Joy, Inc. by Richard Sheridan

How to bring joy to the workplace? This is the primary question that this book tackles through a detailed description of how Menlo Innovations (founded by the Author himself) has led itself from the very beginning.

The word Joy is defined through a series of steps the organisation has taken over the years to ensure their employees feel a sense of purpose. They feel the passion because they learn every day, they feel a sense of belonging because they collaborate and experiment without fear.

One of the biggest and boldest step they took in their office setup is to make people work in pairs. They even ensure the pairs change so that learning and sharing is more uniform. Their productivity is supposedly the best in the industry.

The book describes in great detail why this is so. It details the interview process which in itself is robust and rather unique, they have a flexible seating arrangement that allows for rearrangement at the flick of a finger. They bring in a level of transparency with clients that not only delights the clients but they rarely (very rare in fact) overshoot budgets or the promised deadline. Mistakes if any are tackled early and each and every employee is empowered to come up with issues and suggestions early on in the development game. Clients swear by them because of the quality of work that this organisation brings to the table.

What you get to learn from the book,

1. Joy at the workplace is just not about engagement techniques. It is actually about helping your employees with the freedom and space that they need to think and be very productive
2. It is about helping each one of the employees realise their potential and encouraging them to raise their own bar every passing day
3. It is about learning where you feel the passion and urge to come back to office the next day and get to work
4. It is about listening to every suggestion, every word that is spoken or rather giving a voice to everyone so that not a single bright idea is left unspoken.

A must read for anyone thinking of building a great workplace.