Culture is a lifestyle

A company’s culture relies on many moving parts, including, but not limited to, the leaders guiding the ship. They must demonstrate the attitude they want their employees to exude when they walk through the door.

“I recently hired a chief people officer because we felt we needed to be certain that our culture was being taught, communicated, shared and evolving properly through all our different locations,” Bediako said.

Quigg makes it a priority to provide his employees — known as family members — with the necessary off time to optimize their ”on time.”

“One idea we’re trying this year is ‘choose your own holiday,’” Bill said. “As I looked through our family member manual, I realized I was being presumptive as to what holidays were important for our workforce. Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving … Every workforce has a lot of different backgrounds, so we give our workers a menu of holiday options they can choose from and ask them to tell us in advance so we can work with them to make it happen.”

Nothing is perfect, and with every implementation often comes new problems or roadblocks. Being willing to pivot and put employees first allows employers to provide the best environment for productivity and growth.

“We want to know what they need,” Bediako said. “We want to provide resources and help them develop so we can take this journey together and be successful.”

Community at the core

For many companies, culture isn’t simply internal. Panelists emphasized the importance of investing in local communities and, in turn, the potential impact those actions have on the fabric of a business itself.

“We give millions of dollars of product away to local charities in our communities,” McMullian said. “Being in the South, we experience hurricanes and other big storms and we’re always ahead of that, making sure the stores in our community have product.”

Staying involved in communities and sharing what it’s like behind closed bakery doors can foster connections that pay off in surprising ways, especially when the workers behind those doors feel that their work matters beyond the product.

Felicia Quigg, VP of family pride at More Than a Bakery, started an initiative where family members on the plant floor make decisions regarding charitable contributions.

“Not only do they feel more connected to the community, but they also learn how to be in meetings, make decisions and all these other parts of our business that are so important,” Bill said.

By integrating their work into the community, companies can guarantee they’ll have a place to prosper for years to come, as well as a talent pool that’s eager to join in.

“People want to work for a company that has a mission, purpose and core values they can identify with,” McMullian said. “That’s not only a great recruiting tool — it’s critical for retention.”

With time, effort and the desire to help their workforce grow, baking companies can create a culture worthy of hard work and dedication to the end result, whatever that may be.