I really enjoyed the class on Social Entrepreneurship. This type of business was not new to me because I had attended a talk held by the Social Enterprise Club a few weeks earlier where Comm 101 Prof. Jeff Kroeker was one of the speakers. Before attending the workshop Social Enterprise (SE) 101, I had no idea what Social Enterprise was. However, because of the workshop and the Comm. class on SE, I am now able to verbalize and articulate why I decided to go into Business.

Also in attendance at the SE 101 Workshop was Mark Brand. His name came up during the class as well. He restored Save on Meats, which was an institution in the Downtown Eastside community. During his talk, his passion for the community genuinely came through. Mark gave specific examples of the social aspects of his business. For one, his main priority is always his employees. He stressed that the environment he tries to foster in the workplace is not only a professional one, but a familial one as well. With employees who are recovering drug addicts or previously homeless, Mark says it is always important to just take a moment to ask how everyone is doing and to make sure everyone is in a safe, healthy place in their lives.

Another program they do at Save on Meats is food catering. Once a week, Save on Meats and partnered hotels provide meals to the homeless and to those who don’t have the means to feed themselves.

If Social Enterprise is covered again in class, I think it would be awesome if Jeff could share some of his anecdotes from his experiences in Africa. It would really give us students an even better grasp on what Social Enterprise really is.

Additional reading:
Mark Brand’s Speaker Profile
Mark Brand: Building a Downtown Eastside Foodie Empire

This post is in response to Yuwei Wei’s blog regarding Employee Motivation which can be found here.

Yuwei makes the point that an indication of a company’s strength is how invested its employees are in its success. She stresses that a company should invest in the well-being and growth of its employees. Consequently, if the workers are satisfied and happy, the company as a whole reap the benefits as well. Yuwei makes her point by using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

I completely agree with her views on employee satisfaction: High employee satisfaction leads to higher productivity in the workplace, and in turn, contributes to greater corporate success.

Google Inc. is a company that excels far and beyond others when it comes to employee benefits and employee satisfaction. To begin with, Google typically pays its employees 12% above the rest of the market with salaries ranging between $63,023 and $147,881 [1]. The company also provides multiple conveniences to its employees like free meals, in-house medical services, haircut services, professional massage services, gym and swimming pool services, and even child day care [2]. With these services available to employees, they do not need to leave the workplace to run errands, which is a benefit to the company as well.

Google offers free meals to its employees.In addition to a pleasant work environment, if an employee passes, his/her spouse will be paid 50% of their salary for the next decade. In addition, any children will receive $1000 per month until they turn 19 (or 23 if they’re studying full-time) [3].

Google is one of the front runners when it comes to the security and well-being of its employees. The company’s genuine interest and care for its employees is a significant factor in its success. With employees being happy and satisfied, they are also more productive. In regards to the Stakeholder Theory, Google strongly satisfies the employee stakeholder, and with its current successes, I can infer that it isn’t doing a bad job satisfying all its other stakeholders as well.

Sources:
[1] http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Google,_Inc./Salary
[2] http://computer.howstuffworks.com/googleplex3.htm
[3] http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/google-employee-benefits-continue-after-death-50008875/