Over the course of my university
career I have talked with friends who have been working within start-ups in the
region either on their co-op terms or summer internships and I have discovered
a pattern in these conversations. When asked how their experience was at x,y or
z start up the first things that they note is how they have played ping-pong at
work, taken naps whenever they needed to, had lunch and dinner catered for them
every day or had beers at the office with their bosses on Friday afternoons. They
usually discuss what work they did at the start-up after they discuss all the
fun that they had –but usually the fun is the first priority. At one time or
another I believe this topic came up in class but I feel it is necessary to
bring it to the blog.
I am going to get right to the point
here and ask, what are these companies trying to accomplish? Why are these
things happening within start-ups in Waterloo? To answer these questions, you must
look at why most start-ups come to Waterloo in the first place which is to recruit
talent from the local universities. To do that, these companies make the experiences
of their co-op students and interns unforgettable in hopes that they will
return to work full-time once they finish their degree. I have heard friends of
mine discuss their time at certain start-ups and only talk about the benefits
of the position. I think the term that was used in class was “pissing match”
when discussing how these companies compete to provide their student work force
with the best experience. These students then do exactly what I described above
–tell all of their friends about how awesome their time was at their summer
job, making those they talk to want to look to their company for a job. But this
culture that they create generates a whole new set of questions surrounding the
effectiveness of it. Does it work? Does the culture create long-term commitment
to a company? After all, these students are going to grow up real soon and want
to have a serious job where there aren’t university students running rampant
around the office, right?
Let me know
your thoughts and if you have worked at a start-up let me know if you would
consider it full-time after your degree!
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ReplyDeleteRyan, you make a strong argument by pointing out culture’s importance in terms of attracting individuals towards companies. In response to your question, “What are these companies trying to accomplish?” I strongly believe that culture and creativity go hand in hand. In order to create this balance, companies must focus on their employee’s physical and mental well-being. Many studies have surfaced on the benefits of taking naps, and they have been proven to increase memory, focus, and attention span length. In other words, it refreshes the mind by giving the brain a mini re-boot, which in turn ensures that individuals put forth 110% throughout their work day. After all, it is quality over quantity. As individuals grow tired, they tend to put forth less effort into their workload, which may result in lower quality work. If naps can solve this problem, why not include them in your company’s culture?
ReplyDeleteI recently came across an article called, "10 Companies where you will actually have Fun at Work" and many of the organizations have an extremely age diverse workforce. For example, within the article, they rank the company, LiveFrye as the fourth best company, in terms of having fun. Livefrye is an organization that prides themselves on their fun, laid-back environment. They offer yoga sessions on the rooftop, hold in-house trivia nights, and have ping pong tables set up in their workspace. As people grow older, their desire to work within a highly cultural environment does not decrease. Culture is a crucial component for many individuals, whilst deciding between job positions. Therefore, many of the people who choose to work within these firms, are most likely very similar to the university students that the company plans to recruit in the future. This is a main reason why interviews attempt to examine an individual’s personality and ambitions, in order to determine if they are a suitable match for the company’s culture. For this reason, I strongly believe that “university students running rampant at work” will have little to no influence on adults within the company.
Follow the link to read the article “10 Companies where you will actually have Fun at Work” https://www.themuse.com/advice/10-companies-where-youll-actually-have-fun-at-work
Rachel, you make some excellent points. I never really considered the benefits to creativity that these cultures can foster and it is definitely another reason that these cultures exist. I will admit, I wrote this blog post upon observing friends experiences and speculating about them. When looking at the bigger picture, the reasons behind these start-up cultures are no doubt multi-fold from driving innovation through creativity to attracting talent, I am sure there are more reasons to justify these cultures.
ReplyDeleteI think by providing 'fun' work environments and by constructing non-traditional models of control and operation these companies are attempting align with the culture of innovation. When start-ups implement these fun or beneficial elements to the job, i think they are doing so for purposes beyond just attracting new employee's. It speaks more to the nature of today's innovation economy, which places emphasis on things such as creativity and networking. The more fun and collaborative a work environment is could be a determining factor in achieving these less tangible aspects of business that have become so crucial to competing in today's economy.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, many of the people who choose to work within these firms, are most likely very similar to the university students that the company plans to recruit in the future.
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