The companies that made Fast Company’s inaugural 'Best Workplaces for Innovators' lists stand out for affording all their employees--and not just leading executives--the chance to design new products, boost operations and take risks. “We searched for businesses where innovation isn’t just a buzzword, but a part of the value system and culture,” Fast Company notes.
Paul Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer at Accenture, notes that “people are going to go where they feel innovation is valued." Fast Company asked Daugherty to select companies for the lists.
Online giant, Amazon, made the list with its so-called “working backwards” approach that it opens up to more than 600,000 employees. “Any employee with a big idea is encouraged to create a plan that includes a customer-impact statement, a mock press release, key questions, and perspectives from different business areas,” Fast Company notes. “It’s how site features such as Prime Now and AmazonSmile began.”
A New York-based nonprofit, Water, which works to deliver safe drinking water to developing countries, uses storytelling to win donations. “Employees have rigged GoPro cameras to capture the perspective of an Ethiopian child, and surrounded guests at the company’s annual fundraiser with a wraparound, football-field-size LED screen to show a woman making her daily trek to a distant well,” according to Fast Company.