🌮 Create a Culture Menu at Work

An Appetizer, Main Course and Dessert Approach to Employee Engagement

Hello, it’s Julia, Founder of The Switchboard, a newsletter exploring the ways we communicate and connect at work and beyond. Thank you for being part of this community. Today’s edition is all about food and how it can shape the way we structure employee engagement.

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At The Varsity, an iconic Atlanta family-owned restaurant that’s also the world’s largest drive-in, guests have been greeted with an iconic phrase since 1928:

“What’ll ya have? What’ll ya have?”

In Southern hospitality, this translates to: we’re so glad you’re here, how can we help you with your order? 

As culture builders, we have the same opportunity as servers at The Varsity to make our employees feel welcome and walk them through the menu, in this case, a Culture Menu — a list of opportunities, events and volunteer roles to contribute to our work community.

Instead of actual dishes, a culture menu is organized by courses to align with the level of commitment an employee can give — appetizers are small, yet mighty contributions, main courses require more energy, passion and time and desserts are the sweet, unique ways employees can make an impact that could potentially transform culture. 

Below is a menu template for you to consider customizing for your organization. It’s written as a guide to prompt you to identify the right opportunities. You’ll need to personalize it with specific programs to your workplace or even build upon it with your ideas. 

When employees reach out to get involved, you can share this Culture Menu with them to review and schedule time to discuss options. Post your menu in a central space for anyone internally to read through and consider how they can contribute to culture. 

🥟 Appetizers

Light bites keep us going with tiny tastes. These are the ways to contribute to culture in 15-minute bursts for employees who care, but are short on time to commit.

• Champion Internal Content: Within your organization, an internal communications platform likely connects employees with important announcements as well as content shared by employees. Often, employees can interact with what’s posted by emoji reactions or comments. Giving that time to champion information and the people sharing it helps to build culture.  

• Share a Quote: For many internal campaigns, there is often an opportunity to contribute a personal perspective with a quote or testimonial. These could be at DEI moments or  when new projects are launched to share a behind the scenes perspective. Take the time to write or record your thoughts to share your perspective internally. 

• Serve as a Retreat Session Captain: When teams gather, there are many roles employees can play in the experience, from taking notes at a session to planning a team dinner. Identify those tiny, yet mighty opportunities for employees to contribute.  

• Be a Social Media Champion: Foster pride in your organization’s impact by inviting employees to share news externally. When there are major moments, partner with the leadership team to identify them and create toolkits for employees to amplify in their own words to their personal social networks.

🥘 Main Course

The hearty foods that fill us up, these experiences are high-impact and significant contributions requiring approximately 2-4 hours of an employee’s time per program. 

• Plan an event: To build community outside of our daily work, it’s important to gather around shared interests. Try topics that bring joy or spark curiosity together. Create Smile Files. Host a Summer Camp experience. Organize a howl-i-day pet show. Before planning, try to find out what is the top interest area and organize events around those topics. 

• Share Your Story: Bringing your full self to work fosters connections and introductions between employees. There are many moments for stories to be shared during heritage months or on holidays. Here’s a reference guide for the importance of storytelling. Create a template and invite employees to share. 

• Become a Culture Ambassador: This organic internal movement brings together passionate employees from diverse disciplines, experiences and backgrounds to infuse the culture with joy, connection, purpose. They take on a specific role, offer feedback and make an impact. Be clear on responsibilities, such as event planning and the perks. 

🥧 Dessert

Like the perfect pie, desserts take time to prepare and the sweet results give us a boost and a smile. Culture projects like this take time, commitment and passion. Employees will need to devote significant effort independently, but it can have a transformational impact on culture. 

• Start an Employee Club: When we share common experiences and feel connected to each other, communities form around us. That’s why employee groups matter at work — they are important for individual experiences, culture and the organization, fostering belonging, inclusion and diversity. Consider this list of 10 club ideas to start with a $0 budget.

• Develop a Culture Lab: LEGO Ideas originated from the company’s Future Lab. Fast Company referred to it as: “A secretive and highly ambitious R&D team, charged with inventing entirely new, technologically enhanced ‘play experiences’ for kids all over the world.” The Lab has hosted special events to experiment with new ideas and recommend insights. Take the same approach with culture!

• Create your own: This is my favorite section of the menu. It’s like the ice-cream parlors where you can create your own flavor. Pitch an idea to your Culture Team Leader. Here are a few possibilities —  create a Kindness at Work Honor Roll, start a series of what studying failures can teach us or invent an internal brand mascot.    

Your Culture menu can be customized based on your organization’s top priorities. Employees can review options on their own or meet with you to talk through the options. Most importantly, these menus are an opportunity to nourish communities at work, like a restaurant experience, they must be fun, worthy of many stars and worth returning to again and again. 

How could a culture menu help you at work? Share your thoughts below.

🥠 Food For Thought

I’ve written several articles about the lessons food can teach us about culture, communications and the people who power both. For more inspiration to create your culture, take a look back at these articles:

• 🌭 How Hotdog Moments Transform Employee Experience

• 🍳 Communications Nourishment from Chefs and Food Storytellers

• 🍜11 Food Focused Ideas for Fueling Internal Communications and Culture 

• 🍮 Lessons from The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders

• 🍜 Kevin Lee: Co-Founder at immi 

• 🧁 Founder Feature: Candace Nelson of Sprinkles Cupcakes

• 🍪 Lessons from "The Smart Cookie"   

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Thank you for being part of The Switchboard’s community. I’m grateful to you for reading, reacting and commenting. If you enjoy this edition, consider sharing it. Signing off for this edition. -Julia

Image: How AI imagines employees reading Culture Menus at work