"I love my job"

How can you tell if you have succeeded in creating a good workplace culture?

Well, sometimes it's pretty easy. Sometimes people just tell you.

I have an employee, a very successful supervisor, who periodically sticks his head in the door of my office and says something like, "I've said it before and I'll say it again: there's no other company like this out there. I could never go back to working for the kind of companies I used to work for. But some of the young people here don't know it, they don't know how special this place is because they've never worked anywhere else."

I have another employee, a really bright young guy, who also periodically shows up at my door just to stick his head in, smile, and say, "In case I haven't told you lately, I love my job."

Now, these fellows aren't happy because I baby them. Far from it. I've given both of them many tough challenges, and they've come through for me again and again. Both of them are held to very high standards for the work they do, and they have both consistently met and exceeded those standards. However, when we work together we enjoy it. We laugh a lot, we come up with a million ideas, we try new things, we brainstorm like crazy. I suppose it's hard work, but most of the time it doesn't feel like work at all.

Do you have employees who spontaneously tell you how much they love their jobs? If so, add a comment to this post sharing at least one thing you've done to build a great culture. If not, you've come to the right place. Start building your great workplace culture today, and start with selectivity.

Comments

[CMR]

This is what is missing from the “4-Hour Workweek” mentality: the knowledge that you really can love your work and that a job doesn’t have to be something to outsource or escape from. Creating such an environment should be seen as a fundamental responsibility of every manager.