Every year, US companies are thrilled to make it on Fortune Magazine’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. They take out ads, they write press releases, and you can be sure they list that accolade in every one of their job postings. However, these companies aren’t just pleased that they made a nice company to work at list. They’re thrilled because they know that happy employees actually equates to higher profits.
Don’t believe it? Forbes recently reported that the companies who made the 2014 list saw increased revenues averaging 22.2% last year. Plus, those same companies outperform the S&P 500, the Russell 3000, and they’re hiring at rates five times higher than the national average. In other words, they’re making huge profits, and they’re growing at the same time.
In an interesting CBS News report, one of the founders of Whole Foods discussed his company’s take on the employee/employer relationship. Whole Foods is the only company that has been on Fortune’s list every single year since its inception, and the company thinks that has something to do with the fact that people who work there are called – and considered – “teammates,” not employees. At Whole Foods, “teammates” feel like they are part of a family, and they are proud of the work they do and the products they provide. With a 30% employee discount, they get to enjoy the fruits of their labor, and they are rewarded with team-wide bonuses, encouraging cooperation and – that’s right – team work.
Whole Foods has mastered their workplace culture, making them one of the most profitable companies in the food industry. Of course, changing workplace culture is never an easy task, mainly because it can be difficult to self-assess sources of conflict, friction, or mismanagement. Thus, employee assessments are often an important first step in facilitating positive changes.
Thankfully, employee assessments give companies a place to start from. They provide executives with information about what their employees care about, what they want out of their work, and how they think things could improve. Armed with insights from personal assessments, a manager can open up lines of communication to start implementing positive changes, hopefully leading to happier employees and, as a result, higher profits.
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