Hire Good People, Not Good Employees
In a recent interview I conducted with Matt Jung, the founder of Comfort Research and BigJoe Products, he discussed his organization’s ethos on hiring. He said “We don’t want to hire good employees, we want to hire good people. I want to be able to look at my employees and think, ‘that’s the type of person I want to hang out with’ both inside or outside the office.” Matt’s company has done a phenomenal job on maintaining their core values and protecting their unique culture.
They spend time ever quarter highlighting employees with innovative ideas, rewarding people that exemplify their core values, and most impressively, they praise people that are doing great things external to their organization. During the interview Matt identified one of his employees that was recognized company wide for being a foster parent. His goal with the recognitions is to encourage greatness from the people he works with. His idea to hire good people, not just good employees is not a mere slogan. They go to great lengths to reward, incentivise, and recognize the good behavior that his leadership team, and now their entire company, hold as a core part of their organization’s culture.
Some may think this is too idealistic or too radical an idea to be applied to huge corporations, but is it?
While the idea of holding your employees accountable inside and outside of the office are not new, few organizations dive into their employees personal lives beyond their social media and drug use policies. Many organizations are of the opinion that as long as the employee gets their work done and follows the rules they are a good fit. Comfort Research is of a different opinion and it is evident in their growth as well as in their low turn-over rates.
What if we stopped pasting the word ‘Integrity’ on our email signatures, lobbies, and business cards. What if, instead of using ‘integrity’ as a marketing tactic, we used it as a barrier to employment?
What if our companies stopped donating to nonprofits just to put it on our “We Support…” pages and instead they encouraged or even incentivized their employees to be philanthropic?
My mother gave me some great advice regarding children, she said “Your goal is not to teach your kids to be good (obedient) children, it to teach them to become good adults.”
Well, maybe our organizations need to stop hiring good employees and start hiring only good people?
Remember, attitude is way more important than aptitude.