Week Notes S0E5 Good Employer Vs. Good Company

Originally published on Medium on July 9, 2018.

The difference between an environment which cares for you, and one you care about.

Ive been thinking about of the difference between a ‘good employer’ and a ‘good company’ recently.

I’m of the opinion that the terms can be mutually exclusive, and here’s why.

On Management

A good employer will manage their teams to keep them productive; pressure at times, reason and fairness at others.

A good company will lead their teams to keep them engaged and self-motivated to manage their own energy and output levels.

On Prioritisation

A good employer will ensure their teams are profitable, meeting the immediate needs of the business and its clients demands.

A good company will ensure their teams are structured and executing to take winning positions delivering what customers need given market opportunities.

On Innovation

A good employer will provide space to breath and innovate as perks to distract from BAU client delivery.

A good company will create the environment where innovation is not a choice, its a necessity to delivery value to its customers.

On Scaling

A good employer will scale headcount; managing supply and demand to ensure hours are reasonable and management is reasonable.

A good company will scale outcomes; using Capex investments to bet on the future and scale ‘the system’ against these.

On Strategy

A good employer will execute against a fixed vision and strategy to deliver on shareholder expectations.

A good company will question the vision and strategy on a daily basis; making targeted investments where assumptions change and new opportunities are presented.

None of this is to say that working for a good employer is not valuable; I’d actually say that depending on your lifestyle it can be a sensible choice to prioritise working for ‘just’ a good employer at times. Yet in my opinion, once you have worked for a good company it’s hard to go back to 'business as usual’.