Multidimensional Workforce
Delivering a Megabyte:
What Tech’s Best
Employers Know about
Workplace Culture
By Leslie Caccamese, Great Place to Work
egardless of specific market niche, technology
companies share similar workforce and workplace
challenges: how to attract and retain the best talent,
how to reward employees (in a field where players are
fiercely competitive about their workplace perks!), and
how to keep employees innovating. While media attention
usually focuses on tech’s outlandish perks – like InfusionSoft’s company Camaro for the employee of the month, Go
Daddy’s prizes like 40” plasma TVs for top performers, or
Google’s famed gourmet cafeterias and on-site bowling
alley – what sets these companies apart as workplaces are
the philosophies and practices they have designed to keep
employees engaged, enthusiastic and thinking like owners.
Great Place to Work® has been searching for the world’s
best workplaces for 25 years, and studying what makes
them tick. In this article, we turn our focus to the tech
companies reviewed for the Fortune 100 Best Companies
to Work For® and the Best Small & Medium Workplaces in
America lists, to spotlight some of the most forward-thinking practices tech’s best employers are using to build great
cultures.
R
Crowdsourcing Company Strategy
Today’s top tech firms are tapping into the communal
intelligence of the workforce for everything from strategic
planning to benefits selection to setting cultural values and
vision statements. Biotech leader Genentech sponsored a
grassroots, all-employee campaign to envision the future
of the company. With participation from one in three
employees and over 11,000 ideas generated in just two
weeks, the campaign was a resounding success, and the
model has since been employed for other issues. Meanwhile, the developers at Rally Software use an agile philosophy in their annual planning. Once management outlines
the high-level vision and top five goals, teams are invited
to give formal feedback and influence the final strategy.
Rally employed the same philosophy to refine the
company values and redesign its office space. When
AutoDesk wanted to revitalize the company vision statement, CEO Carl Bass commissioned a small team of
employees to develop a new one that captured what the
company is all about.
Crowdsourcing as a workplace trend remains cuttingedge, and not every employer wants to take the time to
collaborate with thousands of employees on culture and
strategy. Companies not ready to source from the “crowd”
may want to test ideas with smaller crews. Many great
workplaces convene small committees of volunteers who
are tasked with specific agendas from managing the
company’s community involvement initiatives to planning
holiday parties to selecting office furniture. Polls and pulse
surveys are an easy way to connect with employee populations as well. Though it may be in its early stages, the
trend toward crowdsourcing is growing, and great employers are looking for ways to mobilize the power of the
masses for the benefit of the company as a whole.
Retaining a Hacker Mentality
Engineers like to work fast and furious in unfettered
environments – not exactly a cornerstone characteristic of
most corporate cultures. The best tech firms know that a
little room for creativity goes a long way when it comes to
getting the best from employees, and many have instituted
bureaucracy-busting programs that allow a hacker-like
mentality to flourish.
Innovation networks are becoming increasingly popular
with companies across all industries, asking tech teams to
develop proprietary internal apps that allow employees to
submit product ideas and innovations, vote on the best,
and volunteer to participate in execution. Intuit’s homegrown program, Brainstorm, has been so successful for
them that it’s now a part of its product suite. Qualcomm
has taken its Innovation Network system a step further
and integrated the Web app with on-campus lectures,
networking events, mentorships, and other tools. At
Insomniac Games, developers can submit their personal
video game ideas for official consideration. If the company
decides not to develop the employee’s game idea, the IP
address is “returned” to the employee so they can pursue
development on their own. At Cisco, “Rapid Improvement
Events” bring together teams for two- to five-day brainstorms surrounding specific products and projects. These
blitzes keep creativity and morale high. Small biz SEO
Engineers like to work fast and furious
in unfettered environments – not
exactly a cornerstone characteristic of
most corporate cultures.
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Firms that are heavy on engineers
know that what’s good for the geek is
good for the culture, especially when it
comes to balance and benefits
platform, Conductor, Inc., hosts an annual “Hack Day,”
where each employee participates on a small team that
spends a day working on an idea that will make his or her
product, company, or culture better.
To ignite a hacker mentality at your tech company,
create incentives for employees to submit their ideas and
product innovations. Foster healthy competitions with 24hour hack-a-thons, and celebrate the employee or team
that generates the best idea. Sponsor an employee
tradeshow, a sort of science fair where teams can show off
their latest developments. Or, consider rewarding top
performers with “free time” to work on an innovation of
their choosing that can benefit your business.
Good for Geeks
Firms that are heavy on engineers know that what’s
good for the geek is good for the culture, especially when it
comes to balance and benefits. Relatively unheard of a few
years ago, Results-Only Work Environments (and similar
programs that offer employees unlimited vacation and sick
time) are growing in popularity. While the idea of total
flexibility makes some uneasy, the high levels of trust and
engagement at great workplaces make for few abuses of
this system. Providing tools and support can help manage
expectations in the flexible workplace. Cisco, inventors of
many of the technologies that make remote work arrangements feasible, provides tips and best practices on how to
be successful at remote work. Telecommuting and flexibility are nearly ubiquitous in the industry, but it takes a
strong culture and clear expectations to determine
whether or not these programs work.
Fun at tech companies often speaks to the unique needs
of the tech geek. While Friday afternoon beer bashes are a
widespread habit among some of the best companies,
skills-based activities often provide a more meaningful
form of celebration. The IT department at cell phone case
designer and manufacturer Otterbox recently hosted a
“Star Wars Star Ship Build and Fly Contest,” where
employees broke into teams and had 15 minutes to build
and fly their model star ships. Afterwards, employees
responded to questionnaires about how they collaborate
and influence team dynamics.
While it may be the super flashy benefits (such as paid
sabbaticals, scuba diving lessons, on-site Coldplay
concerts, box seats to sporting events, pet insurance, and
more) that capture media attention, offering the benefits
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that mean the most to your people are more important
than cash cubes and Camaros. Consider Google, who
started out by providing benefits like on-site laundry, haircuts, and medical care – benefits that appealed to its
college recruits. They have since added a host of benefits
that acknowledge its changing demographics, including an
expo of local day care providers and summer camps. At
DreamWorks Animation, on-site babysitting is offered
during the “crunch mode” that precedes the completion of
a feature film. Cirrus Logic has found a meaningful way to
acknowledge how employees contribute to the business by
hosting an “Annual Patent Recognition Dinner” to celebrate those employees who contributed patented inventions to the company. While none of these moves will grab
headlines, these benefits are appreciated by the people
who matter most.
To build a great workplace, understand what your
techies want and need when it comes to balance and benefits. Do you have the technology in place to support a more
flexible workplace? Consider rewarding employees with
“tech toy” bonuses so they can purchase and review the
latest gadgets or software. If you are having trouble getting
wellness initiatives off the ground, a Wii Fit Olympics or
providing employees with a FitBit may be the spin needed
to capture their attention.
Culture is Not the Sum of the Perks
Slathering on the perks is like eating frosting out of the
can. It packs a tasty sugar high, but you crash hard. Great
firms know this, and so they start with the right ingredients. Crowdsourcing gets employees thinking and acting
like owners. Employees take more pride in the company,
understand the strategic direction, and grasp how individual roles impact outcomes. Encouraging a hacker mentality shows employees that their ideas matter. It harnesses
the passion and enthusiasm of employees, recognizes their
intrinsic motivation, and rewards them with the best prize
of all – seeing their ideas brought to fruition. And, finally,
finding the right benefits for your population shows care
and support for employees as people. Great benefits are a
fitting way to say thank you to employees for bringing
their best to work every day. The best tech companies
understand that it’s the philosophy, not the perk, that
matters most, and they put their energy into practices that
will strengthen the culture and produce an enthusiastic,
loyal and engaged workforce.
About the Author
Leslie Caccamese serves as senior strategic
marketing manager with Great Place to Work®,
driving key conversations with leaders interested
in building or sustaining great workplaces, and
researching trends and cutting-edge practices
from the best companies to work for. She can be reached at
lcaccamese@greatplacetowork.com.