Company Culture at its Best
In a previous article, we gave you a little background on company culture: what it is, who it involves, and how to start the process of finding your own!
Today, we’re going to share some great examples of company cultures. These are companies that attract top talent because candidates are *desperate* to be a part of their unique, creative, fun and hard-working teams.
Google – Despite the fact that Fortune Magazine named Google the “Best Company to Work For” in 2014, Google strives to maintain the culture of a start-up. If you’ve ever taken a virtual (or real) tour of the headquarters, it can look more like a playground than a multi-billion dollar company. They even have a team of people whose job is to keep employees happy.
- Google bikes and scooters throughout the office for people to get from here to there in a fast fun way.
- Employees can spend 20% of their week (or, one day) on whatever interests them.
- Every Friday, all hands meetings provide a forum for employees to ask top-level execs anything they want.
- Any employee can give any other employee a $200 “peer bonus” for outstanding work. They just can’t give it to someone on their team, and to date, the policy has never been abused.
Wegmans – Here, doing what’s best for their employees and maintaining high standards every day are the priority. As an example, cashiers don’t interact with customers until they have had 40 hours of training, and often – the various in-store heads of produce travel the world to learn (first-hand) about the products they are selling. Wegman’s knows that happy, empowered and competent employees will give the best service possible to their customers.
Warby Parker – Similar to Google, Warby Parker (the fashion eyewear company) has a “culture team” that plans themed luncheons, meetings, and other culture-building events so that everyone can stay involved in the company culture. They are deliberate about keeping all employees engaged and thinking big, having fun and doing good. Some great examples of Warby Parker culture include:
- To encourage a more unified work force, the company started playing weekly rounds of “lunch roulette” where four randomly selected employees are sent out to lunch together so they can get to know each other.
- Marketing ideas are encouraged (and taken seriously) from anyone on the team – not the just marketing or advertising department.
- All employees are trained to help customers find the right eyewear – not just the sales or customer service department.
- All employees also share office duties like cleaning up the office kitchen and taking out the trash.
- The entire team is often surprised with outings – like open bars, bike riding, or DJing lessons.
Virgin Group – Across the multiple Virgin brands, Sir Richard Branson ensures that his employees are heard and his customers are treated right. As he said, “It turned out that people who work in a friendly environment that is tolerant of mistakes, and who are empowered to make decisions about how they do their jobs, arrive at the best possible solutions for serving customers.”
What fun policies, procedures or surprises do you incorporate into your company culture to keep your employees engaged and happy?
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