Important Employees

The Container Store is at the top of the 2004 Fortune 100's Best Companies to Work for for the 5th year straight, placing 3rd this year. If you've never seen them, they have some pretty cool storage items - the kind my mother would want me to use to keep my underwear neatly folded in.

The article about it (Link) got me to thinking about the value we put on employees. Here's a company that goes out of its way to make sure employees are not just satisfied, but happy. Not so coincidentally, the company is exploding in growth.

I know we all know how important employees are. Blah Blah Blah Management 101. (If your not sure I reccommend reading Competative Advantage Through People by Jeffrey Pfeffer - great read) But honestly, how much time a day, or even a week do we spend consciously and actively ensureing our employees are happy??? Not just subconsciously or routinely doing it but stopping, planning and doing it

Seriously - think about it. When was the last time we went out of our way to tell an employee how proud we are of them or how important they are to the company? Maybe even bring them a Starbucks beverage on us... not on the compnay

Maybe I'm preaching to the reflection in my monitor more than anything here, because while I think I'm a good boss to work for, I take for granted all of the hard work that my employees put in to make me look good. If I want business to boom at the church like it does at The Container Store, I better start implementing.