Leadership - Best Companies to Work For - No Secrets

From a leadership point of view, what makes a company great to worl for? AFortune magazine reporter goes undercover at “Best Companies To Work For” and makes a fascinating discovery: their success secrets are things you can do, too.


For his article in Fortune magazine, Daniel Roth took jobs at four of the leading firms ranked on Fortune’s annual “Best Companies to Work For” list, just to personally experience what makes these companies so special. What Roth learned may provide some interesting lessons for you and your company. Here are some excerpts from this article and from firms where Roth worked:
“Most of the things that make a workplace great turn out to cost employers absolutely nothing. Next, a great workplace benefits more than just employees: Over the past five years the stocks of the four companies I worked at trounced the market, up a compounded 24% vs. the S&P's 1% gain.”


“Most of the things that make a workplace great turn out to cost employers absolutely nothing. Next, a great workplace benefits more than just employees: Over the past five years the stocks of the four companies I worked at trounced the market, up a compounded 24% vs. the S&P's 1% gain.”

Four Seasons Hotel. “The Four Seasons wants its staff to be relaxed, regular people, so they're given leeway to do what they think is right…I'm out working the door with Endale Tessema. Tessema, 48, has been with the hotel for 23 years, yet he's still the rookie of the four-person doorman staff. He says he can recognize by name thousands of people who have stayed at the hotel over his decades. He does pretty much as he pleases--no canned speeches, no formal way of opening the door or lugging the luggage. He just makes it up as he goes, and he says the people in charge learn from him. ‘The managers, instead of coming in and imposing things on me, they come in and learn how things work,’ he says. ‘If they want to change it, they'll change it later. They have to learn first.’"

FedEx. “For all FedEx's clock-watching and efficiency, the company is remarkably hands-off…A $1,000 investment in FedEx when it went public in 1978 would now be worth $106,000. And while a ballooning 401(k) is one powerful tool for retaining employees, what keeps Cava happy is the fact that he's expected to decide what's right with his day.”


Hot Topic. Hot Topic is a, “chain of over 650 mall stores that sell rock- and pop-culture clothes, music, and jewelry to teens, preteens, and the moms who control the credit cards.” The company will total $720 million in sales this year…”Hot Topic makes its employees the first responders of cool--a task that suddenly gives some real importance to what could be a tedious job. Employees are expected to call buyers with tips, access that is almost unheard of in retail. That makes the salespeople feel as though they're not just selling products, but picking them. It also gives them a bit of attitude about inventory.”

“The shock of my four (job) stints wasn't that these companies were so extraordinary, but that other companies can't--or just don't--do the simple things that make employees happy. Forget brain surgery; this is barely baking-soda-volcano science. At every stop my fellow workers talked about bosses either leaving them alone or being there for them. They discussed work-life balance, stock options, and sick days.”

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