By Ahmed al-Akber/Dubai
My visit to the Zappos office in Las Vegas last month was nothing short of an amazing, eye-opening experience. Never have I witnessed a company culture where people just seem happy and thriving.
Here’s what I learned on my Zappos tour:
1) Culture is everything. If you can build a culture where everyone that is touched by your business gets an amazing experience, then you can go on to achieve amazing things. Zappos does this by having a set of 10 values that are espoused everywhere in the organisation. Employees seem very happy there, and they have customer stories that would surprise you.
Our very passionate tour guide, Ryo Zsun, is “Culture Maestro” and former call centre operative. He explained that his longest call with a customer was over four hours long! The customer just wanted to speak about her problems – they weren’t necessarily anything to do with Zappos, but she just wanted talk, so he just listened! He ended up sending her a postcard and gift to top it off. What this does is build up a lot of brand equity with customers, so they look to Zappos as a place that delivers what it calls ‘WOW’ service and in turn say positive things to others about it. Others hear about these positive experiences, and because they are tired with the typical experiences that other companies and industries provide them, they are happy to use Zappos.
2) Live a little more at work. Work does not need to be the uptight, rigid place I’ve been so used to after spending 10 years working for conventional Fortune 500 companies. I couldn’t believe the things I saw there – from toys to ping pong tables and a mini golf course, open-plan offices for everyone including the CEO, names on imitation licence plates instead of regular nameplates, graffiti art on walls, and a ball pool playpen used for meetings.
They have canteens where drinks and food is subsidised or free, a mothering room for mothers (or fathers!), and offer “concierge” services to employees who need help with other aspects of their life.
They have a “Goals” department, complete with an in-house life coach that helps employees achieve important things in their life, beyond just work. Their well-equipped gym is used during work hours, not necessarily before or after. Musical instruments are on every floor. Employees in their call centre (the biggest department in the company) have KPIs that are linked to qualitative targets, not quantitative.
People say hi, wave and even stop what they are doing to talk as you walk by. The company’s mantra seems to be: help employees to be happy. Then they’ll make customers and vendors happy. And that can only be good for business. Their growth shows it: they were acquired by Amazon for over a billion dollars, and consistently grow year on year.
3) Learning from others is extremely important. I noticed a lot of desks with books. There is a “Recommended reading list” and a book “hall of fame” where the best books that have inspired the culture are listed and framed. The company invests in developing its employees, and employees grow in the company as their skills develop.
If you are looking to learn from a company that has the kind of culture that most others would envy, then I highly recommend learning from Zappos. Visit their office in Las Vegas. If that’s not possible, read the book Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh (the CEO), which outlines their culture and how the company was started.
- Ahmed al-Akber is the managing director of ACK Solutions, a firm that helps companies to improve their marketing and sales results by offering more effective ways attracting customers and significantly better products and services. Ahmed has worked internationally in marketing, sales, and strategic planning at companies such as the Coca-Cola Company, Philip Morris International and Dell. Questions or comments can be sent to Ahmed on [email protected]
