Perfect employer.

Key factors determining your next perfect employer.

Currently, more and more attention is paid to aspects of work that are aimed at increasing the level of employee satisfaction. Job seekers are searching for a dream job, and companies conduct extensive activities to change management style, increase freedom, happiness and the feeling of being well-groomed in employees. After all, a happy employee is an effective employee, so it is in the interests of both the employee and the boss or supervisor to maintain the comfort of work at the highest possible level. After all, it is easier to get along with a colleague from the next desk and achieve fruitful cooperation in a team, when we feel at ease in the workplace and the environment motivates us to act. Big corporations and small companies choose to submit to the trends that rule the world.

Reading job descriptions we expect to get to know the company’s culture better. Work life balance, prospective employers, space for our best talent to develop, right place for skills, learning abilities; those are answers for our expectations of a perfect job.

Employers fight for top talents by building company values.

In recent years, there is talk of the return of the so-called “Employee market”, i.e. a situation where it is on our side, as potential employees, to choose and view the offers. There is no shortage of work, which companies are well aware of, and as a result, the range of profits that the boss or manager can offer us is growing every year.

In addition to basic employee bonuses such as health care or employee benefits in the form of gym passes, the possibility of quick promotion or a guarantee of a raise, companies are involved in projects such as 4 day work-week, unlimited vacation, remote work, flexible hours, asynchronous communication, diversity and inclusion, professional development and self-growth of the employees.

The above-mentioned are of course not all, because the list of amenities is much longer and with time the spread on such levels of functioning in society as ecology, politics, atmosphere and teamwork is becoming wider and wider. All of this builds company culture and influences personal engagement.

Job search challenges.

Being aware of your own values and the possibility of getting more under our employment contract, you should carefully look at the job offers and the rules of operation of the companies you are considering.

In recent years, the standard, conservative norms and systems of work have been abandoned, giving priority to a diverse workplace, personal life of employees, flexibility and adapting working conditions personally to the individual, with mutual respect between employer and employees. Everyone is different, so why would everyone work to the same rhythm?

People-first company culture

Spending 8 hours a day sitting at your own desk is a thing of the past. Agile offices adapt to people, processes and working methods. Taking into account our individual predispositions, strengths and weaknesses.

More and more companies are introducing changes related to office space, working hours, work organization and team management. What is new is the tendency to provide employees with relaxation, renewal and inspiration. Companies create the so-called “Chill rooms” enabling employees to regenerate and collect their thoughts in a calm atmosphere. In the world of the rush for results and the eternal competition and race, the emphasis is on increasing productivity, and to this end, the stress associated with performing daily duties, optimal use of space, enabling employees to reconcile professional and personal roles, including parenthood and caring for aging parents, is reduced. This allows for work-life balance and finding the perfect harmony between a satisfying professional life and a happy family and parental life.

At the beginning, the 4 day work-week project was met with a great deal of caution and a lack of confidence in its effectiveness and practicality. However, in the end, it turned out to be a huge success, increasing employee involvement – and thus their efficiency, and thus better results and earnings of the company in direct relation. The 4-day working week, which was introduced for the first time in Iceland, turned out to be a huge success.

Other countries such as Japan, Great Britain, Spain and New Zealand followed suit. The list of countries joining the project every month is longer and, observing a growing tendency, it will soon go around the world.

Employee benefits

4-day work week

Market research and analysis carried out in Iceland show that thanks to a 4-day working week, employees showed greater job satisfaction, the risk of burnout and stress decreased, which affected corporate and business profits. The Icelandic media reported the success of the 4-day working week experiment. About 1% of the working population in Iceland, or 2,500 Icelanders, participated in two large experiments in 2015 to 2019 to see how a shorter working week would affect their productivity. The four-year study involved many workplaces from a variety of industries, both from the private and public sectors. The study did not reduce wages or introduce additional overtime, but employees only worked 4 days a week.

Similar analyzes of this project were also carried out in the other countries that joined the project. The Japanese branch of Microsoft also introduced a 4-day working week in 2019. It was not the only tested change. The company also reduced the amount of time spent at meetings by introducing a 30-minute limit on meetings and encouraging remote communication.

The project, called Work Life Choice Challenge 2019 Summer, aimed to investigate how changing the work model will affect the work-life balance, as well as employee productivity. As a result of the changes, employee productivity increased by 40%, and electricity consumption decreased by 23% compared to August 2018.

New Zealand announced that Perpetual Guardian saw a 24 percent improvement in their work-life balance. The longer regeneration also had an exceptionally good effect on the level of their energy during work. UK corporations that have introduced this are saving nearly £ 92 billion each year (around 2% of total turnover). Slightly more than half (51%) of the respondents declared that the 4-day working week allowed them to reduce the costs of operating the company. Of these, 62% said workers took fewer days off as a result, 63% saw an increase in job quality, and 65% saw an increase in productivity. Similar results were announced in Spain and gradually in Poland.

Perfect employer places emphasis on working smarter.

This is evidence of a close relationship between the quality of work, satisfaction and the amount of goodwill and energy, and tangible financial benefits of companies. In fact, it’s not just about working less, but about working better, more efficiently, more effectively, with more motivation, creativity and dedication. Therefore, a shorter working week is not an excuse for the less committed, but an attempt to organize the professional activity of employees more efficiently.

This is an important solution in the era of burnout and the shortage of specialists. Such a model of work can also be treated as an innovative and important benefit, appreciated by employees and job candidates. Modern employers, in order to acquire and retain good employees, must offer additional, attractive values. For example, more free time. Learn more about the global trend of 4-day work week.

Unlimited vacation is one of the most relevant employee benefit.

During last years, unlimited PTO has become one of the most popular benefit offering, as more and more employers are embracing an unlimited vacation policy.

According to MetLife’s 2019 Benefit Trends survey 72% of employees want unlimited PTO.

What does it actually mean and why is it mutually beneficial?

Unlimited PTO is unlimited time off for employees. In theory, this means employees have no limit on how long they can take time off. In a similar way as in the case of a four-day workday, the employee get’s a chance take care of its well-being, therefore is more rested, has the freedom to manage his own time and energy resources, is decisive about the work he wants to do and puts a lot of heart into it, contributing to the company’s success.

Remote work is relevant for top candidates.

This phenomenon also applies to workplaces and the solution in the form of “remote work”, which a few years ago seemed to be a whim and something impossible to compare with working in an office. Today, no one is surprised by advertisements and job offers with the titles of “fully remote” or “in the office”. Remote work, in turn, is closely related to the ability to maintain “asynchronous communication”. This concept includes the care for virtual or physical presence at business meetings, punctuality, flexibility in adapting and time compromises, so as to be up to date with changes in projects, be respected and respect the time of others. The obvious circumstances in these extraordinary times were no longer obvious. The world is changing and companies and people with them. Learn more about the benefits of working remotely.

Employee engagement depends also on flexible and asynchronous schedules.

The flexible and asynchronous schedule solution is another innovation that is gradually becoming the standard. Everyone is characterized by different predispositions and activity of creative thinking or focus at a different time. Increasingly aware of these differences, employers have found a compromise in this matter, which contributes to improving work performance and increasing business profits. It ends with the rigid framework of the “nine to five” work. “Sitting is a new smoking” – is repeated more and more often in corporations, and efforts are made to limit its adverse effects.

Employees have the chance to adjust the office rhythm to their preferences and limitations. Those who are more productive in the morning can arrive at the office earlier – and leave earlier. In periods of reduced activity, you can work shorter hours – and pay back with additional hours of attendance, when its activity accelerates.

A new approach to working hours is also a way to get into routine as well as greater commitment and responsibility of the teams. This approach is the ROWE – Results-Only Work Environment system. It moves away from a time-driven approach to a task-driven one. It is an idea related to the “outcome-oriented” approach, which allows employees to reconcile professional and personal roles.

Thanks to this, employees are able to fulfill themselves on many levels of life, without being forced to choose between family and friends and work and the boss. The lack of flexibility leads to the so-called presenteeism called a “dangerous virus on the labor market” or “corporate disease”. It is defined as a situation in which an employee is at his workplace, but his physical, mental state or motivation does not allow him to be fully productive. Most importantly, presenteeism costs the company more than a simple absence or vacancy for a job.

Building friendly spaces and a diverse workforce.

Another of the factors whose task is to make our time at work pleasant is taking care of the environment and adapting it to our needs and individual characteristics and predispositions. Corporations such as Microsoft or Accenture offer their employees mobility and flexible workspaces as well as a diverse and equal environment.

Depending on the specificity of our task, we can freely choose the space to work. Being aware of whose help or support will come in handy on a given day and in the given task, we can freely maneuver “our desk”. In addition to this flexibility, part of the project is also the creation of the aforementioned “chill rooms”, concentration zones or booths for telephone calls, where we can make a business or private phone call without disturbing other colleagues.

Career development and personal growth.

An important part of the resources and bonuses that we can count on is professional development and self-growth. It is an investment in the employee. A signal that they are a valuable asset of the company and its members who cares for them, trains them and invests time and money in expanding their competences through courses, training and business trips.

This is a very important sphere of our perception of ourselves as an employee and our role in the company. When we get a sign from our superiors that they care about our growth, we can feel like a part of the whole that someone cares about. Of course, apart from the intellectual and emotional benefits of this phenomenon, we also get the financial ones directly or indirectly. The knowledge that the company offers us will sooner or later translate into the amount of payment in the next company or in a higher position.

Ideal employer is the one that aligns with our values and needs.

There are also many changes in the area of ​​values ​​represented by brands and corporations. Nowadays, a self-respecting company is one that, apart from a salary, also offers employees the implementation of the values ​​that guide them.

The so-called “personality” of the company is an inseparable element of building its image and rank on the global market. Part of the process of creating a liberal company showcase is the slogan “diversity and inclusion”. It is related to a policy of tolerance, openness, ethnic, cultural, religious, racial, sexual orientation, age, experience, personality and gender.

This openness contributes to the fight against discrimination, which (although everyone hears from early childhood that one should respect other people) is still a problem. Thus, companies provide employment opportunities to people from different parts of the world, with different skin colors, sexual identities and religions, which unfortunately turns out not to be an obvious fact in a world where the second force is hatred and aversion to otherness, which, after all, characterizes us all and is something beautiful.

Find a perfect employer on our Companies with values list.