Top Small Business Workplaces 2007

The Wall Street Journal has an article about the "Top Small Workplaces 2007," in which they teamed up with Winning Workplaces, an Evanston, Ill., nonprofit that helps small and midsize companies create better work environments, to spotlight 15 Top Small Workplaces.

Common themes among these businesses?

• These small businesses tend to let employees at all levels make key decisions, and they groom their future leaders from within.
• They offer generous traditional and untraditional benefits (how about a six-week sabbatical?).
• They constantly hunt for new ways to improve the employee experience or engage employees.

According to the article, "many share a sizable slice of their profits with employees, teaching them to read company financial statements so they grasp how their job is connected to the success of the organization."

BOTTOMLINE: While teaching employees how to read financial statements can be a good idea, it's more important for each person to understand how their daily activities connect to the goals of the organization. That's one of the key focuses of the Six Disciplines business excellence program.