6 Signs That Your Company Is a Most Loved Workplace®
1. Career Development is a focus.
One of the things that make a company a Most Loved Workplace—is leadership focuses on the career development of employees; it includes identifying and providing the most appropriate resources for it.
A company that epitomizes this is Box—it is big on employee career development, which has helped it rank as high as #21 on the Most Loved Workplace list. It makes employees feel loved and valued and motivates them to go above and beyond the call of duty, ultimately benefiting Box. The Internet Service Provider organizes a three-times-a-year Learn Fest program where workers are encouraged to develop career skills. There are also awards for going above and beyond and company-wide mental health days off. Focusing on employees’ career development is just part of what makes a company a Most Loved Workplace. There are five more that are equally important.
2. People Value And Understand The Craziest Ideas In Your Company—And Use It As A Way To Make Even Better Ideas.
The need for creativity and innovation is not limited to fields like R&D, marketing, or graphic designing. Instead, they are critical in all professions because business challenges often necessitate coming up with novel solutions.
A company encourages creativity in the workplace to develop workable solutions or create more happy and collaborative work cultures. A Most Loved Workplace looks to accomplish both.
When your company values creativity and accepts even the craziest of ideas from people at all levels of the organizational hierarchy, employees are more likely to think differently and try new things. During meetings, viewpoints and opinions of all kinds are openly understood and respected—no matter how “stupid” they may sound. Invite ideas that are crazy and acknowledge them by stating back what you heard. These ideas sometimes create an entirely new idea because they stimulate others’ creativity.
Besides experimentation, the creative process encourages employees to ask questions and evaluate challenges from several angles. These characteristics can aid in more productive thinking and teamwork, leading to the best ideas.
A company that is the perfect example of this is the Apparel manufacturer Deckers; the company encourages employees to share ideas—no matter how crazy they sound—but it also directly funds some of them.
Employees at all company levels can join teams that propose their ideas to top executives, including the CEO.
3. Feedback Is Continuous and Not Just Once or Four Times A Year in Performance Reviews
In the not-so-distant past, managers met with their staff once a year for performance reviews. Alternatively, employees would meet with their supervisors once a year or half-yearly. However, this did not affect employee performance.
As a leader, you’re more likely to forget what your employee did during the year, and your performance reports may skew by recency bias. Furthermore, your employees will not know what they did right and wrong. Fortunately, companies are now moving away from traditional performance assessments and starting continuous feedback to avoid this.
A Most Loved Workplace that believes in continuous feedback and practices it across the organization is the Online Sports Betting Giant FanDuel. Despite being a company known for hiring young professionals, FanDuel emphasizes succession planning. It is working towards this objective by offering employees continuous feedback and promoting from within.
4. The Values That On The Wall ARE Lived By Employees. And, It Shows.
A company that lacks core values isn’t truly a company. If you haven’t identified and created your company’s values with your staff, you cannot expect to build great teams, provide outstanding customer service, or foster innovation.
Your core values communicate what your company stands for, define your priorities, and direct your present and future activities. Your company’s values establish the framework for what the organization values most. It creates a shared goal for all employees to understand, strive for, by which to live.
Ensuring that your employees know and understand the company’s core values is a powerful mechanism for HR to put them to work. You’re more likely to have a Most Loved Workplace if your core values inspire and influence how your employees act.
Spotify is a Most Loved Workplace that embodies this. The company expresses its mission and values regularly while soliciting feedback from employees. The company’s Passion Tour, which helps it build loyalty, focuses on communicating the organizational goals and values to employees. It allows Spotify to create a company culture where employer values align with the value of employees.
5. Leaders Value the Careers of Their Employees—and Give Resources to Help Them Achieve Their Goals Together
It is no secret that employee morale and productivity boosts with career growth. Paying attention to career development can help you attract and keep the best talent.
A growing number of studies uncover the key factors that make employees happy and engaged at work. It includes having opportunities for growth and development and empowerment to do your job. The best places to work for have leaders who value employees’ career growth and progress and provide them with the resources to accomplish their goals.
Despite the apparent benefits of career development initiatives for boosting employee confidence and participation, many organizations’ people development or talent management strategies focus entirely or primarily on aligning employees’ abilities to the organization’s needs or tasks. It does not work.
A “people’s policy” that integrates this approach with organized career development practices will better place your company to win the hearts and minds of your employees.
In the introduction, we already discussed one company that is big on employee career development.
Another Most Loved Workplace that wants employees to progress and get out of dead-end jobs is the Global Technology Company LivePerson.
At LivePerson, Employees do not get stuck in one job or career. Instead, they can switch roles and join different teams if they feel “stuck in their jobs.” Ideas flow freely at the company, and employees are not at risk of losing their job or having their ideas stolen.
6. People Work Together To Create New Products and Solve Business Problems
One of the essential variables in a company’s success is whether or not its employees can work well together as a team. With rising competition, it’s become critical to promote teamwork across the organization to foster creativity in the workplace, boost productivity and build positive employee relationships. The Most Loved Workplaces are doing just that.
Compared to individuals performing tasks on their own, employees at Most Loved Workplaces who work in groups are more efficient and effective. Employees become more responsible due to collaboration, which helps boost motivation, especially when teams work remotely or virtually.
Employees on a team believe they are working for the greater good, which can motivate them to perform efficiently. They also recognize they can always rely on a colleague for assistance, and they are ready to repay the favor in the future if the need arises.
A Most Loved Workplace that genuinely believes in this is the American Fast Casual Restaurant Chain Sweetgreen. Virtual happy hours involving the organization’s founders, executives, and even outside guests, such as academics, aid in collaboration and developing a solution-driven culture.
Canon is another company that prioritizes and encourages collaboration and communication. The company’s corporate philosophy emphasizes working together for a common goal, which shows how vital communication and collaboration amongst employees are to the company. It is also a significant reason behind Canon USA’s success and why employees love working for the company.
Become the Next Most Loved Workplace® on the List.
The list of Newsweek’s Most Loved Workplaces honors firms that prioritize respect, compassion, and admiration for their employees in their business model, earning the love and commitment of their employees in the process. If you find that your company may fit this description, get certified for free and considered for the Newsweek Top Most Loved Workplaces list.
Louis Carter is the founder and CEO of Best Practice Institute, Most Loved Workplace, and Results-Based Culture. Author of In Great Company, Change Champions Field Guide, and Best Practices in Talent Management, as well as a series of Leadership Development books. He is a trusted strategic advisor and coach to CEOs, CHROs, and leaders of mid-sized to F500 companies – enabling change and steering employer brand development together with highly effective teams, leaders, and organizations as a whole.
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