Why Company Culture Is Key to Attracting, Retaining, and Engaging Top Talent
Establishing a strong, intentional culture from day one is essential for long-term success. It shapes the employee experience, fuels productivity, and improves retention, which are all critical as new employers set up and grow their operations.
Company culture is more than just a buzzword—it’s the core of how an organization functions. Defined by shared values, beliefs, and behaviors, a positive culture helps attract talent, retain high performers, and keep teams engaged.
This guide highlights three key areas for employers to consider: leadership’s role in shaping a values-driven culture, building culture through the physical workspace, and enhancing culture through benefits and perks. It also includes a case study on the role of physical space shaping a company’s culture.
Leadership: Shaping a Values-Driven Culture
Leadership plays a key role in shaping and reinforcing workplace culture by defining and embodying organizational values. By consistently modeling these values, leaders set a positive example and ensure these principles are integrated into every aspect of the organization, from decision making to employee interactions. Effective leaders align behavior with core values, reinforcing a culture of excellence that motivates and guides employees. They also embed values into daily practices, such as performance evaluations and recognition programs, creating a cohesive and values-driven organizational culture that inspires everyone to uphold these principles.
of U.S. employees are motivated to perform their best when they feel connected to their company’s culture and values, a Salesforce report reveals.* To influence an organization’s culture, everyone must be aligned with its mission, vision, and values.
of employees who have been with their company more than five years value their manager listening and acting on feedback. Retaining top talent means ensuring their input is valued.*
Expert Tips
Make feedback a two-way street. Consider qualitative assessments like engagement surveys to assess the impact of your organization’s programs on your colleagues’ overall well-being.
* Salesforce report, 2022
Employers should implement a recognition system that highlights employees who embody company values. Doing so reinforces positive behaviors, boosts morale, strengthens company culture, and helps employees feel valued and aligned with the company’s mission.
Expert Insights: Company Culture
Building Culture Through Workspace
The physical workspace plays a crucial role in shaping and nurturing a positive and supportive company culture. A well-designed office environment reflects the values and mission of the organization, creating a space where employees feel a shared sense of purpose and belonging.
A thoughtfully designed workspace impacts employee performance by enhancing focus and concentration, encouraging creativity, and promoting productivity.
Enhancing Culture Through Benefits and Perks
Benefits, perks, and compensation are essential components in cultivating a positive and supportive company culture, as they directly reflect an organization’s values and commitment to its employees.
In the Crain’s Best Places to Work in Southeast Michigan 2024 article, employers across Southeast Michigan highlighted a variety of unique workplace perks designed to support employee well-being and engagement. These offerings included:
• Half-day or early dismissals on summer Fridays
• Personalized birthday gifts and treats
• Complimentary in-office lunches periodically
• Access to an on-site gym with a dedicated trainer
• An extra paid time-off day awarded to the winner of a company bracket competition
To enhance concentration, employers can provide quiet zones or enclosed private spaces for uninterrupted work.
To encourage creativity, employers can create open, informal collaboration areas and/or provide whiteboards or digital idea-sharing tools.
To promote productivity, employers can incorporate spaces that support mental reset.
• Dedicated spaces for quiet meditation, reflection, and yoga
See DRP’s
Total Rewards Expert Insights for recommendations on providing benefits.
See DRP’s
Setting Payscale Expert Insights for more information regarding competitive pay.
In the Detroit market, most employees drive their own vehicles to work. Employers need to consider parking options for their employees. Parking reimbursements or offering free parking can be a great perk in our market! Expert Tip
Expert Insights: Company Culture
The Role of Physical Space in Shaping Company Culture: How Comerica Revamped Its Working Space
We believe a great place to work is one where our colleagues have the tools and resources to become confident and competent as they drive their career growth. Our development philosophy centers around learning and empowerment.
-Comerica Bank
Creating a Destination Workplace
Comerica Bank’s Great Lakes Campus (GLC) functions as a micro-community, with each floor strategically designed with thoughtful color schemes and wall inscriptions to reflect Comerica’s core values and rich history as Michigan’s longest-standing bank.
Comerica Bank teamed up with Pophouse, a Detroit-based and women-owned design studio. The collaboration focused on creating adaptable spaces with the ability to change and expand for future growth.
The comprehensive design connects the ideas of “Building With Legacy” and “Making the Aspirational Possible.” The Great Lakes Campus design incorporates Comerica’s core values: One Comerica, The Bigger Possible, Customer Comes First, A Force For Good, and Trust.Act.Own.
By incorporating these values across the entire project, Comerica achieved its goal of creating a destination workplace.
Comerica’s Great Lakes Campus: the 340,000-sq-ft office complex located in Farmington Hills opened in August 2024.
Expert Insights: Company Culture
The Space as a Reflection of Culture
The new campus strengthens relationships between leadership and employees and among all colleagues, and it renews and confirms Comerica’s reputation as a growth organization and one of the premier banks to attract and retain talent.
Comerica recognizes the importance of investing in colleagues on the bank’s overall success and does so by ensuring a workplace environment that aligns with its mission, raises expectations, enhances collaboration, and builds on the company’s culture.
Creating an Inclusive and Comfortable Environment
Comerica strives to be the employer of choice in Southeast Michigan and has created a workplace to reflect that for both today’s and tomorrow’s workforce.
Inclusive wellness rooms, formerly designated for nursing, are now accessible to all employees, and the campus’ fitness center provides space to further enhance colleagues’ well-being.
A grab-and-go café by Plum Market, a longtime Comerica customer, offers fresh produce, gourmet items, and a wide selection of natural and health-conscious products daily.
Each workstation includes a sit-to-stand desk for personalized comfort and a color-changing light that signals meeting status— green, yellow, or red for available, in a meeting, or do not disturb.
Designing for Collaboration and Innovation
Comerica’s Great Lakes Campus offers colleagues a mix of collaborative and private workspaces, including modern conference rooms, huddle rooms, think tanks, and office-for-the-day spaces. Advanced technology, amenities, and ergonomic workstations transform Comerica’s locations into a destination of choice.
This culture of innovation gives life to ideas that enable the bank to meet customers’ evolving needs and desires, improve colleagues’ work experiences, and strengthen Comerica’s relationship-based approach to banking.
To further support its colleagues, Comerica’s Great Lakes Campus features a TechCafé and TechExpress. TechCafé provides in-person technology support at one location.
Technology Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) guide colleagues through processes, procedures, and technology concerns.
TechExpress is a locker offering a convenient one-stop location for round-the-clock access to technology equipment.
Leverage DRP’s Expertise
The Detroit Regional Partnership can help employers learn more about developing a positive and supportive company culture and connect with the right people for more in-depth conversations. Contact us to learn more.
