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This really is quite a radical idea in today's business world. The conventional wisdom says that in a public company, there are at least three competing interests that an executive has to contend with: The interests of the employees, the interests of the customers, and the interests of the shareholders. And of course the executives are not without their own interests.But what if this conventional wisdom is all wrong? What if it's not a zero-sum game, and making the shareholders happy doesn't mean that you have to make the employees unhappy? These two CEOs have proposed that if a company focuses on the happiness of its employees, all else will follow: Happy customers, happy shareholders, and presumably happy executives.So is it only a matter of time until CEOs the world over begin to focus exclusively on employee happiness? John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, seems to think so:
I don't know if I'm quite so optimistic about that. Hopefully, people will use Coderific to rate those few employers who do adhere to this philosophy. If the word gets out that an employer is one of the few companies actually focusing on employee happiness, imagine the edge that they'll have on hiring good coders.
blog - happy employees make businesses succeed
posted by witten on June 29, 2008
There's an interesting article/interview with the founders of Whole Foods and The Container Store: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1818183,00.html
The idea is that happy, empowered employees beget happy customers. Happy suppliers help too. All this stakeholder joy eventually redounds to the benefit of shareholders--but the magic fades if shareholders become the focus.
This really is quite a radical idea in today's business world. The conventional wisdom says that in a public company, there are at least three competing interests that an executive has to contend with: The interests of the employees, the interests of the customers, and the interests of the shareholders. And of course the executives are not without their own interests.But what if this conventional wisdom is all wrong? What if it's not a zero-sum game, and making the shareholders happy doesn't mean that you have to make the employees unhappy? These two CEOs have proposed that if a company focuses on the happiness of its employees, all else will follow: Happy customers, happy shareholders, and presumably happy executives.So is it only a matter of time until CEOs the world over begin to focus exclusively on employee happiness? John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, seems to think so:
"Simultaneously we hit upon the philosophy that I think will be the dominant philosophy in business in the 21st century," Mackey says. "It's this principle that the purpose of business is not primarily to maximize shareholder value."
I don't know if I'm quite so optimistic about that. Hopefully, people will use Coderific to rate those few employers who do adhere to this philosophy. If the word gets out that an employer is one of the few companies actually focusing on employee happiness, imagine the edge that they'll have on hiring good coders.
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Re: happy employees make businesses succeed posted on June 30, 2008 11:16 AM
Like anything else in live, moderation in the key. Employees need to be moderately happy, stock holders need to be moderately happy, and CEOs.. well F-the CEOs.
Companies that treat their employees well will get some extra mileage out of their employees. However, when the companies push too hard all that will result will be a large turnover.
For example, I used to work for Softscape and the CEO came out with a new bonus plan. It went something like this. If you averaged 50 hours a week for the year you got a monetary bonus. Sounds fair? Well it really wasn't. 50 hours a week equates to 10 hours a day. But this CEO defined the 50 hours as a true 50 hours a week meaning that during Xmas... if you took a day off for the holiday that was 10 hours you would have to make up. Thanksgiving, a one or 2 day break equaled 10 to 20 hours you would have to make up. And don't even think of going on vacation.
Needless to say, nobody received the bonus and several people quit.
So, if the CEO had allowed people some breaks, he would have gotten much more out of his people but instead.... the company just turned over people. -
Re: happy employees make businesses succeed posted by witten on June 30, 2008 04:25 PM
Wow.Executives won't be able to make their employees happy until they shake the mistaken notion that more hours worked equals more productivity. Or that working insane hours somehow means you're more dedicated to the success of the company. If anything, the opposite is true. Working reasonable hours means you'll be more productive, thereby helping the company's bottom line more than someone who stays late creating bugs.