If someone mentions the role of CEO to you, who’s the first person you think of? Perhaps it’s Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. It might even be Tim Cook from Apple. They’re amongst the world’s best CEOs, heading up huge international corporations. But news broke this morning that certainly surprised me.
I was delighted to learn that the
Glassdoor 2018 Employees’ Choice poll ranks me as a top-rated CEO in the UK, meaning that not only am I the only representative from the North West, I’m also rubbing shoulders with the two tech industry giants (international CEOs with UK-based companies also make the list). And what makes this award so special is that it’s voted for by employees of the company I started 35 years ago, Peninsula.
To be in the game so long and get such recognition in a poll where there’s no self-nomination process or costs involved (standard fare in the corporate world), it highlights the value of Glassdoor to our business. So, if you aren’t already making the most of this tool for
your business, it’s a good time to start.
An honest employee voice
For those who don’t know, Glassdoor is an independent review site where employees, former employees, and even interviewees can leave reviews of a company. Of course, that includes good, bad and neutral ones. I make it a point to read all comments, because what better way to find out how to improve your workplace than to listen to the people on the front line?
Glassdoor takes those reviews, runs them through its algorithm, and ranks them for three annual awards: Best Places to Interview, Employees’ Choice Top CEOs, and Best Places to Work—the latter of which we also made for two years running.
Aside from seeing what employees think about working for you, you can also use Glassdoor to post new vacancies and show the best candidates out there why they should choose your company over the competition. In fact, 90% of interviewees tell us that’s where they researched Peninsula before their interview. Here’s what helped attract them to our business.
What employees value
While there are many qualities you need to have, it’s worth starting small and building from there. Three come to mind in particular that help to keep your people happy and motivated.
Listen: Take the time to engage with your staff. Ask them what they’re working on and if there’s anything you can do to make their lives easier. You never know when an employee might give you a new perspective on a problem you’ve been grappling with. Having said that, be careful not to get bogged down by too much debate. Give everyone a voice, not a vote.
Communicate: You could have a great vision for your business, a clear direction you want to go in. But if you don’t sell it to your staff, it’ll all be for nothing. And it’s not just me who’s saying this. A study by the CEO Genome Project found that CEOs were 75% more successful when they clearly outlined their plans and were able to bring their staff on board.
Reward: Everyone likes to feel valued. It’s human nature. Something we do here at Peninsula is to take our top performers on an all-expenses-paid trip to a top destination like Miami or Monaco. Of course, that might not be possible for smaller companies. But little gestures like going for a celebratory meal or even saying “well done” or “thank you” can work wonders for boosting productivity and work quality.
Make Glassdoor work for you
Start small by putting all three into practice and commit to them. It’ll create a workplace that your staff will look forward to coming into in the morning. The atmosphere will improve and you should see a higher quality of work, because happy employees work much, much better together. And when the glowing Glassdoor reviews soon start flooding in, who knows, you and your company will be mixing it with the likes of Zuckerberg and Cook in next year’s poll.
And after that? Well, get ready for a surge of applications from incredible candidates hoping to work for you—one of the nation’s best.
