Louis Carter on Unlocking the Secrets of America’s Most Loved Workplaces

Everyone, thank you for joining our, our webinar today, Unlocking the Secrets of America's Most Loved Workplaces. I'm Zach. I am the account manager here at Most Loved Workplace, and we'll be serving as co-host to our wonderful Tracy Cohn today, our marketing manager. In terms of panelists, we have Brian Scudamore. He is the CEO and founder of our number 5 most loved workplace, O2E Brands. We also have Amy Reichenauter here. She is CPO of Databricks, our number 4 most loved workplace in America. And last and not least is Laura Sorensen. She is CPO of First Watch Restaurant Group, our number 1 most loved workplace in America.

Amazing. Yeah. Thank you so much for those intros. And we'd love to just get a quick intro of each one of your roles, what you do at your company, and then we'll go into our questionnaire. So starting from your end, Laura, if you could just go through your title, what you do, and then just a quick intro into your summary or your experience with Most Loved Workplace. And then we'll go into Amy and then Brian after that.

Hi everyone. So Laura Sorensen, I'm the Chief People Officer at First Watch Restaurants. I've been here about 8 years now, and I'm not sure if everyone on the call is familiar with First Watch. We're in 29 states right now. We've got at little over 530 restaurants, the best breakfast or lunch you'll ever have. So if you haven't found us yet, we like to think we're the best kept secret in some spots. Make sure to find us. And we've been involved with Most Loved for about 4 years now. And Zach has heard me say this so many times, but there's so many different assessments out there and surveys and, you know, different affiliations and awards. And when we saw this one, we hadn't want for any others. When we saw The Most Loved, we just thought, oh my gosh, this so perfectly aligns with who we are as a company. We always like to say that we love our employees more than bacon. And so this one just really fit with our values. We couldn't be more honored than to be number one. But again, we've really enjoyed our work with Most Loved over the last several years to be able to assess where we are, how we can get better. And again, we're just, we're grateful for the honor.

Amazing. Thank you so much, Laura. Yeah, Amy, yeah, feel free to start your intro.

My name is Amy Breiteneder. I'm the Chief People Officer at Databricks, and Databricks is a data and AI platform. This is actually our first year with Most Loved Workplace, and we're super excited to be on the list. I was absolutely thrilled when I found out where we were placing this year, and I felt like Most Loved Workplace really aligns with our view about what we want as a company, which is that we want to create impact through the products that we deliver to our customers, and we want to create an experience experience where employees feel like they can do the best work of their career. And this was something that really felt like it brought to the forefront what was important to us and getting feedback from our employees and then sharing that on a broad stage through Most Loved Workplace.

Amazing.

Thank you for sharing, Amy.

All right.

Yeah, Brian.

Thank you. Well, I'm humbled to be here with the number 1 and the number 4 winners. And so excited to be in the number 5 position. Thank you, Tracy and Zach, for having us here. I am building a business that is being built with people way smarter than me who we all share a common passion and that's taking care of our people. We say the formula here at O2E Brands, which is 1-800-GOT-JUNK, the first business that I started 35 years ago, WOW ONE DAY PAINTING, and Shack Shine. We've got 3 home service brands and we say our winning formula is take care of our people and they will take care of our customers. Take care of our customers and they will take care of the growth of our business, our profits, our reputation, and so on. And so to win number 5 standing in America tells us that we're doing something right and makes me and our team feel proud that people have told us, our people, that you are taking care of us and we're taking care of each other and it's working. And so it's a very exciting honor. And what Most Loved has done for us is really had us attract more great people, just like the team that we've got in place. And we've got thousands of employees across our brands across Canada, the United States, and Australia. And it feels pretty cool to know that people take such great pride as surveyed and responded in these types of studies to say, we love where we work and we want to continue to stay here. And it attracts more great people and makes all the magic even better for everyone.

That was amazing. Yeah. Thank you so much, Brian, for sharing. And I'd love to get to know a little bit more about the business impact for how Most Loved Workplace has impacted each one of your businesses. And then we'll actually dive in starting from your end, Brian, and then we'll go down the line and have each of you respond. And so Brian, to kick us off, what are the tangible benefits that you've personally experienced from Most Loved Workplace and being certified?

Well, it's an interesting question and a tough one to answer. I think love is very intangible in many ways. When people in our business say they love the business, they get out there and talk to their families and friends, and it brings more great people to our company. So I think is getting as close to tangible in terms of the impact as I can is people will often say, I heard from a friend who works with you how much they love the business that they're a part of. Those are the sorts of stories that happen all day long. We've got about 834 people in our head office and people make their best friends at work. There's lifelong relationships that I started 35 years ago And I'm still in touch with so many people that have become lifelong friends. As tangible as I can get is just that it continues to pump us up internally, the pride we feel about the great work we're doing and the difference we're making in the world with 1-800-GOT-JUNK and all our brands.

Great.

Thank you for sharing.

Yeah.

And Amy, I'd love to hear from you next. For Databricks, what are some of the tangible benefits you have seen workplace-certified company?

Yeah, I think we've seen benefits on two levels. First of all, on the talent acquisition side, we do see that in the data and AI AI space, the talent competition right now is incredibly fierce. And we hear from candidates all the time, this is something that they've seen or looked at, and that is part of why they were interested in the company. I think to them it speaks volumes about this being a place where we do really care about the experience of our employees. So that's been a real competitive advantage for us in terms of attracting and retaining talent. And I think the other one is that we do consider our employees to be sort of Databricks brand ambassadors, and they amplify by our product and customer news, but also the amplification of these kind of key major workplace recognitions are also important in terms of how they feel about their experience here, but also what it says to our customers about the fact that they want to buy from a company that clearly cares and puts a lot of effort and thought into the experience of their employee base.

Amazing. Thank you, Amy. Yeah, I love those benefits. And Laura, any tangible benefits for First Watch? We'd love to hear them.

Sure. First, I've got a burning question for Brian after hearing his businesses. So what's the right time of year? Like, what day can I start putting up my Christmas lights? Is it the day after Thanksgiving or is it earlier now? Because everything's early.

I think it's become the day after Halloween. That's the day that we all start to see Christmas ads on TV. That's the time where you sort of get ready for Thanksgiving. And a lot of people want their lights up by Thanksgiving, so they get Shack Shine to come do it right after Halloween. Mine are going up this week.

Ah, okay.

We have Shack Shine too. So that's Good to know now. I didn't want to be the first ones in the neighborhood, although we could be the trendsetters.

There you go.

So for us and what we've seen as the most tangible results, probably it's all about attraction, engagement, and retention. So we're in the restaurant business, as you know, but all of us, all three of us, and I'm sure everybody listening is really in the people business. We're also a growth company. So when I think about attraction, we're just able to attract more people with a designation like this. I mean, it's it's natural that people want to be part of a winning company. And we had a 15% increase in year-over-year applicants. We had a 40% increase in our number of hired applicant referrals. And so I think our current employees are really proud to tell their friends, hey, come work here. And now they've got something that validates what they've been feeling in the culture. And we make a point of including the Most Loved logo on our career site, on our emails, making sure that our recruiters, our talent team, and our hiring managers are all talking about it as well. And then I think it, it really just reinforces the importance of what's important to us as a company, to all of our leaders out there. So they know that being most loved is something really important for us. It's all about the culture. And again, I think it reinforces for them the behaviors that we most value in addition to letting them know what our values are. But when I think about the engagement, I mean, I was out traveling when the news came out to the restaurants that we were just voted Most Loved and number 1. And it was amazing to see, you know, cooks and dishwashers talking to each other and coming up to me and saying, "Hey, did you see the news?" Because we sent it out through a text blast to everyone. But they say, "We were just named number 1." And then you realize how much people really want to be part of a winning team. And how much pride they take because again, they all contribute to the culture. It's not us winning the award. That award is for all of them. When I think about culture, it's really just the collective way that we think, act, and feel. So this award is all about the culture that they're creating in the restaurants every day. And it was so wonderful to see that pride and that joy that they had. And that, of course, I think leads to higher engagement, which of course leads to higher retention. And so we see all of those right now as benefits for Most Loved.

Amazing. Yeah. I love that ripple effect, right? That momentum. There's just this amazing synergy that is just felt and it's just so contagious for new team members, existing team members. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that, Laura. I personally wait until after Thanksgiving for my Christmas lights. I will say I'm very strict. I need some sort of fall transition before anything Christmas tree related. But great. I'd love to now dive into a little bit more of the role of culture and long-term business growth. Whether you've been with Most Loved Workplace, um, as a certified company for, you know, a month or 5 years, just walking through that. And so Brian, to kick us off there, why has the Most Loved Workplace culture, you know, how has it sustained long-term business growth to brand loyalty? You know, how has it boosted employee performance? And really just focusing on the business side of things outside of that culture.

We've been a part of Most Loved for 4 years. This was our 4th year on the list. And what it does is a bit of an annual event to help keep us accountable to building great culture. We say our culture is all about people and it's all about finding the right people and treating them right. And what a perfect way to know that every year we're going to have another survey to say, how are we doing? And sometimes we get better, sometimes we go down. It doesn't matter. It's just that we can look at the data and then say, what would we change? Where do we need to get better as a company and what do we learn from? It's less about the number. It's so great to be ranked number 5, but really, as long as we're on the list and we can look at what are our strengths, what are our weaknesses, areas of opportunity, we do know that business is cyclical and the long-term growth of a business. Yes, we want to continue to grow, but there'll be blips, there'll be things that happen to get in our way, and it's how we navigate and handle those Challenges with our people or the economy or growth of the company that really matters. And we really see all of our brands as playing the game. We're a team sport. We are playing a game with other people. It's about winning. It's about enjoying the journey. And so this survey, I think, is a great checkpoint to go, hey, we don't just leave it for chance. We make sure that we're doing great things in our business and that our people are proud and happy and vote for and sort of guarantee that we're gonna end up continuing to be on the list.

Oh, thank you for sharing that. And Amy, yeah, in terms of business growth, boosted performance, any of those benefits that you've seen in the workplace, can you share how you've seen that impact?

You know, we have been on an incredible growth trajectory for the last 10 years, actually. And, you know, part of that, that's really an interesting element of sustained hypergrowth is actually how you evolve the culture over time. And so a few years ago, coming out of COVID we had kind of gone back to first principles and looked at the behavior of employees who did really well here and also those who had struggled. And then we correlated that with times when we had done our most important work, both for our customers or in the product. And that's actually how we developed what we consider to be our culture principles. And what was really interesting about the workplace certification is that it does provide that kind of validation of the things that you want to get out of your culture and the experience you want to create for employees, which, as Brian said, ultimately impacts the experience of your customers. That getting that external validation through the feedback of our employees of how they are experiencing what our intention was around the culture principles that we put in place and the experience that we want to create both internally and externally for our customer base. And so we found that the Most Loved Workplace certification has been a really nice validation of that, of the intent that you want to create. And I thought Laura said it really well earlier, of like, culture is really a set of behaviors of how people show up at work every day. And we want to know that what we want to create for people is the same experience that they're having and that they have that sense of inherent pride in the work that they're doing. And so we have found a quite strong correlation between the intent of what we were trying to create and how that got reinforced through Most Loved Workplace certification and the feedback that we got through that process as well.

Wow, amazing! And congrats on your continued growth. Yeah, that's so amazing to hear. And then this is only the beginning, right? It just keeps going and keeps growing. And thank you for sharing that success. And Laura, from your end, you had your, you know, cooks coming up to you sharing their excitement. So obviously there's a lot happiness and joy and pride in your employees. How have you seen that reflect on the business side in terms of, you know, less turnover, any kind of measurable results that you have been surprised to see take effect by culture alone and the certification for your business?

Yeah, I don't know if I was surprised by anything because I think we've all culture and our people at the center of everything that we do. So I feel like we've known for a long time that having a most loved culture is really key. So again, we feel great that we're able to validate that now for our employees because we can think it and we can feel it. But if our employees aren't feeling it, then it's all for nothing, right? Like Amy, we're an aggressive growth brand. And so a couple of years ago, we announced plans to have over 2,200 restaurants. So that's what we're shooting for. We see a lot of white space and exciting opportunity ahead there. But of course, we're not going to be able to do that without people. We have a a wonderful development team that can build out beautiful restaurants, but we need people to staff those restaurants. And so it's a lot on the recruiting and retention side of things. Like I mentioned, we've certainly seen a drastic improvement in our candidate flow, and, and we think it's certainly attributable in part to this. We think about the number of employees that we need looking out potentially 2,200 or so restaurants, we're going to need tens of thousands of employees over the next couple of years. And so that attraction becomes really critical to our business objectives of growth and then holding on to that talent. And then I think for our team too, you know, like Amy, who talked about getting back, you know, the original values of We've been in business for over 40 years now, and our founder, who sadly passed away about 6 months ago— I mean, when he started out, he didn't have all the tools we have now. He didn't have all of the great metrics and data and insights that we get from Most Loved, where we can see exactly how people are feeling and, you know, what's the movement year over year. He really just started this business with this focus on running great restaurants and treating people right. And in the absence of all of these different attraction and retention tools, I think he just hired people who were like him, people who were really smart, really hardworking, and above all else, really, really kind. And I think then those kind people went out and they just hired people like them. I think when you're like that and you're a really kind individual, you're able to sort of spot a jerk right away when you're talking to them. I think you just, you know, you find people like you. And so So I think we ended up with all of these really kind, good-hearted people who wanted to do the right thing and who worked really, really hard. Again, having something like this, I think validates for us that we're continuing on with his legacy and what was most important to him, which was creating a culture where people can thrive and grow and do their best work. And it helps us not only with attracting from outside, but also So making sure that we're focused on our internal talent and providing amazing opportunities for our people every day, because with that growth, we want to make sure that we're promoting as many people from within as possible and building that internal pipeline. And so again, I think our employees feel good when they see that survey and they know it's something that's important to us. And you know, every year myself, our CEO, and our COO host something called the Y Tour. It's like an engagement survey in person, except we do it over Zoom now. So whatever you you want to call that. But we just, for example, hosted 24 separate 90-minute calls with employees around the country. And one of the first questions that we asked them is, what do you love the most about working at First Watch? And there's a lot of programs and different things I could come up with. There's different initiatives we could work on when we think about pay or different operations. But at the end of the day, every time we ask that question, the number one response that we get from our employees is it's about the culture. That's what they love the most about working at First Watch. And so we want to make sure that we're continuing to reinforce that culture. And again, I think this is a great tool that has helped us keep that focus on what's most important to our employees.

Absolutely. Yeah, thank you so much for sharing, Laura. That's amazing. And I love that, yeah, kindness attracts kindness. Everyone loves the culture and it just— it shows in dividends. But great. I'd love to— so each of you has spoken greatly about how much this has impacted, you know, being Love Workplace certified. I'd love to talk a little bit about those who may not know much about the reporting, any learnings that you've gathered, right? So it's much more than a certification, right? But what data can you actually use to either improve your culture or to validate that amazing, we're doing this correctly, right? So culture, it's something that's a little bit hard to measure, right? You feel it, you see it, employees, you know, staying longer, less turnaround, but I'd love to hear from your end, Brian, and the whole team at large, really just how has that reporting either changed anything from your culture or improved it and created almost an action plan for your business?

Yeah, I think, you know, generally speaking, it gives us insights when we're able to hear from our people in a candid way where I think someone will tell you information in a survey that they might not tell you in person. And so for us to hear, for example, one of the biggest challenges that I think we've gone through in the last year or so, as a lot of companies would. I know Laura mentioned this, a lot of things over Zoom today. We are a people-based business that we seem to be more energized and productive when we work together in person. But we also understand that the world changed, and how do we balance the hybrid nature and have a good balance that works? We're not telling people you have to come in 3 days a week, and these are the days, and these are the times. We don't want to police our people. We want to give them the flexibility to do great work in an environment that they feel enthused in. And so when we can get data from survey results that allow us to see how do people really feel, what are the challenges with remote work, what are the challenges with coming back to office, and what does that look like? And so it's just been valuable for our team. We've got an incredible people team. They're all fantastic, every single one of them. And when I see the hard work that they put into making the business better. It's always from what do our people want, what do they need. And of course, we can't please everybody all the time, but they take this data and these reports to heart and they say, how do we really make this company thrive and continue to grow while at the same time watching our people continue to grow? And there'll be times that aren't easy and there'll be things that people don't like, but our people team has a great challenge of being able to connect with that data and understanding what improvements need to be made and then continuing we doing to survey? We do pulse surveys internally with our company, you know, many, many times a year basis to really stay connected. It's one thing to get a most loved survey, go out to your people and then wait another year, but it's the data that we even collect internally that's in between that's incredibly important and helpful.

Amazing. Yeah, that just shows that you're listening, right? And that action is being made, which of course contributes to just happiness overall. Yeah, always in the workplace. So thank you, that's great. And Amy from your end, how has the data, the surveys, really a lot of those metrics, has that impacted your business and the culture that you've set?

You know, similar to Brian, we have other listening systems in place with the employees, and one of the things that's been really valuable about this data is that we use it to triangulate around the other data sources that we have where we are getting feedback from employees. And through all of that data together, then we do action planning at 3 levels for the company. So one is that we use the broader data from Most Loved Workplace and our internal surveys to plan at least one major initiative that's sponsored by our executive team each year. And then we ask each department to choose an area of focus for their specific area. And then we ask actually down to the manager level to also choose an action planning focus area to drive improvement in the experience for their local teams. And so we use all the data together to try to continually drive improvement in the employee experience. And, you know, I think for Brian and Laura too, like, for companies that are going through extended periods of growth, that change is a constant. And so you want to make sure that you always have those listening systems in place to ensure that you do understand what's going on with your employees, what's important to them, and what steps you can take to continually drive improvement in their experience. And when you do that, and they know that you care and take the data seriously, they'll continue to provide feedback and input. And ultimately, you know, that's what leads to this transparency and trust in the environment.

Thank you, Amy. I love that you mentioned that trust, right? You know, being able to provide feedback that is supported and listened to, and, you know, action is created from it, rather than, you know, a fear-based environment or, you know, any other cultures that people have been a part of, is such a change and just shows why someone would to, yeah, be a part of that greater vision and the company that you're a part of. So yeah, thank you for that. And then Laura, from your end, so you have these metrics, you have this readout, what then, right? What do you, how do you use that data you already have built up, you know, from the founder bringing more kind people onto the team more and more? How have you continued to increase and better that culture? The metrics received.

I mentioned before the, the why tour. Part that we do. Unlike Brian and Amy, I'm envious, we don't do any other surveying. So this is it for us. If we're looking for measurable data that we can really gain insights from and action plan around, this would be it. Again, a lot of it we're getting anecdotal. We get great information from the Y tour from our employees in real time. And then, you know, instead of just instead of it being one-dimensional, we can really dig into it and ask questions because, again, they're 90-minute tours that we have with the employees. So we feel good that we're connected with them in that way to have our constant finger on the pulse of what's going on in the restaurants. But again, to have the report outs here so that we can look each year to see where have we made improvements, what areas do we need to focus on, Sometimes we may think that we're doing great things in one area, but the results tell us otherwise. And so then we know that we really need to shift the focus. And, you know, and other times there's areas where we haven't put a lot of focus in, but suddenly we see that our results are really good in those areas. And what that does for us is it really reinforces our thoughts that so much boils down to the individual manager experience. Hands in the restaurant, because you could work for a most loved company, but if you're not working for a most loved manager who's creating that culture in their restaurant, you're not going to feel it. But if you are, then my gosh, that just radiates everywhere and sort of lifts everything else up. And so again, in looking through some of the results, even when we have areas where we know we maybe have not put as much of a focus on, we see that lift when we know that there's great managers there and they're feeling great about everything else.

Yeah, no, I love what Laura said of, you know, that you— about managers. If you have a most loved company but not a most loved manager, I mean, that's so incredibly important. And we win awards, but by no means are we even close to perfect. I know that people leave not just companies, but they leave managers they work with. And so where Pulse surveys really help us, and doing them frequently, is we'll sort them by department. We'll take a look and go, what's wrong with that department? What's missing? And it allows us to dive into maybe a leadership Maybe an overwork problem, but we can look at those problems and work with our people to ask questions and uncover what's really going on and work with them to fix it. I'd highly recommend, I know that you guys are number 1, so how should the number 5 be giving any advice to number 1? But I think, you know, being able to do surveys more often has been incredibly helpful.

Brian, I love you mentioning you're number 5 versus number 1 in, in the rankings, but for those listening who have no have no certification, don't know where to start, are looking into being Most Loved Workplace certified. Nowadays, there's so many resources that you can get tons of certifications. You can read books, webinars, events. It's almost paralyzing how much information there is out there. What would be the benefit for a company looking to grow that knows they want to improve their culture, that knows the benefits of extended, you know, employee retention and and just happiness overall, keeping people there longer, all of the benefits, right? What is the advice that you would give to someone that may not already be on the list, may— where it may look overwhelming or like we're not big enough, we're not successful enough? What is the advice you would give to become certified and the change that you've personally seen outside of what you've already shared? And, and then if you could just, yeah, start there, Brian. Uh, that'd be great.

I think my advice to others is apply and see where you rank and take the information and then go, even if you don't rank and you don't make the list, now what do I do next year to be better to then get on the list? So again, it's a bit of a measure that is a scoreboard of sorts that allows you to hold yourself accountable. If you are building a company and you don't believe that people are the most important part of your company, then I wish you luck. But if you're building a business that's all about people and you want to be better, what a great way to measure and continually improve. There's nothing overwhelming about it. Of course, it takes work to make these types of applications. But again, it takes work to make a business better, and if you care about people, it's a perfect tool.

Of course.

Yeah, thank you for sharing. Yeah, Amy, what would you say to a company or anyone looking at this, looking to become certified and making that next step?

Yeah, I mean, I think there's two parts of it that are important. One is, you know, you do want to understand where you are with your culture, and that does involve taking some risk to lean into opportunities like this, to understand and get feedback through this particular listening system. But I think the most important thing is to take action, which is to get involved, to try to get to go through the certification process, to get that feedback, to action that feedback internally with your employees so that they feel like you care about their input. And if you do get certified and make the list, then I think that is a way to reinforce that sense of pride of employees that they work for a place that really cares about employee experience. And, you know, and that can matter both with candidates coming in, it can matter with employees, and it also, I think, says a lot to the broader market and to your customers about the way you think about your entire business and that holistic approach of thinking about employees first.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Thank you. I love just that next step of just apply, right? See where you're at, get that readout, and you either have actionable steps to make the list the next year and improve your culture, or it's reinforcing what you're already doing well, right? And so Laura, from your end, yeah, what would be, you know, if you were to travel back to when you were looking at mostly Most Loved Workplace and you wanted to take that next step, what advice would you give for another company looking to do the same?

I think I'd probably say to first think about why you want it and what you're hoping to get out of it so that you're really aligning your values with Most Loved values. And then once you have that aligned and realize, okay, we want to be a Most Loved Workplace, here's why, and here's what we're hoping to get out of this, then I think like Brian Nike say, you just do it. You just, you know, jump right in. It is not overwhelming at all. And we're a smaller growth company. When we first started doing this, we didn't even have an HRIS department, which would normally be the ones who are taking and sending out survey data and then accumulating all, going through the insights. We were able to do it. It was completely a painless process. Super easy. And the data and insights that come out of it are already organized. And I would just jump right in. I don't think it was that involved at all. I've done other things in my past at other companies that probably were a bigger time commitment, I would say, than this for sure. There's 3 components. So it's the employee survey, there's like a culture type audit, and then a, like an executive survey or interview. And So I think the culture audit too is a good time to reflect too. And again, going back to why you want it, what are you getting out of it? Because you're really thinking about what are the programs that we have in place that really support our values and do support a more workplace. And that may be a great start even in the first year. You may realize as you're going through that, even though you say you want to be a most loved workplace, that you don't actually have a lot of programs or practices in place that may support that in action. For your employees. So I think just sometimes evaluating the work like that is helpful, and then you have them take the survey and see where you land.

Amazing.

Yeah.

Thank you for explaining how simple that process is and really identifying the next steps for your business to grow and to improve that culture. But great. We do have some questions, so we would like to save a bit of time here in the end. Thank you everyone for sharing. Just to answer some of the questions. Questions asked. And Zach, if you're able to, for the question sent to Brian specifically, if you can read that one.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. For all the attendees out there, please feel free to ask your questions. We'll be going through this Q&A for the rest of the webinar. For you, Brian, we had an anonymous attendee say, I understand that your company leverages pulse surveys to have a consistent stream of feedback. Have you faced any challenges with keeping up on that frequency of feedback? Back, following through with employees and driving palpable change?

It's a good question. Thank you, Anonymous. I think it's one of those things where it always takes work to collect data from a survey and then to action it and go ask more questions. We like when things actually in our business are not anonymous and when someone can back something up and say, here's why I feel this, here's what's going on in the business and how we can improve. The first time many, many years ago that we tried to implement some surveys into our business, we had learned that people weren't happy with one big thing, and that was they weren't getting enough vacation time. It was a lot of work hard, but not a lot of play hard. And we ended up listening and we said, listen, you know, people said the law requires 2 weeks paid vacation. We think 3 is more reasonable. We listened to them and we actually dove into the business value of increasing it to give people enough time to recharge that we went to 5 weeks paid vacation. And it was something that blew people away. And this was many years ago, but it's something that stuck. So it takes work to listen. Your people in your company to find out what would not only make them happier, but what is best for the business and to have that balance. And pulse surveys take work and they take time and energy, and that's why we've got a great people department to do some of that work. So is it hard to keep up? Sometimes you've got other priorities that get in the way, but you've got to stay focused on, you know, I love what Laura said, like when you're trying to win awards like this, ask yourself why it really matters, you know, why do you really want to do and for us, we really deeply care about our people and want it to be an it's-all-about-people business, which means people love their job and love the community that they're a part of. But it takes an awful lot of work and that cadence of regular surveying. So hope I answered the question.

Yeah, absolutely. No, so you definitely take action and you listen, and I can only imagine the joy and relief and excitement the team could feel from being heard. And seeing that, you know, come to fruition. So that's, yeah, that's an amazing story. Thank you, Brian.

And I think that, you know, being heard is a very difficult thing because let's take back-to-office type discussions. Some people feel one way, some people feel strongly the other way, and some people are right smack in the middle. And so if you try and please everyone all the time, as Steve Jobs said, you might as well just be in the ice cream business, right? It's hard to make everybody happy, but trying to listen and decide what feedback matters and what is best for the majority of people and the company. And it's a tough job. I mean, I'm not a CPO like Amy and Laura, but I appreciate the type of work that people do when they have to lead teams and companies.

Absolutely. No, thank you for sharing. And then we actually have another question for Laura, and this is pertaining to the survey sessions. So for the surveys that your team hosted, How many employees were invited to each of your 90-minute sessions and how were the participants chosen?

It's a great question. And so is the one before from Anonymous. I can tell you that's one of the reasons, if not the main reason, why we haven't done other types of surveys and really rely on Most Loved and our internal why tours, because we know what we can handle and we know that it would be worse to survey and not do anything with the feedback than to never have surveyed at all. So So with our internal one that we do, again, it's called the Y Tour, the We Hear You Tour. We've got different regions across the country. So we've got 24 different regions right now. And again, they're 90-minute tours. We have usually about 2 dozen employees on each tour. We only do these tours with hourly employees because we have different channels of communication for our managers. We host an annual conference for them. Them. And so we feel like they have much more access and, again, different channels of communication they can go through. But we really want to hear from our hourly employees, our frontline workers about what's happening in the restaurants on a day-to-day basis and what can we do to make your lives easier. And so we will ask each of our regional leaders to pick about two dozen people, a little bit more because we know there'll be some fallout, to be on these calls. Sometimes we have repeat folks, but we just We just look for a cross-sampling from all positions. So we like to make sure that we've got dishwashers represented and bussers and cooks and servers and hosts on there. That's really it. Also, you know, tenure. Again, we just want a good cross-sampling. So we don't want people just picking somebody who's been here 10 years who they know is really happy. We wanna make sure that we're hearing from everybody so that we've got a good representation of, all right, what's the experience like for somebody who's maybe been here 10 years and has seen all of the growth? How has our culture changed? But also, what is it like— we want to hear from somebody who's been here for 10 days to know, are we doing the right things in onboarding? Do you feel just as welcomed as the person who's worked here for 10 years? And so our leaders, we put a lot on them in terms of selecting the people for these calls, and they do a great job with it. But yeah, we think that's one of the most impactful things that we do. And I love being on these calls and watching my CEO's head go down because it's just like this. We'll have the Brady Bunch screen, we'll all see each other, and I'll see his head go down at certain moments in the call. And I know it's because he's texting somebody right then and there to fix the issue real time that that employee was talking about. And it's so wonderful on these calls too because we'll have employees say, for For example, you know, hey, I was on the call in 2018 and I'm the one that came up with the idea for the custom omelet button and then you guys made it happen and now our customers across the country love it. Now what they don't realize is that they may have said that on call number 3, but in call number, you know, 4 through 24 after somebody else brought up the same thing, but there's such pride when they're bringing up these issues and recognize that they're not just solving something for their restaurant and their team. They're voicing something that ultimately ends up with a solution that impacts the entire company and all the restaurants in these 29 states. And so there's an incredible level of pride and ownership there. That's just wonderful to see.

Amazing.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for sharing. We actually have another question from Jordan. If you're able to go to that question, Zach, from on your end.

Yeah, so what advice would you give to a mid-sized global organization that might be struggling with employees struggling to understand, fall in love with a culture that's in flux?

And this is open to everyone.

Let's start with Amy since Brian and Laura have had direct questions on this one.

Sure, yeah, I'm happy to help. You know, I think the thing that's most important is that the culture in my mind has to come from primarily from the CEO first. The culture is really an expression of that person. Person's vision and strategy for the company and how they want the organization to operate. And I think when that clarity is given from the top executive, then it helps the rest of the organization understand how to align. And the people team, I think, in many ways can help figure out how to operationalize that. And then you need these listening systems to understand whether or not that the intention behind your culture is being brought to life. And I think, you know, for this particular question, if you do feel like the culture is in flux, I I think one of the questions around that is why. Like, has there been a leadership change? Is there something going on in the employee base that's causing that change? And I think you have to get back to first principles about what's important for your organization, how that gets expressed, and then try to find mechanisms where that gets reinforced. You know, I'll give you an example of— for us, transparency is a really critical part of how we operate every day. And we have a lot of mechanisms mechanisms in place that help reinforce that. So for example, we, at the beginning of every all-hands meeting, which we do weekly for 8,000 employees, the first half hour is our CEO doing an ask me anything session. And any employee in the company can contribute a question, they're not curated. And it's that kind of transparency that I think leads to trust. But the most important thing is that being transparent is something that's important in our culture. And so we want to have mechanisms in place that brings that to life. So I would come back to that same point for this particular organization that is going through a change, is, you know, to decide what it is that's important in your company and then make sure that you have the appropriate mechanisms in place to help reinforce that in the day-to-day experience of your employee base.

Great, thank you for sharing. Yeah, hopefully that helped out Jordan to help answer your question. Thank you for submitting that.

And I would add on to that, I think if you're not that they're feeling that in love with the culture right now, you got to give them something to love. And so it's first determining what is that? And again, when we're talking to our employees, you know, it's those simple questions about what do you love the most about working here and what do you like the least about working here? Those two questions can take you everywhere and anywhere that you need to go, because when you know what they love the most, those are the things you want to hold on to for dear life as long as they align with the company's values an overall mission and vision. And then the things they like the least, these are the things that you want to work on solutions to and, and make sure that you're making things easier for them. We ask about what can we do to make their lives easier, and we also want to think about why did our employees join us and what would make them leave. So again, I think all of us could work on great programs and ideas all day long, but if it doesn't match up with the employees' idea and what they love the then there's going to be a disconnect. And if you realize you're in a situation where the employees are wanting things that you're not prepared to offer as a company, then I think it goes back to resetting expectations and values and making sure that the team is aligned. And you probably just can't overcommunicate enough on those types of things.

Absolutely.

Yeah. Thank you for sharing. Yeah. Going back to the root. What is your why? What do you love about the work? Workplace and going from there. Yeah, thank you for that. Next, this is for the entire floor here. We'd like to know, beyond engagement surveys, have any of you utilized external platforms like Glassdoor or other websites to gauge or enhance employee sentiment in pursuit of achieving your most loved status?

I think that it's less about the platform and more how the platform shows up. Is it anonymous or Is it somebody speaking up as a specific person? So challenges we've seen out there as a national brand, taking 1-800-GOT-JUNK as an example with over 150 franchise partners in 3 countries, you can get the competition that wants to say something negatively and anonymously about you on Glassdoor. You can get employees speaking poorly about one franchise, but you don't even know which franchise it is because it's anonymous. So for me, surveys, as best as they can possibly sort of show up in a way where they can tell you where, at least what franchise and what department, give you some level of direction to dive into. I think being anonymous, people want safety and I get that. An employee doesn't wanna lose their job by speaking up. That makes sense. But if the feedback isn't received as real feedback and you can't tell, then that's where I think it's a challenge.

Gotcha. Yeah, thank you. And Amy, from your end, have you experienced looking through Glassdoor, or, you know, kind of any other ways to gauge employee sentiment?

We do. Yeah, so we use Glassdoor as well, and I think it serves a slightly different purpose, but I think it's also just a data point that's helpful. And I agree with what Brian said. I mean, it's largely anonymous, and so you know you're going to get some, you know, gap in sort of what you you would get authentically from employees if they were able to and felt comfortable sharing that feedback directly. I think it's, you know, it's an— it's still important data. It matters a lot to candidates. So I think it's important that you have a handle on what is out there with respect to your brand. And then there's also some counterbalancing you can do to that with things like Most Loved Workplace, you know, where you want to really take advantage of the brand impact of having something like that that's associated with your organization. But I think, you know, I think it's very common to have multiple channels that you're using to get feedback and also to, you know, to help promote your brand.

Great.

Yeah.

Thank you, Amy. And yeah, Laura, so how would, you know, looking up Glassdoor reviews compared to your Most Loved Workplace surveys, for example, right? How do you use those differently? Do you use Glassdoor? Do you try to receive— look at employee sentiment outside of Most Loved Workplace? And if so, how those used?

We leverage Glassdoor too. I mean, I think it's helpful to have any information like that. We live in a world now where people make decisions based on the thoughts of strangers, right? Where to eat, where to work. So we can't ignore that. But, you know, like my colleagues have said here on the call, there's only so much stock that we can put in some of it when it's anonymous. We're really just looking for trends on there, though. But we also want to make sure people feel heard. Heard. So we do have someone that will, you know, go in and read— I'll go in and read oftentimes what's out there. Again, really looking to see, are there certain trends here, and why would somebody feel this way, whether it's negative or positive, so that we can build on those positive trends and really amplify that and hopefully rectify some of the concerns there are.

You got it.

Great. And yeah, thank you everyone for submitting your questions. Thank you, Laura, for, yeah, walking through that and how those different platforms are valuable in their different ways. Zach, from your end, do you have anything else that you'd like to get out of Amy, Brian, or Laura, or within each other and your own organizations? Are any of you curious about how you do things differently, you know, within your organization?

I've just been thinking on this call, we're as much about promoting this most loved values and philosophy as much as we are about building a community around it. So I'm curious, you know, Brian, with your 4 years, Laura, with your 3 years, and then Amy, as a first year, from your perspective, have you had any inspirations from other Most Loved Workplace companies, and have you learned anything from other certified companies as well? Or you can start.

There's times where I feel like I have not had an original thought in decades, and I'm just taking great ideas from colleagues out there, or, you know, things that I've read, and then maybe building off of that. And so I love it that Most Loved is creating a community like that where there's just a lot of great Because I think you look at some of those and then you figure out, how can I make this my own where it really feels like our company and feels like our culture? And maybe it's a different iteration of it and you end up with a different product, but the idea started in, you know, somebody else's great idea from Most Loved or other communities. So again, I think it's a great thing that you're building here.

Thank you.

I was just about to dump my LinkedIn profile into the chat because I want to now keep in touch with you. With these really smart, talented CPOs and anyone on the panel, because I think it's not just asking questions within your company, but it's learning from others and what they're doing well. So that's how I'm going to leverage it.

I will second what both of them said. I mean, I think that one of the wonderful things about COVID if there was one, was the fact that it really brought people together to share ideas. And that was a situation where nobody really knew how to navigate a very uncertain time, but it did bring people together to figure out something that was new, different, and difficult. And I love this part of the certification and that I think that we can learn from any organization that's out there. And then as Laura said, then you have to customize it for your own company, what's going to feel culturally relevant to your specific organization. But I think there's an opportunity to learn from each of the companies on the list and what they're doing really well, and then how you might be able to leverage that for your own company.

Always learning, always learning from each other. Yeah, thank you so much. And I second your point, Laura, about never having an original thought or experience in our lives. Everyone can relate to one another. Those are all of our questions for today.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you so much, everyone. Thank you so much for walking through what it means to be Most Loved Workplace certified, the impact that it's made on your businesses, on your culture, the actionable steps that you've created because of it, and the new connections that you've been able to create. So feel free to pop in your LinkedIn profiles and connect after this webinar. But thank you so much for joining everyone. Yeah, enjoy the rest of your day.

Trapping us.

Nice to meet all of you.

Thank you.

Have a great day. Bye-bye.