Great story in Fast Company on a biotech company in the US which nurtures its people with imaginative benefits, keeping them happy, loyal and productive.
Genencor International‘s headquarters in Palo Alto, California, are the physical manifestation of what happens when you effectively transform employees into designers of their own work environment. The 1,260-employee, $380 million company, which focuses on health-care products and enzymes, has generated remarkable worker loyalty and greater productivity. Its turnover rate was less than 4% in 2003. The [US] national industry average is 18.5% and the Bay Area’s is 17.8%, according to the Radford Surveys. This isn’t a one-year blip either. When the economy was roaring in the late 1990s, Genencor’s turnover rate hovered around the same level.
Its creative benefits programs earned Genencor the number-four slot on a list of the best medium-sized companies to work for, created by the Great Place to Work Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management. And the company generates approximately $60,000 more revenue per employee than its largest competitor, Novozymes.
Read the full article to learn the secrets to Genencor’s success.