-25 value the mention of events and activities organized among colleagues in a job offer (JobTeaser / Maki People study, 2023).

Never seeing colleagues in person can be destabilizing, especially in the context of initial work experiences. This is why remote work should be accompanied by synchronous moments, either in the form of days at the office or periodic team events.

Read more about onboarding on our blog

4.2. Flex office: does it destabilize culture?

Flex office can be combined with remote working. 

▶ What is Flex Office? 

It involves the absence of assigned desks. Depending on the company, individuals can work wherever they want— whether in an open space, a coworking space, or directly from home. Often, companies offer a mix of these solutions.

▶ Flex Office essentials

• Successfully onboard talents, especially if they have little experience or are accustomed to having a fixed desk.
• Foster team cohesion.
• Establish a culture of documentation and good communication habits.
• Prevent musculoskeletal risks (poor work postures, lack of physical activity).
• Schedule moments when teams work and can communicate remotely.
• Address risks related to mental health (loneliness, isolation).
• Train managers in remote leadership.

However, keep in mind that, for the sake of inclusivity, offering no closed offices may discourage some profiles that need to work in silence or be isolated. If inclusivity is one of the pillars of your corporate culture, consider all personality types when designing your office spaces!

4.3. Mental health: the foundation of a Gen Z-friendly culture 

A topic linked to both corporate culture, societal concerns, and the current landscape of stressful jobs, a shaky economy, and environmental issues, mental health is in the spotlight.

Having a corporate culture that takes care of the mental health of talents can involve simple measures:

• Informing about the subject and training managers.
• Sincerely asking people how they are doing and initiating a discussion in case of workload, stress, harassment, etc.
• Having zero tolerance for toxic managers.
• Subscribing to prevention software, such as Moka.Care.
• Choosing health insurance that covers alternative medicine and psychology.
• Providing support for sports classes, massages, or a meditation app.

This list is by no means exhaustive. That said, adopting mental health prevention in your culture can be a real asset for many young talents, especially at a time when burnout, bore-out, and brown-out are affecting more and more professionals.

4.4. QWL and Well-being at Work: foundations of a healthy corporate Culture?

In the realm of the work environment and corporate culture, Quality of Work Life (QWL) is the latest topic. The younger generation, especially Gen Z, is particularly sensitive to this aspect because they want to work to live, not live to work.

QWL refers to the set of conditions, actions, and measures implemented within an organization to improve the well-being, health, satisfaction, and fulfillment of employees in their professional environment.

This encompasses factors such as the balance between professional and personal life, interpersonal relationships, the work environment, opportunities for professional development, recognition, and employee participation. QWL aims to foster a positive work climate and increase the motivation and engagement of employees.

Considering that 61% of young individuals deem it more important than salary, it's evident that making it a significant element of corporate culture is beneficial.

Some key challenges of QWL:

• Empowerment over micromanagement.
• Maintaining a work-life balance.
• Healthy management and harmonious relationships among colleagues.

4.5. Skills Development: What best practices to implement? 

The Gen Z generation changes jobs on average more rapidly than its predecessors, driven by a fear of boredom.

« Previously, juniors would come to me after 2 and a half to three years to seek professional development. Now, it happens after one to one and a half years. For the more impatient, even after six months. We really need to rethink how we advance talents within the group to retain them. »

— Kévin Bouchareb, Head of Future of Work at Ubisoft

« I developed my skills very quickly in the first year of my Graduate Program. It was stimulating. I took over a completely new portfolio and had everything to understand. Now, I have a good grasp of it, and I'm stagnating. I have my portfolio and tasks well under control; the days are monotonous. I'm bored. Since I have excellent results, I thought I could make a change. I talked to my HR, and they didn't offer me any advancement. I don't think I'll stay here for long. »

— Recent graduate currently in a Graduate Program at a prestigious large company in Paris

4.6. A culture of lifelong learning

Instilling the habit of continuous learning throughout one's career in an organization is something each company should foster.

• It can offer online or in-person training at regular intervals or based on specific training needs.
• Encourage leaders to lead by example and promote a learning culture by also engaging in training.
• Provide access to internal documentation.
• Develop dedicated programs to help interns enhance their skills.
• Encourage experts to share their knowledge during sessions offered to colleagues at convenient times.

HR departments have a role to play

• Monitor the skills present in the company.
• Track each employee to establish a skills development plan.
• Propose a career and professional development plan with key skills and qualities to develop, along with realistic and motivating goals.

For this to be easy to implement, the right to experimentation and error must be recognized. Because when it comes to skill development, nothing beats practice. And in practice, when we learn, sometimes we make mistakes.

4.7. From mentorship to peer-to-peer learning

We learn a lot from others!

Establishing a learning corporate culture also means ensuring that employees are willing to share their knowledge and train their colleagues. Here are some ideas on how to do this:

• During onboarding, offer shadowing learning, where new employees follow someone in the company during their daily activities to learn from them.
• Assign a mentor to each new employee to help them understand the specificities of the company and the industry.
• Encourage peer-to-peer reviews, meaning constructive feedback between colleagues. Initially common in software development and the tech industry in general, you can generalize this practice.

4.8. The right to make mistakes and test & learn

The right to make mistakes is crucial for establishing a learning corporate culture for several important reasons:

• It encourages experimentation. People feel confident to explore new ideas, take initiatives, fostering creativity, innovation, and learning.
• Employees learn better through experience: make a mistake once in a practical case at work, and you'll remember it. You won't make the same mistake twice! Unless you're stressed because the error was mocked, reprimanded, or subjected to bullying by superiors.
• If the fear of failure is less present, individuals will step out of their comfort zone and try more things.
• By granting the right to fail, you establish a climate of trust. Errors will be seen as a possible step in the learning process. People will be more likely to try, ask questions, seek help, fostering better collaboration, communication, and ultimately better learning.
• By destigmatizing the right to make mistakes, you increase the resilience of your employees. They will have the reflex to seek solutions, persevere, and become more resilient.
• Granting the right to make mistakes also promotes self-accountability and encourages continuous improvement.

In essence, the right to make mistakes creates a positive and constructive environment where employees feel supported in their quest for learning and development. It fosters a learning corporate culture where continuous improvement is valued, and errors are seen as opportunities to learn and grow. This also contributes to strengthening employee engagement and motivation by encouraging active participation in the company's evolution.

Of course, not all mistakes are equal. Some may be more detrimental to the company. The ability to analyze a mistake and share insights that help understand what went wrong with the teams is a superpower that you can also encourage within your organization.

For example, at OpenClassrooms, there used to be a board of aborted projects with sticky notes describing the project and several others describing the factual reasons it didn't work.

Many companies also hold meetings after a major project or event to document very positive aspects and what was well done, and to assess the errors to avoid in the future.

Conclusion: corporate culture: no good if… 

«The behavior of each individual expresses the culture, not the grand declarations displayed on office walls. The real question is whether employees can say that the signs they read are not inconsistent with what they actually experience.»

Benoît Serre, HR Director at L'Oréal

To conclude with this reflection from the former HR Director of L'Oréal, one could nuance the criticisms made about corporate culture.

For some, it would be a theoretical and nebulous concept, even considered "bullshit."

Here are some recurring criticisms:

• It's a kind of conditioning for employees, but it's not authentic.
• No culture lasts over time as a company grows.
• It is complicated for large companies to have a strong culture because how do you establish a common tempo with 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 employees?
• Corporate culture cannot be decreed; it is lived.
• It is a sort of opaque veneer to hide managerial dysfunctions at work in the organization.
• It's just advertising.

« When an employee is fired, I would really like to know what he thinks of the company's culture. It's enough for a manager to be toxic for the impact on the front line to be enormous. In my eyes, culture is the whipped cream added to the pie. »

Claude Monnier, HR Director at Sony Music

Indeed, as the HR Director of Sony Music points out, corporate culture should be the cherry on top when you have already worked on the rest. And it can only be lasting, distinctive, and healthy if it is based on a solid company:

• With healthy and caring managerial practices,
• Real talent support,
• A useful mission shared by all,
• An economically viable project,
• Etc.

Then, the organization has the fertile ground to establish and let its corporate culture flourish. With embodied values, a unifying project, and cohesive teams. Cohesive but not cloned? The final criticism addressed to corporate culture, if it is too rigid, is that it tries to fit employees into a too strict framework. However, culture should be seen more like a canvas that defines collaboration conditions and the framework of a mission, in which there is space to bring who you are, what you do, and be yourself.

« At Sony Music, we don't have mugs promoting the company's values. Everyone can be punk and not fit into a mold. »

Claude Monnier, HR Director at Sony Music
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You now have all the keys to reflect on your company culture, make it flourish, and share it with the outside world.

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