After I wrote on my blog that I’m a huge fan of Ricardo Semler, I got an email from another avowed fan, namely Tom Nixon who is a director at Nixon McInnes a web design agency in Brighton, England.
He’s been telling me a little about how they run things, and here are som highlights:
Everyone sets their own working hours
This works really well for us. We had an almost tearful moment at our ‘review of the year’ meeting before xmas when a relatively new member of staff said that her highlight of the year was being able to see her kids in their school nativity play, which had been possible for the first time this year because of our flexible working arrangements.
Open book accounting
Everyone knows what everyone else earns, and I also like to show staff our bank statements now and again so they get a feel for what comes in and goes out. Sometimes we have awkward conversations about pay because salaries are public, but it’s so much better getting it all out in the open – people usually find out eventually anyway.
Voting on key issues
We had a chance to move into some really nice offices about a year ago, but the team voted against it in the end because it was just too expensive. We were all a bit bummed by not getting to work in the new place but because everyone had a say in it there was no
complaining.
Their company culture also includes things like “People wear the clothes that they feel are appropriate” and “We believe that businesses need not be only about money.”
YES! Way to go! It’s all very Semler-ish and perfectly in tune with my previous posts on why secret salaries are a bad idea and the cult of overwork.
I like the openness and participation that this encourages and the fact that these are not just internal policies, but are mentioned right on the website. Kudos!
PS. They’re hiring!
Hi Alex, thanks for covering Nixon McInnes – we feel honoured :)
We have by no means cracked the perfect formula for a company culture, but we’re working on it….
Tom
My pleasure. I don’t think any company in the world has cracked the perfect formula yet, but you guys are on the right track and closer than most!