We're all in this together

How the most basic human values can make your business a Great Place to Work

Thursday April 30, 2009: When uncertainty hits our immediate reaction is to go solo; attacking our work with our heads down and our bottoms up. RedBalloon, announced today as one of Australia's top ten Great Places To Work*, proves breaking the mould by having employees stick together is a winning formula to stand out in the current climate.

RedBalloon's well established culture, that causes it to be voted a Great Place to Work, is underpinned by these guiding principles:

1. Trust and respect - Jemma Fastnedge, General Manager RedBalloon, has helped create an award-winning culture which has seen RedBalloon classed as a Hewitt Best Employer and the 9th Best Place To Work in Australia. She says, "Fostering an atmosphere that values mateship and implicit trust is key in this climate. People thrive when they feel 'part of something' and are respected for their part by their peers."
2. Transparency and accessibility – Utilise communication so everyone has transparency over how the business is performing, customer feedback and any issue that arises. Ensuring free flow of unfiltered, shared information allows individual employees to feel empowered to make decisions. Also having senior management sit open plan means decisions are made constantly and quickly, giving the employees a sense of progress and contribution.
3. Recognition - Transparency and accessibility also allows managers to watch and observe their people making informed decisions and means recognition can be timely. RedBalloon prides itself on its in-house rewards program, Red Hot rewards, which rewards for contribution, length of service, via peer to peer recognition, for referring new employees and has an additional layer 'the dream catcher' where employees enter a list of their dreams and on major milestones, one will be granted. Dream catchers have included dinner at Tetsuya's, through to a hand-carved didgeridoo with didgeridoo lessons, scuba diving lessons, appearing as an extra in a movie and sky diving.
4. Your people make you unique - Jemma says, "People can copy what we do but they can’t copy who we are." Allowing your people the freedom to express who they are and letting them bring out their sense of humour or express their individuality means nothing is hidden. When nothing is hidden businesses have an environment of comfort and trust and ultimately an unbreakable sense of camaraderie.

When times are tough, communicating the feeling of "we're all in this together" will strengthen teams with a strong mateship culture, intensifying collaboration and resulting in greater efficiency and innovation.

For further comment on this story contact: Jemma Fastnedge, General Manager RedBalloon on 8755 0009 and jemma@redballoon.com.au

See the coverage on CNBC http://www.cnbc.com/id/30766095?slide=3

* The inaugural Great Places to Work Survey was conducted by the Great Places to Work Institute. This year 220 companies entered and 15,064 employees were surveyed.

Date: 07/05/2009

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