5 Ways to Become a Great Place to Work

“It's not about the money, money, money,” Jessie J

Glassdoor.com recently assembled a list of top 25 companies  that encourage work-life balance Since they recently ranked the top 25 companies to work for, I wanted to see where the overlap was and what’s really important to employees.  Big surprise- it’s not about the money. So what is important?

Of the top 25 companies to work for, 10 are also on the list for promoting work-life balance. Here's what the employees of those 10 companies noted as reasons for their job satisfaction:

1.    Working with smart people. Several of these company employees talk about “knowledge sharing”, “working with brilliant minds” and “smart people”. Clearly, hiring the best and the brightest is a key to creating a successful work environment.

2.    Having a casual work environment.   While the trend in some industries is to go back to the suite and tie, that’s clearly not what creates job satisfaction.  Employees like to have a casual culture, where the work is more important than the attire.

3.    Flexibility is a must. If you are rated as a top company for work-life balance, you have a flexible environment.  But it’s not just about vacation schedules, but also work from home options, travel schedules, and support for volunteerism. 

4.    Opportunity for growth.  People want to learn and grow.  Many of these 10 companies support ongoing education and provide clear lines for promotions. Especially if you’re hiring smart people (see #1), keeping them stagnant is not an option.

5.    Great Benefits.  Seems like this would go without saying, but some of these companies take it to the max by offering paid gym memberships, free food, strong health insurance, flexible vacation policies and fun team building exercises.  Sure some of this costs money, but not all these top 10 companies paid the highest wages and yet, they still had strong job satisfaction.

These 10 companies mentioned other factors like “strong team culture”, “inspirational leadership”, “flat hierarchy”, and “work appreciation”. But what none of the 10 mentioned was money.