What makes your company a great place to work

Many times, I have been asked this question, what makes a company a great place to work at?

Every year we see a list on the media of the best companies to work for.
This year Amazon has taken first place over Google.

Companies who have perks like free lunches, shorter weeks and work remotely can be attractive to future employees, but it isn’t necessarily what keeps your employees happy or staying longer.

The billion-dollar companies who have amenities that small companies cannot compete with are very attractive, but if we remove those amenities what are the basics employee needs in order to stay in your company?

A company that actually lives by their core values. I have seen companies changing their core values every year like you would change your socks daily. These companies do not follow nor live by their own values. Employees do not support this kind of environment especially when management and the company’s owners are not following their own mission statements. People will be inclined to stay in a company that has integrity.

If a company doesn’t inspire their employees by listening to them or supporting their employees to accomplish their work. This company doesn’t have the innovative spirit that would motivate their employees to go beyond their duties.

Trusting your employees by giving them more autonomy. Employees should be able to work on site or remotely. Coming at regular hours and leaving when it’s needed.

Employee acknowledgment and recognition is essential to a good working environment. I have seen, in small and large corporations, individuals being recognized that didn’t contributed to the company’s overall success. On the other hand, I have seen individuals going beyond the call of duty, accomplishing amazing things that should have been recognized. But they got passed over because the manager didn’t like that individual. The manager felt they were a threat because the manager knew that the passed over individual could do the manager’s job.  Recognition/ acknowledgement should be based on work accomplishment not who you like or do not like or who you go to lunch with.

Compensation, if a company doesn’t give a yearly raise to their employees, it is most likely employees will leave. Any knowledgeable manager should know the cost of living goes up and it is necessary to give salary increases to the employees, so they can maintain their current expenses.  But in this essay, I must state, there are employees that should not get increased compensation because they are not doing their jobs, they are the employees who should “walk out the door”. If scheduled raises are not the policy of a company, that is not a good company to be working for. There are some Presidents of companies who do not give annual raises to their employees but instead take lavish vacations with their entire family. Not a lot of people would like to work for this kind of individual.

Running a company can be challenging, but if you treat your employees poorly by not providing the support they needs to do their jobs, have a culture of openness, communication, positivity, living by your core values, taking into account the cost of life and be open to acknowledge employees based on their work, you are going to continue to lose people who could help you to move your company to the next level.

If you are a company owner or CEO of a company you always have a choice, your company is the reflection of who you are. It always starts with you then trickles downward.

My question for you, is your company a great place to work? Let me know.