The Selfish Heard

In the US, job satisfaction--the feeling of enjoying one’s employment--keeps falling. Year after year, reports from various surveys show that people are less and less likely to be happy in their work. What would make job satisfaction improve?

According to the recently released Employee Review (conducted by Randstad) , workers want employment where, among other things, they feel valued.  But in today’s economic environment, can companies offer workers what they want? One company, up and coming software giant MySQL, seems to think the answer is yes.

MySQL is not your ordinary software mogul. For one thing, they give their product away. For free. Yet, it’s a profitable enterprise (to the tune of $40 million) and this impressively debt-free company is one of the most popular of its kind. MySQL, for those that don’t know, produces open-source software. Open-source means that the code running that program is freely available and transparent to everyone. The initials SQL stand for Structured Query Language; MySQL makes a suite of powerful database programs that allow users to keep up with and organize gazillions of bits of information on just about anything.

MySQL runs largely on home-based workers. E-commuters, so to speak. A reported 320 people in 25 countries. You’d think that letting people work from home, isolated from each other, invisible to the boss, and awash in distractions (think kids, TV, laundry) would be a bad idea. Yet the home-based workforce seems to be working. According to a recent article in Fortune magazine, the way that the MySQL keeps its employee herd moving in the same direction is, in part, by keeping people feeling valued and connected with each other. How? Communication between employees and management is open, frequent, and personal.

But MySQL doesn’t stop there. They encourage users of their products to chime in, too. When a user finds a fix or suggests an improvement, MySQL listens. As a result, users get a real sense of ownership over the software. Not only that, but if a genius shows up on the discussion boards, they hire ‘em.

If you’ve ever worked for a company that makes you feel, well… not valued, you know what a rare and lovely commodity the feeling that somebody gives a damn is. That feeling of being heard--listened to and understood--is priceless. And to give it to someone doesn’t cost a thing. Think about that the next time you talk to a coworker, your mechanic, or your thirteen-year-old.