Pride

High-trust Cultures at the Best Workplaces in Chicago, Texas, New York, and Bay Area Fuel Productivity and Agility

2023-06-15T07:00:50-04:00

Trust that management will lay people off only as a last resort pays off in remarkable ways.  

It’s hard to give your all at work when you’re worried that you’re next on the chopping block.

Stress and fear around layoffs has had a negative effect on employee mental health, productivity, and engagement. And when workers give and do less, businesses suffer. 

What breaks that cycle? Trust in your workplace.  

Workers who trust that management will lay people off only as a last result are more likely to look forward to work, give extra on the job, and adapt quickly to business changes, according to Great Place To Work® research.  

Those high agility and productivity levels are relished by leaders at any time, but particularly during periods of economic uncertainty.

Employee trust in management around layoff decisions is one of many reasons the Fortune Best Workplaces in Chicago™, Texas, New York, and the Bay Area outperformed typical U.S. workplaces across productivity, retention, and recruitment. 

“This is why trust matters,” says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work. “This is how it shows up. It’s hard to stay motivated and be ‘all in’ when you wake up with fear and dread that you’ll be out of a job.” 

But if employees believe layoffs are a last resort at their workplace, the quit rate is cut in half and motivation to come to work is 210% higher.

“These workers trust their leaders to make tough decisions, and that comes from a reservoir of trust built long before hard times hit,” Bush says. 

What drives employee trust in management decisions around layoffs?

The top four drivers, according to Great Place To Work research, are confidence in the executive team, company pride, feeling welcomed, and a caring work environment.  

Great Place To Work determined the Best Workplaces in Chicago, Texas, New York, and the Bay Area by analyzing data and survey responses from more than 420,000 employees. 

Feeling welcomed helps companies during downturns  

Out of all the measures of the employee experience among the winning companies, feeling welcomed topped the list, with varying impact across regions. 

Employees who felt welcomed when joining companies in the Bay Area and Texas are 40% to 50% more likely to recommend their companies, and employees who felt welcomed when joining companies in Chicago and New York are 10% to 30% more likely to be agile.  

Making employees feel at home is one of the five areas of the employee experience critical to surviving and thriving amid downturns, according to a 15-year recession study from Great Place To Work. How welcomed employees felt predicted company performance. 

There are many ways to help employees feel welcome, whether they’re new to your company or new to a team. The first step is to recognize the impact of a new teammate through introductory meetings that will spotlight their talents.  

It’s also important to actively seek their ideas and input in decision-making instead of making them “prove” themselves.  

“These workers trust their leaders to make tough decisions, and that comes from a reservoir of trust built long before hard times hit.” - Michael C. Bush

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants (No. 11 on the Best Workplaces in the Bay Area among large companies) asks new employees to fill out a personal preference profile to get to know them better right away.  

The list of questions vary in complexity and depth, and includes questions such as: What do you like to do for fun when not at work? What’s your favorite food or snack? Tell us one thing that people would be most surprised to know about you.   

When Lindsey Yealy, catering sales manager at the Hotel Monaco in Pittsburgh, started at Kimpton, she was blown away by the individualized welcome her managers gave her based on what they read. Here's how she felt about receiving a “Welcome to the Family” postcard before starting:

“It was a small act of kindness that went such a long way for me. I had shared that I had Type-1 diabetes and mentioned bringing in some juice boxes to put in the communal fridge for my low blood sugar. Within the hour, I had my own personal mini fridge set up in my cubicle. Living and working with Type-1 diabetes is so stressful and challenging most of the time.” 

Knowing her team here was there to “help in any way makes a world of difference,” she says. 

Company pride fuels recruitment

Another metric leaders chase is recruitment. The ability to fill the pipeline with much-desired referrals is the result of giving people a workplace experience they’re proud of.

What drives those referrals? Pride. It’s the No. 1 recruitment driver across all regions.  

Employees who feel high levels of company pride  are 4.3 to 6 times more likely to recommend their company to others. 

Pride also drives retention and is second only to meaningful work. Employees who feel pride are between 1.8 and 2.3 times more likely to stay, and those who feel their work is meaningful are 2.8 to 3 times more likely to stay at the company.  

More than nine out of 10 employees across these four regions said they’re proud of their company’s reputation compared with six in 10 employees at a typical workplace.  

Giving back to the community helps instill pride at NuStar Energy, No. 9 on the Best Workplaces in Texas list of large companies.  

The company’s chairman, CEO, and executives work side-by-side with employees on volunteer projects that are organized by employee-run Volunteer Councils.

Weekly volunteer projects range from cleaning up parks and mentoring students to delivering meals to seniors and coordinating parties for children with disabilities.

NuStar also matches employees who want to serve on a nonprofit board with an organization that matches their interests, and supports them by providing contributions and other resources to the charity.  

Building workplace pride is a competitive advantage, and is the result of consistent effort. Creating one of the best workplaces in the country can’t happen without prioritizing this often overlooked way to engage employees.  

Regional workplaces improved in different ways

Here’s a look at how companies in each region created a great workplace for their people — and set them apart from the average.

How to make the list

Think your company deserves special recognition? Get started here to become eligible for next year’s Best Workplaces™ honors.

9 Highly Effective & Practical Ways to Boost Company Pride

2022-07-17T16:03:48-04:00

Company pride can be a competitive advantage, helping to motivate and retain employees. Here's how to cultivate it.

One of the most overlooked drivers of engagement, retention and advocacy, hides in plain sight: pride.

When an individual reflects on how much they like their job, things like growth opportunities or colleagues might come to mind. But pride is different. It's not something that employees think about but rather something they feel.

It can be obvious when people take pride in their work, and even easier to see when they don't. Employees with pride go the extra mile for their clients, co-workers and leaders.

On the other hand, people with low work pride put little energy into their work and might not feel much guilt when a deadline or target is missed. The value of pride in the workplace is clear, but how do you cultivate it?

How do you instill pride in a team?

Successful pride-builders know how pride operates in the workplace and often do the following things.

1. Frequent casual chats with employees

Encourage managers to have quick, informal catchups with employees regularly. These sessions shouldn't be solely about giving feedback. It needs to be a two-way conversation. Be sure to ask employees about their short and long-term goals, and whether they feel particularly motivated by any of the current projects they're working on.

Finding out what work excites them will give you an idea of what projects fit their skills and which co-workers would be a good fit to work with. It's also an opportunity to see if any issues have been weighing on their minds.

There could be deeper issues with their dissatisfaction. They could feel disinterested in their work or skeptical of how they are managed. At a minimum, paying attention to these challenges can help your company reorganize and place talented employees where they can have the greatest impact.

Taking a genuine interest in your employees' concerns lets them know that they're valued and that your company cares enough to ensure they do fulfilling work.

2. Communicate your organization's goals

Your employees want to know that all those small tasks they work on daily are part of a larger vision of success or mission. Make sure your employees know your company's goals on a macro and micro level. Clear, detailed plans of how your company will get from A to B will give employees a roadmap for how their function drives the company forward.

Setting clear goals gives focus to the work that really matters. Letting employees in on the big picture might help them find room for streamlining inefficiencies that have gone unnoticed. That saves your organization time and money while giving them an accomplishment they can feel proud of.

3. Place the right people in leadership positions

It might sound obvious, but the cost of lifting the wrong person into leadership is exponential. Even though someone might be the highest performer in their position, or even exceptionally talented, that doesn't necessarily translate to a personality fit for leadership.

Leaders must strike a difficult balance between being encouraging and exacting, which requires high social sophistication and tact.

Be sure to draft leaders who can empower, inspire, and energize their teams.

4. Apply for employer recognition awards

Winning workplace culture awards give your team something to celebrate, boosts morale, and builds pride. These awards are especially effective for building pride in the company's reputation - one of the three parts of company pride.

Company culture awards such as Great Place To Work 카지노커뮤니티 strengthen what your company stands for. It shows employees that you have a clear social purpose and reinforces your company’s mission, vision, and values.

5. Reimagine community giving

Today's employees increasingly identify with a variety of social causes. Consider contributing to charities and organizations that advance these causes to show your employees that what matters to them matters to you, too.

You might want to examine how corporate compassion flows into the customs and processes you develop as a company. That could mean giving your employees reusable water bottles or working with diverse and inclusive vendors.

When organizations make a more conscious effort to be ethical, employees get the sense that not only are they contributing to your bottom line, but they're also helping your company generate revenue that is paid forward to worthy causes.

"When organizations make a more conscious effort to be ethical, employees feel that they are helping your company generate revenue that is paid forward to worthy causes."

We should all be trying to leave the world a better place than we found it. Showing employees that you're committed to that idea will give them a compelling reason to feel proud to work for your company.

6. Live your core values every day

Shared values help bring organizations together, and a tightly-knit, focused organization is much more likely to achieve its goals.

If you haven't already, adopt an official set of core values to tell people what your organization cares about most. In addition to accepting an attractive job offer, prospective employees will feel like they're signing on for a mission.

Develop an employee recognition program that rewards employees whose actions exemplify your core values. You'll turn a workforce into a team that sees every accomplishment as proof that it's on the right track.

7. Don't forget about employee recognition and rewards

Nothing makes a person swell with pride like knowing they're appreciated. Small gestures like a quick email, a handwritten note, or a shoutout at your weekly team meeting are enough to let employees know that you see them and respect their work.

These shouldn't feel forced or calculated–if an employee gets the sense that you're only mentioning them because "give recognition" is a checkbox on your to-do list, it won't feel as good as a freely-given compliment.

8. Encourage social connections

Friends help you feel emotionally connected to the workplace. If you've ever struggled to make friends at an office, you can remember eating lunch alone at your desk and counting down the minutes until you can leave.

Employees that forge friendships within their team will feel like their achievements aren't only theirs but are part of a larger team effort. And pride in the team is one of the three levels of company pride.

9. Find out what makes your most motivated employees proud

Your highest-performing employees are in the best position to tell you what makes them feel excited to come to work.

Ask those employees–the ones who exemplify what you're looking for in future employees and inspire the rest to reach higher–what they'd like to see in their ideal company. Encourage them to be honest and forthright. The sky's the limit. Once you've learned what they're looking for, do it.

Adopting a focus on fostering pride will inspire your employees to contribute to your corporate mission, clearly illustrate how their work supports that mission, and embody your company's core values.

Boost pride with company culture awards

Just as individual recognition sparks individual pride, corporate recognition as a Certified™ great place to work reinforces company pride. Learn more about how to get your company recognizedas a great place to work.

The Value & Importance of Building Pride in the Workplace

2022-07-14T14:21:53-04:00

Pride in the workplace is about more than just feeling good. It’s an essential factor in employee engagement – and one that’s all too often neglected.

When it’s present at work, it inspires individuals and teams to achieve more, communicate better, and build upon each other’s strengths. When it’s not present, things can get ugly. Really ugly. And what is “it”? It’s the often abstract yet extremely powerful feeling of “pride.”

Pride is deeply personal, and yet it also acts as a sort of currency in relationships; if you care for and trust the people you work with, you’re naturally inclined to go the extra mile. Whereas if you don’t have pride in your company or colleagues, things fall apart fast.

What is workplace pride?

At its most basic, workplace pride is exactly what it sounds like: being proud of where you work. When employees have pride in their workplace, they believe in the company – not just what it produces, but how it operates, how it treats its people, and how it engages with the community at large.

However, too many workplaces fail to recognize that pride can’t just be created from a well-crafted mission statement. Pride is cumulative. It doesn’t come from just one thing, but rather from a series of actions and events that are reinforced over time.

For example, say you run a clothing company that preaches sustainable production and sourcing practices. But other parts of the business are at odds with that mission. Maybe employees are pushed to unsustainable levels, or the office is stocked with plastic-wrapped snacks. These types of things will undermine any sense of pride.

The 3 levels of workplace pride

What makes employees proud of their company?

Just as pride comes from cumulative efforts, pride itself lives in layers. Workplace pride happens at three levels:

Your job – e.g., you take pride in the work itself.
Your team – e.g., you are proud to work with the people around you.
Your company – e.g., you are proud of the company’s mission and reputation.

Ideally, your employees should feel pride at all three levels – but that’s often not the case. Take the following three scenarios as examples of the drastically different ways pride can show itself in the workplace:

Scenario 1: Pride in the work

Mayuri is a data scientist who is proud of how her research helps others solve problems. But her company recently laid off hundreds of staff and the story was reported in the news. Because of that, she now has little pride in the company as a whole.

Scenario 2: Pride in the work and the team

As a curator at an art gallery, Pete works closely with world-renowned artists and feels a strong sense of pride when he thinks about his team. The gallery is also non-profit, supporting local artist communities, which gives him pride in the company.

Scenario 3: Pride in the work, the team, and the company

When a hurricane hit Louisiana where Ava’s homewares company is based, their operations and supply chain teams quickly worked to move supplies to stores in the storm’s path. Ava’s CEO announced they would donate $1 million to help those whose homes had been affected. Ava felt great pride in her work, her team, and her company.

Real examples of employees who feel workplace pride

Take this real employee story from Sandra Jones, Sr. business systems manager at Management Recruiters of Tallahassee (MRT). Sandra is especially proud of the team she works with:

“I work with a truly amazing team at MRT. One of the advantages of working here is that I'm surrounded by a lot of sharp people who genuinely care about the people they come in contact with each day. 카지노 커뮤니티 랭킹 team is really passionate about what they do because they know that their contributions and ideas matter. It's refreshing to work for a company that will help you grow and meet your goals to succeed and that's why I'm proud to be part of the MRT”

Another real-life example, from Certified™ workplace Tax Relief Advocates. Case manager Amber Godinez takes pride in her individual work and her company:

“I’m proud to come into work every day knowing that our services are here to help the clients are here to ease their way through the harsh IRS process. And being able to connect with my clients personally and let them know that I am here for them. And this company provides a lot of support to our clients. Clients know when they're finished, that we've taken care of them. And that makes me proud to be able to take care of clients and know that I can help them and ease their day and their life.”

Why is workplace pride important?

Pride is more than just a feel-good thing. It creates a stronger, better, more engaged workforce. In fact, Great Place To Work® research has found that when employees feel proud to work at a company, they are:

6 times more likely to endorse their workplace to others
2 times more likely to want to stay with the company for a long time
1 times more likely to say it’s a great place to work

There are plenty of ways that workplaces can foster pride and great relationships, from collaborative lunches to career-development training pathways to sharing real examples of how employees’ work is impacting clients and the community.

Most importantly, the best workplaces set the stage for building employee pride via trust with clear expectations and two-way communication.

As I mentioned earlier, pride is cumulative, so there’s no single recipe that will ensure each and every one of your employees beam with pride. But when you put in the effort to create a culture of trust, you’re taking a step in the right direction.

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