Happy employees are loyal employees, and employee loyalty is essential to the success of a business, no matter how large or small. A study by the Center for American Progress showed that replacing an employee who earns less than $50,000 per year can cost a company up to 20 percent of that employee’s annual salary, not to mention the productivity lost in training.
Loyalty isn’t the only thing that happy employees bring to a company, though. People who feel appreciated and content in their jobs
are also more motivated and more productive, according to Roger Martin, Dean of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. This doesn’t only mean that satisfied employees churn out more work, it means they contribute more of themselves, adding their talents and ideas to the company mix. While there have been no studies on the subject, it’s safe to say happy, content employees also smile more and scowl less, raising company morale exponentially.
Rackspace
You’ve probably heard of Google’s free meals and on-site game rooms, but maybe you’re less familiar with the Rackspace slide and free commuter shuttle. Despite its relatively small size, Rackspace is setting the bar high when it comes to business culture. The cloud computing company has frequently been listed as one of the top places to work according to Forbes Magazine and more. It’s paying off with their employees.
The company culture at Rackspace is built on six core principles:
· “Fanatical” support to clients
· Substance over flash – results as the top priority
· Commitment to greatness
· Transparency
· Passion
· “Family and friends” work environment
How Rackspace Does It
When it comes to carrying out the company’s six principles, Rackspace doesn’t look outward. The leaders look in and around: in by building employee loyalty through perks and personal support, and around by creating an open office environment that includes senior management sharing the same office space with their employees to encourage collaboration.
Consider these Rackspace employee perks:
· Free shuttle service between the Rackspace office in Austin and San Antonio
· Free online blogs and resources, including self-improvement and the training program Rackspace University, which offers instruction in such varied topics as parenting and yoga
· Free fountain drinks
· Three paid days each year for volunteering
· Paid 4-week sabbaticals for employees who have been with the company for more than 7 years
It’s no wonder Rackspace employees are so dedicated to their own company that they have their own nickname – the Rackers.
Sending It Outward
Breeding a happy, satisfying company culture keeps employees dedicated and work flowing at Rackspace, allowing them to keep an outward focus toward offering the best web hosting and cloud services to their customers. By creating that supportive “friends and family” environment at the office, they generate fanatical support from their own team, who then carries that fanaticism into their work.
When you’re trying to build a strong company culture, you don’t have to build a game room or a slide in the middle of the office—though it can’t hurt. Though Rackspace offers some perks that nearly any employee would deem pretty sweet, what the company’s employee relations really proves is that employees are happy when they’re appreciated and supported in their other endeavors. By creating the kind of culture that has employee’s backs, the company offers a workplace where employees can worry less about themselves and think more about the customer.