Making work fun

Having fun is an important part of working at Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions (MSGP).

"We want to be the IT employer of choice not just for our name and for the products and services we deliver but because it’s fun to work here," MSGP Asia Pacific regional director for products and services Joey Gurango said.

MSGP, which has been included four times among the "Top 100 Companies to Work for in America", has four simple philosophies in performance management:

* pay for performance instead of for seniority or cost of living;

* keep performance management a dynamic, ongoing process;

* the team leader and the team member share accountablility; and

* compare the overall performance of a team member to another team member with a comparable level of responsibility.

Local setting

Out of more than 2,000 employees worldwide, the Philippine operation has 200 with an attrition rate or people who’ve left the company of 8% as of end-2001.

Unusual people practices start with the job applicant, who doesn’t go through written tests and/or background/reference checks and who gets to interview his/her future boss. New hires are given cellular phones and laptops, depending on the nature of their jobs, and Internet access. They also get a buddy to help him/her adjust to the work.

"The key is ‘trust now, then verify later’," said Gurango.

For Sean Hernandez, a newly hired software developer with the professional services automation/project accounting team, MSGP is purpose-built for team members, a phrase used in MSGP to emphasize teamwork.

"The company recognizes that a flexible, comfortable and homey work environment is necessary for employees to be at peak productivity. We have perks from free juice and coffee to life insurance but my favorite perk is the fitness club membership. This is where I sort out software development challenges as well as blow off steam," said Hernandez.

MSGP’s organization is flat, with only three layers. No one is more than two reporting relationships from the managing director.

"Organization charts and fancy titles are detrimental to productivity. We believe that ordinary team members should be able to experience extraordinary accomplishments," Gurango said.

Annual review

Within the Microsoft system, compensation and benefits are regularly reviewed to stay competitive in the marketplace. One of the most important items in the annual organizational health survey is job satisfaction, which covers both the job and the working environment.

Across the board job benefits include a casual dress code, flex time, monthly snack attacks where everyone gets together for an announcement or for awards, two weeks of product training for everyone, and leadership launches for new team members.

"Absolutely everything we produce comes from the minds of our team members, which is why the nature and set up of our business requires a relaxed, creative environment that’s conducive to producing an intellectual product like a software," said Gurango.

"We also have to keep in mind that our employees are people, too – they have their own lives, which is why they need to have a life. And that, as much as we possibly could, is what we’re giving them," he said.

Technical support engineer Richard Cua couldn’t agree more. "In my short stay, I’ve been to Singapore, Sydney and the United States," he said.

MSGP project supervisor for documentation Myra Lopez singled out the company’s balanced work-life that allows flexible work hours and occasional telecommuting for working mothers.

"Work done well is celebrated in special ways like getting together for an out-of-town trip, a bowling tournament or just plain belting out in any of our favorite karaoke hangouts," she said.

In such a work environment, complaints are few and far in between.