Practice what you preach: After 10 years on workplaces list, HR firm takes top honors
Working at Insperity, a human resources services company, is more than just a job, Chief Executive Officer Paul Sarvadi says. In fact, he doesn’t even want his employees to think of their jobs at Insperity as a “job.” It’s a “calling.”
Sarvadi, chairman and CEO, has built his own career (or, calling) by advising companies on how to keep employees happy, and it appears his employees think he practices what he preaches: Since the Houston Chronicle’s Top Workplaces annual survey began a decade ago, Insperity has made the list all 10 years. This year, it is No. 1.
“For us to do what we do for others, and not be recognized as a great place to work ourselves, just wouldn’t fit,” Sarvadi said.
Sarvadi was drawn to human resources because of his “faith-based approach to life.” His wife has a doctorate in theology, and he jokes that he gets a lot of spiritual “instruction” at home. Per the instructions, every person in the company — and there are thousands — is valued and has worth. Insperity aims to act as such.
The Kingwood company, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, has a stock market value of about $4 billion. It supports more than 100,000 businesses and has about 3,400 corporate employees. To achieve consistently good reviews by its employees over time is a feat, especially for a large company, according to Bob Helbig, a partnerships director for Energage, a software and analysis company that conducted the Top Workplace survey.
“It (is) harder for employees at large companies to feel positive of all the factors we survey,” Helbig said. “These companies have defied the odds.”
At Insperity, the company provides a robust pay and benefits program, but it also offers many other benefits, such as paying employees to volunteer in the community for 12 hours per quarter. Insperity also has what it calls the “Insperity Fund,” a pot of money that employees can access in the case of a personal emergency, such as flooding. Both the company and employees contribute to the fund.
Insperity has weathered several market changes since its founding in 1986. Human resources is largely a technology industry today. Many more competitors have entered the market as more companies outsourced HR functions. Changing workplace habits and demands also presented challenges to Sarvadi’s desire to build strong communities in the workplace.
“You see a lot more distributed workforces; people working from home,” Sarvadi said. “The gig economy also represents a challenge, which is: How do you connect people that are inherently on their own?”
Insperity has met the challenge with more technology that connects teams, while also maintaining a strong staff base that can respond to concerns from clients very quickly.
Despite the changes in the industry over the last three decades, Sarvadi says the principles of building community in your company shouldn’t change. Companies need to have an established vision, values and mission, and they must institutionalize those through every level and program of the company, he said. To be a top workplace, the leadership needs to walk the walk.
“You have to decide that you’re going to build a culture by design, not by default,” Sarvadi said. “You can’t just let it happen, or write down some fancy words, and expect it to happen. Everything has to be based on the same values you say you ascribe to.”