Benefits- The Key To The Best Place To Work In?
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In 2008, acccording to FORTUNE Magazine, Genentech was voted again to be the top 100 places to work in. This year they are ranked 5th place. To give you an idea of the immensity of this ranking, a total of 100,000 workers from 446 companies evaluated their employers.
Rather than just creating a whole benefits and compensation plan, it is much better to just study what why they have done correctly and learn from them.
Business Profile:
Researches and develops drugs that cure diseases.
Culture:
- Having a clear sense of purpose in their jobs, which is to develop safer and more effective therapies through their drug discovery efforts, especially in serious or live threatening illnesses. This clarity of vision is constantly transmitted to remind all staff, right down to the janitors that they have a purpose in reaching that goal.
- Causal work environment; Everyday is “Dress Down” day. Even the CEO dresses in jeans and sneakers.
Encourages freedom to make intelligent risk-taking. - Employees can ask any questions “Why” and “Why not?”
- They celebrate major milestones or wins in their company, sometimes even with celebrity bands.
- Supports employee community service and donations.
- Posters of their patients are placed throughout of their workplace to remind employees of their mission.
Benefits:
- Staff are given an average of 160hrs/yr Professional Training
- Free access to full concierge service who can provide different services such as planning celebrations and finding hard to get tickets.
- Onsite child care.
- Doggie day care.
- Daycare and nursing rooms.
- Company store on campus.
- Free parking.
- Staff are given up to 20% on their work week to pursue their pet projects.
- 6 weeks of paid sabbatical for every six years of service.
- Onsite fitness centre.
- Free coffee and iced tea.
- Ho-Hos party on every Friday evening to get to socialise with co-workers or meet new friends
- Tuition Assitance Program, where 100% of costs of up to $10,000/yr is reimbursed.
- Bring your daughters and sons to work day is celebrated regularly.
- 95% of employees are shareholders.
- Weekly polls are conducted to ensure that complaints are surfaced and things are working in the company. They are usually quickly dealt with.
Rewards:
- Employee referral programs of up to $2000 are given to employees who refer new hires.
- Additional cash bonus acknowledging key employees who contribute exceedingly above their responsibilities.
I understand that not all companies are able to afford similar benefits offered by Genentech because to have these systems in place is costly. However, they can be a huge reason for your staff to stay long term with you, especially when they know you care about them.
Why You Act The Way You Do?
Comments OffHave you ever heard people say the following phrases:
“I’m not sure if this job suits me!”
“Why does Sarah always leave things to the last minute and then do it?”
“I just need to get this job done fast, why is she asking so many questions?”
“Why can’t my boss make decisions quickly and instead of sitting on things?”
If you look closely at each statement, you can actually see that personality has a part in every one of them. The BIG question is how we can effectively communicate with the different personalities.
If we truly understand each personality, it is possible to say the right words that can connect to people quickly and emotionally. This is extremely critical since everything we do at work or home, is all about handling relationships. This works the same for people in customer service, sales staff, managers communicating with staff, or you with your peers.
There are many different types of personality profiling tests in the market today, but one of the most famous assessments is the DISC Personality Profiling. Although everyone is different, everyone is predictably different. Using DISC greatly aids you in identifying why people work in a certain way and then relate to them in a way they want to be related.
DISC is a simple tool that assesses human behaviour into four types and is the acronym for Dominant, Influencing, Steady and Compliant. It is wise to say that we are not just one personality type, but a combination of all. The question is the degree of which is more.
High “D” personalities are competitive, demanding, decisive, pioneering, love challenges and solve problems. They prefer not be bogged down with supervision and details and love freedom from controls.
A High “I” person is generally motivated by flattery, praise and attention they get from people. They strive in a friendly environment and love to handle the relational aspects of things. They are the people-person, enthusiastic and sociable. They are the ones who say that there is no such thing as strangers, only people you have not met.
High “C” behaviours have exceptional standards of quality. When you have finished a 10,000 word essay, they will point out the 3 words that you have misspelt and offer to correct your sentences. They are meticulous people and love logical flow of information. They also provide perspective in all your brainstorming and anchors you back to reality when you get too idealistic.
High “S” personalities are usually dependable, passive and patient. They are also loyal and relaxed. When it comes to people volunteering for a job, they will never be the first to raise their hands and prefers to wait for others to take action first.
In a team setting, you will definitely need a mix of personalities to cover the full range of tasks taken. It is important to know your personality and how you can contribute effectively to the team. Know yourself and know others. Work on your strengths and allow others to compensate for your weaknesses. This creates synergy in the team and frees each person to excel in their capabilities.
7 Deadly Secrets To Creating a Dynamic And Cohesive Team (Part 2)
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How to Slash Staff Turnover And Create Transformational
Change In Your Team Performance
This is Part 2 of the 7 Deadly Secrets To Creating a Dynamic And Cohesive Team.
2. Shared Values (Code of Honour)
What are Core Values that each person in the team share? Do they have a clear understanding of it and are able to recite them by heart? This is important because it governs how they will conduct themselves infront of the team. Without a strong Code of Honour, teams will start to break under pressure.
Here is a list of a Sample Code of Honour that are extremely useful. Explanations are in brackets
a. Energy is important! (When people are energetic, they create a positive charge to the environment).
b. Speak Supportively and with Good Purpose.
c. Take Personal Responsibility for all outcomes. Do Not Lay Blame, Justify or Complain!
d. Celebrate every WIN.
e. When there are problems, look to the system first before looking at the person. (see point 4 below)
f. Allow others to love and support me while I love and support others.
g. Speak the truth with Compassion (This is important when you need to correct a colleague. Even though you think you are right, it is important to win their hearts first and then correct the mistake. Many fall into the trap of “self-righteousness’ and just correct a person without thinking about the other person’s feelings.)
“You may have a fantastic benefits scheme but without a strong work culture and a Code of Honour, you will not be able to grow your team through the tough times.”
- Kenneth Kwan
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7 Deadly Secrets To Creating a Dynamic And Cohesive Team (Part 1)
Comments OffHow to Slash Staff Turnover And Create Transformational
Change In Your Team Performance
Do you struggle with office politics and a dispirited work environment? Are your colleagues constantly talking about problems in the work place or new challenges they are excited to overcome? Do they become guarded when they share or do they display open trust and support whenever they talk?
What’s the difference between a Great Team and a Mediocre one? In all the organisations that I have been to, they set specific objectives for the whole year. They expect their staff to achieve higher profits, better efficiency or reduce operational costs. While this is important, my question is: “How many of them actually take time to develop and coach their Team towards better dynamics and cohesiveness?
It is the people that make the team and not just because you want better results, you will definitely get it. This is important because when the team is under pressure to perform, it will be the strong relationships between colleagues that will prevail and NOT your expectations of their performance.
There are 7 Deadly secrets that I want to share with you right now to propel your team to greater heights. Follow them and people will follow you.
1. Purpose and Mission Driven
What drives your people to work everyday? Are they there to work for a living or are they going to a work that is purposeful. In my experience, most people start of trying to find a sense of purpose and fulfilment in their work. However, over time, they lose this sense of WHY THEY HAVE TO DO THINGS and everything starts to become just work.
It is important as a leader to always remind each person on your team WHY they are doing things, WHY they are involved in a project that is not part of their work scope, WHY they have to put in more effort and etc. This is because without the WHY, there is no ownership in their work. It is important to constantly remind and realign staff, especially when the going gets tough and the staff are under tremendous pressure to achieve results.
Every year, Fortune magazine lists out the Top 100 Companies to work for. A particular company (within the top 10) lists how they were able to share their Corporate Vision with the rest of their employees. From the Head of Departments right down to the administrative staff, all know that they have a vital role to play in creating a better quality of life for their patients who suffer from life-threatening diseases. Even in the annual staff meetings, this company invites a few of their patients to give testimony to how their drugs were able to give them a new lease of life and extend their fragile life by many more years.
If you want to read the rest of this article, just fill up your name and email address in the FREE special report above!