“A successful employee starts from the day that you appoint them, I often say; people have not failed in an interview but we would have set them up for failure had we appointed them” Jan Thema
Jan and his business partner Peter Khan still sit in on interviews even though they own the company and the reason for this is very simple, they want to make sure that they hire the right people who buy into their vision of making Multiplier the organisation they have always dreamed of.
Having being employees themselves and being in top senior positions at a very big organisation, they know exactly what it is that makes a successful employee and the challenges that come with managing a variety of personalities hence they are moving away from the strict concept of micro management and giving their employees more freedom in the office by allowing them to manage their workload the best way they see fit as long as the job gets done. This strategy is proving to work very well for them as in the space of two years they have managed to multiply their start up capital by 10 which is a very impressive feat for any organisation.
“We are trying to create a family at the office, make employees feel they are part of the organisation” These are the words of CEO, Peter Khan who goes on to explain that the biggest value add in an organisation is the people you hire which is why they have to be treated as well as possible to ensure that they continue to buy into the vision you have for your organisation and the quality of their work resembles the company’s values.
Most employers put out all the stops to get employees to stay at their company, however Peter and Jan are different in their approach as employees are incentivised to leave and this incentive goes over and beyond their salary and their pension funds due to them, unheard of right? Well the two gentlemen contacted one of their employees, Mitesh, to confirm this to us and to highlight the point made earlier that employees feel at home in the organisation, the conversation was as follows:
Peter Khan – “Mitesh, how much do we pay employees to leave”
Mitesh – “The last figure we agreed on is R 5 000.00”
I place emphasis on we because from the tone and confidence that Mitesh said his statement with, you could tell that he genuinely felt part of that decision and understands that this figure is subject to further negotiations.
Peter and Jan have been employees themselves so they know what it is like to want to leave an organisation for greener pastures and incentives like this make them feel comfortable that all employees are there because they want to be there and their employees feel that they have the support of top management to follow and pursue their dreams even if they are beyond what Multiplier can offer.
With an incentive like this, one would expect resignations coming quick and fast but that is not the case at Multiplier, the organisation has only had two resignations in their two years of existence which is very impressive for any organisation in a world where people jump from company to company seeking a wide range of things from more money to growth to job satisfaction.
John Maxwell describes a leader as “One who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way” Many entrepreneurs around the world can learn a lot from Peter Khan and Jan Thema because they do not only understand the importance of employee loyalty but also understand that as leaders of the organisation, they have to first prove their loyalty to their employees before expecting the same from them.
Keep it real with,
Rori Matsetela
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