Your Culture
Imagine in the near future, a job applicant asking, "What is your culture here?" Your first thought is
Duh, it's a laboratory.
But with the pressures on healthcare, you may already be hearing plenty of talk about your organization's "culture." Even if you haven't, it exists and is important. In a way, it affects everything within your work environment.
A culture can be thought of as a set of values that guide behavior of employees. Does the culture in your laboratory reflect your hospital's values? How effectively does senior management influence the behavior of employees? One measure may be how closely behavior aligns with the organization's mission, vision and values.
Here is advice for applicants regarding corporate culture: "The bottom line is you are going to spend a lot of time in the work environment--and to be happy, successful and productive, you'll want to be in a place where you fit the culture." The author suggests asking key questions about how decisions are made, team building and behaviors that are rewarded. It suggests reviewing a company's annual report, Web site and to arrive early for an interview to observe employee behavior, demeanor and appearance.
For an applicant, it's smart shopping. For your laboratory, it points out the obvious: a happy, productive environment is a deliberate choice made by employers. A culture is planted, nurtured and occasionally weeded. As an industry shortage looms, these workplace environment issues will become more critical as people have a choice where to work.
Such applicants are really asking what kind of place is this to work? Perhaps, it's another sign the value of work is changing, as I've written here. But it's important to imagine cultural clues an applicant perceives during an interview.
Think about your answer to the interview question posed above. Think about what your answer would be now versus where you would like to see your laboratory. Are they different?