Signs Of A Great Place To Work

When applying for roles, it’s important to remember that there’s more to a job than the job description. 

There are many vital factors to be considered when applying for roles; salary, company prestige, location, benefits, company culture and more. It’s essential to find a role within a company that fits well with you, so that it becomes a great place to be. Work is where you spend a significant amount of your time, and is second biggest influence to your happiness after family.

Don’t just apply for a job with any company out of desperation. Ascertain that you would actually like to work there if the occasion arises. It’ll save you headache down the road, if you progress to the job interview stage and subsequently receive a job offer. There’s nothing worse than keeping a potential employer waiting because you can’t decide whether you’d actually like to work there or not.

In saying this, here are tips to help you figure out whether a company is where you want to be.

Office environment (everything from interiors to company culture)

The type of atmosphere and work culture a company has can be discernible from their website. Often, when a company has beautiful offices with impressive resources, they’ll talk about it online. Figure out if you want to work somewhere with a casual, relaxed company culture, or if you don't mind working in a traditional corporate environment. 

It’s not a bad idea to snoop around the Linkedin profiles of current employees - thwey might occasionally post about events or happenings in the office and you can probably get a sneak peek of what the space looks like in the background. Also, if employees are posting fun events around the office, whether it be on LinkedIn or Twitter, it could be another tell-tale sign that they’re having fun themselves too! 

Low staff turnover 

This is trickier to figure out than the rest – a bit of investigation has to be done on your part to get the facts. If you’re familiar with the company and people who have held the jobs previously, and you notice that these people have moved on elsewhere after a healthy amount of time, all is well. However if you spot that the role is vacant every few months or so, people may be unhappy while in that role and that could be a warning sign.  

Another tell-tale sign, if you’ve been paying attention on your job hunt, is whether the job has been advertised several times in the last few years.

Salary

Depending on your profession and the type of role you’re looking for, salaries may be standardised, but if the company you apply for has particularly exceptional pay, this could be a giveaway that they value their employees and pay top dollar for top talent. Although this is not to say that companies only become a great place to work if they pay more… it’s only a bonus to the whole package if they do!

Online reviews

Although online reviews of employee experience are hard to come across and difficult to verify, particularly for independent or smaller agencies, they could still help steer your opinion somewhat. If you do happen across a recent, unfavourable review of a person who will be your direct senior, don’t take it at face value, but just be wary. If you have applied for and succeeded in receiving a job offer for a major international company,

Benefits

The standard amount of leave for full time worker is 28 days each year. If you receive an offer with a company with a significantly lower amount of paid leave days, and not much benefits other than that, then consider thinking twice about the role if you have other opportunities available. Also take a look at maternal/paternal leave. Regardless if you have kids or are a soon-to-be mother or father, companies that offer external paid paternal leave are progressive and ought to be applauded.

Other smaller benefits which could be a big help to your spending and life commitments include free breakfasts/lunch, food/event discounts, pet-friendly offices, gym membership, day off for birthday/moving day and are

Awards or recognition

There are many awards given by organisations or business publications of “the best companies to work for” or “best company culture”. Keep an eye out for these. If your potential company has made the list, consider it a jackpot! Better yet, follow the companies that have made the list on LinkedIn and watch out for future vacancies.