How Much Leaders Care Drives Employee Performance at Best Small and Medium Workplaces

Best Workplaces,  Caring ,  High-trust leadership

Nearly all employees (98%) at the Best Small and Medium Workplaces report a culture where people care about each other, compared to 68% at a typical U.S. workplace.

Companies with fewer employees have one clear advantage when building a workplace culture: the ability to offer personalized care and investment to their workforce.

That’s what you find among the 2024 Fortune Best Small and Medium Workplaces™.

“We see it clearly in the data: When people feel cared for, their full potential is unleashed, and even the smallest group of committed and empowered individuals becomes an unstoppable force,” says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work®. “When leaders genuinely care for their people, and we mean all their people, it transforms a company.”

At the Best Small and Medium Workplaces, more than nine in 10 employees report that management shows a sincere interest in their lives (95%), and that employees care about each other in their workplace (98%).

In a Great Place To Work market survey of 4,400 U.S. employees at a typical workplace, only 58% said management shows interest in their lives. A little over two-thirds (68%) said employees cared about each other at their workplace.

A caring culture unlocks the potential of your workforce.

When employees say their colleagues care about one another, they are 1.7 times more likely to give extra effort at work. When they feel managers care about their lives, they are 1.5 times more likely to want to stay with the company long-term.

For companies looking to increase productivity and improve performance, a culture of cooperation is key. When employees say people are willing to cooperate, they are a whopping 6.7 times more likely to give extra effort at work, according to survey data analyzed by Great Place To Work.

The good news for small- and medium-sized businesses? Building a caring and cooperative culture doesn’t come with a hefty price tag.

“Care, empathy and compassion are tools that any leader can access, no matter how big their company, or how many people work in the HR department,” Bush says. “At the Best Small and Medium Workplaces, caring leadership becomes a superpower — and these businesses find they can compete with any organization for top talent.”

Here’s how winning companies care for their employees and foster a collaborative environment for all:

1. Even on small teams, assign everyone an advocate.

Great workplaces offer multiple avenues for employees to get connected to the company and share feedback about their experience.

At Anthem Engineering, No. 32 on the Best Small Workplaces list, every employee who joins the company is assigned an advocate that meets with them on a monthly basis. An advocate can be a person’s supervisor or another member of the team.

The advocate is tasked with asking specific questions to understand the employee’s experience: How are you continuing to grow? Are there things that we could do to help you? How can we help you better develop?

Those conversations are then funneled to leaders, and every request gets a response. “When you hear something, you have got to take action on it,” says Rick Rowe, chief operating officer at Anthem Engineering. “Even if you go back with bad news, at least you're acknowledging it and you're owning it.”

2. Engage in deep listening with an employee resource group.

While multiple employee resource groups might not make sense for a company with less than 100 employees, small businesses can still bring employees together for deep listening.

Once Upon a Farm, No. 64 on the Best Small Workplaces list, uses its Employee Engagement and Empowerment Committee to reinforce its culture and get feedback from employees. This all-purpose resource group has 23 members, with seven to 10 attending monthly calls to share ideas and develop programming.

“With HR, I don't have all of the great ideas,” says Melisssa Ninegar, senior director of people and culture at Once Upon a Farm. “You really want to be addressing specific needs in the organization — so start with your team, and make sure it’s a collaborative process.”

3. Ask about goals and plans outside the workplace.

At WestPac Wealth Partners, No. 1 on the Best Medium Workplaces list, advisors joining the firm are asked to share their personal goals and aspirations to make sure their work helps them make progress towards those outcomes.

“If you work with me and make a bunch of money, and the rest of your life sucks, then I failed you as a leader,” says Travis Scribner, managing partner at WestPac. “I want to see you win in all areas of life. What is it that you want to accomplish with your family from an educational standpoint, from a recreational standpoint, from a self-improvement standpoint?”

Advisors share these goals with their manager, and then leaders review those goals quarterly — ensuring that everyone benefits.

Learning about personal dreams and interests can offer unique opportunities to celebrate employees, too. At Anthem Engineering, employees get a unique and special holiday gift that matches their interests. Examples include a nice bottle of wine, or tickets to an NFL game. For bigger milestones, like a 10-year anniversary, leaders reach out to an employee’s family to identify a unique, generous gift that might delight an employee.

4. Make your leaders accessible.

Having a relationship with senior leaders at the company can be highly valuable to our team, says Scribner. “People want meaningfulness within their work; they want relationships.”

To make leaders accessible at WestPac, every team member is given the personal cell phone number of the CEO and the three managing partners at the firm.

“We hear from our team constantly,” Scribner says. “We know that we don't have the exclusive to good ideas. They can come from anywhere within the organization — and empowering the organization to bring us ideas to help improve the firm, that’s an incredible thing.”

How to make the list

Think your company deserves special recognition? Get started here to become eligible for next year’s Best Workplaces honors.

Ted Kitterman