Articles

Sharing Your Team's Culture: Why Social Committees Matter for Organizations

by Auvenir

As many businesses and organizations return to the office full-time or in a hybrid capacity, cohesion and building team morale amongst employees are more important than they may seem at first glance. However, ensuring your team is happy is a key factor in safeguarding the overall success and performance of a company. Employee morale affects employee engagement, which also impacts their level of productivity. According to this Gallup report, disengaged employees cost US businesses up to $550 billion a year from lost productivity.

 

It’s also critical for retaining top talent, which has become a challenge for most businesses in today’s fast-changing environment. According to this research by Zenefits, 63.3% of business owners say retaining employees is harder than hiring them in the first place. To improve employee retention rates, companies should create a place of work that people are proud to be a part of and enjoy. We previously shared “Three Ways to Help Promote Employee Wellness at Your Organization” here in case you missed it. If you’re wondering how to make your office fun, a social committee could be the right solution for your workplace.

 

So, what do social committees do in the workplace? Social committees can help employees bond and boost morale in the workplace. Different individuals are recruited to work together to come up with ideas that do not necessarily involve working, and they plan events hosted in and out of the office.

 

This past June, our Auvy team launched our first official social committee with seven members from a variety of different departments. Our committee will rotate members bi-annually to allow different colleagues to help lead and host activities and events for our team in the future. The main objective of our social committee is to collaborate to continue to build exceptional working relationships and highlight Auvenir as a fun and creative work environment for everyone.

 

Our social committee team was asked to share what team culture means to them – here are some of their responses!

 

Natalie Andrusko, Marketing Lead:

“A great team culture is when team members feel comfortable collaborating and sharing knowledge and are in an environment that allows them to feel able to openly communicate and support one another to work towards a common goal. As the saying goes, teamwork makes the dream work!”

 

Sitanshu Bhate, Business System Analyst:

“Culture is to recruiting as product is to marketing. Good leadership requires you to surround yourself with people of diverse perspectives who can disagree with you without fear of retaliation.”

 

Arti Marwaha, HR Generalist:

“A strong team culture is full of mutual respect, trust, and support, where differences can be celebrated. It’s imperative to have a space in the workplace that allows team members to have the confidence to share ideas and take on new challenges.”

 

Edwin St-Cyr, Bilingual Customer Success Manager:

“A social committee is only one of many important pieces of the Team Culture puzzle. Our leaders can and will set the tone, but it is the responsibility of each team member to truly seek a Challenging, Accountable, Collaborative and FUNtastic environment! A wise person once said: “Be the change you want to see at work!”

 

Ultimately having employees work together to create events and activities as a team helps develop stronger bonds across departments and can increase employee engagement overall across an organization. If building a positive company culture and strengthening your employer’s brand is one of your objectives for your business, forming a social committee can be a fantastic step in the right direction.

 

But how do you start one in your workplace? While it may seem a bit daunting at first to begin a committee, your best bet is to reach out to your Human Resources lead to help assist in recruiting individuals to create a team. It is also important to consider the objectives of the social committee and work together with the committee members to create a mission and vision statement to keep everyone aligned.

 

Social committees will help enhance the atmosphere of a business, increase productivity, and allows every employee the opportunity to get to know people across departments. Since we started our social committee at Auvenir, we have hosted several in-person and virtual events ranging from trivia games, hosted lunches, team building exercises, and our Auvy team has shared many fun and memorable moments during these activities. This month we hosted our first virtual scavenger hunt where our team had to solve riddles to figure out what item to search for which was hosted in our Toronto office and remotely. Here is one riddle to try with your team today: “This item has handles, but it isn’t a car, it has pointy ends, but it isn’t a star.”

 

There are many benefits to having a social committee at work including increased morale, improved teamwork, and overall, it helps contribute to creating a happier environment for all employees. If you’re interested in joining a team with exceptional people with diverse technology, accounting, design, and entrepreneurship backgrounds, check our LinkedIn feed for new job postings today!