As my first experience in a start-up, and out of the so-called "corporate world", I have come to observe the symptoms of a healthy company! When you experience them, you just want to share them and hope that they become "contagious" to any company :) :
- Everyone talks to everybody, because nobody feels superior to the other, at least for work-related topics.
- Everybody does something meaningful but also everyday jobs: uploading the dishwasher or opening the door to a postman is not considered a job for interns. And, by the way, inters are just as important as experienced employees.
- Information is shared. Both good and bad news. Because we are in this together, there is no need to pretend or having secrets.
- There are no seductive games or exclusion games, because we are in this together.
- Team additions are not taken as a threat, but as an opportunity.
- You can sit next to the managing director and talk ab out any opinion you have, without thinking that you might be fired just for being who you are.
- Flexibility is given, in terms of workload and working hours, because a healthy company knows that the employees need to be healthy too in order to work properly.
- There is a common goal, all the time. Here is where the engagement comes from.
- There is never a "bad time" or a "good time" to give some news to everybody.
- As a consequence of empowerment (that comes from information sharing) and of engagement (which comes from empowerment, sharing of values and objectives), nobody is afraid to talk.
- The company is perceived like a home where you would behave as if it was yours. Respecting the premises and the people.
- There are less doors: you don't have to feel bad for knocking at someone's door and bothering, because my office if your office.
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