Identifying Company Culture for Supply Chain Pracitioners

When attracting the best supply chain talent, be it at graduate level and right through the management ranks to C-suite, it’s imperative that a company is able to define and leverage their “culture”.

What defines a company culture?

Having worked on many recruitment assignments for a multitude of businesses both in the UK and Australia, one question that will always form part of a client briefing and more often than not, is asked by candidates during the selection process– “What is the company culture like?”

Indeed, this question is becoming more and more important as it ranks highly amongst the reasons why the candidate may be seeking a move to new pastures – an incompatibility between their own values and the culture of their current business.

Now one mistake in defining company culture is to confuse “culture” with “benefits”. For instance, many employees strive to achieve a better work-life balance and a company may demonstrate their commitment to sustaining this through the provision of “benefits” and well thought out company policies. An on-site (free of charge or subsidized) gym is a way a company may promote and foster a culture of health and wellbeing in addition to improving work-life balance for employees who find it difficult to fit in exercise before and after work.

So when a company professes to invest in professional development, they may achieve this through offering financial support and study leave (a clearly defined benefit) and/or mentorship and broadening of skillset where employees are actively encouraged to diversify, and add to their existing competencies and minimize possible skills gaps.

A company culture doesn’t necessarily need to be limited to the way in which they treat their employees, it could also encompass the way in which they go about business and ultimately treat the customer. Does the business promote a team based culture with dynamic decision making through consensus or is it one of consistent red tape where significant time and energy can be spent changing current ideals to achieve a truly progressive organization?

For a candidate searching their next career opportunity, it could be a good idea to list all the important factors that you feel contribute to a strong company culture and ultimately align with your own values and will motivate you to build a successful career with the organization. When an employer attempts to articulate the type of culture that exists within the organization, you can look for cues as to whether or not they are “talking the talk” or “walking the walk”.

Some pointers for unearthing the true company culture at an organization could be:

·      What is the company approach to decision making?

·      How do you foster a progressive organization and develop and promote talent from within? Do your research on this point – for instance if you are interviewing for a role of Supply Chain Manager reporting through to the Supply Chain Director of a company and you find that the current and previous Supply Chain Directors of the business have been hired externally then this would indicate a potential skills gap within the organization at lower levels and you may wish to understand how this is being addressed.

·      How does the company achieve a positive work-life balance for employees?

·      If the interviewer finds it difficult to articulate the company culture then this is a red flag that the business may not have a clear mission statement and vision on how the employees form part of achieving their goals.

·      Indicators of a company culture being driven from the top down come with evidence that the CEO is actively engaged in promoting a positive work culture.

·      Sometimes it’s the little things that can really help to drive a positive work culture within both a team/department and the entire organization. Look for ways in which a business engages with employees and looks after and rewards them for active participation in the work place.

·      A really good litmus test of the level of energy within a workplace can be ascertained whilst waiting for your interview in reception. Observe how staff members interact, how visitors are greeted by reception – look at the body language of employees! What does it tell you?

·      Most well established organisations have careers sites/company pages on Linkedin where you can watch videos of employees championing the work culture. Look for the mission statement and read any Q & As with employees in the careers page (especially those working in your desired department).

·      What is the company approach to customer service? This is great from a supply chain perspective as you can discuss metrics to discover current fulfillment rates.

·      Views expressed on websites such as Glassdoor should be taken with a pinch of salt as its hard to establish the credibility of anonymous contributors.

·      If you have a good relationship with an existing employee of the target organization, seek out their honest point of view.

 One thing that can make understanding a company culture difficult from a supply chain perspective lies in the fact that many companies may have a defined head office culture and sub-cultures at decentralized operational sites. If you are interviewing for a role based at a Distribution Centre, Depot or Terminal then its important not to rely on the videos and information on the corporate website. Ensure you look for the pointers regarding site culture when attending interview and look for inconsistencies between the corporate and site operations culture.

Many operations are 24/7 environments, so there can be increased difficulty in scheduling professional development initiatives for site line managers. Whereas head office based employees may enjoy on-site training and access to a whole suite of benefits, site based professionals may not enjoy the same level of developmental opportunities.

 Following the points outlined will help you to understand the true culture of a business, whether you will be working at head office or at an off-site location.

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