Couple of weeks ago we workshopped around the subject Bilot’s employer brand. This was an interesting experience, as any workshop is when we use CPS (creative problem solving) methods. We used several techniques, which revealed many assumptions, prejudice, even bias in our problem statement. At the end of the session we got, instead of one initial nut to crack, several new ones.
One of the most intriguing new problem was: How to maintain the hotness? To explain this a little bit, I must tell you that we, who work at Bilot, think that Bilot is one of the hottest companies in this business. Few days after 2014 Spring Trip we feel it’s by far the hottest. At Himos the water and the atmosphere in our hot tubs stayed hot until the sun rise and beyond.
Hotness is evaluated individually, though. Something that seems to be hot in the eyes of the public, might not be hot on an individual level. This is why even the Great Place to Work survey cannot measure hotness comprehensively. Our own employee satisfaction survey has the same problem. How to dig out what really lies behind the scores and averages? We renewed our survey this year and we’ll report later on what it revealed.
In my opinion the most important measures of the employer hotness internally is our personnel’s commitment, achieved results and expression in people’s face. If you smile when coming to the office in the morning, you are most likely happy as well. If you laugh your head off at coffee break, you probably won’t resign the next day.
Hotness is not given to you for free or by accident. At Bilot it is based on conscious decisions when the guys started this company eight years ago. As the company has grown, all the good things have become more difficult to maintain, and we have had to put more effort on it.
Hotness is a sum of many factors. Challenging work tasks, ability to learn and opportunities to grow are on top of the hotness factor list. Enthusiastic atmosphere and spontaneous peer-to-peer support creates happiness. Management by values cannot be compromised without ruining the hotness. Great events and massage chairs are nice, but if the core is not strong, hot leaks.
