“Long service awards, now, will often involve giving the
employee the chance to have a personal experience,” said Tolovi
Neto. “Environics, for example, gives a trip anywhere in the world,
within a certain budget when the person completes 10 years.
That’s the type of thing we are seeing.”
“If you can put it in the context of what matters, then that’s
what counts,” said Fitzgerald. “It’s not that we tricked Susie into
staying for 10 years, it’s that she’s developed an amazing career,
and look at how much value she’s developed for herself and her
family and her clients and the people around her. That’s the
spirit that I think a lot of organizations are moving toward with
these things.”
That focus on quality of work rather than number of years can
apply to any organization, even when its understood that workers
won’t stay long.
“We’re a springboard,” said Malleau. “We want people to work
here but if this isn’t their lifelong career, then we want them to
come to work, do the best they can, go off to school and go off to
their careers. Along the way, let’s train them to be the best they can
be.” That benefits the company in both the short and long term.
“We are always looking at new ways to get our staff to a place
where we offer five-star service, where we are that place where
guests want to come to and return to.”
A PLACE FOR PERKS?
Just a handful of years ago, you couldn’t start a tech company –
or any company, really – without investing in Ping-Pong tables,
a well-stocked fridge full of munchies and a laundry list of
other extras.
In recent years, though, the perks frenzy has died down,
says Fitzgerald.
“I have to say we had more of those 10 years ago because we are a
tech company and most of our peers had that kind of thing and we
couldn’t even get people applying if we didn’t serve lunches and so on.
Most people looking for jobs now have learned that doesn’t matter.”
Habanero’s offices do have games and snacks and other goodies,
but they’re not anyone’s main focus.
“That’s more about respect and keeping people comfortable and
allowing them to focus on the right things,” said Fitzgerald. “I have
almost an emotional reaction to the idea of perks. It would break
my heart if I thought someone came to Habanero or stayed here
because of the perks. We’re trying to help people build amazing
careers. They need to be here for that.”
ENGAGEMENT OF THE FUTURE
Any one of the elements that go into creating the employee expe-rience
– from perks to recognition to purpose – could be thought
of as a big project to tackle. Thinking more nimbly, though, might
be the way of the future.
“The companies I see that are really successful are the ones that
are getting better and better at taking a leaner and more agile
approach and experimenting,” said Fitzgerald. “They’re saying,
instead of implementing a big recognition platform and imple-menting
a big change strategy around them, let’s try things and see
the results and iterate.”
That iteration requires an ongoing dialogue with employees,
and a real focus on seeing the workplace from their perspective.
“Every organization is people driven,” said Malleau. “So it makes
sense to spend some time with people and ask questions like,
‘What can we do better?’ Give people room to grow, work on rela-tionships
and treat people well. That’s really the best and I think
the only way to genuinely build better engagement.” n
cover feature
“WE CAN RECOGNIZE
IMPORTANT MILESTONES AND
ACCOMPLISHMENTS BUT WE
CAN ALSO RECOGNIZE EVERYDAY
WORK. NO MATTER WHAT THEIR
POSITION, PEOPLE NEED TO
KNOW THAT WHAT THEY DO
IS RECEIVED AS POSITIVE AND
THEIR WORK HAS VALUE.”
– JOSE TOLOVI NETO
Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock.com
20 ❚ MARCH 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
/Rawpixel.com
