Corporate values are beliefs that are shared among the stakeholders of an organisation and which drive an organisation’s culture, priorities and provide a framework in which decisions are made. Is this really the case? Do employees really live the values of a company and do values really help increase the bottom-line profit contribution of an organisation? I’ve yet to be convinced.

Building an environment for employees to enjoy and progress is much more important than listing the definition of half a dozen values that you expect your people to follow. Is there a link between knowing and understanding these values to employee engagement? Possibly, but it is outweighed by the strength of the environment you create in a corporation. Of that I am convinced.

I’ve spent the first 14 years of my career operating within the global corporate environment and witnessing time and again failed attempts to create a set of values that hold resonance with people and educating those employees on what they are and how to ’live’ them. Excellent companies, but the environment and working experience often seemed a distance third behind profit and continued efforts to build a culture without significance substance.

When I eventually became a major shareholder in an independent business, I wanted to create an environment that people wanted to be part of and didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want this to be a distant third; I wanted it at the centre of our growth agenda. I believe career choice is important but the environment you work in and the company you work for even more so. And I believe that a set of corporate values clouds your judgements if you’re placing the employee experience firmly at the top of your agenda. Values are saying something and making a statement; the experience is doing it!

Do employees really live the values of a company and do values really help increase the bottom-line profit contribution of an organisation? I’ve yet to be convinced

I have a simple theory that involves people. If you invest your energies in creating a unique employee experience and an environment that allows for freedom and creativity, then careers take shape and people can enjoy what they do. And they don’t move on and leave you because there is no need. They stay because of the experience and not because they are living the values given to them.

’The Experience’ is a phrase I have adopted for my business and it lies at the heart of everything we do. It’s certainly more important than half a dozen values and my belief is there’s a higher correlation with creating a unique employee experience, unique working environment and having a highly engaged workforce with increasing your profit number than by entertaining the values theory. This view may be a shift away from conventional wisdom but I would argue that setting a series of values for a business in the hope that it helps define who you are and drive your profit numbers is a flawed and dated strategy. Indeed, I would argue that the employee experience drives your strategy.

It’s widely recognised that the obligation of senior managers is to grow your top-line gross margin and bottom-line profit contribution, and how you do that is about sales, client engagement, candidate attraction and by building your brand. Of course, there are many ways of doing this but by placing your people at the top of your daily agenda and building the right environment is surely the strongest solution for growth. I believe that your people come first. Every day the top of my ’to do’ list sits the question on how I maintain and improve the employee experience. Creating a set of values and then trying daily to live those values clouds this.

So does it work? The evidence points to the fact it does. There will be the argument that values also foster growth but creating an experience for people that is directly linked to the strength of your retention levels is a stronger argument. Retention over time drives productivity, which in turn increases your profitability.

Placing employee experience at the top of our agenda and not a distant third has created the habit of producing strong profit numbers.

It might not be conventional wisdom and the big management consultancies might tell you to build your business around a set of values but I believe it is time that the importance of building an exceptional employee experience should replace the dated theory of values.

Guy Hayward is chief executive of City financial recruiter Goodman Masso