Have you ever heard the phrase “Teamwork makes the dream work”? Yes, it sounds corny, but it’s true in any workplace. Employees who treat each other with dignity and respect are happier, they stay longer, and they produce better results.
At Advance Financial, how we treat our employees and our customers is first and foremost in everything we do. This isn’t just a company to Mike and me, it’s our family. Everyone here is so important to us and how we treat each other is where it all starts.
Open communication
We purposely designed our corporate office with an open floor plan, so employees don’t feel cut off from each other or from management. Our retail stores do not have manager’s offices but rather a desk out in the open. This open plan sparks more conversation, communication, and ideas. Although we have grown to a large company, we try to maintain that small business feel where employees can talk to anyone in the organization to find solutions.
Barriers to communication can be physical or perceived. The physical barriers of the old office plan were easy to remove. The perceived barriers are more challenging. It’s an ongoing effort to reinforce that silos are not allowed. Utilizing cross-department workgroups are a great way to approach the problem. We may have a service issue in one area and invite people from numerous departments to weigh in on the solution. People need to feel like their voices are important and at Advance Financial, they are.
Celebrate whenever possible
We are very goal-oriented at Advance Financial and recognizing people for reaching their goals is a key part of our culture. Our different departments recognize all kinds of milestones and our employee newsletter recognizes our top performers in every department.
We’re always looking for new talent at Advance Financial and one of the things that stands out to us is someone’s willingness to go above and beyond with customers and their fellow employees. Something as simple as taking out the trash or grabbing your co-worker a cup of coffee can make their day. We love to celebrate those employees that go above and beyond with balloons, their favorite coffee drink or favorite candy bar. It’s nice to have a good mix of private thank yous and public praise.
Encourage growth
We believe in giving folks room to grow, personally and professionally. One way we do this by encouraging participation in Better Book Club. BBC lets our employees choose the books they read, track their progress and be rewarded by the company for reading. It’s a great way to foster growth and to increase communication as people share their learnings at quarterly book club meetings.
We wouldn’t be where we are today without the hundreds of passionate people that are a part of the Advance Financial family and we know we will continue to grow and bring on more top-performing folks.
