How to Build Company Culture at Your Car Wash

Company culture is essential for the success of any business, whether it is a fast-food restaurant or a car wash. Creating a great company culture takes time and effort and is something that you need to constantly strive to achieve. Even once you establish a successful corporate culture, your work is never done, as you should reevaluate the current culture to see where improvements are still needed.

What Is Company Culture?

Company culture includes many different aspects of your organization, including:

Work Environment
Diversity in the Workplace
Company Goals
Company Mission
Employee Expectations
Recruitment
Employee Retention
Employee Benefits
Customer Service

Why Is Company Culture Important?

Company culture is the foundation of a successful car wash business. When your employees are happy, it leads to higher productivity, increased sales, job satisfaction, higher retention rates, better morale, increased employee engagement, and more.

Additionally, many employees would prefer to work at a car wash that has an excellent organizational culture than a higher salary. From a business perspective, while salary is still vital to attract the right employees, this means you have a better chance at attracting employees with the right culture.

The level of customer service and customer service experiences you provide are also considered a part of your car wash culture. Another way to look at it? When your employees are happy and enjoy working, their excitement and joyous moods rub off on your customers.

In turn, your customers will enjoy coming to your car wash to get their cars washed because they see how much you care about your employees’ happiness. Ultimately, the culture you create will determine the success or failure of your car wash business.

Tips for Building and Creating a Company Culture

Successful companies understand that creating a company culture does not require an excessive budget. The great thing about work cultures is that any small business car wash owner can create one within their financial means.

It just requires investing the time needed to find out what will make your employees happy by using these tips.

Tip #1: Decide what values are important for your car wash employees.

Each of your employees will have different values about what is important to them. Some might like a particular management style. Others might value the health and wellness programs you offer. Others will want the opportunity to advance in the organization and, potentially, end up owning their own car wash business or buying you out.

You need to take the time to find out what these values are and how you can relate those values to your workplace culture. One effective way to do this is through employee surveys. You can ask your employees to fill out surveys anonymously. Make sure to include a mixture of open-ended and closed-ended questions.

Open-ended questions are those that allow your employees to provide feedback. Closed-ended questions are those to which the employees can answer yes or no or select from a list of possible choices.

Tip #2: Evaluate the current company culture.

You can avoid having to start from the ground up unless you are just opening your car wash business. By using the previous tip, you can build off your existing culture by finding out what your employees like about the current culture, what they do not like, and what they would like to change.

Once you know what your employees want, your next step is to review the current workplace culture. You may already be providing some of the things that make your employees productive and happy.

For example, you partnered with a local fitness center to provide your employees with discount memberships in exchange for giving their employees discount car washes. For your employees who ranked health and wellness high in their list, you are already fulfilling this part of the work culture employees want.

Tip #3: Remember to include your values and beliefs.

When you started your car wash, you had a vision of the type of culture you wanted to create for your employees and customers. This culture was based on core principles and beliefs you hold. It is vital to build your culture using these principles and beliefs.

Tip #4: Your brand should be included as part of your culture.

Your brand image is another part of the foundation that makes up your work culture. What is the purpose of your brand? How does your brand imaging serve your customers? What does your brand mean? These questions might seem somewhat basic, but they are very important for your car wash business to create the ideal culture for your employees.

Tip #5: Let your employees know you care.

Just like your customers, your employees need to know they are valued and appreciated. There are several effective ways to do this, such as:

Offer words of encouragement when employees are having a difficult day.
Express gratitude for your employees that go above and beyond.
Provide positive feedback when employees do a great job.
Implement an employee recognition program.
Challenge your employees with goals and rewards when they reach them.

There are other things you can do. You could provide lunch for your employees once a week or monthly. You could plan team-building activities outside of work like a pool party, family game night, movie night, etc.

Tip #6: Listen to your employees.

One mistake car wash owners can make is to not listen to their employees. Your employees are on the front lines every day. They can provide you valuable feedback about what is and is not working. You can also ask your employees for their feedback regularly and not just at their annual reviews.

Tip #7: Recruit team members that exemplify your values.

Part of ensuring your employees are productive and happy is by finding employees who share your values. These employees will often be easier to retain long-term. However, you should not limit yourself when you hire people. It is okay to hire employees who have different values and beliefs. Doing so can help create a diverse workplace.

Tip #8: Use social media to help employees connect.

Building workplace relationships is vital to a successful culture. Many car wash owners are turning to social media and creating private “employee only” pages. You can use these pages for a variety of purposes, including:

Share customers’ positive comments about specific employees.
Celebrate employee milestones like anniversaries, birthdays, etc.
Create an employee spotlight of the week feature that focuses on a single employee and their contributions to your car wash business.
Share education and training videos on new equipment.
Get employees talking with one another using non-work-related communications like asking them their favorite place to eat in town or their favorite things to do on days off.
Create humorous videos with your employees that focus on a topic of the month, such as customer service or how to encourage customers to upgrade their car wash package. You can invite different employees to participate so everyone can get a turn helping to make the videos.

The Bottom Line: Building a Company Culture with a Cultural Fit

The important thing to remember is each car wash owner will have a different approach to building a company culture with the right cultural fit for their organization. By using your values and beliefs and incorporating those alongside the things that make your employees happy, you are sure to build a successful car wash work environment.

When your employees are happy thanks to a strong organizational culture, they are more productive, are more likely to develop stronger workplace relationships, and will become more dedicated to the success of your business, achieving your goals, and increasing your bottom line.

To find car wash vending machines, vending supplies, car wash parts, car wash supplies, and more at wholesale prices for your car wash, please feel free to browse our inventories online or contact Superior Car Wash Supply at 800-554-9274 today!