17 October 2017
Employees are drawn to small businesses for their friendly colleagues, entrepreneurial leaders and the chance to bring new ideas into the world. Once a business starts to grow, though, attrition can become an unexpected side effect of success.
“The way you make decisions and communicate with 100 people won’t necessarily work with 1,000," said Marcus Erb, vice president at Great Place To Work. "It becomes much easier for leaders to lose touch with the experience of employees, and they’ll leave if you don’t safeguard the culture that first brought them into your company.” He also noted that the knowledge and experience people gain at a growing SMB make them attractive recruitment targets for larger competitors.
As Great Place To Work conducted the research behind the 2017 Best Small & Medium Workplaces, we gained insight into how the leading employers retain their talent as they expand.
Across hundreds of companies we’ve surveyed, employees’ scores tend to decline as the business becomes larger. That suggests small companies will never be in a better position to create an inspiring organization that people love.
For example, team members at the Best Small & Medium Workplaces scored them 20 to 25 percent higher than comparable employers on questions linked to innovation. Businesses we've studied in the top quartile for innovative behaviors reported 23 percent median revenue growth – 3 times faster than their peers.
It's also important to recognize that colleagues at SMBs often feel differently about their employers than those in larger enterprises. At companies with fewer than 100 team members, we found:
“The way you make decisions and communicate with 100 people won’t necessarily work with 1,000," said Marcus Erb, vice president at Great Place To Work. "It becomes much easier for leaders to lose touch with the experience of employees, and they’ll leave if you don’t safeguard the culture that first brought them into your company.” He also noted that the knowledge and experience people gain at a growing SMB make them attractive recruitment targets for larger competitors.
As Great Place To Work conducted the research behind the 2017 Best Small & Medium Workplaces, we gained insight into how the leading employers retain their talent as they expand.
Build Culture from Day One
Across hundreds of companies we’ve surveyed, employees’ scores tend to decline as the business becomes larger. That suggests small companies will never be in a better position to create an inspiring organization that people love.
For example, team members at the Best Small & Medium Workplaces scored them 20 to 25 percent higher than comparable employers on questions linked to innovation. Businesses we've studied in the top quartile for innovative behaviors reported 23 percent median revenue growth – 3 times faster than their peers.
It's also important to recognize that colleagues at SMBs often feel differently about their employers than those in larger enterprises. At companies with fewer than 100 team members, we found:
- Only 1.5 percent of employees planned to stay long-term when they didn’t agree that they have a great place to work. By contrast, people at larger organizations were more likely to stick around, even if they didn’t admire their workplace.
- Employees were 27x more likely to plan a long-term future at small businesses they described as friendly. Caring co-workers were an even bigger driver of retention at SMBs than at large companies.
- Small business employees who said they’re proud to tell others where they work were 31x more likely to stay long-term.
