Disclaimer: These communications are intended for the employees of HB Global. We recognize that the general public will have access. The views expressed in these communications represent Bob Whalen in the context of HB Global and may not apply to broader audiences.
The second component of our mission at HB Global is empowering employee owners to make this a great place to work. Sounds simple, but what does it really mean to make HB Global a great place to work?
It’s human nature that we all have different preferences, and what is considered a great place to work will vary from person to person. Everyone has different goals and objectives when it comes to life and work.
So this month we are focused on what it means for HB Global to be a great place to work and what your expectations should be for the company based on these definitions.
Let’s dive in.
Defining a great place to work
Just as each individual has their own goals and preferences, what it means to be a great place to work will vary by different levels of the organization and across the different divisions. For example, what it means to be a great place to work might vary for someone who works in the field compared to someone who works in the office.
Furthermore, we pride ourselves on allowing our divisions to maintain a certain level of autonomy within the HB Global structure. We allow them to take the steps needed to best serve their market and stay true to their legacy while also ensuring that each division is in alignment with the overall HB Global mission, values, and goals.
While there are a variety of factors that go into what it means to be a great place to work, we’re going to define a few core tenets of what it means for HB Global to be a great place to work no matter what division and what level of the organization you’re at. You can think of these similarly to our core values.
So what makes HB Global a great place to work?
- Physical Safety – Our top priority is always the physical safety of our employee owners. While this is most directly applicable to our field employees, prioritizing safety across the organization and making decisions accordingly will always be important.
- Respect – Respect is a universal aspect of our company that makes HB Global a great place to work. This means respecting your direct team but also means respecting those in the office if you’re in the field and those in the field if you’re in the office. It takes all types of roles to make HB Global the winning team that it is, and we need to respect what each of us brings to the table. Part of this is assuming positive intent. When we assume we are right and others are wrong, it creates an environment that prevents respect.
- Live Our Core Values – It should come as no surprise that living our core values makes HB Global a great place to work. We’ve put them in place to be guiding principles for your day-to-day work and decisions. When we’re all acting in alignment with Trust, Team, Grit, and Growth, we’re all acting together. Some of the behaviors that make HB Global a great place to work are:
Trust
– We honor our commitments.
– We assume positive intent in others.
– We do the right thing.
Team
– We check our ego at the door.
– We treat people with respect.
– We practice blameless problem solving.
Grit
– We go the extra mile.
– We have a sense of urgency.
– We do not make excuses.
Growth
– We work to get better everyday.
– We are open-minded and challenge “it’s how we have always done it”.
– We are lifelong learners.
- We Win – One of the aspects that makes HB Global such a great place to work is that we win. Our winning culture helps us to succeed at the individual, divisional, and company-wide levels. Let’s break down further what this means.
We win
Everyone loves to win. But it’s important for us to define what it means to be a winning culture in order for us to still be a healthy culture. Being a winning culture does not mean being cutthroat or doing whatever it takes to get ahead. Being a winning culture does not mean hiding mistakes or placing blame elsewhere.
When we say “we win” we mean that:
- We have an adequate backlog of work.
- We do meaningful and interesting work.
- We produce high-quality work.
- We create superior financial results.
Our winning culture means that our clients win, our company wins, our teams win, and ultimately we as individuals when we act in accordance with our core values and act in alignment with our mission.
Benefits of being a great place to work
Being a great place to work creates an abundance of growth opportunities and makes our work more enjoyable. Being a member of the HB Global team means that your job is more than just punching the clock and collecting a paycheck.
We strive to help set each employee owner up for success and to help them grow both personally and professionally. So what are some of the benefits of HB Global being a great place to work?
- Investments in your personal and professional development
- Opportunities for stretch assignments
- Job autonomy, where appropriate
- Development programs, such as HBU and PAVE
- Increased productivity which creates value
- New opportunities, new hires, new clients, new acquisitions
What next?
It’s one thing to establish a definition of what it means for HB Global to be a great place to work. It’s another thing to make sure that we create this environment each day. While a definition is a great foundation, it comes down to the action of each employee owner to make HB Global a great place to work. This means each employee owner prioritizes safety, treats others with respect, lives out our core values, and strives to win.
Stay tuned for next month’s blog where we talk about the purpose of our divisions and how each division contributes towards our mission and winning culture.