The Great Workplace: How to Build It, How to Keep It, and Why It Matters

What makes a company a great place to work?

Is there even still such a thing, in today’s competitive and complex world of work?

In a new book, The Great Workplace: How to Build It, How to Keep It, and Why It Matters (Jossey-Bass; $27.95; ISBN 978-0-470-59626-5; January 2010), Michael Burchell and Jennifer Robin combine research, anecdotes, best practices, and testimonials from employees, CEOs, and HR executives at some of the great companies to work for such as General Mills, Google,  Microsoft, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.  The result is an important, insightful new look at the essential ingredients that make a workplace great.

For the past 20 years, The Great Place to Work® Institute has famously compiled annual rankings of the best companies to work for in countries around the globe. In the United States, the Institute produces the highly-anticipated FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® Annual List which is released every January. Now, for the first time, Burchell and Robin, two veteran Institute insiders, not only demystify the broader concept of a Great Place to Work, they provide answers to many of the questions about the famous annual list, the companies and why creating great work places still matters.

Burchell and Robin make a strong business case for transforming workplaces into environments that stimulate and motivate. Great pay and quirky perks are important, of course, but employees at truly great workplaces, trust the people they work for, take pride in what they do, and genuinely enjoy the people with whom they work.

Their research illustrates how leaders and managers can both create and reinforce the core values of trust, pride, and camaraderie. The book also explores how creating a positive, encouraging workplace, where employees are motivated to produce their best and in return, receive the best from their company helps everyone— individuals, organizations, families, and communities. 

The Great Workplace offers practical advice to help leadership transform a workplace culture and develop and achieve measurable goals that lead to meaningful change in the workplace.  Burchell and Robin do a masterful job here of providing a framework for understanding why certain practices above others help create a great workplace, which create a dynamic environment, and which foster innovation, retention and growth.

THE GREAT WORKPLACE

How to Build It, How to Keep It, and Why It Matters

by Michael Burchell and Jennifer Robin

Jossey-Bass, $27.95, 978-0-470-59626-5, January 2010