In today s world we see new companies open every day; everyone is always

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1 1 INTENT STATEMENT Companies that value their employees and diversity in the workplace are more successful and therefore more profitable because each single person working in the company is satisfied. Leaders that have followed this way of building their companies have created not only a profitable business but also a subculture for its employers that is easily marketable and more attractive for its clients. AUDIENCE DESCRIPTION My audience includes managers of big companies that have the power to change the way the company treats its employees. While my audience can include all kinds of companies worldwide, it may be easier for me to address specific U.S. companies that should implement my view. I also would like to include in my audience young startups and future entrepreneurs, therefore current students that want to build their own business in the future. STRATEGY EXPLANATION After stating why it is important that companies create a good environment for its employees I want to address how companies can actually implement this and how it will benefit them. I will explain how motivating environments benefit the business and why a company should think of ways to integrate it even though it can be expensive. I will bring real examples of companies that are very successful and have created a very unique place for its workers. I will continue by bringing more case studies on how even the employees themselves can motivate each other in putting as much effort as they can. I will also demonstrate how empowering people and letting them be themselves, therefore creating a workplace that is open to diversity, will positively impact workers productivity. I want to conclude addressing the fact that empowering employees and promoting diversity may not be the goal of a business but are traits of the most profitable companies in the world. People should seek a job within these companies because it s in these places that they can be more successful.

2 2 In today s world we see new companies open every day; everyone is always talking about startups. At the same time, we observe already successful companies reinvent themselves to keep up with today s customers requests. However, only a few startups become truly successful, and for those companies that are already set in stone, rethinking their business strategy sometimes may not be enough. Today, it is almost required that companies think not only about how to best satisfy their customers but how to attract the most outstanding employees. Accomplishing this is no easy task, but for those businesses that truly invest in creating a motivating and accepting environment for their employees, the job is done. What these companies achieve is attract and integrate a diverse pool of employees who, thanks to their diversity, bring new ideas and therefore improvement through innovation. This inevitably improves the company s bottom line. When firms don t take too much care of the environment they create for their workers, they forget that employees can make the difference in satisfying the companies clients. Not only is implementing diversity important, but creating opportunities for employees to express themselves in the workplace has also become a pillar for advantageous competition among companies. Creating a rewarding system is also fundamental to improve motivation, and it could begin in the form of verbal recognition. Recognizing people s work and contributions return to the company in the form of more involved and productive workers, as it is the case of Pret a Manger, a famous British sandwich shop chain, now well known also in the East Coast of the United States. Pret a Manger has created a rewarding system

3 3 that involves all its employees. For example, when someone new is hired, he/she is sent to the shop where, after a six-hour day of work, the current employees decide through a vote whether to keep the person. The person therefore has to gain the support of his/her colleagues, but there is more: to promote teamwork, bonuses are awarded based on team performance instead of individual performance. Moreover, when an employee is promoted, he/she receives a payment reward that the person must distribute among the colleagues that helped him/her to achieve that position. In addition, anonymous shoppers are frequently sent to the shop to grade the store, and if graded as outstanding the workers obtain bonuses. Not only are Pret s profits outstanding, but its employee s turnover is only 60%, compared to the average for the fast food industry that is % (Clifford). Creating a culture where employees feel integrated and everyone s opinion truly matters toward contributing in a project motivates people to do their best. A recent study demonstrated how there are four basic drives that underlie motivation, and they are the drives to acquire, bond, comprehend and defend (Nohria). Specific actions can be taken to fuel these drives in order to improve employees commitment to their job. This would also decrease employee turnover, which cuts costs for the company and improves the internal dynamics of the business. The study also reveals that there is a specific lever that can be used to fulfill each of the four basic drives of motivation. For example, the drive to acquire is best fueled by a rewarding system that recognizes individual achievements and ties rewards to performance. Companies must recognize high performances and reward people by

4 4 giving them a promotion, which relaxes the atmosphere and motivates people to do their best. The drive to bond is fulfilled by creating a culture that promotes teamwork, collaboration, openness, and friendship (Nohria). In other words, this means creating a culture that welcomes diversity in all its forms: opinions, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. The drive to comprehend is fueled by designing meaningful and interesting jobs in which employees can fulfill their desire to learn. Cirque du Soleil, for instance, does this by allowing its performers to use their creativity and by pushing them to perfect their skills. Finally, the desire to defend is fulfilled by an environment with clear rules and transparent processes where employees can understand the decisions the company is taking. Although these may sound like time-consuming and expensive changes for companies that have never considered them, the return to the firm is actually worth the effort. Available data shows that firms who have implemented even a small enhancement of all four drives rather than focusing on greatly improving only one have seen employees motivation increase by 21% (Nohria). This makes the company more competitive because it creates workers who truly believe in the success of the company and who are working towards common goals rather than individual achievements. Creating a workplace that welcomes diversity makes employees more productive because they are free to be who they are. They don t have to worry about conforming to a culture in which they don t belong. Moreover, they don t feel like the business is simply using their energy. Rather, they are empowered and can focus their energy on goals that are shared with the business (Goffee). The dream

5 5 company for people seems to be a place where individual difference are nurtured; information is not suppressed or spun; the company add value to employees [ ] the organization stands for something meaningful, and where the work is rewarding and there are no stupid rules (Goffee). A workplace like this seems almost too good to be true. However, in a society where people easily adapt to changes and are used to fast rewarding systems, companies must also adapt to the fact that the best employees must be treated as such. When employees feel undervalued it s easy for them to find another workplace that will fairly reward them, but it s not as simple for the company they leave to replace the empty position. A company may find a fast replacement, but the integration of that person in the work cycle and the community takes time and effort and therefore costs money. This is why it is so important for all kinds of businesses to focus on making their employees satisfied before they focus on satisfying their customers. The ideal organization not only welcomes and accommodates diversity but it also accommodates those employees that like to conform to, for instance, regular business hours such as 9-to-5 schedule. A successful example of this is the luxury-goods company LVMH, where, next to creative minds like Marc Jacobs, business executives focused in analytical problems. This doesn t mean giving employees too much flexibility, as it may sound to some, but allowing employees to give their best contribution because they don t have to worry about unnecessary rules. An extreme example of this way of treating employees is the company SAS, leader in business analytics software and services. Jim Goodnight, CEO of SAS, has the following philosophy: Treat employees like they

6 6 make a difference and they will. According to Mr. Goodnight, 95% of my assets drive out the gate every evening. It s my job to maintain a work environment that keeps those people coming back every morning. SAS was ranked No.2 on 2014 Fortune list of Best Companies to Work for in the U.S., and No.4 in 2015, but how has SAS achieved such high rankings, and what do they do differently? The broader answer is that SAS has created for its employees a very unique workplace where people feel like they are part of a big family and their jobs make a difference. Among the amenities available for SAS workers, a fitness center that includes a swimming pool and golf course is just the beginning of it; not only can employees and their families have access to a health center and childcare, but workers can have lunch with their children. They can also attend educational programs that help people keep track of their financial goals. Moreover, the job at SAS begins with three paid weeks of vacation. The results? The turnover rate at SAS is 4% while the average for the industry is 15%. While not all companies can implement what SAS has done, there are other ways to motivate and empower employees without incurring major changes and expenses. A successful way to engage and motivate employees is by creating what is defined as Collective Ambition. This is a powerful model that represents how leaders and employees of a firm think about why they exist, what they hope to accomplish, how they will collaborate to achieve their ambition, and how their brand promise aligns with their core values (Ready). The model focuses the attention on seven fundamental elements: purpose, vision, targets and milestones,

7 7 strategic and operational priorities, brand promise, core values, and leader behaviors (Ready). If developed, these elements help a company realize if there are misalignments among its leadership, between leadership and employees, and ultimately between the purpose of the company and the targeted clients. Needless to say, this takes considerable effort, but when done correctly it can turn around a company that is on the edge of failing, as was the case with the hotel chain Four Seasons in 2008, or Sephora in What both of these companies have in common is that they have reinvented themselves not by focusing on one goal but by creating a shared sense of purpose for the entire firm (Ready). In 2003, Sephora was on the edge of being sold by LVMH, the world s leading luxury products group, because the CEO didn t believe it had any competitive advantage. However, Sephora hired a new CEO, Jacques Levy, who realized the company s competitive advantage; its purpose one of the seven elements described was providing its customers with a fun and engaging experience while shopping for cosmetics. From this discovery, all the other elements have been defined in line with the purpose described, and the company was again successful. While there is no written recipe that can improve a company s performance, it is clear that firms must begin a self-assessment of their internal organization as well as their reason for operating. When we try to analyze why certain companies are more successful than others it s hard to find data collected on stories of failure. Therefore, what worked well for successful companies may actually be amplified. However, for companies that are struggling and don t know how to improve their

8 8 image, benefitting their employees always seems to be the best way to turnaround the company. Such was the case with Campbell Soup Co., the famous canned soup company, which, in 2001, was on the verge of failure, and is now still open and profitable. When Douglas Conant became the new CEO, Campbell faced rumors of being on the edge of failing, and sales for its main product line were declining. However, Conant enforced a different strategy within the company; he believed that to win in the marketplace [ ] you must first win in the workplace. I m obsessed with keeping employee engagement front and center and keeping up energy around it (Waghorn). Back in 2002, a Gallup study on Campbell s managers discovered that 62% of them felt not actively engaged in their job, [and] 12% felt they were actively disengaged (Waghorn). The first thing that Conant did was make sure that people felt valued and that the company was committed to its employees; he created what they called the Campbell Promise: Campbell valuing people, people valuing Campbell. He also made sure that the most important criteria upon which every leader was evaluated was his/her ability to inspire others. The company also started celebrating the success of its employees, and the CEO often wrote personal thank-you notes to employees at all levels. The results of all these changes can be quantified: in 2009, 68% of Campbell s employees felt actively engaged and only 3% felt actively disengaged. The company increased earning by 4% every year, with EPS growing between 5% and 10% per year. These results occurred thanks to a radical improvement in the entire culture of the firm, which improved the company s financial position (Waghorn).

9 9 The ways companies like Campbell and Sephora have dug themselves out of failure include steps that could be taken from smaller and younger companies that are new in the market. Even startups can t simply begin to operate without outstanding employees contributing to their visions. These employees must be recognized and motivated every day because they are the assets of the business. When a company is not doing well, management often tends to look at reasons outside the internal operations, blaming new competition and trying to improve marketing strategies. However, failing to recognize the human assets in a company may be the main reason why the business is about to fail.

10 10 BIBLIOGRAPHY Clifford, Stephanie. "Would You Like a Smile With That?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Aug Web. 25 Mar Goffee, Rob, and Gareth Jones. "Creating the Best Workplace on Earth." Harvard Business Review. N.p., 01 May Web. 15 Mar Nohria, Nitin, Boris Groysberg, and Linda-Eling Lee. "Employee Motivation: A Powerful New Model." Harvard Business Review. N.p., 01 July Web. 20 Mar Ready, Douglas A., and Emily Truelove. "The Power of Collective Ambition." Harvard Business Review. N.p., 01 Dec Web. 16 Mar Waghorn, Terry. "How Employee Engagement Turned Around Campbell's." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 24 Mar

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