“Best People, Best Culture, Best Training.” That’s what many employees say about Bain & Company, the Boston-based management consulting firm, founded in 1973. With consistent top national rankings on websites like Glassdoor and Vault we were curious to learn more about what employees loved about Bain & Company’s culture. Here are three employee responses from a 2015 internal survey on culture:
On the shore of Lake Michigan halfway between Milwaukee and Chicago sits the city of Racine. Although you may not be familiar with the city, there is a very good chance that you are familiar with products that are manufactured there. Pledge, Windex, Raid, Drano, and even Ziplock Bags are just a few of the dozens of products that come from a single company in Racine — SC Johnson.
Ralph Broetje grew up on a small farm in Yakima, Washington, tending chickens and caring for the family orchard. When he was 15, he heard a missionary from India speak about the suffering of children in his country. Something sparked in Ralph that day — a dream to have his own orchard and help children in India. Like many teenage dreams, it faded. But after lying dormant for over 20 years, it began to take root.
The $35,000 gamble that founder and CEO Kip Tindell made in The Container Store in 1978 has really paid off – for him and for his employees. Today, the business has grown to an impressive 67 locations in the U.S. and reports annual sales of nearly $800 million.
What would happen if we chose a diverse group of eight people in their late 20’s and early 30’s to live together in a condo for two months? That’s the question that launched MTV’s ‘The Real World’ series in 1992. It’s similar to the question that Jim Gilmore, author of The Experience Economy asked in 1998 when Whirlpool tasked him for help with flagging recruitment and high turnover in their sales department.
California-based Patagonia has corporate social responsibility (CSR) hardwired into its business model. This outdoor clothing and gear company has caring for the planet embedded in its mission statement: “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”