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.Burgum made it clear that he took a large part of the responsibilityfor the egg on his company s face.WHY A CORPORATE CULTURE ANYWAY?Companies like to instill corporate culture in their workers for a vari-ety of reasons.One reason, as you ll see in a moment, is to keepemployees from leaving the company.Another key reason is toencourage employees to demonstrate an understanding and enthusi-asm for their company.At Atlanta-based Home Depot, new employ-ees, even executives, spend two weeks working on the sales floor,learning what customers want and need and receiving a ground-zero 34 THE CAREER SURVIVAL GUIDEview of the company s core business.In the stores, employees alsorub shoulders with Home Depot s customer base of do-it-yourselfers,whose entrepreneurial spirit the company has deliberately tried tobuild into its corporate culture.To promote teamwork and to get anup-close view of how its products are being used and to what effectHome Depot also encourages employees to participate in organizedlocal community building efforts such as Habitat for Humanity shouse-building projects and has helped repair a run-down school.Corporate culture can be industry-specific as well.IBM aside,the risk-taking and dress-casual work environments of the typicalSilicon Valley software company often reflect the entrepreneurial, iflaid-back, lifestyles of the company founders.You know, people likeBill Gates or Apple Computer s Steve Jobs.Three thousand miles across the country on Wall Street, finan-cial services companies encourage a different type of corporate cul-ture that reinforces the seriousness of their tasks.Taking care ofpeople s money is sober business, so banks and brokerage companieslook to instill ethical mindsets that tell customers that their money isin safe hands.The object there is to look professional.For example,Wall Street along with the legal services industry was one of thelast sectors to fall into line with casual dress codes.Even today, manybanks and insurance firms don t allow casual dress in the office.Andof the ones that do, corporate culture is so ingrained that brokers andbankers often choose to wear standard business attire anyway.Afterall, who wants to give their money to a guy wearing Bermuda shorts?MORE THAN MEETS THE EYEEmphasizing a corporate culture is far more than offering not-so-subtle reminders to zip one s lip (as at IBM), champion customerYLFMAET THE CAREER SURVIVAL GUIDE 35service (as at Wal-Mart), become civic-minded (as at Home Depot),or encourage a stand-up attitude (as at Great Plains).It is also a savvybottom-line-oriented business strategy designed to sell more widgets,attract new customers, and keep employees from leaving the company(and avoid incurring costly rehiring and retraining costs).Whileevery company wants to sell more products and snag more customers,the true bottom-line benefit of a corporate culture is in keepingemployees on board with little or no thought of jumping ship.Think about it.Reducing net turnover by 3 percent (in a com-pany with 40,000 employees) translates into 1000 employees per yearwho do not have to be recruited, hired, and trained which adds upto a savings of million of dollars in overall costs.Smart companiesthat actively promote their corporate cultures know that environmentand culture are the strongest reasons why people stay with a company.CORPORATE CULTURE CAN GO TOO FARSome companies can take corporate culture too seriously and harmthemselves in the process.One lighter example of this involvesBritish publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell.This publishing gianthated smoking and forbade it in his workplace.One day he walked by the mailroom and saw a man puffingaway.Maxwell immediately got in the unfortunate man s face andreminded him that the penalty for smoking was termination. Howmuch do you earn? asked Maxwell. Seventy-five pounds a week, answered the smoker.Maxwell reached into his wallet and took out four weeks worthof cash and handed it to the man. Here s one month s severance.You re fired, he huffed.The man took the money and promptly left
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