With the news of Mark Zuckerberg being named Time magazine’s man of the year, it’s probably no coincidence that Facebook was named the best place to work by career site Glassdoor.com.
What makes it so great? And are there any similarities between that office and yours?
Facebook was rated on work/life balance, recognition, and compensation and benefits, among other aspects. Many employees have sold their shares in the company to investors, and some have resigned to begin their own start-ups.
Southwest Airlines took the number two spot, with consulting firm Bain & Company at number three.
The first aspect mentioned was work/life balance. Does your workplace do a good job of giving employees time for themselves? Do employees have a fair amount of personal, vacation and sick days? What about paid volunteer days? Or a paid day off for your birthday? Are they encouraged to leave on time, or guilted into staying late? Do they get a hard time when they want to leave for an hour in the afternoon for their kid’s school play?
How about recognition? When someone works their tail off, or stays late every day for a week to finish a big project, do they get recognized for it? Do they at least get taken out to lunch as a thank you?
How are the compensation and benefits in your office? Too often, companies have used the economic downturn as an excuse to avoid giving raises or hiring more people, when they in fact do have the resources to do so. Do your employees make a fair wage for the work they do? Do they pay out the nose for health care, or do they make a fair contribution?
I know that for me, personally, the money is only part of the equation. I would be fine making a little less money if I had a comfortable work environment, or excellent benefits, for example. And there are several past jobs I wouldn’t go back to for any price because the workplace was so bad.
What do you think? What makes an office great?