Hire hard, manage open, fire hard

You could never accuse Jim Goodnight from software giant SAS of Leadersheep!

The Economist reports that every aspect of life on the SAS campus is designed to bring the best out of employees by treating them well. The business does this by providing such things as free snacks, subsidized cafés, first class sports facilities, subsidized child-care and early schooling. In addition they provide employees with a free primary health-care centre; an initiative which is highly valued in the American culture and one which has contributed to an industry leading 2.5 days absence a year per employee.

Not surprisingly, SAS has a high employee retention rate, which means the business has to be careful with whom it recruits and severe in dealing with mistakes: a philosophy that Mr Goodnight calls “Hire hard, manage open, fire hard.” Whilst this attitude may worry some, it clearly does not phase SAS employees given the average turnover of around 4%. This compares with around 20% in the software industry as a whole.

The purpose of treating employees well at SAS is clearly to help them to succeed in business.

We’ve worked hard to create a corporate culture that is based on trust between our employees and the company, a culture that rewards innovation, encourages employees to try new things and yet doesn’t penalize them for taking chances, and a culture that cares about employees’ personal and professional growth.

Such is the success of SAS that Google have been recent visitors to the campus. Just goes to show that you are never so good that you can’t learn from others.