Work culture
Work culture refers to the prevalent values, behaviors, customs, practices, rules/regulations, and policies that shape the unique socio-psychological environment of an organization. It guides how employees interact with each other and the organization. Also, it shapes how the company or organization operates. 
It includes elements like the vision and mission statements of the organization, values, history, strategy, management style, leadership, level of teamwork, overall atmosphere and environment of the company, as well as national culture.
For example, the mission statement of the TATA group is “To be a responsible value creator for all our stakeholders.” This is reflected in a work culture where employees are considered valued partners.
Importance of Healthy Work Culture
- Motivation and Productivity of employees: appreciating the work environment helps keep employees’ morale high and makes them feel like an indispensable part of the organization. This keeps them motivated and increases their performance level.
For example, ISRO holds annual “Foundation Day” celebrations, which include awards ceremonies, and team-building activities that help to recognize and celebrate the contributions of employees.
- Work-Life Balance: Organizational measures to balance work and personal life, such as flexible hours, remote working, time banks or cumulative days off, wellness programs, switching shifts/job sharing, etc., help motivate the workforce.
- Diversity Management: Managers face challenges in effectively managing social, cultural, ethnic, demographic, and other forms of diversity in the workplace. However, an open and tolerant work culture makes diversity an asset to the organization.
- Gender Empowerment: Work culture elements such as zero tolerance to sexual abuse at the workplace, maternity leaves, and child care facilities, etc. help women employees feel safer and also increase their participation.
- Promote team building: Companies that promote activities that bind the employees together such as role-playing, management games, training programs, workshops, seminars, and presentations, have cohesive and effective teams.
- Recruitment and Retention of Talent: In a study by Deloitte, companies with the strongest work cultures were most effective in attracting and retaining talent. Also, they considered ‘culture and engagement’ as the highest priority on the corporate agenda.
- Work Satisfaction: An empathetic work culture addresses the emotional as well as other needs of employees and results in higher satisfaction levels.
- Workplace relations: generally unspoken and unwritten rules guide workers and help to form bonds between colleagues.
- Promotes a culture of Transparency: A good work culture encourages open communication, sharing of information, and discussions at the workplace to reach better decisions and promote the participation of workers.
- Keep corruption away and promote probity at the workplace: Transparency is an essential feature of a healthy work culture that keeps corruption away.
- Innovation, Healthy development, and growth: A good work culture promotes openness, encourages employees to adopt innovative ways, and provides opportunities to initiate change and grow in professional and personal spheres.
- Driver of company’s success and profits: Workplace culture directly influences the performance and financial results of the company. E.g. High-performing companies such as Microsoft, Google, IBM, Hubspot, etc. have healthy work cultures.
- Improved legal compliance and lower regulatory risk: Ethical work culture improves brand image and lowers regulatory risk. In contrast, an unethical work culture can lead to corporate bankruptcies or fraud. For example, Lehman Brothers, Punjab National Bank, Satyam, etc.
Difference in the Work Culture of the Public and Private sector
| Public sector | Private sector |
| The primary motive is public service. | The primary motive is profit maximization. |
| Work culture is mainly Bureaucratic. | Work culture is more Professional. |
| Key values are Justice, public welfare, and due process of law. | Key values are efficiency, competitive advantage, and customer satisfaction. |
| Detailed rules, regulations, and procedures exist however they are not updated regularly. | Rules, regulations, and procedures are concise, more flexible, and regularly updated. |
| Strict code of conduct with legal force and breach can be punished. This may hamper creativity and innovation. | Less strict conduct rules, provide adequate space for employees to exhibit innovation and individuality. |
| Red tape, low efficiency, long hierarchy, and corruption are seen by the public as common traits of public work culture. | Deadlines, targets, hustle culture, and competition are seen as common traits. |
| High levels of Job security and workers’ rights are well protected. | Low Job security and workers’ rights may not be fully protected. |
Reasons for Poor Work Culture in Civil Services
- Red Tape: Lengthy procedures and paperwork hamper the health of the work culture. This also provides opportunities for corrupt public officials to exploit the system.
For example, 45 types of documents are needed to get clearance from Delhi police to open an eatery, whereas only 19 are required to buy a gun.
- Complex bureaucratic hierarchy and a long chain of command hampers communication, delay decision-making and reduce productivity. This disempowers and reduces the motivation of talented civil servants.
- Low salaries: Low remuneration in government jobs vis-à-vis private sector jobs may lead to low productivity. For instance, a tax officer who receives low wages may indulge in taking bribes.
- Inadequate Recognition and Rewards: Honest and high-performance civil servants might feel demotivated if they do not receive commensurate rewards and/or recognition.
- Poor leadership: It is the responsibility of political leaders and top civil servants to create a healthy work culture in bureaucracy. However, when they fail to do so or do not uphold ethical standards, it sets a wrong role model for officials working at lower ranks.
For example, if a senior officer is involved in corrupt activities but faces no consequences, it sends a wrong message to others.
- Inadequate Openness: Lack of adequate openness and transparency leads to a culture of secrecy. This not only creates suspicion in officials but also hampers their full participation in discussions. This leads to poor employee engagement levels.
- Lack of transparency: Lack of transparency leads to poor accountability in bureaucracy. Further, the concentration of authority and discretionary powers of officials without clear guidelines not only burdens individuals with excessive responsibility but also leads to corrupt practices.
For example, District Magistrates have an annual budget for their district, which is around 400 crores on average and is kept under their sanctioning authority.
- Political Interference: Political executives have control over the appointment, transfer, promotion, etc. of key civil servants. Civil servants have to execute orders from their political heads. Moreover, sometimes civil servants are used by politicians for their personal or political gains. This may hurt the overall health of the bureaucracy and deteriorate work culture.
General Measures to Build a Healthy and Ethical Work Culture
- Laying down Vision and mission statements: Clearly spelled, simple, and actionable vision and mission statements are crucial which may emotionally bind employees to the organization.
For example, the Mission statement of Google is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. This helps employees to commit to the organizational vision, and align their values with the organisation’s.
- Imbibing Culture of Ethical Conduct: Establishing a code of ethics and code of conduct along with communicating clear expectations of good ethics is required to imbibe a work culture of ethical conduct. Ethical rules should be widely popularised and put into practice at every level.
- Zero Tolerance towards breach of Key Values or Ethics: A system of enforcement with clearly defined rewards and punishment should be operationalized.
- Rewarding ethical conduct through formal and informal incentives and punishment for breaches weave ethics into day-to-day behavior.
- For example, empathetic and considerate behavior toward minorities at the workplace should be rewarded to promote diversity at the workplace.
- Leaders as Role Models: Leaders should lead by example as ethical behavior mostly starts at the top and trickles down. Managers should appreciate employees for their good behavior. Middle and lower managers play the most important role in popularising the right conduct in day-to-day functioning.
- Training and Sensitisation: A formal ethics training program and sensitization should be provided to ensure officials have the ability and motivation to maintain an ethical work culture and resolve ethical dilemmas.
For instance, the OECD recommends ethics training as a part of a comprehensive anti-corruption and integrity policy.
- Open communication and transparency: A culture of openness should be cultivated where employees are encouraged to speak up, share their ideas, and ask questions. Information should be shared in a transparent manner so that employees feel valued as part of the organization and have access to the resources that they need to do their jobs effectively.
- Opportunities for Growth and Development: Provide opportunities for employees to learn and grow at personal and professional levels. Also, provide them with opportunities for career progression. Encourage employees to take on new challenges and learn new skills.
For instance, the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela has a “Professional Development Seminar” that provides employees with opportunities to learn new technologies and build their professional skills.
- Foster Teamwork: Encourage cooperation and collaboration within and across departments. Create opportunities for knowing each other.
For example, NCERT holds an annual “Team Building Workshop” that helps to foster collaboration and teamwork among employees. This helps to create better workplace relationships and an environment of support.
- Maintain a healthy work-life balance: Employees should have adequate flexibility to balance their work and personal lives. A balanced personal life helps employees remain productive at the workplace as well.
- Measures such as flexible office timings, flexible work arrangements, work from home, time off for rest and relaxation, personal wellness sessions, etc.
- For example, NIMHANS, a premier medical institute, holds an annual “Wellness Day” that includes activities such as yoga and meditation classes, wellness fairs, health screenings, etc.
Specific Measures to Build Healthy Work Culture in Bureaucracy
- Effective implementation of the Citizen’s Charter: Well-crafted and properly implemented citizen’s charter may go a long way in fostering a healthy work culture in public offices.
- Elimination of Political Interference: As suggested by several committees such as the Hota committee, Alagh committee, etc. efforts should be made to free bureaucracy of any type of political interference. This will help civil servants remain impartial and objective and will help build an ethical work culture.
- Code of Ethics and Ethics Audit: A separate code of Ethics for civil services and regular ethics audits are need of the hour. Clearly delineated and communicated values will help entrench these values in the work culture of bureaucracy.
- Use of Modern Technology: Technological measures such as a biometric attendance system, online portals for better cooperation across ministries and departments (such as PM Gati Shakti portal), CPGRAMS for grievance redressal, regular feedback and updates, etc. can help revolutionize work culture and increase productivity.
- Zero tolerance for Corruption: A culture of zero tolerance towards corruption by creating strong laws and their better implementation is required to change the perception of the normalization of corruption in public offices.
For example, Since the 1990s, the CVC granted sanctions for prosecution against around 100 IAS officers. However, only one has been convicted by a court of law.
- Modernise Training Process: Reforming training programs for civil servants to make it as per evolving needs such as training of ethics, and values for addressing issues of bureaucratic work culture.
For example, Mission Karmayogi (National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building) includes Karmayogi Bharat Portal, an online learning platform aimed at creating a competent civil service rooted in Indian ethos, with a shared understanding of India’s priorities.
Emerging Trends in Work Culture
Several new trends are emerging in work culture in recent years. Some major trends are as follows:
- Flexible work arrangements: The rise of modern information technology and the COVID pandemic led to the emergence of several new trends in work culture which helped companies survive restrictions imposed by lockdowns. Many companies are now offering flexible work arrangements, such as remote work, flexible hours, job sharing, etc. This may help to improve work-life balance, reduce office expenses of companies, and improve the productivity of employees.
- Moonlighting: Moonlighting refers to doing multiple jobs after regular business hours without knowledge of one’s employer. It is opted by employees to increase their income or learn new skills.
- Teamwork: There is a growing emphasis on teamwork in the workplace, as companies have recognized the importance of diverse perspectives and collective problem-solving. There is a focus on building strong teams at workplaces.
- Diversity: Diversity is now seen as an asset that can help in the success of companies by providing a competitive advantage. Therefore, increasing attention is paid to recruiting employees from diverse backgrounds. Research has shown that diverse teams are more innovative and perform better.
Conclusion
Work culture has a great role in increasing the productivity of employees and successfully meeting the goals/objectives of the organization. It is an intangible element of an organization yet has the most profound role in making some organizations desirable for employees and others undesirable. A healthy work culture can bring out the best in employees. Whereas, a negative work culture kills creativity and hampers the performance of employees.
In the context of civil services healthy work, culture will help increase Probity in Governance. For example, in 1956, Railway Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned when two major railway accidents occurred in his tenure. This attracted nationwide attention. He said that ‘accidents ought to be exceptions rather than the rule.’ This way he showed utmost Probity and Integrity and inspired his subordinates to imbibe these qualities.
Therefore, an ethical work culture helps not only in curbing corruption but also in realizing the motto of “excellence in public service delivery“. In the long run, it will help in meeting the objectives of good governance hence it should be promoted at all levels with utmost urgency.
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