Let’s work like Silicon Valley
New Zealand can copy Google’s staff experience, reports Madison Reidy.
Google employees can take a break on a rooftop garden or in a meditation studio, but a Kiwi visitor found there is more than meets the eye for staff at the United States’ trendiest technology companies.
Human resources agency Humankind’s managing director Samantha Gadd, visited Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Uber in San Francisco’s Silicon Valley this month, to find out how they get world-class talent.
While New Zealand businesses would struggle to afford Google work perks of an in-house gym or hair salon, Gadd said they could aspire to recreate its employee experience.
‘‘All of the perks are there to take the hassle out of the day, so of course it is good for business, they get more brain space.’’
Gadd said she asked employees at the companies she visited why they enjoyed working where they did, and their answer always came down to colleagues and believing their job made a positive difference.
She said the companies made the business’ purpose explicitly obvious to new employees from day dot.
‘‘There are still not that many businesses that have really nailed the ‘why’ of what they are doing, why they are getting out of bed and why people would care.’’
Although, competition for jobs at Silicon Valley’s most galvanising companies was immense, Gadd said.
Gadd said New Zealand businesses paid ‘‘a little bit of lip service’’ to acceptance in the workplace, compared to Silicon Valley’s big players.
Twitter had internal support groups for African-American and homosexual employees, she said.
Gadd said New Zealand businesses needed to work harder to develop acceptance at work, to provide more support for staff.
She said having thousands of employees and multi billion-dollar revenues did make it easier for companies to group staff by interest.
But, New Zealand companies could be more inclusive if they designed a variety of working areas in their office, that accommodated the different ways people worked best, Gadd said.
‘‘I do not think we think about the importance of our workspaces as a contributor to culture. We just leave it to chance.’’
She said New Zealand businesses would also benefit from adopting Silicon Valley’s transparent, askme-anything mindset.
Gadd said she wanted to share her learnings with New Zealand companies, so they too could create the best workplaces in the world.