As a manager within a business, it is critical to maintain a transparent, mutually beneficial and positive environment for the individuals that you manage. This provides for a healthy and supportive environment within which individuals can flourish and in turn allow the company to reach new heights and capture new goals. Attained from “2020 Fortune Best Companies to Work For” are three examples of businesses that are actively finding ways to provide the aforementioned environment for their employees. These companies are Cisco, Ultimate Software and Stryker. Cisco and Ultimate Software are both within the information management space while Stryker is within the manufacturing and production space. While these companies all have overlaps, the fundamentals between information management and manufacturing and production are very different. As a result, we are provided with a great range of examples through which employees can be managed efficiently and effectively. Moreover, Cisco and Stryker are fairly large companies at over 20,000 employees within each one. Ultimate Software only has 5,000 employees which creates a more close-knit space for individuals within their workplace.
At Ultimate Software, it is shown that employees within this company feel as if they are family [1]. This makes sense as their company is on the smaller side comparatively which provides for more opportunities for the employees to mingle and become involved in each other’s business and personal life. Employees at Ultimate Software also say that they are not afraid to communicate with one another and that the culture at this company provides a sense of community [1] which is corroborated by their ‘family’ atmosphere.
At Cisco, individuals said that there is a good work life balance and that they are able to pursue their own personal passions and goals while also pursuing the goals of the company [2]. A good work life balance gives employees a sense of peace so that they are able to handle their own lives. This provides a form of stress relief as employees can remain in a good headspace while they are at work for the company as they know their personal lives are in good shape. Employees at Cisco also stated that they do not feel like robots and that they are satisfied that their workplace provides a team-like mentality [2]. The ability for a large company such as Cisco to maintain such a healthy workforce goes to show that even large companies have the ability to maintain worker happiness and enthusiasm.
At Stryker, individuals and members of the company feel there is a strong culture within the workforce that provides for a driven and balanced environment [3]. An environment such as this provides for a good foundation upon which employees are able to build their professional careers. Unsurprisingly, Stryker also has the longest retention of their workforce as they are able to provide for a balanced and driven workplace environment. This enables employees to think about their own goals and keeps them motivated to stay and work with the company. Stryker also provides opportunities for growth and support to allow their workforce to flourish.
Overall, we can see that across multiple different sized companies, the ability of a business to provide a healthy, positive and nurturing environment for employees is paramount to the longevity and success of that business. The concept of human capital is understood more in depth due to this. If employees are happy with their workplace, they will not want to leave and as a result, the business can develop its human capital and remain wealthy and abundant in talent and individual skill and ideas. This way, the business is able to remain fluid in spite of unknown and complex challenges that can make or break businesses.
Sources Cited
[1] Work, G. P. T. (n.d.). Ultimate Software. Great Place To Work®. https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certified-company/1000847
[2] Work, G. P. T. (n.d.-a). Cisco. Great Place To Work®. https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certified-company/1000064
[3] Work, G. P. T. (n.d.-b). Stryker. Great Place To Work®. https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certified-company/1001307
