When job hunting, you might be looking at things such as pay, hours and location.
But how much do you think about the workplace culture?
"Organisational culture drives an awful lot of worker satisfaction and performance," explains Paula Brough, director of the Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing at Grifith University.
Professor Brough defines workplace culture as the "invisible way that behaviour in the workplace is governed".
"It's often referred to as 'the way things are done around here'," she says.
When the culture at work is toxic, that can be detrimental, says Carol Kulik from the Centre for Workplace Excellence at the University of South Australia
"That's an extra day-to-day strain you are carrying on top of workload.
"And we know over the long run, there is a body of literature that shows having that extra layer of stress is what leads to heart attacks or high blood pressure," she says as examples of physical and mental health conditions that can result from working in a toxic work environment.
It is possible to get a sense of whether an organisation has healthy culture before you take a job.
But it's about more than having a pool table in the lunch room, our experts warn.
Defining workplace culture
There is formal and informal culture in workplaces, says Professor Brough.
"The formal culture relates to policies and practices, of which there is normally a whole load of HR policies related to that: how you take leave," she says for example.
"Then there is the informal culture … [which] can be anything from the way you talk to colleagues and your managers, to the style of dress, when you take lunch, if you eat at your desk."
We need to care about workplace culture, Professor Kulik says, because organisations can't have a policy or standard operating procedure for every possible circumstance.
"What culture is supposed to do, is fill in any gaps."
She says when a company has shared values, it has a strong culture.
Security and predictability
A healthy workplace culture should give employees a sense of security and predictability, Professor Kulik says, using the example of US-based department store Nordstrom.
"Every department store will say they value customer service, but Nordstrom took it to an extreme and said the most important thing was the customer experience and good service."
When a customer returns something, say a dress, and it appears to have been worn, Professor Kulik says the workplace culture makes it easy for the employee to know what to do.
"It gives it give them some freedom to say, what is most important is service to customer, so I can go ahead and accept this item [regardless of whether it has been worn]."
A toxic workplace culture may mean an employee feels unsafe, says Professor Brough.
"Any issues around conflict in workplace — that's one of the strongest predictors of psychological injury.
"Any sort of … racial, sexual, gender prejudice that happens — any of those issues obviously produce a very difficult, unsafe, toxic work environment."
Spotting a workplace culture
There are several ways you can identify a workplace's culture before working there, including their website, reputation, and asking the right questions.
You can tell a lot from an organisation's public image, our experts say.
"See what the company says is their culture," suggests Professor Kulik.
"Look at things like their website, their mission statement, their social media."
She says while naturally a company will only say positive things about itself, look for consistency.
"If every time the organisation talks about itself, it's always describing innovation, always talking about community, that is a really good signal."
She says if a company's mission statement says it values diversity and inclusion, you can also try to fact check.
"[If] you look at photos of management and it's all white men, you can maybe question that."
Professor Kulik says to "listen to the stories" of past and current employees.
She says there are useful online workplace review platforms where current and former employees can anonymously share reviews and insights about their employers.
While you are likely to mainly see negative reviews, Professor Kulik says look for consistency.
If the same issue is raised again and again, that might be a red flag.
Professor Brough says if you don't feel comfortable approaching employees directly, you could ask during your interview if there is anyone else you can talk to.
"Most companies, if they didn't have much to hide, would entertain that idea.
"Ask about the more informal aspects of the culture; what's it like working here? Where do people eat lunch?"
You can get a sense of the culture by how the organisation responds to you as applicant, says Professor Kulik.
"If it takes months and months, and you never hear anything, that tells you something about how they value your time."
If you have any direct experience with the company as a customer, client or consumer, for example, that is also worth reflecting on.
Professor Brough says you should feel confident to ask about company culture during an interview.
Questions like:
- How much support do staff receive from managers and each other?
- Is there conflict between teams or departments?
- What are the career development opportunities?
- How much autonomy do I have over where I work, my hours of work, who I work with?
"Autonomy and flexibility is an important predictor of a healthy workplace," Professor Brough says.
What to watch for
Professor Kulik warns not to get "distracted by rhetoric".
"Look for actions, behaviours.
"Don't be distracted by free snacks or bring your pet to work day."
Those "gimmicks" might sound nice, but might not be true reflections of company values, says Professor Brough.
"There might be somewhere that talks about having a healthy workplace because they have a walking track to use at lunchtime.
"You think that sounds lovely, but in reality, people are eating lunch at their desks, or it's too hot to go for a walk because there's no shade."
