Great Company Culture: The Intangible Benefit in a Competitive Technology Market

Written by Nzinga Gardner, Business Operations Analyst at News UK

What’s in a company culture? What are the key identifiers of good company culture? What about great culture? Do a brief internet search and you will see how many industry experts have pondered this question, but with few arriving at the same conclusion.

So how does a company shift the dial from an ok to good company culture, or from a good to great company culture? Well, one way may end with some consultancy firm smiling all the way to the bank, or alternatively, you can choose to not overthink it, just like News UK, and go the simple route: identify what works well and do more of it (or tweak it and make it better).

I recently read an article published by the Technology Council at Forbes called ‘How To Sustain And Strengthen Company Culture Through The Coronavirus Pandemic’. This article made a good case for companies needing to ‘leverage their cultures to create the greatest impact for their organisations’- and more than ever since the pandemic. Why? Because good culture attracts talent, and attracting great tech talent in such a competitive market is really tough. According to Forbes, ‘the most effective company cultures value people, provide career growth, adapt to meet customer needs, and deliver great results to shareholders’.

How News UK Fosters a Culture Fit For a Post-Pandemic World

News UK’s technology teams play a crucial role in News UK’s digital-first news operation to maintain their dominant position at the cutting-edge of the news industry.

News UK, like many other organisations with large in-house tech teams, really want to attract talented people from all backgrounds. They make sure to equip their staff with the right tools, and support them to develop their skills so they can help to solve really interesting problems and release new products at scale. Staff are put to the challenge as they support the technology behind the world’s most recognisable, and the UK’s most popular, news brands.

News UK has a proudly diverse workforce who collaborate in an environment which values transparency, where inclusive behaviour is modelled and practised, and where staff wellbeing is always at the centre.

Take the following News UK title teams for example to understand how they demonstrate valuing their people, provide career growth, adapt to meet customer needs, and deliver great results to shareholders.

Cross-Functional Working at News UK

As well as the News UK brands, behind the scenes they have common teams which build and look after their content management systems, data insights and technology, and their subscription and customer management systems. The tech sits on top of AWS and Google Cloud — companies with whom News UK have close working relationships. News UK also use collaboration tools such as Figma to support teams to work closely together.

NewsKit is News Corp’s design system. Roughly 3 years old, NewsKit is now an integral part of the technology function at News UK.

NewsKit’s mission is ‘improve the process of product development and increase the pace of creation and innovation within digital teams’. They will continue to be an integral part of News UK technology as they expand their capabilities beyond web. Read more about NewsKit here.

News UK Group Culture in Perspective

News UK promotes healthy flexible working practices. Hybrid working (a combination of office and remote working) is the standard way of working for technology teams. News UK makes sure their staff have the right tools to enable effective virtual collaboration and provide vibrant open office spaces so that individuals, small teams or large groups can do their best work.

The staff at News UK love to network and share knowledge and experiment with different and creative ways to bring people together. They host frequent company-wide events from popular Lunch ’n’ Learns sessions where almost anything goes, but basically it’s a forum to learn something topical, novel or inspiring, and occasionally external speakers join to give a talk. Then there are the Show ’n’ Tell events where teams rotate to share their latest innovations, launches or product developments. And also there are the weekly company-wide ‘Huddle’ events hosted by the executive team, to share what is happening at a pan-News UK level. All these interactions, including the monthly News UK Wellbeing events (that cover topics like managing anxiety, depression and getting better sleep), all contribute to the transparent and open culture where personal development, learning and knowledge sharing is at the centre.

Inclusive behaviour is endemic at News UK where staff are encouraged to form social networks around common interests and identities. As a result there are many active social networks, among them being Women in Tech, GenZ, Wellbeing, Parents Network, Disability Network and News is Out (our LGBTQ+ network), to name a few. There is also a growing number of faith-based networks that currently cater to Muslims, Christians and Jews, however all staff are invited to mark the major religious or cultural festivals, such as Ramadan, Easter, Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali and Chinese New Year.

Staff at News UK are allowed to use up to 4 days a year to volunteer in the community; this in addition to their generous 25 days a year holiday allowance. This creates immeasurable social and psychological benefits to the individuals, communities and to the organisation as News UK partners with charities, schools, and other agencies to support and enrich the lives of disenfranchised or socially deprived groups. Recent examples of News UK doing great work in the community was in October 2021, when a staff group, (12 female, one male) went to an inner city London Academy Secondary school in Peckham to run a series of STEM-themed workshops for 63 Year 9 female students. Also more recently, in April 2022, a group of 40 staff took a volunteer day off to go to Southend Beach and picked up 21 kilos of litter from the beach shore. More beach clean-ups and other incredible charitable activities are being planned throughout the year.

About News UK

News UK is one of the leading media businesses in the UK and Ireland, home to The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, talkSPORT, talkRADIO, Times Radio and more. We are proud to be an inclusive employer and are looking for more talented people to join our dynamic teams. You can find our roles on offer at www.newscareers.co.uk