Choice of Employer

Employer of Choice (EOC) has been a predominant term in most industries in recent years. Various considerations are weighed by the company to be considered as an employee of choice. Offering high remuneration incentives and rewards is not enough to qualify an organization as an EOC (Rizzo, 2007). Innovative and inspired workers are critical assets for companies in today's globalized business landscape. Companies have developed new tactics to recruit and maintain the best talent (Rizzo, 2007). This paper analyzes Expedia and Facebook in terms of the EOC. Both companies are market leaders in their respective sectors. Expedia Expedia, Inc. is an online travel booking company based in America. The company’s history dates back to 1996 when it was established as a distinct department of Microsoft. It has expanded over the years with successful operations in over 75 countries to become a world leading online travel company (Adam, 2015). This success is reflected in the company’s profit and market capitalization.

The organization’s success is directly attributable to its employees. Expedia has employed over 20000 employees globally. The company has received several awards in recognition of its success - UK Best Employer, Most Admired Internet Company, and Forbes Best Managed Company - just to mention a few. The brand greatly values its employees (Adam, 2015). It offers medical insurance to its employees. Most companies shy away from offering health covers arguing it is an expense to the company.

In addition, the brand offers travel and hotel bonuses to its employees. The travel bonus is a highly enviable incentive that appeals to everyone in the organization. Employees are able to afford adventurous holiday destinations. In addition, employees feel their efforts in the workplace are appreciated through the travel incentives.

The company has adopted a culture of work hard/play hard in a bid to negate the undesirable effects of long working hours. Working for long hours leads to stress in the workplace. The company encourages its employees to take part in sporting and fun activities - creating valuable time for rest from stress.

Finally, the brand offers great remuneration packages for entry level jobs. In a bid to attract new talent in the organization, Expedia offers hefty salaries to new employees. More to this, new and existing employees are offered bonuses for good performance.

Facebook

Facebook is the world leading social networking site with over 1 billion users. The company was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, in collaboration with his school mates in Harvard. The website was initially limited to Harvard students, before eventually expanding globally (Kathleen, 2015). The company has more than 17000 employees, up from 150 people in 2006.

Facebook knows how best to appreciate its staff. The brand is famed for its impressive remuneration packages, excellent corporate governance, and healthy work environment. Facebook employees are generally happy and content with their job (Kathleen, 2015). Therefore, it is no surprise that the brand has severally been awarded employer of the year.

From their career page, it is evident that Facebook values independence of their employees. Employee independence is crucial - reads the brand’s career page. The company has established management methods that give room for independent thinking. In addition, the employees are given an opportunity to question management decisions. This form of freedom creates a culture of innovation and trust in the organization.

Further, Facebook management engages the staff in decision making. Zuckerberg holds Q&A sessions every Friday to address any matters arising in the course of work. The staff engages in innovative ideas on how to steer the company to success. The sessions also enable the employees to raise their grievances.

Lastly, the social networking brand offers extraordinary perks and benefits. These benefits include laundry services, paid maternal leaves, on-site medical services, free transport, and affordable food courts. All these services are aimed at making the employees feel at home. Furthermore, these services create a stress-free working environment.

Conclusion

In this day and age, a hefty salary is not the only factor to consider when it comes to employee satisfaction. Millennials have new expectations on organizations, placing great emphasis on corporate governance (Baker, 2015). Undoubtedly, both Expedia and Facebook are great tech companies, but the latter stands out as a better company to work than the former. Facebook has earned desirable reputation when it comes to recruiting and retaining top-caliber employees. The extraordinary perks offered by Facebook are legendary. Further, the company engages its employees in decision making, making them more innovative. Expedia can draw important insights from Facebook EOC policies.

References

Adam, L. (2015). Expedia: A day as an employee at the best place to work in the UK. Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/expedia-a-day-as-an-employee-at-the-best-place-to-work-in-the-uk-a6770281.html

Baker, T. (2014). The Corporate Culture Change Cycle. In Attracting and Retaining Talent (pp. 267-275). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Kathleen, E. (2015). Why Facebook is the best company to work for in America. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-is-the-best-company-to-work-for-2015-4.

Rizzo, L. A., & J.D. (2007, May 8). Six Principles for Becoming an Employer of Choice. Human resources management website - HR.BLR.com. Retrieved March 4, 2012, from http://hr.blr.com/whitepapers/HR-Administration/HR-Strategic-Planning/Six-Principles-for-Becoming-an-Employer-of-Choice/