Some companies just know how to keep employees happy.
You should be jealous of them. Research (and common sense) shows that happy employees work harder, work better, and work for you longer. Keeping your employees happy gives you more than just warm fuzzies; it bolsters your bottom line.
Jealousy aside, you can benefit by noticing what other companies are doing in terms of employee happiness. Unlike proprietary recipes or classified algorithms, you can steal these effective ways to keep your team happier.
Ready to be inspired? Here are takeaways from 15 down-to-earth companies that know the best ways to keep employees happy.
1. Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated
How they keep employees happy: setting culture “rules”
Photo belongs to Scott Schiller via Flickr
Robert W. Baird & Co. boasts repeat placement on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list. How does the financial services company do it? By weaving associate happiness into every aspect of their business. You’ll even find it prioritized in their mission statement:
To provide the best financial advice and service to our clients and be the best place to work for our associates.
But Chairman, President, and CEO Paul Purcell has an even more concrete rule to guide employee behavior which he likes to call the “no asshole rule.” The rule boils down to employees treating their co-workers with honesty and respect at all times…even if they’re grumpy. It turns out this simple rule breeds an office full of happy employees.
2. Bucketfeet
How they keep employees happy: feeding curiosity
Photo belongs to John Keane via Flickr
Nothing invigorates a typical workday like learning something new…and relevant. Bucketfeet feeds its employees’ appetites for knowledge with a monthly learning series on topics relevant to their mission. The perspective of guest speakers keeps creativity thriving and employees inspired. It’s like attending the most inspirational session at a conference every single month…and with no travel necessary.
#EmployeeHappiness Tip: Feed curiosity Click To Tweet3. Cole’s Salon and Spa
How they keep employees happy: giving them ownership
Cole’s uses an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) to help employees get, and stay, invested in the business. Through the plan, Cole’s employees own a whopping 44% of the company. The salon’s employee happiness rate and low turnaround proves employee ownership vital to every kind of business. When employee feel invested, they don’t just walk away.
4. 2U
How they keep employees happy: by working hard, and playing hard
Photo provided by 2U
High employee ratings on Glassdoor.com landed this education technology company on the Washington Post’s Top Workplaces 2015 list. 2U offers the usual menu of employee happiness offerings from holiday parties to casual clothes.
They shine above other companies by encouraging employees to make their own fun instead of waiting for company-sponsored events. This lead to a popular office basketball league. 2U also has an amazing annual company meeting where they send their entire company to Disney World.
5. Epic
How they keep employees happy: taking team building seriously
Photo belongs to Moyen Brenn via Flickr
For most companies, team building involves a trip to a baseball game or maybe an all-day winery outing if you’re lucky. Epic takes team building much further (literally) with the “Epic Odyssey.” They send teams to other countries to soak up culture in ways that inform their business and build team skills in unexpected ways. Additionally, they offer a four-week paid sabbatical program that has taken employees to New Zealand, Tanzania, and Germany.
#EmployeeHappiness Tip: Take team building seriously Click To Tweet6. Qualcomm
How they keep employees happy: being flexible… and meaning it
Photo belongs to Diego Andres via Flickr
Many companies tout flexible work options, but prove stiff when push comes to shove. Qualcomm doesn’t just offer its employees flexibility, it makes sure employees have plenty of flexible options to fit any schedule like telecommuting, compressed weeks, and job sharing. Compressed weeks let employees load up on hours to get one day a week off and job sharing frees up time by letting two employees split the work load of one full-time job.
It pays off! According to a CareerBliss.com’s analysis, Qualcomm enjoyed one of the biggest jumps in employee happiness year over year when compared to other companies.
7. AnswerLab
How they keep employees happy: offering unique allowances
Photo belongs to 401(K) 2012 via Flickr
Since AnswerLab focuses on digital experiences, they want to attract employees who know tech, use tech, and presumably love tech. Knowing that a love for tech motivates their employees, they offer a $400 tech allowance for employees to spend on whatever they want from devices to apps. They find it a small price to pay for learning, which they consider one of the four buckets (career, learning, wellness, and giving back) of employee happiness.
8. Institute for Integrative Nutrition
How they keep employees happy: keeping them fueled with the good stuff
Photo belongs to US Army Africa via Flickr
The Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) goes beyond teaching employees what they should eat for wellness – they deliver it on a silver platter! All employees get a free, chef-prepared lunch every day, not to mention healthy breakfasts and snacks. And since they clearly value an integrative approach to health, they also offer free vitamin supplements and on-site massages, acupuncture, and chiropractic care.
#EmployeeHappiness Tip: Provide a food-based perk Click To Tweet9. Miller Auto Plaza, St. Cloud
How they keep employees happy: encouraging community involvement
Photo belongs to North Charleston via Flickr
Community philanthropy landed Miller Auto Plaza onto the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Top Workplaces list. From highway clean ups to food drives, Miller Auto Plaza and its employees have been involved with it all. The philanthropic focus provides a sense of well-being and fulfillment that keeps Miller’s employees happy.
#EmployeeHappiness Tip: Encourage community involvement Click To Tweet10. Weebly
How they keep employees happy: considering convenience
Don’t take it personally when your employees beeline towards the door at the end of the day. They probably love their jobs, they just have stuff to do at home. Weebly hopped onto Greatist’s Healthiest Companies to Work For list by thinking about everything employees have to do at home…after work. They offer home cleaning and concierge services so employees’ thoughts aren’t plagued by chores they need to complete.
11. FullContact
How they keep employees happy: making vacation impossible to refuse
Business leaders everywhere extol the regenerative powers of taking vacation. The problem? It’s never really a convenient time for a break, so people put off vacation until it’s lost. FullContact makes sure employees recharge their brains by offering a vacation incentive of $7,500. Employees can only use it for vacation and they’re not allowed to check work emails while they’re on it.
12. MediaMath
How they keep employees happy: fostering autonomy
MediaMath’s employees spoke up to land them on Glassdoor’s Best Small and Medium Companies to Work For list. The company realized long ago that employee happiness runs deeper than the beer fridge. They’ve found that keeping employees happy means giving them some power. They build loose team structures so roles aren’t rigid and have even let employees re-write their own job descriptions.
#EmployeeHappiness Tip: Foster autonomy Click To Tweet13. Bain & Company
How they keep employees happy: promoting equality
Photo belongs to Sharon Mattheson-McCutcheon via Flickr
Bain & Company has landed on so many top workplaces lists, you can bet they know how to keep employees happy. Bain & Co shines especially in rankings of equality. The Human Right’s Campaign gave it 100% on their corporate equality index. It also topped Working Mother’s 100 Best Companies list for its flexible work schedules, assistance for new parents, and programs designed to advance women. Equality breeds respect, and respect breeds happiness.
14. Grasshopper
How they keep employees happy: using limited resources well
Photo belongs to Ginny via Flickr
Happiest employee lists often highlight companies with expensive initiatives. Onsite gyms, pools, and tracks? Sure, all of those fitness options would make anyone happy.
What if you don’t have the resources for things like that? A Salary.com list of companies with incredible employee perks featured Grasshopper, a company with no onsite gym. Instead, they have a Wii Room where employees can exercise virtually. The games still get employees’ heart rates up and release endorphins without breaking the bank.
15. Killer Infographics
How they keep employees happy: making it easy for them to speak up
Photo belongs to Gary Knight via Flickr
Killer Infographics knows what happens when employees can’t or don’t speak up about what’s bothering them: festering and inevitable explosions of anger. Even having “open doors” doesn’t mean that all employees will speak up. Some are too shy or they’re just too uncomfortable to voice their frustrations.
So, instead of the usual “open door” policies, Killer Infographics actively encourages employees to speak up using a workplace survey tool. This gives everyone a chance to be heard, even if they’re not outgoing.
#EmployeeHappiness Tip: Make it easy for them to speak up Click To TweetConclusion
With so much food for thought on the topic of how to keep employees happy, you might feel a bit overwhelmed when you imagine actually implementing anything. Many employee happiness strategies spring from years of observation, discussion, and analysis of company culture.
How do we help companies promote happiness around the office? By delivering healthy snacks.
Snacks make your employees feel appreciated and keep productivity up as they avoid the sugar crashes and food comas that come from eating junk food. To start helping your team feel even happier at work, we want to offer your company a free sample box of SnackNation (just cover S&H).
Do you know of other companies that know how to keep employees happy? Comment below to give them a shout-out!
Your compilation and analysis is apt and really interesting. I work in a project office charged with managing change for my firm, and part of our activities to embed change into our processes and culture are employee happiness programs. The challenge how ever is that I work in Nigeria, and the average Nigerian worker is not mature enough for some of the initiatives indicated above, i.e if introduced ,it may require a 150% monitoring to avoid a decrease in productivity, as a result of lack of discipline and distractions
Is there a way that I can get something like the above, which is more relatable to the African work environment, as I agree that employee happiness culture is becoming a trend for organisations of this era.