What You Can Learn about Recruiting from America‰’s Top 5 Places to Work

What makes a company a great place to work? Each year, Fortune magazine releases a list of the top 100 Best Companies to Work For. We’re taking a closer look at the top five, and what their methods can teach you about improving the working environment in your company.

1. Google

It‰’s no accident that Google has taken the No. 1 place four times. Google makes its money by gathering information from the world and making it useful ‰- and they‰’re doing the same thing internally. The HR department at Google begins their firing, compensation and benefit decisions based on employee feedback gathered through in-depth studies.

Your takeaway: Although the benefits you provide your employees should be competitive in your industry, don‰’t do things just because they’re ‰”best practices‰” or common for similar companies. Do a little research into what policies are actually best for your company and your employees. The best resource is often your employees themselves.

 

2. SAS

A data analytics firm could make for a pretty‰… well, analytical place to work. But SAS leaders go out of their way to consider the attitudes of their employees, making workforce happiness the driver of their company decisions. And it pays off: the company has had 37 consecutive years of record earnings.

Your takeaway: Value your people more highly than anything else, and make it clear to them that you do. Be respectful of their time, their emotional needs and their lives outside of the workplace.

 

3. CHG Healthcare Services

CHG‰’s landed at No. 3 on the list in large part because of their score on the ‰”trust index survey,‰” which asks a random sampling of employees how they feel about management credibility, job satisfaction and reverie. They scored in the 90^th percentile in every category.

Your takeaway: A key to making your company a great place to work is establishing trust in leadership. Give your employees the opportunity to interact with managers and leaders. Consider offering forums where employees can comment or ask questions from the management team.

 

4. The Boston Consulting Group

Boston Consulting Group has gone out of its way to ensure employees have a great work-life balance. In fact, when individuals are working too many long weeks, the company issues a ‰”red zone report,‰” alerting them to the overwork issue. In addition, the firm supports employee causes: new consultants can delay their start date by six months and receive $10,000 to volunteer at a nonprofit.

Your takeaway: Your employees have a life and passions outside of work. If you can support the things they care most about, you can increase loyalty.

 

5. Wegmans Food Markets

Wegmans believes in giving its employees every possibility to advance. Workers are given broad career track opportunities and eligibility for the grocer‰’s scholarship program, which has awarded more than $81 million in educations assistance to more than 25,000 employees.

Your takeaway: Increasing the knowledge, skills and range of your employees benefits everyone. Not only will you have a more valuable asset on your team, but your employees will be confident in the knowledge that they are always growing.

Being a great place to work is about valuing your people and giving them job satisfaction that goes beyond salary. Respect, work-life balance and opportunities to learn and innovate? That’s an offer that the best and brightest can‰’t refuse.

 

Bonus: No. 10 on the “Best Places to Work” list, Camden Property Trust, is based right here in our home city of Houston, Texas. A representative from the company spoke recently at an AMA Houston luncheon about the power of internal culture to their brand, mentioning recruiting and financial results as specific benefits they’ve seen of an employee-centered culture. Camden’s performance in both areas is consistently better than the industry average, with improved employee retention and superior returns as a result of their positive work environment.