Unlimited - The 20 Best Places to Work

While uttering the “f” word is hardly a sackable offence, actually doing so in the workplace has historically raised eyebrows. Until now.

“Fun” is the single most commonly used word when employees and managers of the Top 20 organisations in this year’s Unlimited Best Places to Work survey describe their workplace.

Clearly, it’s on the tip of the tongues at radio station More FM, the winner of this year’s survey. Step into the More FM office, where there’s a disco ball hanging from the boardroom ceiling, and raucous laughter carrying the promise of a never-ending party, and you might wonder how they manage to get the show on the air or meet their budget. But, as the most profitable radio station in Auckland (and pretty high up there in New Zealand, overall), it seems that the fun philosophy is working well.

Larry Somerville, chief executive of More FM since the first song hit the airwaves in 1992, puts it to his 42 staff bluntly: If you’re not enjoying yourself here, please have the commonsense to leave and go ruin someone else’s business.

“Fun is what people want,” says John Robertson, head of human resources consultancy John Robertson & Associates, which conducted the survey. “It’s always been one of the key drivers. Year to year its significance shifts in relationship to others and this year, it’s the second most significant driver.”

Drivers? You know, the things that are important, that motivate staff and keep them happy. An interesting thing happened in the rankings of this year’s drivers: while number one continued to be having a future in an organisation, it lost some ground. In 2003, the weighted value was 41%; this year it was just 19%. Working in a fun place was 16% compared to 10% last year. An indication, it seems, that in our tight labour market, employees are less concerned about sticking around: give ’em a good place to work and they’ll stay; make it miserable with a grumpy boss, and they’ll hit the road.

“This puts more pressure on organisations to improve,” says Robertson. Just having a ball but with no sense of direction or future won’t work either, he adds. “Employees will stick around for a while and then go somewhere else. The trick is in bringing [the drivers] together.”

What are the areas where workplaces are doing poorly?
For the last five years of the survey, one area has consistently rated amongst the lowest: Employee perception that they’re doing a good job. While 83% of employees in the Top 20 companies feel they get recognition for a good job, only 58% in those companies that didn’t make the Top 20 do.

“It’s intriguing,” says Robertson, “because it doesn’t cost any money. And it’s important to people — we know it’s one of the things that really has a powerful influence on people’s attitude not only to an organisation but very much to their managers.” Pop into Colenso BBDO for the monthly assembly and you’ll see recognition for a job well done in action: with a laugh, they’ll award the worst ad and idiot of the month; with due respect, they’ll celebrate the best.

But back to fun. What is it, anyhow? First, it’s not trivial and it needn’t be table tennis and super soakers. It’s that basket of reasons that makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning and go to work — and it includes the factors that rated the highest: knowing what is expected of you in your job; working for a successful organisation; knowing how your work contributes to that success; and being proud of the organisation you work for.

Sure, at ad agency Colenso BBDO, there’s the fully stocked bar (a privilege that’s never been abused), but that’s not enough to make a great workplace. Nor is the outdoor barbeque (that was a staff reward when the agency won the Air New Zealand account) or the open door policy for family and kids to visit.

“Fun,” reflects Neil Livingstone, Colenso’s managing director, “is in the achievement.” A sense of belonging to an organisation, to a ‘community’ or ‘family’ is the third most highly rated driver.

“One of the byproducts of having fun,” says Robertson, “is a creation of a sense of community. One of the byproducts of community is having fun. It’s circular.”

Oh sure, it is easy to have a fun workplace when you’re a radio station or an ad agency. But how about those places that are more ‘serious’? No excuses.

Take a look at Fletcher Easysteel. Think smoko rooms, meat pies and girly calendars? Think again. Work being fun, rewarding and challenging is one of the company values at Easysteel.

And it wasn’t something just mandated from above. While Fletcher (the parent company) has a mission and values statement, the Easysteel group wanted one of its own. Senior management wrote a skeleton draft then consulted all 200-plus employees who were invited and encouraged to edit the ideas and put them into their own words. That way, through consultation with the staff, the values became their own. In 2003, Easysteel entered the BPTW survey for, says HR manager Julie Gould, a bit of fun. But after surprising itself and coming in at number 36, the company made it a goal to be in the Top 20 in 2004. And not only is it number 15 (in a tie with Toyota Financial Services) overall, but Easysteel is number three in the medium-size category.

David Chung is one of the guys in bright orange overalls manhandling steel. He was impressed with the friendliness at Easysteel the minute he came for an interview. As he sat nervously in the cafeteria, another steel worker came over, welcomed him, had a chat and made him feel comfortable. Sure, he’s at Easysteel to make a living, but it’s not just the money, it’s the extra benefits that make a community, as well his wife has taken advantage of the tertiary education fund that’s available for partners and kids. Chung is also proud of how Easysteel has met the needs of a diverse workforce with, for example, classes in stopping smoking, diabetes prevention and English as a second language.

Celebrations are also the norm at Easysteel, whether for how well the business is doing or a special barbeque when a production goal is reached. Or when Kathryn Mead, a world-class rifle shooter and member of the supply team, wins a competition or returns from the Commonwealth Games.

Celebration of success is a major difference between the Top 20 organisations and the other 141 surveyed. Some 92% of employees in the Top 20 agree with the statement “we celebrate success”. A measly 66% of the rest do in the other surveyed companies.
And give them a reason for sticking around for more fun: the Top 20 score higher — 91% versus 76% of the others surveyed — when asked if their organisation has a clear vision of where it’s going and how it’s going to get there.

“It’s surprising,” says Robertson, “the number of companies that don’t have a sharp focus on what they’re about. If you ask ‘what do you do?’ they have a fairly broad statement.”

Down in Anakiwa, Outward Bound is this year’s most improved player. It rose by a walloping 10% from 2003 to land in second place. While lifting scores in all sections of the survey, two areas — culture and values, and common purpose — which hadn’t even ranked in the top eight in 2003, were numbers one and two respectively in 2004.

How did it do it? Steve Hall, who was appointed school director in November 2003, removed a layer between the instructors and management, created more clarity around what Outward Bound is about and what’s important, initiated more mentoring and coaching, and enlisted the instructors to rewrite the instructor handbook. On a strategic level, chief executive Trevor Taylor went about uniting the school in Anakiwa, the board (mostly Auckland) and the business office in Wellington. The gulf between the three, Taylor says, has disappeared.

The result? Instructor Bronnie King says, “It feels like we’re being led, we’re going somewhere and we’re going there together.”

While fun is great, the real reason businesses exist is a tad more commercial. And that’s okay. Somerville is clear about who is number one at More FM and it’s not the expected cliché — the customer. It’s the staff. When staff are happy, they perform at their best, he says. And that translates into good service for the customer and financial rewards will follow. That way the chief executive gets to stick around and have fun too.

Be the best
If you’re trying to improve your workplace, here are the eight areas most important to focus on, according to the respondents in the 2004 survey. There’s been a bit of shuffling over the years, but having a future with the organisation has held steady at number one for three years. Having fun at work edged out having a sense of belonging, which ranked second last year.

1. I feel there is a future for me at this organisation (19%)
2. This organisation is a fun place to work (16%)
3. I feel a sense of belonging to this organisation (12%)
4. The work I do makes full use of my knowledge and skills (9%)
5. The pay and benefits I receive are fair for the work I do (8%)
6. I feel I am working for a successful organisation (7%)
7. I have confidence in the leadership of this organisation (5%)
8. I believe in what this organisation is trying to accomplish (5%)

The bottom line
Does managing all this warm fluffiness leave you cold and with no time left to count your money? Guess what. The companies that rank the highest are also making more money — 91% of the 2004 Top 20 reported an increase in revenue growth compared to 80% of the others, and not only are they growing, their profits are up, too. An impressive 74% of the 2004 Top 20 companies reported an increase in net profit (after tax) over the last financial year compared with 60% of the others.

Still not convinced making your place a best place to work matters? Then think about your customers: of the winning organisations, 78% reported higher customer satisfaction compared with their major competitors. The rest of the field? 66%.

Survey & analysis by:

The 20 Best Places to Work

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