While you’re always in the business of marketing your company, there’s another form of marketing that you may have been neglecting—marketing to current employees. When your team members love working for your business, it shows. It’s important to ensure you build a company culture that lasts. After all, your team members are the heart and soul of your company. When they’re happy, good work also gets done. Check out these ways to ensure your business is building a strong company culture.

Have Fun Together

All work and no play is no fun. Sure, it’s about your bottom line and building a business that’s successful. However, your team members are the backbone of your business. If they aren’t happy, it will affect performance. Consider doing bonding or team-building activities that are all in the name of fun and ONLY fun. No business talk allowed. From informal happy hours to friendly competitions, there are tons of ways you could build a fun culture. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Host a random “theme” day at work where everybody dresses up
• Celebrate a lesser known holiday (National Ice Cream Day, anyone?)
• Start a work team in a local recreational league
• Take a random day off where you get to play games instead of work
• Host a talent show with all of your employees

Keep Communication Lines Open

Offer forums for your team members to provide feedback. This could be an inbox where team members can submit suggestions, an open question and answer session with the CEO or even a survey that goes out quarterly. When employees feel heard and seen, the company culture is sure to improve. The better the culture, the better your employee retention rate. 

Have Skip-Level Meetings

In order to create an inclusive workplace culture, consider having your leaders host skip-level meetings, meaning they meet directly with people who report more than one level beneath them. This helps give face-time to employees who may otherwise feel like they don’t have a voice. Plus, it helps your leaders understand issues that may be happening at a lower level or give them perspective they might not otherwise have. 

Give Free Swag

Who doesn’t love a free shirt or a branded backpack? Company culture isn’t always about the “stuff” but some branded swag can help boost morale. When you have your logo printed on swag items that your team members love wearing or carrying around, they’re a walking billboard for your company. Consider giving out swag items as prizes at your next company meeting or as a gift to all team members. Sometimes, it’s the little things that count.

How will you build a company culture that lasts? Remember—business productivity starts with the people who make it happen. Take a poll to find out what your employees would like to see implemented in the workplace. The best recipe for a strong company culture is to add fun, open lines of communication between all levels of management and a dash of freebies. Make sure to listen to specifically what your employees want, because every business is different.