Xypex Australia has become a top-ranked fast-grower by openness, profit sharing and recognition of staff.
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Entrepreneur: Rob Godson, Managing Director
Company: Xypex Australia
Business type: Manufacture of concrete waterproofing
Founded: 1989
Employees:
Turnover: $2M - $10M
Head office: Lavington, New South Wales
Contact details: +61 2 6040 2444
The Xypex Australia Story
In 1999, Xypex Australia was ranked 31st among Business Review Weekly’s Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies listing. But that is just the beginning according to the company’s managing director, Rob Godson. Xypex Australia’s five-year plan forecasts a quintupling of its current turnover of $5 million.
Godson says staff will play the critical role in such a success. He says: “I would personally back our team of people against any size company, against public companies or any of our competitors. And I would back our product. But it’s the people that make the difference.” Godson uses commonsense people management strategies to motivate his 26 staff.
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Key learning points:
- Environment - A stimulating work environment is enjoyable and motivating.
- Motivation - Peer-nominated and judged team-player awards help build a team and reward teamwork.
- Transparency - Sharing company financials and profits with employees gives everyone awareness of the balance sheet, ownership of the outcome, and incentive to work harder.
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In marketing a product that significantly improves the performance of concrete - a key ingredient in the construction industry - Xypex staff have the opportunity to interact with clients from boardroom to basement, from the architects and engineers to the riggers and dogmen. Godson says: “There are not many jobs in the world where you can have that degree of exposure right across the whole process. I don’t think there’s anyone in our organisation who comes to work and doesn’t enjoy it. The stimulus is there, the motivation is there for everybody.”
Godson is particularly proud of Xypex’s Team Player of the Year Award. His team nominate their best team player for the award by answering a set of questions, each of which is scored out of ten. The scores are totalled and the winner receives a $2,500 travel voucher.
Godson has also adopted profit sharing. He says: “In our first year of profit sharing, we paid each staff member $8,000 as a bonus. It’s my dream - and we think we can do it within the next three years - that their bonuses will equal their salaries.”
At team seminars each June and December, Godson opens the books for all staff to see. “As far as the profit and loss balance sheet goes,” says Godson, “I show staff everything, all the figures. They know exactly from month to month what our situation is. That gives everyone ownership in terms of saying we’ve got everyone aware of sales, aware of profit and the need for margin, aware of debt collection, because they know it all reflects on the profit and loss.”
Godson has noticed that people tend to work a lot harder for rewards than they would otherwise. He says: “People realise that every new person who comes on board is going to reduce potentially the amount of profit share.”
Godson says that everybody reaches a point at which he or she just can’t do any more - and then it is logical to put on more staff. He says: “What happens in a lot of organisations [in which] perhaps there isn’t this ‘natural hedge’ built in, [is that] jobs are created to relieve people of the work burden when maybe they are not necessarily needing to be relieved.”