After 23 years, my answer’s still the same. Great people. I’m talking about the ones at the bottom, in the middle, and those at the top. In all departments. Everyone.

But it’s up to the leader—the entrepreneur, owner of the business, president or CEO—to make his or her company a great place to work. Creating an organization that gets rave reviews from their employees. Where everyone has a great time at work.

And here’s what else you get: A place that attracts and retains the best talent. With higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, increased productivity and profitability. Just great stuff.

Creating a great place to work.

So what if your company isn’t on FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies To Work For In America” list? The annual ranking of companies that rate high with employees, like: American Express (37), CDW (34), Genentech (1), Intuit (43). And the 96 others.

Not to worry. If you work hard enough, you just might make the list. Maybe next year?

“Any company or business can be a great place to work,” according to The Great Place To Work® Institute, Inc.—a San Francisco-based research and management consulting organization.

The GPTWI’s approach is based on the major findings of 20 years of research—that trust between managers and employees is the primary defining characteristic of the very best workplaces.

At the heart of their definition of a great place to work—a place where employees "trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with"—is the idea that a great workplace is measured by the quality of the three, interconnected relationships that exist there:

● The relationship between employees and management.

● The relationship between employees and their jobs/company.

● The relationship between employees and other employees.

It all starts with Trust…and goes from there.

Trust is the essential ingredient for the primary workplace relationship between the employee and the employer. According to the GPTWI model, trust is composed of three dimensions: Credibility, Respect, and Fairness.

Credibility. Credibility means managers regularly communicate with employees about the company's direction and plans—and solicit their ideas. It involves coordinating people and resources efficiently and effectively, so that employees know how their work relates to the company's goals. It's the integrity management brings to the business. To be credible, words must be followed by action.

Respect. Respect involves providing employees with the equipment, resources, and training they need to do their job. It means appreciating good work and extra effort. It includes reaching out to employees and making them partners in the company's activities, fostering a spirit of collaboration across departments and creating a work environment that's safe and healthy. Respect means that work/life balance is a practice, not a slogan.

Fairness. Poor Customer Service - Are Your Customers Driving Away Other Customers
Every customer you have is a word-of-mouth advertiser for you. Unfortunately 90% of this free advertising is negative. Your goal is to get positive-word-of-mouth advertisers.Think about it, how do you decide where to shop? Your chief consideration may be location or price, but service is a silent draw that cannot be overlooked.Years ago we went to a get our oil changed at the Citgo station at Rochester and Hamlin in Rochester Hills. The owner was in tough competition with the established shop across Rochester Road. We were first in line and the shop really did achieve their time goal as we were pulling in the bay in just over 5 minuWith higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, increased productivity and profitability. Just great stuff.

Creating a great place to work.

So what if your company isn’t on FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies To Work For In America” list? The annual ranking of companies that rate high with employees, like: American Express (37), CDW (34), Genentech (1), Intuit (43). And the 96 others.

Not to worry. If you work hard enough, you just might make the list. Maybe next year?

“Any company or business can be a great place to work,” according to The Great Place To Work® Institute, Inc.—a San Francisco-based research and management consulting organization.

The GPTWI’s approach is based on the major findings of 20 years of research—that trust between managers and employees is the primary defining characteristic of the very best workplaces.

At the heart of their definition of a great place to work—a place where employees "trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with"—is the idea that a great workplace is measured by the quality of the three, interconnected relationships that exist there:

● The relationship between employees and management.

● The relationship between employees and their jobs/company.

● The relationship between employees and other employees.

It all starts with Trust…and goes from there.

Trust is the essential ingredient for the primary workplace relationship between the employee and the employer. According to the GPTWI model, trust is composed of three dimensions: Credibility, Respect, and Fairness.

Credibility. Credibility means managers regularly communicate with employees about the company's direction and plans—and solicit their ideas. It involves coordinating people and resources efficiently and effectively, so that employees know how their work relates to the company's goals. It's the integrity management brings to the business. To be credible, words must be followed by action.

Respect. Respect involves providing employees with the equipment, resources, and training they need to do their job. It means appreciating good work and extra effort. It includes reaching out to employees and making them partners in the company's activities, fostering a spirit of collaboration across departments and creating a work environment that's safe and healthy. Respect means that work/life balance is a practice, not a slogan.

Fairness. A Yellow Page Expert Speaks Out
You first may be asking: what qualifies me as a Yellow Page expert? I worked as an advertising consultant for a Bell System division for nearly 25 years. During that time, I counseled about 3000 businesses in advertising design, marketing programs, and promotional campaigns. I was a top performer for about half that time and won numerous awards and honors. With that background, let me discuss the unique media known as directory advertising.In my market, we had about 80,000 businesses represented in the local city Yellow Pages. That’s a large sector of companies fairly reliant on a single product used by over 80% of the population. The Yellowsed research and management consulting organization.

The GPTWI’s approach is based on the major findings of 20 years of research—that trust between managers and employees is the primary defining characteristic of the very best workplaces.

At the heart of their definition of a great place to work—a place where employees "trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with"—is the idea that a great workplace is measured by the quality of the three, interconnected relationships that exist there:

● The relationship between employees and management.

● The relationship between employees and their jobs/company.

● The relationship between employees and other employees.

It all starts with Trust…and goes from there.

Trust is the essential ingredient for the primary workplace relationship between the employee and the employer. According to the GPTWI model, trust is composed of three dimensions: Credibility, Respect, and Fairness.

Credibility. Credibility means managers regularly communicate with employees about the company's direction and plans—and solicit their ideas. It involves coordinating people and resources efficiently and effectively, so that employees know how their work relates to the company's goals. It's the integrity management brings to the business. To be credible, words must be followed by action.

Respect. Respect involves providing employees with the equipment, resources, and training they need to do their job. It means appreciating good work and extra effort. It includes reaching out to employees and making them partners in the company's activities, fostering a spirit of collaboration across departments and creating a work environment that's safe and healthy. Respect means that work/life balance is a practice, not a slogan.

Fairness. Beware Of Anyone Wanting A Currency Exchange With The Same Bank
Most of the frauds people are aware of in e-currencies is that whereby the scammer, pays for an item from a reversible e-currency such as paypal, stormpay e.t.c with a legitimate account, obtains the item and initiates a chargeback on receipt of the goods, thereby stealing the item and recouping his cash.However e-gold at the moment is irreversible (and I congratulate the CEO of e-gold for trying to clean up the system). Currently one of the highest areas of fraud is in currency exchanges. One of the ways fraudsters attempt to defraud ignorant individuals is by insisting on a currency exchange with the same bank.Let me give an exionship between employees and their jobs/company.

● The relationship between employees and other employees.

It all starts with Trust…and goes from there.

Trust is the essential ingredient for the primary workplace relationship between the employee and the employer. According to the GPTWI model, trust is composed of three dimensions: Credibility, Respect, and Fairness.

Credibility. Credibility means managers regularly communicate with employees about the company's direction and plans—and solicit their ideas. It involves coordinating people and resources efficiently and effectively, so that employees know how their work relates to the company's goals. It's the integrity management brings to the business. To be credible, words must be followed by action.

Respect. Respect involves providing employees with the equipment, resources, and training they need to do their job. It means appreciating good work and extra effort. It includes reaching out to employees and making them partners in the company's activities, fostering a spirit of collaboration across departments and creating a work environment that's safe and healthy. Respect means that work/life balance is a practice, not a slogan.

Fairness. Be Prepared for the Unexpected
How long has it been since you last had to search for a new job? These days it’s not at all unusual to change careers or jobs several times in a lifetime. The idea of retiring from the same company after a lifetime of service is much less a reality in today’s world than it was a couple of decades ago. The likelihood of unexpectedly losing your job is greatly increased today due to a number of different factors such as corporate downsizing, technological evolution, and globalization just to name a few. Being thrust into a job search can be a rude awakening and an eye opening experience. Ideally a job seeker should already be prepared for the uno that employees know how their work relates to the company's goals. It's the integrity management brings to the business. To be credible, words must be followed by action.

Respect. Respect involves providing employees with the equipment, resources, and training they need to do their job. It means appreciating good work and extra effort. It includes reaching out to employees and making them partners in the company's activities, fostering a spirit of collaboration across departments and creating a work environment that's safe and healthy. Respect means that work/life balance is a practice, not a slogan.

Fairness. At an organization that's fair, economic success is shared equitably through compensation and benefit programs. Everybody receives equitable opportunity for recognition. Decisions on hiring and promotions are made impartially, and the workplace seeks to free itself of discrimination, with clear processes for appealing and adjudicating disputes. To be fair, you must be just.

Pride and Camaraderie. The final two dimensions of the Institute's model relate to workplace relationships between employees and their jobs/company (Pride), and between the employee and other employees (Camaraderie).

The wonderful “blurring of the lines.”

As companies become great, the division between management and labor fades. The workplace becomes a community. Employees take pride in their job, their team, and their company. They feel that they can be themselves at work. They celebrate the successes of their peers and cooperate with others throughout the organization.

People take pleasure in their work—and in the people they work with—in a deep and lasting way. They want to stay around for their careers.

In a great workplace, how people are treated adds significantly to the competitive advantages that come to the organization. GPTWI research covering the nation's best employers for FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" annual article confirms that these great workplaces benefit from the following:

● Receive more qualified job applications for open positions.

● Experience a lower level of turnover.

● Experience reductions in health care costs.

● Enjoy higher levels of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

● Foster greater innovation, creativity and risk taking.

● Benefit from higher productivity and profitability.

This article is based on information attributed to The Great Place To Work® Institute, Inc.—a San Francisco-based research and management consultancy.

HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.casualarticles.com/article/22535/casualarticles-I-Love-This-Place.html">I Love This Place!</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.casualarticles.com/article/22535/casualarticles-I-Love-This-Place.html]I Love This Place![/url]

Related Articles:

Futurists and Prescription for the Future

Many people read articles and books from futurists with interest. Some are fascinated by the borderline science fiction and reality blend. If you are one of those people you have probably noticed that the world of innovation and discovery is moving faster than ever before in human history.

Now is the Time to Become a Paralegal

Paralegals – also known as legal assistants – help attorneys in almost every aspect of their work. Being one of the fastest growing careers nationwide, those with paralegal training will be able to find jobs in every part of the country.

$100 Million Naming Rights: Entitlement or Need?

Many universities are raising the bar for naming rights. Do they see this as entitlement or need. Who qualifies for the right to ask for a $100 million gift?

Bookmark it: