Blog Post: The Infusionite Blog: I've seen how the other side lives

We now, perhaps more so than ever, feel a need to identify ourselves with something. To give our time and involvement to an institution where benefits are singular (ie “you can make a lot of money here”) no longer captures an employee’s imagination. Now make no mistake, the almighty dollar will always hold sway to a great deal of us, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In today’s working climate, however, it is important to make an employee feel that they are part of something greater than themselves or their paycheck. Especially when this generation’s workforce is inundated with a distinctly different view of a career than our parents had. It’s become something of a free agency system from both an employer and employee standpoint. No longer is it an expectation for us to work at the same corporation for 20 or 30 years. The paradigm shift is nothing new to the 21st century employee. It is fact.

Maybe the best reason to build a strong, public employer brand is that it holds organizations accountable. Here at Infusionsoft, we strive everyday to deliver on the promises we make relating to the employee experience. We do it because it’s public knowledge, and it is no secret that we take pride in any award we’re given for providing an outstanding workplace. The everyday challenge is making this environment scalable with the growth that we’ve been lucky enough to endure. We also try to check and balance ourselves enough that we do not stray far away from our ideal; to provide our employees an environment of work with a sense of entrepreneurship; to ensure that hard work is adequately rewarded, and to always remain cognizant of a work-life balance.

I have seen and been a part of other organizations that do not make maintaining a strong employer brand a priority. It is interesting, in such companies, how the day-to-day experience can shift underneath your feet on almost a monthly basis. An employee’s morale can hinge on something as volatile as a boss’s whim, commission, or their fellow co-workers. It does not promote stability and does not promote a clock-building mentality (as made popular by Jim Collins’ “Built to Last”. 

An organization can still achieve a feeling of permanence. Perhaps this could be the beginning of a cure for an increasingly ailing, disenchanted workforce. Maybe it’s not done by spending 30 years with the same company, but it can still be done by encouraging entrepreneurship, personal growth, and the feeling that the affect you have on the company today SHOULD infuse itself into the organization’s DNA, and stand the test of time.

In the spirit of Building to Last