The Best Places to Work Care About Employee Growth and Development
Last month, the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report announced its first annual ranking of Baton Rouge’s Best Places to Work, and we were excited to find Success Labs client Methanex at the top of the list! We were also thrilled to see other current and past clients among the honorees: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana at No. 11; Kean Miller at No. 16; Woman’s Hospital at No. 26 and Starmount Life Insurance at No. 37.When we contacted them to offer our congratulations, we also asked how they became such great places to work and what other companies could do to follow in their footsteps. Here’s what a couple had to say.
Methanex Values Employees and Helps Them Grow
Methanex is the world’s largest producer and supplier of methanol. The company’s leaders focus on growth and development and foster success by inspiring and working with others to achieve common goals, says Leeann Borne, HR learning and development advisor. As a result, employees feel empowered. “They’re engaged in meaningful work, and recognized and rewarded for their success.”Methanex’s focus on development is a commitment to employees’ personal and professional growth, Borne says. The company offers a combination of on-the-job learning experiences, coaching and mentoring, and formal development opportunities. “We are a learning organization and we strive for continuous improvement, focusing on learning and development to achieve our greatest potential. Methanex invests in each of our employees because we believe in our employees’ achievements of personal goals and professional accomplishments.”Valuing your employees is a key part of being a great place to work, Borne says. “Our employees are central to all that we do. Together we create the culture that drives our performance as a company, which is why it’s so important that we articulate and reinforce our core values of Trust, Respect, Integrity and Professionalism.”When leaders and the company itself embody those core values, Borne says, “we are committing to our co-workers and ourselves that we will treat others in a manner which ensures their feeling of value in our organization.”
Starmount Provides Opportunities, Open Doors
Leadership is key at Starmount Life Insurance, says Sarah Munson, vice president of human resources and compliance. “Our leaders are very visible throughout the organization. An open door policy is fairly standard, but our leaders go beyond that. They walk the floors, get to know the employees by name, seek their ideas and input. They make it a point to thank specific people for specific projects in a public forum.”Employee training and development is another important part of being a great place to work, Munson says. According to the TalentKeepers 2014 Workplace America Engagement and Retention Study, two-thirds of employees who leave after a year at a company do so because of a lack of career advancement opportunities or career growth experiences.“We employ a dedicated training manager and have identified specific development opportunities at all levels of the organization,” Munson says. “When our employees experience the company’s investment in them, it breeds satisfaction and loyalty.Finally, Munson says simply listening to employees can make a huge difference. “As leaders, we may have certain opinions of our work environment, the state of morale or what is most important to our employees,” she says. “We have to recognize those opinions are just that. If we don’t listen, we may find ourselves investing in areas that fail to positively impact retention.”Need help developing your employees? Contact us to learn more about our professional development programs and individual coaching.Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.
