How Desirable Is Your Company to Work For?
How Desirable Is Your Company to Work For?
Is there a magical formula or pixie dust you can sprinkle on your company to create success? Unfortunately, no. The fastest way to success in this industry is to start looking at your team a bit differently. You must realize that they’re your most important asset, and an asset that generates the biggest return on investment.
You can’t have a successful business operating on your own. But you are the leader, and as the leader, you must decide the direction and culture of your business. Culture is defined as, “the beliefs, customs,
practices, and social behavior of a particular nation or people.”
To gain insight on what creates a positive culture within a company, I researched a list of some of the top companies to work for in the United States. I found that the top U.S. companies have a clearly defined culture, which makes them desirable places to work and they attract more employees! The positive work environment these companies create makes people want to work for them—and almost all of them have a waiting list of applicants.
For example, at the time of this report, Google had 12,580 U.S. employees and 7,013 abroad—and they added 3,550 new employees last year. Google attracts 777,000 applicants a year because of the environment of working with the Internet leader! Zappos.com sells shoes on the Internet. Zappos offers employees free lunches, concierge services, and 100-percent- paid health-insurance premiums. After Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh cut eight percent of the staff, Hsieh received several glowing letters from departing employees. Zappos offers five weeks of initial training and at the end of the training period,
potential employees are offered up to $2,000 to not work there. It recognizes that $2,000 is a small price to pay to avoid hiring a bad apple.
We all agree that growing and developing your own team is the best method of having successful team members. Based on a mechanics rate of $25.00 (see table above), taking a green apprentice through his entire apprenticeship will cost you $150,000. That is before one additional hour of supervision, call-back, or mistake is made. I would suggest your actual investment will be close to double.
When you look at these costs, some of the points mentioned below begin to make more sense. But none of it matters unless you are making money. Here are some of the benefits the top 100 companies provide for their team members:
• Health plans
• Performance bonuses
• Gift cards
• Fun environment
• Retirement plans
• Hiring of interns
• Paid maternity leave
• Fitness bonuses
• Free lunches
• Concierge services
• Constant communication to employees’ homes
• Corporate day care
• Training
• Short days with pay
• Sales contests
• Paid hours to volunteer for a cause of their own choice
• Opportunities to export good ideas outside the company
• Paid vacation
All of these ideas require an investment of both time and money on your part. But recognize that your company is only as strong as your weakest team member. Constant team evaluation is necessary if you are going to reach your goals. Now is probably a good time to begin! You need to create a culture of success inside your company so that you become known as the go-to place for the best employees to work.