Make time for fun
Hyland doesn’t think he’s reinvented the wheel at his company, just made a few changes to a traditional structure and, more important, invested the time and money in employees to make it all work.
“We have the same phone systems and office systems as everyone else, it’s just in a different space,” says Hyland. “In terms of the fun stuff, we put a lot of time into them each month, but it comes back in spades. I think we are the benefactor of being in an industry where it is sort of an accepted trend.
“It would be difficult to have a bank and see them riding around on motorcycles — though I’d probably go out there,” he says with a laugh. “It helps us with retention and attracting employees. Some people are amazed we’ve been able to pull this off for this long period of time.”
He says that the fun doesn’t have to be limited to the software industry.
“Even if you have a more traditional environment, it doesn’t mean you can’t take some time to do more fun stuff with your people after hours. All it takes is taking the time to care about people and making sure you are present. Don’t have a party and not show up. Be there for them and talk to them. Be involved in the fun and the people will follow.”
Hyland takes his own advice to heart and has been mistaken on occasion by new hires for a waiter while serving employees in the company’s diner.
“It’s really about doing the little things,” he says. “It doesn’t mean that I don’t work hard or get on planes and travel, it’s just about taking the time. Good things can happen, as long as management buys into it and understands the importance of it with their own team.”
Hyland knows as the company continues to grow, it will be a challenge to keep the culture as is. It will become harder to find the right kind of employee to fill every opening, and coordinating events that are fun for everyone will become more challenging. He’s already started encouraging his departments to do things on their own as a means of breaking things down into more manageable pieces.
“For example, our quality assurance people went to see Star Wars while on the clock,” says Hyland. “It’s just the little things like that that shows we thought about them. It resonates with the crowd up there. They did it without asking me, they just took it on themselves to do some fun things. That’s the key to all this — realizing that maybe after months of working hard, it’s time to do something fun.”
The company has put together a culture that helps it keep employees and has made Hyland Software a special place to work. Success has followed as a result.
“Could we have been as successful as we are now without this culture? I don’t think so,” says Hyland. “I think we would have had success, but we wouldn’t have been able to retain the type of worker that you need to have at a software company. I don’t think we would have had the same degree of success. One of the things to look at is the turnover rate and what that would have been.
“I do believe this culture has been a major part of our success and will continue to be, and it is important that it does.”
HOW TO REACH: Hyland Software, www.onbase.com or (440) 788-5000
