Blogs

Best Practices from Best Companies
Great benefits and amazing perks will help create a happier workforce and increase employee retention, but building a strong workplace culture that will distinguish your company brand requires more; it requires that something special that sets your organization apart from its competitors. The recipe for determining that something special? It's not as elusive as you may think- it's as simple as connecting your employees with the product or service your company provides.

How to Increase Innovative Thinking
If one is to think innovatively, then one must exhibit the ability to imagine how a good idea for one function might also be a good idea for another, seemingly non-related, function. This practice is called Lateral Thinking, and is teachable, learnable, and tremendously applicable to many situations, including the workplace.

Why Most Companies Don’t Deal with Them and, How One Company Does

Even great workplaces need to fire people—an uncomfortable fact that most would prefer to ignore. It is also a fact that companies often retain negative performers longer than they would care to; much as HR would like, most managers do not sufficiently document employee behavior so that terminating a problematic employee is often inadvisable and ultimately, nonpermissible.

Interviewing for Culture Fit
As a former recruiter that has worked at one of the world’s largest staffing firms, people are always asking me for interview tips. And no matter what interview questions they struggle with, I always say the same thing: the best thing you can do in an interview is be yourself.

How practitioners can help leaders take action on results

One of the Nine Practice Areas that Great Place to Work® examines when it comes to a company’s people practices is how leaders “Listen” to employees. Leaders who are serious about building a great workplace culture create a wide variety of ways for employees to have their opinions, ideas, and voices heard.

Statistical side of the 2013 Great Place to Work Conference

Everyone at the Great Place to Work is sporting a post-Conference glow as we reflect on the wonderful people we met, fascinating stories we heard and delicious hors d’oeuvres we enjoyed. While I’m also thinking fondly of my experiences at our 10th annual gathering, the data nerd in me can’t help but dive into the numbers that any large gathering of people generates. For those of you who, like me, love seeing the statistical side to any story, I present the 2013 Great Place to Work Conference: by the numbers!

Managing Millennials in the Workforce

I’m a Millennial and proud of it. This was hard to say a few years ago. We as a generation were analyzed over and over again, and for the most part pundits, sociologists, and everyday folks considered us flaky, lazy, and self-obsessed. Hiring and managing us was considered almost a chore, like taking care of a capricious kid. All in all, it was hard to be a proud Millennial at work. That’s why last week, at the Great Place to Work Conference, it was so refreshing to hear business and HR leaders take a completely different tack when talking about my people.

Management Practice Area 2 of 9: Hiring
Cultivating workplace culture thoughtfully and consistently can be a daunting task, and it won’t be possible without the help of your managers and supervisors. That is why Great Place to Work® has designed a framework for examining company culture. The key to this framework lies within the interaction between frontline management and their employees.

What ideas have you had regarding workplace culture?
What would happen if workplaces did a little more experimenting? What would happen if I spent more time with my colleagues, and on the contrary, what would happen if I spent more time working from home?  I can assume a host of responses and scenarios, but I wouldn’t fully grasp the consequences of these decisions until I experimented with them.

WFH, “iPerks” and more…GPTW experts reflect on topics facing workplaces over the past year

At the 10th Annual Great Place to Work® Conference, Great Place to Work® consultants shared their Top 10 Great Place to Work Moments of The Past Year David Letterman-style in a panel led by Managing Consultant, Sarah Cooke. Panelists based their reflections on their experiences with Best Companies to Work For®, their work with client organizations, as well as their extensive industry knowledge.