As discussed in our whitepaper, “A Higher Purpose Means Higher Profits,” companies that actively engage their employees through a singular purpose are often those that are most successful.
The following three companies are able to share their purpose with their employees in a meaningful way. Does your organization do the same?
Zappos founder Tony Hsieh has made “delivering happiness” central to the business. This means providing top-notch customer service, even when it means losing a sale in the service of building a relationship. The company’s real dedication to pleasing customers has inspired employees, and Hsieh has also made a priority of employee fit and happiness. Each new employee is offered a full month’s salary to quit their job. Employees who aren’t enthusiastic about their work can leave happily, and those who stay do so knowing their company cares about their happiness and wellbeing.
BlueGrace was recently featured in a Forbes column on B2B business and company culture. Why? BlueGrace is focused on its employees in a way that few B2B or B2C companies are. Every new employee is paired with a mentor for their first six months, and employees can award each other $50 bonuses (paid by the company) as a form of peer recognition. CEO Bobby Harris requests weekly anonymous feedback to keep the business focused on employee needs. And in keeping with what we’ve learned this month about social employees, BlueGrace recognizes that employee engagement on social media helps to create a “customer serving culture.”
Etsy, the online marketplace for handmade goods, entered the B2B world with a recent policy change allowing sellers to outsource production to assistants or manufacturing teams. This change both allowed Etsy sellers to grow their businesses and made the site a wholesale source for outside retailers. At the same time, Etsy has been ramping up its programs for employee wellbeing, including an extracurricular class program that lets employees share their talents with each other. At a time when many companies have cut down on employee training, Etsy also invested in sending a group of women to coding school, and hired several of them at the end of the course.
Each of the above companies uses different methods to communicate their purpose, but they all reach the same conclusion: their employees, customers, and stakeholders all are aware of their purpose and will to benefit the rest of the world. As a result of this, they are well-respected and known within their fields for the good they do, and this drives new customers and new profit.
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