Skip to main content

3 Ways to Guarantee Employee Satisfaction

By


Fortune has released their Top 100 Companies to Work For for 2013.  With all the financial turmoil this country is going through right now, there are still companies out there making a difference and doing it right.  Want your company to be on this list?  From small companies (#37 Nugget Market has only 1145 employees) to very large companies (#98 FedEx has over 200k!) these 100 have found a winning formula to keep their employees happy.  85% of them also reported job growth last year despite most of them boasting minimal turnover!!

I get treated like family -  A lot of places claim to treat you like family, but at #5 Wegmans Food Markets, their employees are so happy, that they tell those closest to them to work there with them - 20% of their employees are related!  Or how about #28 Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, that send loved ones gift baskets in the event you get stuck working long hours.  Who is more family than your dog? #95 Mars allows their pet food division employees to bring their dogs to work!  At #4 Boston Consulting Group, the have a "red zone report" that flags when employees have been working too much.  At #23 the Alston Baird LLP law firm gives $10,000 and 90 days off to adopting parents, and their office has a entire wall dedicated to the artwork of employee's children.

Health is important - Google took the #1 spot by keeping their employees active.  In addition to building 3 wellness centers in 2012, Google built a monstrous 7-acre sports and activity complex!  #9 Ultimate Software covers insurance premiums 100% for you AND your family!  At #17 REI, if you want to go kayaking, take one! The employees can either use the equipment or buy it a very generous discount.  (That sounds like a dream to me, so if any REI people are reading this...call me!) At #19 Salesforce.com, they nourish the body and soul - 48 hours of paid volunteer time, free yoga, and $100/ month wellness allowance!  The Mayo Clinic #41 in Arizona has "stress-free zones" that offer resources to cope with stress and work anxieties.

I get paid what I am worth -  Hilcorp Energy Company debuts on this list all the way up at #7, they have a $100,000 incentive for every employee in the company if they hit their 5year target. Quicken Loans logs in at  #13 where their average salary is more than double the industry average in their home state!  At #16, The Container Store boasts an unbelievably low turnover rate - do you think it is because the average hourly worker makes over $46,000 per year?  QuikTrip ranked at #66 and has their industries lowest turnover rate, they also have their industry's best compensation and benefits package. No wonder people love working at investment bank Goldman Sachs #93, their average compensation is over $300,000!

Other reasons employees gave for their job satisfaction, were education benefits, participation and support in charitable causes - or how about #20, Millenium: The Takeda Oncology Company, whose singular mission is to cure Cancer!!  Open communication and employee recognition from all levels of the company is probably the most cited answer for employee satisfaction.  The only problem there, is that almost every company boasts an "open door" policy and have employee recognition programs.  Maybe the companies NOT on this list, need to look at how these companies are doing it right.

The bottom line here, is all 100 of these companies not only recognize, but support the people that work for them.  Too many companies are asking too much and giving too little in an effort to control costs.  Chances are, your employees are great - treat them that way, and your company will be too!! (Just go ahead and ask any of the CEO's on that list!!)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Always "Sweat" the Small Stuff

By
As we are all searching for the next best way to cut costs, I ran across an old article about an approach Delta Airlines took in the mid-90's. They asked their employees! On an employee suggestion, they removed the lettuce leaf that was served in their food trays as garnish to an astounding $1.4 million in annual savings! http://gtalumni.org/Publications/magazine/win93/delta.html I recently worked for a company that was so incredibly operationally inefficient that I was amazed they were still in business. Three months later, they weren't! From having way too much lighting in the stock areas, to a time-wasting price change procedure, to unnecessary shipping costs($4ship fee for a $.99 item), to incredible wastes of paper (I actually counted a minimum of 45 sheets per day wasted...in one store). This store had so many little things that could have completely changed the cost of business, it is a shame they didn't listen to their employees. Employees may not have t
4 comments
Read more

The Power Of Social Networks-Myspace vs. Facebook

By
AOL started it. With very popular chat rooms and a skeletal, but functional, social network. Myspace , Facebook , Twitter , Bebo , Friendster , LinkedIN and several others have since emerged. All offering something unique to make their platform the biggest and most successful. As I learn more about blog writing/internet marketing (yes, they go hand-in-hand), it is clear that these sites drive the "personality" that the online society has taken. To be successful online, it is clear that a strong and steady participation and presence on these sites is critical. This blog generates reports that allow me to view the sources of my daily traffic. So far, Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn, are responsible for a LARGE portion of my visitors. I am pretty much a "nobody" writing on a topic that interests me. I realize how amazing it is that because of the internet, people from around the world are reading what I am writing!! I wonder how powerful these sites would be
3 comments
Read more

Is Customer Service Dead?

By
This is a question I keep hearing as I work on this blog. It seems that no matter where you go, that companies pride themselves on putting the customer first, but that doesn't really seem to be the truth. I have found nightmare stories from telephone customer service operators, to in store employees. But I have also read some amazing stories of how an employee went well beyond their job description to make a customer happy. When I got into retail in the early 90's, customer service was king. Empowerment for employees to that end, was almost unlimited. Recognition for the individuals going above and beyond was common. It was a time when companies realized it was their people and their people's ideas and successes that drove the company's success. Southwest Airlines exploded by taking a radical approach to customer service. At the same time they also took a radical approach in the treatment of their people, doing such things as "costume day". Work was f
1 comment
Read more