Changing Workplace Culture: Tips to Strengthen Your HVACR Business

In last week’s blog, we explained the important ways that HVACR businesses can benefit from a positive company culture and work environment. Some of these include attracting talent, building customer relationships, and boosting your bottom line. In case you missed that discussion, you can find it here.

Now we’re going to talk about the harder part: changing your workplace culture for the better so you can achieve those benefits and strengthen your company.

7 steps to changing workplace culture for the better

1. Develop & promote your core company values 

Workplace culture is just a fancy term for a set of company values that guide everything from workplace behavior to business decisions. To create the workplace culture you want in your company, the first step is for leadership to define the company’s core values and communicate them to employees.

What values should you include? That depends on what is most important to your organization. Here are a few common areas that companies tend to focus on:

• Results or outcomes (“We don’t leave the customer site until the problem is solved.”)

• Treatment of others (“We treat our coworkers and customers with fairness, respect, kindness, and tolerance.”)

• Teamwork (“We we work together as a team so we can accomplish more.”)

• Professional development (“We invest in continuous learning so we can build our expertise and better serve our customers.”)

• Diversity, equity and inclusion (“We provide equal opportunities for everyone.”)

• Giving back (“We make the effort to support our local community and causes that are important to us.”)

Promoting your core values and changing workplace culture has to be a top-down activity. Company leaders must make sure employees know what they value and expect from employees, and infuse these values into the way the company does business.

2. Hire the right people

Once you have agreed upon the core values of your company, make sure employees you hire subsequently are people who share your values and goals.

How do you find that out? Ask the right questions in your interview process. Here are just a few examples of questions that get people to reveal how they think and what they value most:

• What 3 adjectives would your friends/family use to describe you?

• What was the best job you’ve had and why? What was the worst job and why?

• What are you most proud of? 

• What is your greatest failure, and what did you learn from it? 

3. Lead by example

Simply telling people what you value and expect is not enough to change attitudes and behavior and ultimately drive the workplace culture you want. You have to practice what you preach.

You’ll need to evaluate just about everything you do as a company, and make sure your policies and practices reflect your values. For example:

• If you want a workplace culture that values building knowledge, you’ll need to give your employees the opportunity to attend training and the chance to learn from each other.

• If you want a workplace culture that prioritizes problem resolution and customer satisfaction, you must make sure technicians are allocated the time and resources they need to complete repairs on the first visit.

4. Reward and recognize employees 

Changing workplace culture is a gradual process. One practice that helps to build progress is rewarding employees for their actions that align with your values and sharing those successes with your team.

The reward doesn’t need to be substantial, or even financial. Just getting a pat on the back or a “thank you” in an email can be enough to motivate people and make them feel valued. 

Even better: encourage every employee to notice when their coworkers do something noteworthy or even something small that reflects your values. When they do, they can either share it via email with that person’s supervisor, department, or the entire company.

5. Facilitate two-way communication 

Clear and open communication is an essential part of changing workplace culture. You need to share information about expectations, changes, successes, and areas to work on. Employees learn to trust you when you are honest with them, and they feel valued when you respect them.

Remember that communication must go both ways. It’s essential to solicit and listen to feedback from your employees as much as you share.

To facilitate that open dialogue, you need effective mechanisms and processes for communication. Of course that will depend on the size of your company. For larger organizations, you may need to create structured channels for employees to share their ideas and feedback. However, even smaller companies can benefit from setting aside specific times to ask for and receive feedback, such as a regular service team lunch.

6. Nurture work relationships

Your workplace culture will thrive when your employees know, like, and trust one another. However, that can be a challenge in HVACR service, when your technicians are out on the road all day and don’t naturally interact with each other. 

It’s up to you to create opportunities for your employees to spend time together and get to know each other, ideally in a relaxed atmosphere and doing something fun. Not only will group activities improve connections, but you can also help to reduce burnout. 

Try to find some activities that your employees enjoy, and establish some regular group activities. You don’t have to get everyone to attend the same event. In fact, it’s better to be inclusive and cater to a range of interests (don’t make it all about sports, for example). Another idea is to bring people together to work on charitable projects, celebrate a recent company success, or even just to enjoy a meal together.

7. Support career path

Remember that your employees have personal career goals. Take the time to learn what each of your employees wants to achieve professionally. Give them opportunities to learn and to take on more responsibility that can help them move forward.

When you actively support them in moving forward on their chosen career path, you help to build a positive workplace culture at the same time.

In fact, we can help you do that with our educational articles and videos for HVAC & Refrigeration technicians. Check them out today and feel free to share!

HVACR Career Connect NY was created to promote the exceptional quality-of-life benefits of a career in HVAC and Refrigeration service, and also to provide a clear path for getting started in the profession. In doing so, we serve as a resource for employers in the New York City metro area to find and hire smart and capable new technicians. We also serve as an educational resource to support business growth and to help service technicians succeed in their chosen profession.