Benefits Are the Bedrock of Great Company Culture
How to build a sustainable workplace, from the ground up
(Revised October 2021)
What makes a job great?
There are two elements of a great job. The first is professional development. Can you grow here? Can you learn every day? Is there a clear path forward and up? The second is well-being. Is your life better because you work here?
Sadly, well-being and work are often at odds with each other. A high quality of life often means less work and more money — not exactly the kind of thing companies are eager to embrace. Still, it’s our job to create a sustainable business, and that means doing everything we can to make our employees happy.
We’ve taken benefits seriously. I believe they are a reflection of our company, our culture and our business strategy.
I also believe that we can make a dent in the universe by encouraging other companies to adopt a more holistic approach to the culture of work. Here are a few important lessons we’ve learned about the wide-ranging effects of benefits over the last 10 years.
Being stingy about benefits is short-sighted. Creating a great work environment makes for healthier, happier people and a more sustainable business.
Start early.
Long before we hired a catering company to bring in lunch every day, I would walk around the office at 11:45am and jot down lunch orders. You could easily make a case that a CEO has better ways to spend his or her time, but I disagree. To me, it was important to let people know that I was grateful for their hard work. A $6 sandwich was the least I could do.
You could easily make a case that a CEO has better ways to spend his or her time, but I disagree.
In the early days of running a startup, it’s hard to focus on things that don’t directly lead to revenue. The environment is plastic, so the little things you do can establish the foundation of a great culture. Great benefits start with the intangibles, so any effort you make to let people know you care about their well-being is appreciated.
Policy should support strategy.
Benefits are only real when they are supported by a policy. You need to turn abstract ideas into processes in order for your team to get value from them. Here are a few examples:
Until there’s a process for every idea, it’s not really a benefit.
Clarity matters.
“Unlimited vacation” is one of the more frustrating “perks” to have emerged from Silicon Valley’s work culture. It’s far too vague. No company offers unlimited vacation—why do so many tout it?
We don’t want our employees to be afraid of taking time off, so we give every employee 28 paid days off each year. That means we actually expect everyone to take that much time off.
Clarity matters, so embrace it at every opportunity.
Aim for family-friendly benefits.
We bring our team to Stowe, Vermont each year for our annual company retreat. That’s an individual benefit. In fact, it probably puts some strain on the families that our employees leave behind. Someone still has to get the kids to school, cook dinner, feed the cat, etc.
We try to balance out individual benefits — retreats, conferences and catered lunches — with family benefits — like plenty of time off, remote-first schedules and great healthcare. If we are serious about helping people live happy lives, it’s important to address both.
Don’t pour money into a bad policy.
We’re lucky that our partners at Spectrum Equity support our mission, but we were investing in benefits long before we raised any capital. Throwing money at a bad policy will only make it worse. In our case, investing more in our already-strong benefits package made it even better.
If you plan to raise money, get serious about culture and benefits beforehand. Your collective mindset will determine the tangible benefits anyway, so it’s important to get on the same page about this as early as possible.
Make the financial case for great benefits.
Speaking of money, there is a financial case to be made for great benefits. You can measure benefits against employee retention to see if you’re doing it right.
Lazlo Bock, head of People Operations at Google, explained the causal relationship between benefits and employee retention on the Note to Self podcast. A few years ago, Google had a problem where a lot of new mothers weren’t coming back after maternity leave. As you might imagine, it’s really disruptive, time-consuming and expensive to replace great people.
Google extended maternity leave by two more months (still at full pay) and boom — their problem was solved. Retention rates improved by 50%, new mothers had more time at home and the company was saving money.
Put your money where your mouth is.
One final note on money. You’ve got to invest it. You can talk about great benefits all day long, but until you prove to your team that you care, it’s all hot air.
I can appreciate that it’s easier to invest in a marketing campaign that you know will bring an ROI. But think bigger. Your employees will appreciate the resources you dedicate to helping them live and work better.
Take the long view.
Being stingy about benefits is short-sighted. Creating a great work environment makes for healthier, happier people and a more sustainable business.
We’re trying to think big about benefits, culture and the modern approach to work. I’m not sure we’ve got it perfectly right, but we’re working hard to use Litmus as a vehicle for change.
I’m curious to hear from others what benefits have helped you create a great workplace. Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter!
