You may have seen news items about companies named "Best Places to Work" or "Family-Friendly Places to Work." I can now, with authority, explain what that means.
A "Best Place To Work" is a creative, open environment. It should have open idea sharing, flexible work spaces, free-flowing information, regular training or practice-improvement, a dash of sense of humor about its business and a commitment to more than its own self-interest. It also should have a continuing drive to deliver excellent work, accountability to those standards, a respect for and commitment to customers, and a leader who sets a direction, leads, but also lets others drive, because she (or he) trusts them to do so. It's not all fun and games at a "Best Place To Work."
These qualities will not all manifest themselves in the same fashion at any company so honored. Depending on the business, and the personality of the company, these may come out in different ways. But it results in committed employees who feel like they have a stake in the company's success.
I can now speak with some authority on this subject because I work at the Best Place to Work in Maine for 2009. The agency business has come a long way since Mad Men. While I love that show, I doubt that many of the employees outside of management there would consider Sterling Cooper a "Best Place to Work."
What's next is to continue to build on this, and make sure our clients consider us a "Best Place to Do Business."
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