Jensen Huang, chief executive of chipmaking titan Nvidia (US:NVDA), used the phrase when addressing staff on a quarterly earnings call in May. “Your brilliance and craft and the culture we’ve created are Nvidia’s superpower,” he added. The chief executive of Uber (US:UBER), Dara Khosrowshahi, expressed similar sentiments in early August, when the company reported its first ever profitable quarter. He said the milestone was “the result of the work of thousands of employees [...] who are the true heroes”.
Anyone who has watched the ride-hailing group navigate a string of workforce disputes and scandals – from wage wranglings to allegations of harassment by senior managers – might conclude that workers haven’t always been treated with this level of reverence. Nvidia, which came in at number six on an annual list of the best Fortune 100 companies to work for in 2023, appears to have few such problems. An impressive 97 per cent of employees surveyed said the company was a great place to work, and the same number reported feeling that management was ethical and honest in its business practices. The feel-good factor that comes from your company capitalising on a potentially transformative technological shift is unlikely to fully explain these results.
Some companies evidently think it’s beneficial to be regarded and acknowledged as a good employer. From a recruitment and retention perspective, it makes good business sense.