It is hard to disagree that many factors influence a company’s status, competitiveness, and success. It may be beneficial for small businesses to learn from major corporations, the main differentiator of which is often the quality integration of HR with the organizational culture. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how huge companies like Google, Scripps, and UPS manage to make their employees view HR as a positive factor that contributes to organizational success. Further, a comparison of the mentioned cultural facets with the views of real employers will be provided.
To enhance the benefits of HR, major companies like Google, Scripps, and UPS integrate it with the organizational culture, which allows them to gain loyal and determined employees and increase their competitive advantage. These companies may use slightly different but equally efficient approaches. For example, according to Mathis et al. (2020), “the focus of Google HR is on giving its employees flexibility to produce results, not just following core job requirements” (p. 33).
Therefore, the staff is provided with the possibility of being original, innovative, and flexible when achieving business goals, which changes the process from incredibly serious and official to more creative (Pratap, 2021). At the same time, the employees are aware of Google’s mission and vision and strive to make the company successful with its short- and long-term objectives.
Further, working for UPS means being in an energetic, supportive, and welcoming culture where the staff members can be creative. The company provides its workers with necessary training programs that are flexible enough to allow everyone to improve their skills (UPS, 2021). UPS encourages “everyone to bring their unique perspectives, backgrounds, talents and skills to work every day” (UPS, 2021). What is more, workers receive bonuses and discounts, get amazing insurance, and have tuition reimbursement (Soupata, 2005). Employees feel safe and cared about, and certain codes of conduct do not make them stressed but guide their actions instead.
Finally, Scripps is another example of a firm with a unique and successful strategy of integrating HR with the organizational culture. First of all, the company provides its workers with significant pay increases, gives them bonuses and rewards, and makes sure that the staff members feel free to be creative. Additionally, Chris Barksdale, vice president of human resources for Scripps, ensures that all employees are happy, energetic, and engaged (Knoxville News Sentinel, 2017). The company tries to recognize and address the needs of its staff, and they already provide females with 12 weeks of paid maternity leave and hire inexperienced young people (Knoxville News Sentinel, 2017). Thus, employees are excited about the future of Scripps and are motivated to contribute to its success.
While analyzing these three organizations, I decided to compare some of the cultural facets mentioned above to those among employers I have worked for. My longest employer was the U.S. Navy, and it was an extremely structured organization that did not provide me with any work-life balance. It was challenging for me to be energetic and determined to contribute to the overall success because I did not feel the support and care from my employer. I can explain it by saying that it is an extremely severe organization with different values and objectives, which makes it have a strict approach to its staff.
Now, I am an employee of the Navy Federal Credit Union. Over the five years of my work here, I saw a good development of the HR strategy. The company helps the staff combine work and life and provides everyone with a bonus at the end of the year. Everyone’s amount is different based on workers’ overall yearly performance, which motivates each employee to work harder. Additionally, we all can have an opportunity to strive and get promoted, which increases performance and encourages workers to be more creative and productive. Therefore, I agree with the idea that properly integrating HR with the organizational culture is a key factor that makes a company promising and successful and increases its employees’ creativity, determination, productivity, and performance.
References
Knoxville News Sentinel. (2017). 40 Under 40: Chris Barksdale. Knox News. Web.
Mathis, R. L., Jackson, J. H., & Valentine, S. R. (2020). Human resource management (15th ed.). Cengage Limited.
Pratap, A. (2021). Google’s human resource management strategy. Notesmatic. Web.
Soupata, L. (2005). Engaging employees in company success: The UPS approach to a winning team. Human Resource Management, 44(1), 95 – 98.
UPS. (2021). You belong at UPS. Web.