Truly Progressive Businesses Embrace The Real Meaning of a Great Culture - Ensuring that the Employees LOVE the Company

It starts out the same. You'll hear it many times over and over again. "We are a progressive company." 

But is it really? 

I've sat in on countless meetings, interviews, and conferences where I hear this same line being repeated over and over again. But those executives or CEOs that say it aren't always telling the truth. Not because they want to deliberately lie but because they just don't know any better. 

I was recently speaking with a company that told me that I was carrying "baggage" from being in an amazing culture at a company I worked at for a few years, and I was told that I needed to "let that go". Now, if you are like me, you think to yourself, "Baggage is typically a bad thing." But in this case - and it being a "progressive company", why wouldn't they want to embrace the best culture that they could. And with that - the best atmosphere and work day for their employees? 

My definition of a great culture is one that makes you say, "yes" to these questions:

1) Does the company make you want to jump out of bed in the morning and get to work?

2) Do you smile or laugh at least once a day at your job?

3) Do you do meaningful work that makes you feel challenged?

4) Do you feel valued? Does your work get recognized?

5) Does your company have a purpose or a mission that you can get behind and believe in?

But very few companies can hit on all of these. Most only get a few right. 

Why aren't more companies turning from looking at profits and how long they can get their employees to sit at their desks, to seeing what their employees really want and encouraging people to do more work in less time? Is productivity and effectiveness really not an issue? Do company execs really want their employees to take 10 hours to do something when they can effectively do it in 6? Why would you encourage employees to spend time just for the heck of it instead of pushing for quick and efficient workers? 

No, I don't need to "let go" of my "baggage". More businesses should step up to the plate and actually DO the things that makes them a great and workplace culturally progressive company. If your company wants to be in the best of the best places to work, throw out the rules and try to focus on the people. 

How do you do that? Here are a few suggestions:

- Don't have your employees punch a clock or put in mandatory 8-10 hour days. You are encouraging distrusting behavior and quietly but surely having your employees resent you a little more each day. 

- Don't have a limited number of paid vacation and sick days. Allow your employees to enjoy life - and the things that come up in it - and they will want to work that much harder for you. 

- Be transparent. Don't do this halfway. You've got to go all in. If you aren't transparent, your employees will think you are hiding something. And from my experience, the businesses that are less transparent are hiding the most. 

- Don't lock down social media. Don't you want your employees to share great things about your company to their networks? Free advertisement is the best advertisement. 

- Give your employees as many benefits as the company can allow. If they don't have to focus on how to pay for their child's dental needs or childcare dues every month, they can spend more time focusing on that big project you have them involved in. Get them a cleaning lady. Embrace massages at the office. Offer food in the office for snacks or lunch. The less they have to worry about their personal lives, the more they can do in their professional lives. 

- Don't forget they are human. This is a big one. I've been in too many instances where executives and CEOs forget that the people that are grinding out the work are actually people. People make mistakes. People crave recognition. So when they do fail, help them learn and move on. And if they do a great job, please, please, for goodness sake, TELL THEM THAT! 

There are many other items that you can do to make your culture great, but if you aren't doing these things or really just don't care or think they are valuable, please for the good of us all - stop saying that you are a "progressive company". Great businesses are built with the help of great people, and great people aren't stupid - they know what a truly great place to work looks like. You can't fool them for long.