Adventures in Entrepreneurship with Jeremy Hanks

dobalash (dō-bä’lăsh’)

dobalash (dō-bä’lăsh’)

n.

1. An antagonistic reaction to a trend, development, or event involving Doba.
2. What happens if Doba doesn’t just stop it with all the awards and recognition: “The dobalash reached a new fervor with its recognition by Utah Business as Best Companies to Work For.”
3. The breakdown that will happen if Doba lets even a tiny bit of this go to our heads.

Doba was one of the companies that Utah Business has recognized as a 2007 Best Company to Work For (me, Blaine Nielsen, and Ashley Schaumburg were in the pic on the cover in front of our Doba Green wall). I have to admit I was impressed with the level of detail and the sophistication that Utah Business employs in the process of selecting these companies. The surveys that employees fill out during this process are very comprehensive and complete.

Here’s the part of the article about Doba:

Any visitor to Orem-based drop shipping company Doba can quickly see that this company believes in having fun at work. Employees might be seen playing ping pong, foosball or video games in break rooms. On Wednesday mornings, breakfast is provided for the entire company, and it may even be the CEO mixing the waffles. Doba doesn’t enforce a dress code, believing work can be done just as effectively in T-shirts and shorts as in traditional business attire.

Calling the company “employee-centric,” president Jeremy Hanks says taking care of workers will lead to the best customer service a company can provide. Doba sends gift cards to employees’ family members on birthdays and anniversaries and rents out entire theaters for family movie nights. It also sponsors Doba Day, a celebration of the company’s birthday that includes eating contests, stunts and giveaways.

With so many perks, clocking in at Doba may not even seem like going to work, employees say. And that’s just the way management likes it.

“We place so much emphasis on our employees because we feel like it’s a two-way street,” Hanks says. “They invest a lot into Doba and they believe in our company, so we invest as much as we can in them.”

Though employees love the generous health benefits and competitive compensation, it’s the way they are treated that makes them stay at Doba. Says one employee, “Perks such as a game room and a light-hearted working environment are nice, but the best benefit is working for a company that you can believe in and enjoy going to work at.”

Survey Highlights:

• Access to the Doba Truck, a Ford F-150 with Doba logos.

• Doba Dot awards, a monthly recognition program based on outstanding performance.

• Barbeques and movie nights throughout the year for employees and their families.

This is really awesome. I hope that there really isn’t a dobalash.

I posted over a year and a half ago about Focusing on Your Employees. I truly believe that success in building an amazing company that is a great place to work it’s the sum of many little things. I focus a lot on employees. Having the caliber of employees that we have at Doba makes that sure easier.

Finally, go try this experiment: 1. Get a copy of the November 2007 issue of Utah Business. 2. Hold it up in front of a mirror. 3. You’ll see the secret real title of the cover story: Best Employees in Utah.

In the end, it’s the employees that deserve the recognition more than the companies.

More info from the official Doba release: Doba Honored as a “Best Company to Work For” by Utah Business magazine.

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