Many startup offices are decorated with ping-pong tables, video games, comp snacks, and more, but are these perks enough to let employees know that their value within the company is appreciated?
Our founders at AdBoom Group, Inc. knew that there was much more to all those fun activities. They wanted the employees to feel a sense of ownership, so our culture committee put together four different ways to implement a great company culture. Hopefully these tips will inspire you to do the same.
Create a familial bond
There’s a strong ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality in our office, and more often than not, our employees (or ‘Boomers’) spend weekdays and weekends together. We bleed AdBoom and our implemented company outings have definitely brought the AdBoom family together. We find ourselves spending more and more of our free time with fellow Boomers and it has elicited a newfound respect for our work colleagues.
Implement a profit-sharing plan
Another way our founders gave us ownership of AdBoom was by rolling out a new profit-sharing program. It gives employees the opportunity to earn valuable stake in the company. With this method, it pretty much released a paradigm shift in our mindset toward the company and how it should be treated. We essentially have a stake in the company’s overall performance and we’re obviously going to work hard to keep it up.
Offer flexible work hours
The AdBoom founders created flexible hours and unlimited paid-time-off. By offering more freedom to employees, our creativity continues to grow, and we’ve been given the liberty to act like business owners ourselves. We decide when we come in or take vacation, and honestly, it makes us feel empowered and much happier.
Give verbal affirmations
Verbal affirmations are always thrown around in the office and our founders are good at telling us we’re doing a good job. One way we do that is through our morning trivia games. Every day, each employee writes down three goals they want to accomplish. At the end of the day, the completed goals are collected into a hat and three notes are pulled the next morning. The goals are read out loud, and then the employee who wrote the note confirms whether or not they completed their goals and we congratulate them. Afterwards, the employee has a chance to play a fun game of mini-golf, mini-basketball, etc. If they succeed, they are rewarded with a cash prize.
These four methods implemented at AdBoom have proven to be successful. We enjoy coming into work and it’s not only because of the free food. Through company outings and trivia games, we grow closer as a team. And of course, this isn’t possible without all of the employees feeling like a valuable asset to the company.
What are some of the ways your startup gives your employees ownership?