Cultural Practices of the Best Companies

The companies whose practices are presented here have inspired us in our work at the Institute, and we hope that they will do the same for you. Every two weeks a new set of practices will appear in this space.

Each practice will be linked to its dimension and sub-dimension within the Great Place to Work® Model©.

We hope that you will be inspired by these examples to discover the best practices currently in use in your own workplace, and be lead to develop new practices that will help your workplace to become great.

  • CREDIBILITY - Communication

    Information Technology / Software
    Xilinx

    2029 employees - USA
    HQ: San Jose, CA, USA

    Wim Roelandts, CEO of Xilinx, (always Wim, never Mr. Roelandts) heads up of one of the largest semiconductor manufacturers in the nation, where he has developed a number of innovative ways to reach out and make himself known personally to every employee in his company.

    Through the "Ask Wim Program" employees may email any question to Wim- and he will respond. He publishes the questions and answers monthly. Through Wim's "Fireside Chats," he sends messages out to all employees, whether to discuss current business conditions or just to thank employees for being supportive of cost-cutting measures. His messages are usually presented in the context of the company's values.

    At "Wim's Employee Lunches," he invites about twelve people at a time to have lunch with him; he answers all the questions they bring to the table, then publishes the questions and answers for all employees to see. And Wim moves his office annually so that he can reside with (and get to know) different people throughout the company, something he does to avoid creating an "executive row." Wim also eats lunch in the cafeteria along with everybody else!

  • RESPECT - Collaboration

    Financial Services & Insurance / Banking/Credit Services
    SBAB

    354 employees - Sweden
    HQ: Sweden

    SBAB is a government-owned mortgage company that provides financing of real estate to both companies and individuals that accounts for "employee worth" through what it calls "The Complete Balance Sheet" that also lists such items as economic assets, structural worth, social worth and customer worth.

    Each employee delivers every year an offer - a tender - of what she or he thinks needs to be done or developed in order for the company to reach its goals and fulfil their vision. The tender contains a description of what the employee can contribute and what resources she or he needs in order to take responsibility for the offered actions.

    One employee wrote: "We are involved in change processes, so everyone has the possibility of making her or his voice heard (and the management is listening!). We don't receive a list with changes from some consultant, we decide together what and HOW things are going to change. I think SBAB is unique because here it really IS so."