Each year, rankings are published all over the world, and they’re of great interest to people who value greatly their professional future, either because they’re finishing their academic studies and will be entering the labour market soon, or because they want to take a step forward in their career by putting their talent, after thorough reflection, at the service of another organization.

In the end, and in the age of globalization, the names of those companies ranked the highest become recurrent in almost every country. They are corporations that stand out not so much for exorbitant numbers in their income statements, but mostly for their diverse facets regarding human capital management: working atmosphere, corporate culture, selection and recruiting processes or remuneration policy.

Based on several rankings of high prestige, such as Best Places to Work or Best Workplaces España, the work of researchers with great expertise on entrepreneurial culture, and the experience of distinguished business personalities, it’s now possible to identify common features which, from the standpoint of HR, define those who could be accurately described as “extraordinary companies”.

One of the aforementioned features consists of providing strategic value to communication, since it is one of the cornerstones of HR policies, where leadership is fundamental as well. Having a strong, credible HR manager, capable of passing on his notion of where the organization should head towards and why the goal set is a good idea, is an added value.

Additionally, extraordinary companies transform, by motivational means, not coercive, the way their employees think and, therefore, their capacities and performance.

Another differentiating element of organizations characterized by excellence is that they’re devoted to identifying, encouraging and rewarding employees’ talent. This is perfectly compatible with a culture of discipline that, combined with business ethics, results in a “high-performance magical chemistry”, according to Jim Collins, a well-known American business consultant.

It should be also pointed out that the corporate culture of the highest-ranked organizations is to bet on creating teams with a combination of expertise and youth, as well as on a smart management of employees’ working life, which requires quality objectives according to different job positions in order to increase their motivation.

Extraordinary companies have the gene of innovation ingrained in their “DNA” as well, since ideas are, eventually, the most precious asset an organization can possess.

As a “coda”, two brief thoughts on the features that provide a company with unique character: Vala Asfar, Salesforce’s digital evangelist, points out that “confidence must be the core value of any business”; Michael C. Bush, top executive of Great Place to Work for All, claims that “if we’re going to call a company “excellent”, it must be good for everybody in it”. Even for its workers.

Sources: Forbes, Great Place to Work, Best Workplaces España, Jim Collins, El Español

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