Best Place to Work Winner
Originally posted by Birmingham Business Journal: http://www.bizjournals.com/bir...
"BPTW Winner: FireSeeds
How would you describe your company culture in five words? Developmental, innovative, passionate, purposeful and multiplying.
What are three specific ways you ensure all of your employees know they are valued? We know their stories and help them accomplish goals outside of work. We always ask for feedback and they help us make decisions as we grow the company. We have monthly Wildsparq lessons that will help them have an impact in their personal life.
What concrete steps do your senior leaders take to create a great work environment for all employees? We meet weekly to discuss their development as a leader both personally and professionally.
What are some specific examples of how your company creates opportunities for individual development and career growth at all levels of the company? Everyone is expected to think for the growth of others. We call it leading east, west, north and south. As you prove to learn to lead, you get more opportunity to represent us in various ways with our clients.
How would you describe your company in 30 seconds to someone you meet at a cocktail party? FireSeeds is a recruiting and leader development company. We partner with high-growth businesses who value their culture, and we focus on positioning talented individuals in new opportunities.
What are the most popular perks you offer to employees? Iron Tribe Fitness membership.
How does being a Best Place to Work affect your bottom line? It drastically impacts our bottom line. We are a new company. Being on the list is an honor. We can leverage this Birmingham stardom to cause people to look our way and consider our services.
What movie title best sums up your company’s culture and why? Moneyball. This movie is about thinking differently. When we were building the FireSeeds brand, we wanted to create our own framework of a “qualified candidate,” and not rely on the industry standard.
What song title best sums up your company’s culture and why? Give Up the Funk. This song is playing in the locker room after a loss. Despite losing, the team is celebrating! It is symbolic of our attitude. Recruiting is hard. When we lose, our attitude is to sing and dance. Keeping a positive attitude is everything.
What do you think your company does best in terms of creating a great workplace? We have open feedback discussions in the office. When someone misses, we teach. When someone wins, we throw a party. We keep everyone’s goals on posters on the walls to keep their focus on the ball. Our team never has to worry about their performance.
What’s an area you are still trying to improve on? We have 7 job swings of a recruiter. We have quarterly planning retreats, and we review their descriptions and talk about the highs and lows. For the next quarter, we are working on leading our clients stronger.
What’s the hardest part about creating a great place to work? Getting the “right people on the bus.” Once we obtained our business model, we borrowed from Jim Collins’ “Good to Great.” We had to make sure we had the right people in our culture before we pushed the gas.
What’s the one tip or best practice you would suggest for a company looking to create a better workplace? Examine your culture. We define culture as having seven main areas: Vision/Mission/Values, Communication, Team Dynamics, Professional Development, Personal Development, Empowerment, Compensation/Opportunity. Ask your team to give a rank (0-100) in each area.
What makes your company different? Our vision is to create multiplying movements of multiplying leaders in the for-purpose marketplace. We are redefining how people think about work. This is an opportunity to impact your coworkers in and out of the workplace to lead better lives.
Fill in the blank with only one word: Our ideal job candidate is ____: driven
Fill in the blank with one word: One trait we don’t want in a job candidate is ________: complacency
-Cord Sachs, founder/CEO/president"