Blogs & News

Employees in great workplaces are often incredibly proud of their organisations, and are happy to let everyone know. But workers in a New York real estate brokerage are taking pride to a new level..... by getting a company tattoo.

“They wear it like a badge of honour,” said Rapid Realty CEO Anthony Lolli, “They get a lot of respect from the other agents with the amount of commitment that they have.”

In 2005, Investment Manager Jerome Dodson challenged the cosy consensus about what makes a great company to invest in. Now, eight years and 300 million dollars later, his peers know he was right.

The Parnassus Workplace Fund, which he established in April 2005, has been enormously, and enduringly successful. Since the fund’s inception it’s had a 9.6% annualised return. This compares to the S&P Index which has earned just 5.6% during the same period. And over the past five years--the height of the Great Recession--the Workplace Fund achieved an average annual return of an incredible 10.8%. The S&P Index for the same period was just 4%. His hunch? Create a fund that invests only in organisations where employees are really happy.

Participating in our Best Workplaces in Ireland study is a pretty significant commitment.  The evaluation process forces organisations to receive honest feedback from their employees and take a good hard look at their workplace culture.  While the investment (in time, effort, and money) is significant, so is the payoff, with list-making companies boasting noteworthy gains in employee retention, job applications, productivity, and financial returns.  Even non-winners benefit from the intelligence and perspective needed to drive cultural improvements inside their workplace.

If you are in any doubt that participating in our study is worth the effort, let me try to convince you....

Since his election,  Pope Francis has demonstrated a range of leadership qualities that are the hallmarks of leaders who are dedicated to building high levels of trust.

Building a “Culture of Innovation” is certainly a hot topic these days, and rightly so; hiring great innovators almost universally coincides with being both successful and a great workplace. However, with all the information floating around on the topic, it still remains elusive.

Here at Great Place to Work^® we get an intimate view of the inner workings of innovative companies.

I was in Berlin this week for a pan-European Employee Engagement Conference - and for the first time in ten years I felt redundant! Not because my message about the benefits of high-trust, high-performance workplaces hasn't been listened to - but because all my best lines and all my best graphics were stolen by two of our best clients!! I'm not complaining though.....

Highlights :

Core Media's Alan Cox named Ireland’s Most Trusted Leader - Diageo Ireland - Demand wins Best Large Company Award - Mars Ireland wins Best Medium Sized Company Award - Jones Lang LaSalle wins Best Small Workplace Award

As an employer, you need to focus on nine key action areas in order to create a great workplace: Inspiring, Speaking, Listening, Thanking, Developing, Caring, Hiring, Celebrating, and Sharing. Each year, we focus on a selection of these areas and award special recognition to organisations who have introduced exemplary practices in those areas. For 2013, our focus was on Caring, Listening, and Developing - read on to learn about the winning practices from Kuehne & Nagel, eBay and Microsoft.

Key trends in the data from the 2013 Best Workplaces in Ireland study show a significant increase in the number of employees caring for a sick dependent, a trend referred to as 'hand holding in both generations', as employees often hold off having children until their late thirties and at the same time their parents are living longer but often times experiencing ill health, placing high demands on this cohort. These employees need increasing levels of flexibility around working practices.

As our knowledge of the best workplaces increases, we are impressed at ways in which they are able to ensure that newcomers get integrated with the organisation’s culture and start performing within a short time frame. Even average hiring decisions can be improved enormously by welcoming newcomers in the right way.