The old style of management principles no longer works, and business leaders are losing A-player talent to competitors every day. We have created the most productive workforce in the world that is the least engaged, and the processes companies used in the information are not translating to or evolving with the human age. As Betsy Raskin Gullickson of Strategic Finance magazine describes, “Paradoxically, we want to embrace a new way of working while clinging to an old system of reward” (14). Here, her statement is centered on why we need to make the leap to human-centric processes; the answer is that we are evolving.
The problem we face today is that in order for companies to thrive, their employees need to feel valued and understood, and the benefits for customers and then society—in that sequence—will come naturally. The transition to human-centric processes can facilitate that as businesses evolve with their people.
We have identified the problems companies face in the human era and how The Human Processes Continuum (HPC) helps business leaders find their own unique solutions for those gaps, and now it’s time to take a look at what successful businesses are doing to continue humanizing their brands.
Unique Culture Shows How Shake Shack Evolves with Employees
Shake Shack is one of the most well-known and fastest-growing restaurants in the US to date. According to Danny Klein at QSR Magazine, “Shake Shack created nearly 2,000 jobs last year and promoted 1,151 employees,” which directly correlates with its expansion across the country. Based in New York City, the company was merely a hot dog stand back when it started in 2001. So how did it expand and have success so quickly?
CFO Tara Comonte reveals how Shake Shack made so much progress in just 15 years. “We believe in building the right way for the long term and you should expect to see us continue to deploy spend in our people, in our guest experience, and in our underlying technology that we believe will deliver both leverage and compelling long-term returns for our shareholders,” she said in February.
Additionally, Klein illuminates how Shake Shack humanizes business for its employees because it “expanded 401K eligibility, tested various work environments, including flex hours at the home office, and a headline-grabbing four-day work week in several restaurants across the country.” Here, the company demonstrates that it is evolving with the needs of their employees rather than shying away from change.
The official Shake Shack website also identifies six benefits and perks for employees of Shake Shack: pay above minimum wage, health benefits, Shacksperience road map to move up the ladder, a 401(K) matching program, Shack Track & Field group exercises to promote a balanced lifestyle, and an annual company-wide managers retreat.
These benefits demonstrate how Shake Shack is evolving with the needs of their employees as opposed to being scared of changing. This culture also shows customers how the company is making efforts to treat its employees like people, which leads to an overall positive perception of the company from society as well.
Klein also discusses the rising costs of investing in employees. “In Q1 of 2019, the chain issued additional equity awards of $10,000 to each of its general managers,” Klein said. To this point, chief executive Randy Garutti argues that investing in employees contributes to long-term benefits. “We are committed to ongoing innovation and investment in our teams, albeit against very real cost pressures across our industry,” Garutti said.
Garutti’s point is also supported by LinkedIn’s 2018 Workplace Learning Report that states “94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career.” A long-term mindset sets companies up for success, as evidenced in Klein’s analysis of Shake Shack’s employee retention strategy.
These attributes are exactly what HPC promotes within businesses: putting your people first. Shake Shack makes its employees feel wanted, needed, and cherished, and that is how it retains employees and maintains a healthy work culture.
USAA Builds Trust and Sets Near-Perfect Customer Retention Rate
Identified as a leader in the financial services industry, “USAA is the most ‘human’ brand rated across all industries” (Marshall and Ritchie, 29). According to the Lippincott BrandView Study’s Human Era Index, which evaluates companies based on authenticity, empathy, and vitality, USAA received a 9.4 out of 10 ranking, one of the highest composite scores among over 1,000 brands evaluated.
The results are quantified from its customers’ answers to the three following questions:
- Do you truly care for and about your customers?
- Are you trustworthy, real, and authentic?
- Do you have a personality that is vital and unique?
Also, the company is ranked #30 in Fortune’s 2019 “The 100 Best Companies to Work For,” and exemplifies a legacy started in 1922 that continues to thrive from the inside out today. In this, it is evident that if USAA received such a high ranking from its own customers, that its success starts from the inside and is recognized by both customers and society.
The company serves military members and their families and has a whopping 98% customer-retention rate (Marshall and Ritchie, 29). Statistics like this display how companies that make an effort to humanize business continue to succeed while evolving with their audience. Because USAA works from the inside out, caring about their employees and customers, society has a better perception of it as a company.
Starbucks Creates Culture of Inclusion and Commits to Combat Pollution
World-famous coffee giant Starbucks serves over one billion cups of coffee each year and, according to its website, currently has over 24,000 stores worldwide. Many people consider stopping by Starbucks to pick up their breakfast in the morning or afternoon caffeine boost part of their routine, but the products are not the only thing that keeps employees and customers coming back.
Starbucks stands out in humanizing the employee experience by valuing each person’s unique style. Employees are permitted to demonstrate personal expression by displaying tattoos in visible places, dying their hair vibrant colors, and wearing piercings. Accepting employees as they are and allowing them to express themselves and their body art exemplify how Starbucks as a company is evolving with societal trends.
In a similar way, the company makes intentional decisions such as not using the term employee. “We call our employees partners because we are all partners in shared success,” Starbucks’s website reads. Simply calling employees “partners” shows them how much they mean to the success of the company and is an example of a small effort to humanize its business.
From the customers’ perspective, their experiences when they come to Starbucks are humanized through their relationships with the baristas and the personalization of each interaction. Customers feel appreciated when the baristas ask what their name is to call out their orders and customize their drinks in any possible way. These are just two examples of how Starbucks goes the extra mile to humanize and evolve in this human era.
In addition, Domènec Melé’s article “Organizational Humanizing Cultures: Do They Generate Social Capital?” supports the need for businesses to continue evolving because the act of humanizing is a process, not a one-time occurrence. Melé notes that “although people involved in organizations are obviously already human, they can become more human,… they can achieve a certain human flourishing or fulfillment as human beings” (4).
For instance, several companies continue to push initiatives that combat environmental issues such as pollution, and Starbucks is one of them. One way the company attempts to reduce waste is by offering strawless lids. According to Danielle Wiener-Bronner of CNN, Starbucks plans to “phase out plastic straws from all of its stores by 2020.” The company will still offer straws, but it is transitioning to using only straws that are made of paper or compostable plastic.
The same study that provided a numerical ranking for USAA on the Human Era Index (the Lippincott BrandView Study) ranked Starbucks third in the restaurant industry. Despite the work Starbucks does to create a positive experience for its “partners” and customers, there is still room for improvement, evidenced in their recent diversity and inclusion challenge. Although the company is not perfect, it is striving to stand out and succeeding in a dynamic way.
In essence, Starbucks continues to be one of the most popular companies in the world because of its efforts to add human aspects to business while evolving with society. The reason everyone knows what Starbucks is lies in the emphasis the company places on valuing its employees, customers, and society as a whole. That’s what makes businesses like Starbucks successful: ever-evolving leadership that is caring, empathetic, and intentional.
But still, there is work to be done.
Let’s get one thing straight: it was not HPC that made these companies that way—it was leadership. These human processes cannot be cut and pasted, and every process is a human experience. What HPC does is help the leaders that are in a rut invent their own ideas about what human processes are best for their company, aligned with the environment they have created for their audiences, and helpful when taking into account how they can evolve.
HPC’s primary focus—transitioning to human-centric processes within business—becomes increasingly relevant every day, and these companies showcase the benefits of humanizing business by putting their employees first and intentionally implementing long-term strategies and decisions. The impact on companies like Shake Shack and USAA putting their people first is the epitome of what HPC can help other business leaders accomplish in this human era.
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Feedback is very important to me, and I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts and insight. What other relevant examples in the real world have you seen of companies successfully humanizing their business? What about their strategy caught your attention?
Please connect with me on my social accounts @HilaryCorna, contact me on my website, and follow me on LinkedIn (even if we’re already connected). Thank you!
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Works Cited
Burdette, Kacy. “The 100 Best Companies to Work For.” Fortune, Fortune, 14 Feb. 2019, fortune.com/best-companies/2019/search/.
Klein, Danny. “Inside Shake Shack’s Employee Retention Strategy.” QSR Magazine, 5 June 2019, www.qsrmagazine.com/employee-management/inside-shake-shack-s-employee-retention-strategy.
Marshall, John, and Graham Ritchie. Welcome to the Human Era, e-book, LinkedIn SlideShare, 11 Jun. 2014.
Melé, Dominic. “Organizational Humanizing Cultures: Do They Generate Social Capital?” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 45, no. 1-2, June 2003, pp. 3–14.
Shake Shack. “Shake Shack.” Shake Shack, www.shakeshack.com/.
“Starbucks – The Best Coffee and Espresso Drinks.” Starbucks Coffee Company, www.starbucks.com/.
Wiener-Bronner, Danielle. “Starbucks Is Eliminating Plastic Straws from All Stores.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 9 July 2019, money.cnn.com/2018/07/09/news/companies/starbucks-plastic-straws/index.html.
In love and respect,
