How to become a great place to work | Great Workplaces

About 20 years ago, I was having a conversation with Danny Wegman and he mentioned Great Place to Work, an organization I talk about frequently in this column. They had just introduced new categories for both small- and medium-sized businesses and he encouraged me to apply. Being a business owner, it seemed to me that getting on the list was a must, but Danny emphasized that it’s not about the list at all; it’s about the learnings and nuggets of information that come from the process.

It reminded me of advice my dad gave when I was just starting our agency. He said, “It’s important to do good work, but it’s just as important to have fun doing it.” Considering that we spend such a large portion of our lives on the job, why in the world would we settle for anything less than a great experience?

That’s what makes a Great Place to Work certification so meaningful: the tangible, actionable data you’re able to collect. Driven by employee feedback, you can see what your company is doing well, but more importantly where it can improve. From there, you can turn your business into a truly great place to work.

The Trust Index Survey

So what steps can you take to become a great place to work? The best place to start is the Trust Index Survey. As part of the Great Place to Work certification, companies are required to administer a confidential, 58-question survey to their employees. Some key demographic information is captured, as well, which makes deciphering your results much easier. After all, people nearing retirement will feel differently about the workplace than someone who is just starting out. That doesn’t mean both opinions aren’t valuable, of course. Creating a great workplace applies to all employees, not a select few.

But the demographics come later in the survey. First up are a series of statements, which range in subject matter. For example, survey participants are shown phrases like “I am given the resources and equipment to do my job” or “Management’s actions match its word.” Participants must then rate these phrases on a scale from “Almost Always Untrue” to “Almost Always True.” Then at the end comes my favorite part: the open-ended questions. We keep it simple by asking only two. First, “Is there anything unique or unusual about this company that makes it a great place to work?” Then we follow with “If you could change one thing to make this a better place to work, what would it be?” Sometimes I’ll jump straight to the second open-ended question when reviewing the responses. I can’t help myself; it feels like Christmas morning when I learn how people are really feeling.

The results go beyond just how your business is doing internally. It compares you with other companies of similar size, as well as companies in your vertical. You can even get a picture based on demographics. So, for example, you can see how you fit in with Millennials in all companies or, in our case, how we rank among women-owned businesses. It’s thorough research that’s collected yearly, giving you a better benchmark of where you are and what you need to focus on.

Combine it all and you have a solid picture of your workplace — of the attitudes, frustrations and discrepancies between leadership and the people deep in the work. It may not paint the picture you’re hoping for, but that’s not a bad thing. It simply means there’s room for improvement, but you need to be careful how you handle it.

My advice? Don’t overwhelm yourself. You may look over your results and find there are a lot of areas that need improvement. Taking everything on at the same time will prove to be unwieldy, so much so that you’ll hardly accomplish anything. We made this mistake during COVID. We stretched ourselves too thin and couldn’t hold ourselves accountable in completing certain initiatives, which made us fall flat in most of them. Since then, we’ve held ourselves to 2-3 initiatives each year. By focusing our energies on a handful of areas, we found we were able to be far more productive while producing actual results.

The pillars of great workplaces

Being a part of Great Place to Work for 20 years has afforded us the opportunity to connect with other like-minded businesses we might not have otherwise — companies from different industries, all varying in size, with unique goals that drive them forward. Through countless conversations with these different organizations, I’ve found there’s no singular way to create a great place to work. But there are three pillars that all of these businesses have in common, and every brand should embrace them.

Be a great listener

As a leader, your job is to inspire your team. To and for what will depend on your business, but your ultimate purpose is to steer the ship and give your team reason to be on board. In order to do that effectively, you need to be a great listener. If a teammate has a problem or is unhappy for some reason, it’s up to you to understand why. That means giving them an opportunity to voice their concerns, which is why I love the Trust Index Survey as much as I do.

But there’s an incredible difference between hearing and listening. If you send out a survey without acting upon the results, you’re just hearing what they have to say. You don’t really process it; it’s just in one ear and out the other. Listening, on the other hand, puts things in motion. It’s understanding what’s causing your teammates pain, but more than that, it’s responding with action. This proves to your team that you truly are paying attention and you’re willing to make your workplace the best it can be.

Earn trust through transparency

If you don’t have trust, you don’t have a great place to work. It’s as simple as that. Without trust, your employees likely won’t feel secure in their roles, but even worse, they won’t feel any loyalty toward your organization. Why should they? Trust is earned, and if you’re not doing everything you can to earn it, you probably don’t deserve it. It sounds harsh, but it’s true.

How do you earn it? When in doubt, be transparent. I’ve made a point of telling my team the good, the bad and the ugly over the years. When there’s not-so-great news, it’s tempting to shy away from sharing, but no good can come from it. If your team learns you held back this information, their trust in you will completely evaporate, and it’s a long way to build it back. By being transparent — especially during the harder times — you make it clear you’re working on the level and that you understand what’s at stake. Yes, we’re running a business, but this business is made up of people who choose to be here. Being open and honest will reinforce their decision to stay.

Build brand ambassadors

Once you’ve fostered an environment of trust, your team is more inclined to do right by your brand. Not just in the work itself, but in advocating for your business. By creating brand ambassadors, you’re able to attract the best and brightest much more easily. After all, who doesn’t want to be at a great place to work?

That said, being at a great place to work isn’t for everyone. Embracing values that your team can rally around is important, but this is still a two-way street. Your team needs to believe in these values and embody them every day. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out, but if you stay true to your values in an open and honest way, you’ll find a way to attract the right candidates, and the people who believe in your brand will go a long way toward helping bring them in.

We’ve been part of Great Place to Work since 2005. Over the past two decades, we’ve grown as a business, but more importantly, we’ve grown as a team. If that’s something you’re interested in — and I’m sure it is — visit GreatPlaceToWork.com to learn more about getting certified.

It’s certainly been worth it for us; being a part of Great Place to Work has been instrumental in helping us build the workplace we’ve aspired to be. But the work is never over. Through the open flow of communication, we’re in a constant state of learning and evolving, making each day better than the one that came before. That’s how you build a great work environment. It’s a mindset, one that all businesses can embrace. Just listen to your people, then act.

Lauren Dixon is board chair of Dixon Schwabl + Co., a marketing communications firm, which has been honored as a Best Place to Work.