
Just 27% of employees believe in their company’s values - hrgeek
http://cactussofthr.info/blog/2016/09/28/only-27-of-employees-believe-in-their-companys-values/
======
civilian
Yeah. File this under another thoughtcrime I've committed.

There was one set of values that my company's CEO wrote up on the fly b/c we
were doing reviews for the first time. Those values are _awesome_. They're
explicit about the goal of making money, they're explicit about priority, just
awesome.

The new COO felt like he needed to make an impact so he wrote some new ones.
The company I work for also has a very playful marketing tone, and he applied
our marketing tone to our company values. The values also aren't explicit--
they are each a complete sentence, but it's fairly vague how they should be
applied. Idk. I know it's all bullshit, but I felt like we really had
something for a moment. I think that the new generation (I'm 29) is just so
tired of being marketed or manipulated that honest "we're here to make money"
is a better value than "We should all do what we can to hit our numbers."

Maybe this is just a problem that engineers and lawyers have, since we
neurotically try to find the inconsistencies and misapplications of
statements.

[edit] money, not monkeys. Thanks kd :)

~~~
kdamken
I too, share in the goal and passion of making monkeys.

In all seriousness though, I'm surprised the number is even as high as 27%.
Unless you're working for the Peace Corps or some charity that's trying to do
some real good in the world, you're probably working for a business that is
there to make money. And the reason you're working there is most likely that
you need to make money to live on.

It's nice when companies just cut through all the bs and pretense and are
honest about it.

~~~
johan_larson
> I'm surprised the number is even as high as 27%.

Every statement of company values I have ever read has been very bland,
essentially a bunch of motherhoods that virtually no one would ever disagree
with. Who ever had a problem with "innovation" or "communication"? A statement
that actually made some choices, that drew some actual lines in the sand,
would be very welcome. Imagine a company that said something like this:

"We are high performers. We recruit only the highly accomplished, and reward
those who do great work far above common standards for our industry. We cull
the laggards ruthlessly."

or

"We acknowledge a duty to act in the interests of our employees, customers,
and stockholders, even beyond strict legal requirements. If we absolutely have
to choose among these groups, the stockholders come first. Note that the list
does not include suppliers, the government, or the general public."

or

"We believe in hierarchy. It's the only way to effectively organize the
efforts of thousands of people. Your boss has done something to earn our trust
in ways you have not. Accordingly, in a dispute between you and them, we will
almost certainly side with them. If you have serious conflicts with them, we
recommend you leave."

------
fallingfrog
Meanwhile the number of owners of the company who believe in the company's
values remains steady at zero.

~~~
twic
I suspect that believing in the company's values is the sole province of the
Organisation Men:

[http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-
principle-o...](http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-
the-office-according-to-the-office/)

~~~
fallingfrog
Wow, that whole article is a _very_ interesting read. Certainly a world run by
sociopaths does generally fit with how history has unfolded... I think though
that the author makes one mistake where he conflates the perception that
social mores are ultimately constructed fables with the ability and
willingness to construct your own in order to control other people.

------
1_2__3
Companies don't have "values", they have internal PR. People, sentient, living
breathing people have values. Companies are not that.

~~~
gozur88
That's a little too broad brush. Groups of people can share common values, and
those groups can be quite large. In the millions.

Companies _can_ have values, but it's probably rare because what brings most
people in a company together is a desire to pay the bills.

~~~
1_2__3
I wholly disagree.

It can have a _culture_ , that I will agree with. And that culture can be
objectively better/worse when compared against a traditional moral system (and
I'm only being so pedantic here with the "moral system" phrasing because
culture that's good in one country/society may be considered toxic in another,
so there's no objective measure of moral righteousness when examining a
culture.

Values, on the other hand, are almost purely fiction. They are what certain
executives (the ones charged with coming up with and signing off on the values
statements) want employees, customers and the public to believe is the culture
the company has created (or is trying to create), but that's not the same
thing as the culture itself or what a value actually is. Using the term
"values" here just anthropomorphizes a non-sentient entity (a company) in an
attempt to create an emotional response in people.

------
zelon88
Considering I've worked at a place in the past where providing an "excellent
work-life for it's employees" was written into the quality policy, but they
consistently treated all their employees like crap; I'd be willing to argue
that only 27% of businesses believe in their own values.

~~~
cmdrfred
They would argue that they provided you with a great work-life, so great in
fact you barely had time for your life-life.

------
vosper
Firstly: This should be changed to link to the original Gallup article [0]
since the submitted link is just a shameless reformatting of their original
work (and is harder to read).

Secondly: Something I think people are missing is that breaches of company
values are part of the ammunition that can be used to fire people. I'd wager
that's as much of the purpose of (big-company) "values" as anything else.

[0] [http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/195506/few-workers-
app...](http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/195506/few-workers-apply-
company-values-jobs.aspx?g_source=WWWV7HP&g_medium=topic&g_campaign=tiles)

~~~
shostack
I don't see this as a negative thing having witnessed someone terminated
before in part due to misalignment with values. It can be a very useful tool
for getting rid of someone who is quite obviously causing damage but might be
hard to get rid of for other causes.

Values dictate how a company should operate and how employees should treat
each other. It is a way of codifying the culture and can serve as part of the
company's immune system to expel threats to that culture.

Making sure I understand and align with the values of companies I work for is
something I've found to be tremendously helpful in ensuring I enjoy working
there.

~~~
cyphar
> I don't see this as a negative thing having witnessed someone terminated
> before in part due to misalignment with values. It can be a very useful tool
> for getting rid of someone who is quite obviously causing damage but might
> be hard to get rid of for other causes.

That's just the Al Capone argument. Should we have insane tax laws that
everyone has broken at some point just so that the state can send the "right
person" to jail? Should we allow planting of contraband on the "right suspect"
because if they didn't have anything on them today you're making up for when
they'll have something on them tomorrow? Holding a 5 tonne weight over
everyone's head is no way to foster a good culture. You're just forcing people
to live in fear of unjust reprimands.

~~~
shostack
That's a bit of an extreme comparison, no?

FWIW, the values were pretty clear on this point, and it was pretty apparent
to all (not just management) that the change needed to happen. And again, it
was just in part due to this. There were other reasons.

There was no real sense from anyone I knew that the values were being
unreasonably held over people's heads or that they were asking too much.

~~~
cyphar
I can accept that it probably worked out in your case. It also worked out in
the Al Capone case. The problem is that it's the wrong way of solving the
issue, and could cause unjust carrying out of the rules. Because if everyone
has broken the rules, then you have lost your effective ability to do anything
in fear of reprimand.

It's very reminiscent of thoughtcrime. Which is why I have a problem with it.

------
znpy
Most jobs are and always will be a chore.

But it isn't "cool" to admit it, in job postings as well as in job
applications.

In my experience "professionality" is also doing your job (and doing it well)
also and especially when it's a chore.

~~~
cheriot
We can wear jeans and t-shirts, but the new professional standard requires
pretending to have passion for the CEO's vision because plain old performance
with a good attitude isn't enough anymore. Thought codes instead of dress
codes.

~~~
maxxxxx
I always think corporations are run like communist states: central planning,
ideology, thought control.

~~~
antisthenes
I'm fine with that as long as the proceeds are also distributed in a manner
consistent with communism (the utopian version, not the failed socialist state
experiments)

~~~
r_smart
The problem with the utopian version is that centralization of power pretty
much guarantees it won't happen, hence the failed states. It's like how
benevolent dictatorships are one of the best forms of government, but you
never want to try and implement that for obvious reasons.

------
ErikAugust
Well, I would say that there are the set of company values that get printed on
posters and placed in breakrooms. 27% of employees believe in those.

But, most importantly, there is an unwritten set of values that rules over
those companies. Those who understand those values tend to do well. However,
many don't realize this, and the dissonance often leads to a crappy work
experience.

------
ElComradio
The idea that a company can have values is absurd. A company isn't a person.
It cannot have values any more than it can have a religion.

What the term really means is more like "the CEO's values" or "values as
defined by consensus of the people in a subcommittee."

------
g8oz
A company's stated values and mission are often at odds with it's revealed
preferences. Employees respond to the latter, which show themselves via what
kind of behavior gets rewarded/ignored/punished.

------
draw_down
If you think that's bad, try working in a place where almost all of them do.

------
drivingmenuts
I believe in paychecks.

Everything else ... yeah, that's probably the marketing department with too
much free time.

~~~
toast0
I don't believe in paychecks, I need to see the evidence.

------
Mao_Zedang
Everytime I have worked at a company and HR ships out their new Values deck I
just roll my eyes, it could be the single biggest waste of time HR just
spinning their wheels.

------
logfromblammo
I would have to first believe that my company actually has values before I
could believe that I share any of them.

The only corporate value that I ever took at face value was "Make money." I'm
not sure who must have had a stroke that temporarily disabled their executive
dishonesty gland long enough to slip that into the corporate culture, but I
hope they survived it.

Literally everything else has been blatantly obvious employee propaganda.

------
ourmandave
Does this include the self-employed?

~~~
civilian
Ohhhhhh! Next time I'm at the bar I'm going to ask my freelance friends what
their company's values are. This'll be good.

------
sbob
I thought the "values" of every public company is to make as much money as
possible for shareholders.

------
vuzum
Actually, employees don't give a shit about the companies they work at and
they should be treated as such. If it's not their own company all they care
about at the end of the day are the money they get (the more, the better), the
conditions they get and to complain about every single fucking thing. All this
while trying to trick you as much as possible by not being efficient or trying
to become better at what they are doing, on their own.

So I'd urge owners of companies to hire and fire people quick. There are
rarely good people who stay within a company for more than 2 years and who
care about what they do. Those people usually become part of it (partners).

The rest are just there temporary, so treat them as such: shitty replacement
parts.

------
sharemywin
I guess I've yet to see company values be something more than a generic "be a
decent human being" list. Then, you watch all the politics and backstabbing
from middle management and the complete cluelessness of upper management and
that number seems pretty high to me. I haven't worked at a lot of startups
can't speak to those.

------
DashRattlesnake
In related news: my culture was just shaped by Senn Delaney, a Heidrick &
Struggles company. to help me live by my new values, I refer to my provided
commitment card daily.

[http://www.senndelaney.com/](http://www.senndelaney.com/)

~~~
cableshaft
You poor, poor bastard. I can't imagine what hideous cultural concoction those
suits must have cooked up and forced upon your company.

------
perseusprime11
It will be interesting to also find out what percentage of employees think
culture decks are bs as well.

------
angersock
Probably because "company values" are just a checkbox on the company marketing
checklist.

------
vsloo
I've been through several startups as well as acquisitions. There's a huge
difference between learning/acclimating to a set of values that aren't yours
versus starting something with a group of people who all share preexisting
values. Many great teams and products exist because of the latter. Even so,
great teams from the latter camp can have values diluted every time new people
come on board.

The first startup, I was employee #12. The second startup, I was employee #30.
The third startup I joined mid-way through an acquisition. Each of these
companies had great aspirations for good values but all failed to trickle them
down to individuals. Too much bullshit and too many bodies. As a co-founder of
the current startup ([https://www.reamaze.com](https://www.reamaze.com)),
we've purposely kept our team small, tight, and well curated. Instead of
constantly hiring more bodies, we think outside the box and adapt to how our
business is growing. All this to keep our values and chemistry intact. Just
keeping the chemistry alive allows us to build products we and customers love.

You simply can't build successful teams, products, or businesses when so few
of your employees buy into the real reasons you're doing what you're doing.
Sure, you can buy them off with great salaries, benefits, and office
amenities, and you may be able to carry that momentum to an exit but there
will be miserable people. And if you can't carry the momentum, good luck with
the mass exodus. This is why many will say "the day job will always be a
chore". A lot of our customers actually come to us for advice on team
building, customer service, and culture and we always encourage them to not
hire. We don't even encourage them to hire if it's urgently desperate.
Instead, hire only when you've met the right match at the right time. Happy to
chat to anyone who wants to discuss team building and growing an extremely
viable business by intentionally staying small and nimble.

~~~
ohnoesmyscv
I think team chemistry and emoloyee buyin is severely underrated. Large
salaries being thrown around silicon valley when the hires themselves dint
believe in the product but just the money, resulting in a team that just
'dayjobs' whatever they are working on instead of being passionate sbout the
company's products and values.

------
hash-set
Mr. Robot did a great job of exposing all this corporatist bs garbage.

~~~
whamlastxmas
I planned on watching that series but after hearing this it makes me not want
to. I have enough cynicism in my life.

~~~
Taylor_OD
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njIc062qmg4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njIc062qmg4)

This is really the peak. Ultimately I would argue the show is pretty cynical
but does show a world where change is possible.

------
raleighm
Sad that so many people spend working lives in institutions whose values are
unintelligible or not theirs. I worked at a company whose values were clearly
articulated and formed a shared vocabulary amongst employees. It can be done.
The values were stated at a high level of generality, as they have to be. So
applying them in novel cases required interpretation, discussion. In that
sense, the principles were not easy to apply. But that's not necessarily a bad
thing. The discussions themselves encourage engagement, reflection.

------
freelancezombie
Didn't bother reading. The bold font and lack of proper line height did me in.

------
Taylor_OD
As far as I can tell every companies values are make money.

~~~
ljw1001
I think that over-simplifies a bit- a company's value is to make as much as
possible for the corporate leadership. That's what the people who create the
culture are most interested in.

