Genencor International, a US-based biotech company, has an ingeniuous way to keep its thousands of employees happy and productive: by allowing them to design their own headquarters. Fast Company reports:
Genencor International’s headquarters in Palo Alto are the physical manifestation of what happens when you effectively transform employees into designers of their own work environment. The 1,260-employee, $380 million company, which focuses on health-care products and enzymes, such as those used in Tide laundry detergent, has generated remarkable worker loyalty and greater productivity. Its turnover rate was less than 4% in 2003. The national industry average is 18.5% and the Bay Area’s is 17.8%, according to the Radford Surveys. This isn’t a one-year blip either. When the economy was roaring in the late 1990s, Genencor’s turnover rate hovered around the same level.
Better than stock options, eh?
Read: Mutual Benefit [Fast Company]