Lessons From The 10 Best Highly Engaged Companies


Employee engagement turned out to be extremely important for the last couple of years. The business world and the HR world, in general, has been focused on the concept of high employee engagement for a while now. Thanks to companies such as Google, Zappos, and many others, we are all starting to wonder about how they engage their employees and we wish everyone could get as successful as them. After doing research on how these companies do their business, I decided to let you know how they engage their employees and why do people seem to be very happy working for these highly engaged companies we all heard about.

Lessons From The 10 Best Highly Engaged Companies

Screwfix listens to their employees, they always look for new ideas and improvement.

Dreamworks believes sharing and communication is a key towards a good success.

Google boosts their employee’s engagement by giving them flexibility and a lot of space for improvement.

Southwest Airlines employees can design their own uniforms, they have the freedom to show their talents.

Zappos offers various perks for their employees, they plan fun activities and whilst working, they always have lots of fun.

Full Contact gives their employees a ‘’paid’’ vacation and enough freedom to leave their work responsibilities behind every once in a while.

Supercell employees are a real team, all of the decisions are made by the team, not only their CEO.

Smarkets is a company with self-managing teams, self-set salaries and a lot of continuous exploration.

Disney cares a lot about their employees, they give them meaningful recognition and needed training whenever it is needed.

The Facebook team always does their best to encourage people to bond and solve the problems, manipulating with great work-life balance in the teams

Who would not want to be the employee of one of these companies? With all of the activities they offer, people actually show their appreciation by being great and loyal employees. These companies managed to make work a memorable experience, something their employees look forward to, and this is how it should be! Today, most companies try to engage their employees, some do it well, some are still trying to figure out their strategies, continue reading to learn a lesson or two from some of the most successful companies I have listed.

Screwfix keeps on growing consistently, it is a company owned by Kingfisher and it is one of the UK’s largest online supplier of accessories, tools and hardware products. Screwfix managed to double their size over the ten years and there are no signs of slowing down. The key to their success was figuring out how to create a company people will love to work for, they promote from within and for that, they developed an award-winning mentality.

In the last couple of years, Screwfix has earned various awards:

1. ‘Great Workplace’ – an award from Gallup in 2015th.

2. ‘Supply Chain of the Year’ – an award from 2015 Retail Week Supply Chain Awards.

3. ‘Best DIY and Gardening Retailer’ – an award from the Verdict’s Satisfaction Awards in 2015.

4. ‘Multi-channel Retailer of the Year’ – an award from The Retail Week Awards in 2016.

5. ‘Employer of the Year’ – an award from The Retail Week Awards in 2016.

6. ‘Customer Experience Initiative of the Year’ – an award from The Retail Week Awards in 2017.

Screwfix is a company providing a great investment in training and development of their staff, they push them forward and try to keep them satisfied as employees. Today, over 60% of the managers of Screwfix have been developed within their business, this means they have a high moving potential people. These people went from the contact center into the head office roles, they also graduated from one shop floor to a branch manager or assistant. Knowing how well Screwfix does their business, many people have considered joining their team. There are many online applicants and job interviews that have been done, people love working for Screwfix and most of them seem truly happy being the part of this lovely hardware/tool/accessory company. Today, Screwfix owns over 470 stores in the UK and 11 stores located in Germany, they hope to expand to over 600 stores in the future. Their impressive growth helped them create a positive buzz, everyone wants to work, shop and enjoy a company that grows and expands as greatly as Screwfix.

Dreamworks is not just a company with a dreamy name, it is really a dream to work for a company such as them! Dreamworks is a production label, first founded 1994. as a film studio. Employees at Dreamworks desire to tell awesome stories, they love to inspire the audience to laugh and dream together. Known for pushing the boundaries for technology and creativity, Dreamworks also seems to be pushing their boundaries at being a great workplace for their employees.

In order to provide us with lovely dreams and creativity, Dreamworks realized they need to make the best working environment possible for their artists, engineers, and creators of their content. They believe if a creator enjoys their creation, it is certain the audience will enjoy it too! To keep the inspiration flowing Dreamworks offers great education programs. They offer Artistic Development classes, training classes, and debates!

Artistic Development classes include storytelling, sculpture making, drawing, figure drawing and much more. Training classes offer instructions related to their propriety software, third-party software, and workflow. All of the classes are actually made and taught by the Dreamwork employees themselves. Aside from having so many different classes, Dreamwork also has many special events their employees truly enjoy. Dreamworkers have a possibility to attend poker tournaments, Dreamcon, art festivals, movie screenings, they even have a wine tasting club!

To keep their working atmosphere healthy, it is crucial to have a healthy staff. Dreamworks offers many health programs designed to keep the employees healthy. Every Dreamwork employee has a free annual health screening, flu shots, and weight/smoking programs. Each employee has a free lunch and breakfast every day and there is also a weekly fitness many of them love to attend to.

Google is known to be a great leader when it comes to the employee engagement space. Everyone knows what Google is and most of us would agree to work for Google at any time of the day. But this is not just because Google offers high salaries, chef-prepared lunches or other pricey benefits. According to the Glassdoor reviewsOpens in a new tab., Google is actually a great workplace to be at. Many employees of Google praise things such as work-life balance, growth opportunities, great company culture, and employee engagement practices. Google seems to know what it takes to make their employees happy and productive at the same time.

In Google’s early days it’s founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page already knew what they aim for, they were trying to find a good way to find information on the internet and most importantly, they wanted to make Google a great place to work at. To make things interesting, Google lets their employees spend up to 20% of their time at work doing things that inspire them. After bringing this 20% work time rule, Google employees managed to work on many highly profitable products for Google, they came up with Gmail, AdSense, Google News, and many others!

Google is also known for supporting the flexibility, they believe it is important to allow flexibility in work schedules. Most of  Google employees work Monday-Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM, but they can actually change this whenever they need to. Google employees can work six hours today and nine hours tomorrow, they can easily go swimming after the meeting or call a day off if their child is sick. Google stands by their definition ‘’If you give people freedom, they will amaze you’’.

It might be hard to get a job at Google considering their very long and detailed hiring processOpens in a new tab., but that does not mean it is impossible! Google is a company who listens, responds and adapts right away. Google will always encourage professional development, they will always offer occasional career coaching and set up sessions for employees to learn more about other roles.

There is a high chance you are one of the 100 million passengers who fly with Southwest Airlines each year, this award-winning service is always ready to go the extra mile to satisfy their passengers! Operating for 48 years, Southwest Airlines employees and executives always try to improve their service and the culture, they keep on trying to create more and more loyal customers. Today, Southwest Airlines is one of the most high-rated airlines in the US. Back in 2013. Southwest Airlines lets their employees know ‘’Our vision is to become the world’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline’’. To achieve this, Southwest Airlines has weekly awards and programs for those employees who prove to be the best. There are public praises, employee stories in the Southwest Spirit magazine and even recognition programs.

Some of the awards Southwest Airlines has received:

1. ‘Trip Advisor Traveler’s Choice 2018’

2. ‘Customer Satisfaction’

3. ‘Best Low-Cost Airline’ in the USA

Each year, Southwest Airlines shares its profits with its employees, this share often equals six weeks’ pay for each employee. Southwest Airlines is a company of people, not people’s company. They stand by their words and claim their employees make the company, without them, it would not be the same.

Working for Southwest Airlines means being able to share your talents, be yourself and staying inspired while you work. To make things even more interesting, Southwest Airlines employees actually design their own uniforms, they have autonomy over various aspects of the work life, most usually never normally get. Hard work and great commitment never go unnoticed at Southwest Airlines, they love to make their employees feel appreciated and they are always motivated to make it better.

Zappos is a leader in online footwear and apparel sales, they strive to provide their customers with the best possible service and offer millions of products with over 1,000 apparel and footwear brands. Many people wonder how Zappos managed to grow so quickly and the answer to that is actually really simple. Zappos tries to be the best customer service possible, they are a little bit weird but very fun. They have a great working culture and it seems to make them a lot more successful than it was previously thought they would be.

Zappos currently has over 1,500 employees and their business strategy revolves around delivering outstanding customer service. Zappos employees have many perks available to them at all times, there is a gym, dance studio, bistro, free food, pet-friendly workplace, nap room, outdoor break space, and much more. Zappos industry has an interesting job title for people who plan fun activities between employees, these people are named ‘’Fungineers’’ and they bring a lot of positivity to the team.

Zappos employees are allowed to decorate their workspace however they like, they show their unique personalities without any problems at all. Working at Zappos seems to be a very laid back atmosphere, but in reality, these people are truly hard workers doing their best to provide us customers with great service. There is a  Grant-a-Wish Program between Zappos employees, this program allows their employees to submit and grant wishes to the team. This lovely program makes it feel like one big family. One time Zappos had an employee who was unable to afford the citizenship program to become an American citizen. Thanks to the Grant-a-Wish program, Zappos granted his wish and he became a proud US citizen!

Zappos seems like a great place to work at, don’t you think? With an adorable big family of employees, it is no wonder their business thrives and grows by every day.

If you did not know, Full Contact is the leading resolution and insights platform, it supports over 20 million professional and personal global app users, tens of thousands of developers and scores of many trusted brands. Full Contact is designed to help you more authentically connect and get in contact with people. It provides a deeper understanding and insights to connect with people in meaningful and authentic ways.

Each year, Full ContactOpens in a new tab. gives their employees $7,500 to take a ‘’Paid Paid’’ vacation. This means they get paid to actually go on a holiday whenever they like. Of course, there is a rule they need to respect while on a holiday – They are not allowed to work or answer any work-related calls or emails. This might seem like a big lie, but it is actually true! Full Contact believes every employee needs a good break in order to return in a better state ready to work.

Full Contact has made a great difference bringing this idea on the surface, their employees look better than ever, they feel appreciated and in return, they do their best at work. Many Full Contact employees claim this has helped them build a sense of trust for their co-workers, they develop a sense of trust because they feel less pressure at work. Full Contact employees are encouraged to work as a team, no one is supposed to feel the pressure of handling everything on their own, they trust each other and work together as a real team.  If you ever get lucky to work at Full Contact, you should not worry about expensive tuxedos and skirts, Full Contact employees are allowed to be in flip flops and T-shirts, they claim that comfort is an important component in productivity.

FullContact is all about love, they love their company, they love the people, their customers and they love inventing new solutions, especially engaging solutions for their employees!

Located in Helsinki, Finland, Supercell is a mobile game developer with offices in other parts of the world too. Supercell launched in 2010, they made games we all know about – Hay Day, Clash of Clans, Clash Royale and Brawl Stars. Their goal is obviously to create the best games out there, they want to make games people will enjoy playing and remember them forever.

Supercell stands behind ‘’The best teams make the best games’’, they let their employees have the freedom to do what they think is the best for their players. Supercell will never tell you what you need to do, you need to collaborate with talented and very passionate Supercell employees in order to make the best possible game. Currently, Supercell’s games are available for Andorid, Apple’s iOS. Supercell itself is made up of people from over 30 countries worldwide, there is a lot of transparency, trust, and loyalty between the employees which seems to be the reason of their great success as the team.

Supercell has a team that shares good and bad, their failures are often celebrated with champagne in the hope they do not repeat again, they are able to travel and meet their colleagues with different cultural backgrounds. These meetings are very important in a company such as Supercell, it is very helpful knowing all of your co-workers in person.

Today, Supercell employees often talk about their great CEO, freedom, independence and great management of growth, they value all of the work they do together and believe they are truly lucky to be a part of a great business such as Supercell turns out to be. Supercell is a company not willing to quit progressing, they have announced many great games in the future and their success is most probably guaranteed, knowing how happy their employees and staff are.

Smarkets is a well-known betting exchange company. It was founded back in 2008. And it has offices in Malta, London, and Los Angeles. Most of the employees of Smarkets are located in London though. To make it clear, Smarkets is not a company who offers casino games, bingo or poker, they offer event betting. Some of the Smarkets employees often blog about the unique way this company has.

CEO, Jason Trost knew he wanted to make a good workplace for his employees, he followed the ways of Zappos and got inspired by their great business success. Today, Smarkets are actually self-managing teams, each of the teams has their own functional focus and works towards the finishing point with the help of a leadership team. Each team decides how they are going to work, the approach and discipline are one of the things people see differently, and it is important to note, most of the teams claim not to even have a leader. Smarkets employees believe no one has to be a leader to have work done, they together make this great company and no one of them takes the credit for it as an individual, they celebrate their successes altogether and it is always a blast!

Each week, Smarkets organize a weekly coordination meeting, they keep on evolving and their business seems to grow better working the way they do. To make things even better within Smarkets, there are now self-set salaries their employees can submit every six months. Self-set salaries are forms submitted by the employees, they suggest a salary increase and after reviewing, the salary committee provides feedback. These salary changes are made transparent to everyone within the company, anyone who does not agree with the changes is free to say why and resolve the issue through a conflict resolution process.

Smarkets employees are on a trip towards continuous exploration, they push themselves beyond traditional, out-dated practices, they introduce new ones and focus on unleashing the full potential of their employees.

Everyone heard of Disney. The Walt Disney Company is the world’s largest multinational mass media, headquartered at the Burbank, California. Disney Studios was founded back in 1923. Thanks to brothers Roy O. and Walt Disney. The company was soon established to be a leader in the American animation industry and even today, Disney stands strong as a leader in the animation industry.

Disney always knew how to make great things happen, they made their workplace so great that their employees keep on praising their company. Just like many companies listed above, Disney also offers free health care, dental insurance, retirement plan, flexibility, paid holidays, paternity leave, sick days, an on-site gym, nursing rooms and cafeterias. Disney workers seem to be very communicative, open for new ideas and very supportive of each other. Another great thing about Disney is that as an employee, you get a free entrance to their parks, you have an amazing job training and free snacks/lunch.

Working at Disney is an amazing experience for those who seek to be innovative and those looking for constant improvement. Disney employees love to talk about collaborations with people on their work, they are all very innovative and full of new ideas. While Disney has a strong management team, they do not seem to be giving out promotions very easily. Most of the Disney employees enjoy their work, they have fun and freedom to express their talents.

Who would have thought Disney was made such a long time ago, today there are 14 theme parks around the world, they have made one of the world’s most recognizable characters and they keep on coming up with new business ideas that turn to great success.

We have all heard of Facebook, it is an American online social media, a social networking service. First launched 2004. By Mark Zuckerberg. Today, Facebook has over 2,2 billion monthly active users and the popularity of it still stands strong.

Facebook employees seem to be very satisfied with their work, they enjoy their work and feel proud of it. Facebook has given a lot of freedom to their employees, they are always excited to build new features and products, they claim their co-workers are fantastic and they have really fancy offices to hang out in. It is no secret Facebook does its best to keep their employees happy and motivated for further work.

Facebook is an enormously big company used by millions of people around the globe, it takes a lot of knowledge, effort, and discipline to keep it all up and running. Aside from lovely pay Facebook offers, there are also many great perks coming together with it. Facebook employees will have no issues asking to work from home, it is supported and often turns to be a good way of doing business. They can easily call sick days, have paid holidays, gym membership, discounts, great social events, and awesome job training whenever they like.

It is important to note, there is no such thing as a routine day if you work at Facebook, there is always something new to review and work on, there are many meetings and discussions employees get into and this is all done for a great improvement of the Facebook as a website. Facebook always looks for people with specific and valuable skills, Facebook offices are designed to encourage openness and great collaboration between their staff.

Related Questions:

Does employee engagement cost a lot?

Getting your employees engaged does not need to cost a lot of money at all. Ensuring your employees feel positive about their peers does not take any money. Allowing flexible schedule also costs no money, but will probably turn to be a great business strategy. Employee engagement does not have to cost at all, but even if it does, the results will outweigh any money you might have spent.

How do you know your employees are engaged?

The best way to know your employees are engaged is knowing they can talk to each other openly, seek feedback and promote their work without doubts. Engaged employees are usually the ones who share their positive experiences, they help out their managers and co-workers.

Steve Todd

Steve Todd, founder of Open Sourced Workplace and is a recognized thought leader in workplace strategy and the future of work. With a passion for work from anywhere, Steve has successfully implemented transformative strategies that enhance productivity and employee satisfaction. Through Open Sourced Workplace, he fosters collaboration among HR, facilities management, technology, and real estate professionals, providing valuable insights and resources. As a speaker and contributor to various publications, Steve remains dedicated to staying at the forefront of workplace innovation, helping organizations thrive in today's dynamic work environment.

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