By Michael Carmichael and S. Voyles
September 17, 2009
Some common threads run through the responses of the winners of this year’s Chicago’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For.
Communications should be a driving force in any successful company. Because the technology is available, every effort should be made to reach out to employees in whatever way is most effective for their needs – in print, via webinars, Intranet, e-mail, face-to-face conversations – even “bite-sized” (as one winner put it) communications such as Twitter. The content of those communications needs to be open, frank and transparent.
The needs and expectations of the workforce are changing, particularly as the cohorts of Baby Boomers, Generations Y and X and the Millennials coexist. That creates an extraordinary challenge throughout the organization, particularly on the human resources staff.
Employee engagement is a must, particularly in today’s economic conditions. Rewards and incentives – particularly non-cash – and recognition are critical to retain the remaining workers and avoid having to recruit new ones. Several winners are still in labor markets where competition for skilled employees is high.
Work-life balance is increasingly an issue – and not just with the Millennials. Fortunately, technology exists to facilitate a great deal of flexibility in the workplace – and many of the winners utilize it in creative ways.