Quicken Loans was ranked #13 on FORTUNE Magazine´s list of the "100 Best Companies to Work for" in America, an award they attribute to the culture they have created as well as the resources and benefits they provide their team members. Quicken Loans has developed a comprehensive benefits program that helps increase employee loyalty, which reduces turnover and absenteeism and boosts productivity.
HR.com recently spoke with Quicken Loans´ CEO, Bill Emerson. To access the archive of the live interview, please click here.
To access a schedule of upcoming Reality HR interviews, please click here.
HR.com: Would you provide an overview of Quicken Loans?
BE: Based in Livonia, Michigan, Quicken Loans is the number one online mortgage lender and the 17th largest retail mortgage lender in the country, with more than 2,200 team members. We offer home loans, home equity lines of credit, and any residential type mortgage to people in all 50 states. Our Web site is www.quickenloans.com. It´s been named in "Best of the Web" site by Forbes, Money and PC Magazines.
Our goal and mission is to continue to be a world-class lender and to continue to grow our market share. The bottom line is that mortgages are a commodity. You can get them anywhere so what´s going to differentiate Quicken Loans from the rest of the mortgage world is having an unparalleled bias towards taking care of our clients and doing anything and everything we can to ensure we do the right thing on behalf of our clients. We have a set of philosophies in this company called ISMs. They compare to other companies´ operating values or mission statements, which I think are made up of very corporate-sounding words. We don´t care for corporate speak because we don´t believe most people understand how to decipher "corporate speak." We try to communicate in what we call "Forrest Gump" terms. Forrest Gump is a very simple guy and yet simplicity is genius. When you listen to him, he makes sense. In our organization, we try to communicate as clearly as possible. For example, when we talk about our philosophy of client service we refer to the "ISM": "Every client, every time. No exceptions, no excuses." That´s the underlying philosophy behind everything we do. We are a mortgage company but our focus on empowering our team members to do everything they can to take care of our clients means we are about a lot more than just our mortgage programs. We think it´s one of our core competitive advantages.
HR.com: In talking with some of your staff, they said Quicken Loans is a great place to work. Do you treat your employees in the same manner as your clients?
BE: There are certain words in this organization that we don´t use. "Employee" is one of those words. We don´t think it adequately represents the value we place on the people who work here and the importance of their contributions. We have great mortgage programs and state-of-the-art technology, but our people are our core competitive advantage. We work together as a team to succeed. So we call people that work here "team members" or "team mates." We´re all driving and striving for the same end goals. One of the ISM´s we use is "We are the ''They''." People refer to "they" in other organizations and nobody knows who´s being talked about. You hear people say, "They did this to us," or, "They did that." Usually it´s in reference to the executive leadership and indicative of a disconnect between the leaders and those doing the real work of the company. That doesn´t happen here. Quicken Loans is a very flat organization. The senior leaders´ offices are on the floor with all the other team member offices so no one becomes disconnected from the business. Senior leaders spend from one to three hours with new team members during orientation to make sure our philosophies are instilled from day one. The bottom line is this: Quicken Loans is only as good as the caliber of people who work in the company and how well we communicate with each other and our clients. A lot of time, effort and energy is spent recruiting, training, and making people understand that everyone has the power to make a difference. We can all make decisions. Everyone has a voice and can make an impact. The best ideas don´t necessarily come from leaders, but from front line people doing the day-to-day work. People enjoy working here because they can interact with anyone else in the company, anywhere, anytime, and they´ll be listened to. That´s how to make sure good ideas come to light and are implemented.
HR.com: People often say, "They´re saying it. Do they really mean it?" Quicken Loans is walking the walk. Is there a program in place to encourage your people to come up with ideas and suggestions or do you primarily just use an open door policy?
BE: Absolutely. We´ve created a culture in which there are no barriers to communication, up, down or laterally. We don´t operate in silos. Our team members are encouraged to keep their eyes and ears open to any new ideas, and not just those ideas that pertain to their functional area of the company. We´ve got more than 2,200 team members now, which means there are 4,400 eyeballs keeping an eye on this place. Anyone in this company -- regardless of their position -- can call, email or drop by the office of anyone else in this company if they have an idea that will improve the way we do business.
One example of this is a program we call "Process Perks." We use this program to encourage people to submit their ideas regarding ways we can improve the company or the mortgage process. There is an icon on our intranet site. You simply double-click on the icon, answer a couple of questions about your idea, and submit it. The questions focus on how the idea will make the mortgage process easier for our clients or lead to greater internal efficiencies. All ideas are tracked, and every one receives a response within 24 hours. And every idea gets followed-up on. What is going on with that idea? Was it submitted or implemented already? Is it being worked on? Each month awards are given out for the ideas that had the greatest impact on improving the way we do business. It helps us maintain a high degree of awareness throughout the company so that 1) people notice things that can be fixed or improved, and 2) they understand that we not only encourage them but expect them to bring these ideas to the forefront so they can be implemented.
HR.com: Has this always been the motto for Quicken Loans or was there something that spearheaded changing the way you are doing business?
BE: Quicken Loans has always had this culture. My job, as CEO, is to continue to maintain this entrepreneurial, open culture as we grow. We´ve doubled in size in just a short time, so I can´t understate the importance of instilling and maintaining our culture. The core philosophy has always been there but as we grew we began to write it out. Our core philosophy is the crux of our culture. It has expanded over time and it´s had a big impact on why Quicken Loans ranked the 13th best place to work in America last year by FORTUNE magazine and why we´ll continue to be one of those top companies. We talk about our culture, our "ISMs" at every opportunity. We spend hours reviewing them with new team members at orientation, we talk about them in our monthly team meetings, they are printed on posters hanging throughout the building, we spend an entire day at an All Company Meeting talking about them, and what they mean to each of us in our individual jobs. We believe maintaining this culture is essential to the success of our business.
It´s common sense that if you take great care of your people, everything else falls into place. They will take care of your clients and your company will grow. We provide our team members with the resources they need to do their jobs, world-class benefits and opportunities for personal and professional development. We care about the whole person and the family, not just the portion that shows up here to work every day. We´ve created an award-winning benefits program. We provide opportunities for professional and financial education as well. One of the benefits utilized internally is The Quicken Loans Home Loan Benefit Program, where members can get reduced closing costs on their mortgage. The benefit was so popular with our team members that we realized this was something we could provide to people in other companies too. It´s a low cost benefit that provides real value to people. Especially as the costs of benefits continue to rise, here´s a program that human resource directors can offer their team members that costs their company absolutely nothing, yet their team members get specialized processing, educational seminars and reduced closing costs.
HR.com: Most organizations, because the cost of benefits have escalated so high, are always looking for these kind of voluntary benefits that their employees can take advantage of, and that provide real value to the employee without cost to the organization. They can still keep a strong portfolio of offerings to them but not necessarily increase their cost to distribute them from an employer side.
BE: That´s correct. We found a lot of success with being able to do provide a turnkey solution that provides value to a company´s employees but doesn´t add to their cost structure. This is a solution that enables a company to add something of significant value to their portfolio but with no additional cost or labor. We´ve found some great success with going out and talking to other companies about it. Companies like Intuit, AT&T, Dell, Yahoo, all have signed up for the program.
HR.com: Can you tell us about some of the other programs that you offer to your team members along this line?
BE: Our primary objective as an employer is to empower our team members to be the absolute best they can be, whether that´s in the workplace or at home with their families. We provide many opportunities for personal and professional growth because our philosophy is to promote from within. We have a performance-based culture where performance, not seniority, is what matters.
In addition to tuition reimbursement, gym reimbursement, interest free computer loans, Internet connection reimbursement and a scholarship program, we help our team members cover college costs for their children, plus we offer a variety of leadership training and development programs. Envision U, one of the country´s pre-eminent personal development organizations, provides our team members ongoing training in personal development, empowerment, leadership and interpersonal communications. The 45-day Challenge is one of the most popular Envision U programs at Quicken Loans. Team members are led through the process of building their ultimate success identity in all areas of their lives over a 45-day period. Spouses and partners are invited to participate, too.
We also do some really fun things. We have access to tickets for local sporting events and shows. So each Thursday I go out over the PA system and give tickets away to a particular team member. For example, I´ll ask for the 4th or 10th caller and then my phone will light up. And if a team member wins tickets to a concert, I may make them sing a tune over the PA. It´s a lot of fun for everybody.
HR.com: You mentioned to me previously how important it is to hire the right team members. Have you found some similar competencies in the type of people you need to hire that have this attitude? What do you look for when you´re hiring an employee? You want them to live by Quicken Loans´ philosophies but how do you know they´ll do that? How do you judge these things?
BE: Well, that´s the $64,000 question. We try to look at each individual. It doesn´t really matter what they´ve done in the past, per se; what their previous job function was or where they worked. We´re a company that tries to find talent anyway and everywhere that we can. Sometimes that talent is hidden, but can be drawn out during the interview process. We try to take a look at certain traits; it´s easy to see a trait like attitude. You can tell that when a person sits across the table from you and you read their body language, the way that they answer questions, the sparkle in their eyes that tells you they are eager to be part of our team. When we talk about communication in this organization, we help people understand that you communicate more nonverbally than you do verbally. Most people don´t really realize that. They don´t believe or understand that their body language is speaking more for them than their words or the way they say them. So we coach and train people who are interviewing to read all of the signals when they´re talking to people.
HR.com: Do you use any behavioral tests at all?
BE: We do. It´s interesting. We use some behavioral tests with some of our loan consultants, trying to quantify characteristics. What we´ve found over time is that there´s no correlation to something that´s going to drive the type of individual that you´re looking for. It goes back to one of the ISMs that we talk about: it´s not one thing, "It´s a thousand and one little things." Companies often look for that one big thing that´s going to differentiate them. I think in some businesses that can actually happen. But in our business, it´s such a complicated business that it´s not just one thing; it´s a thousand and one little things. You need people who can understand that and are willing to seek out those 1,001 little things that we can do better, who will do what it takes to get the job done. If that means working late because your client is closing on their first home, than so be it. Or it could be a member of our Technology Team coming in on Sunday to push a new technology so over the weekend so we don´t disrupt our team members doing the week. Whatever it is, I´m always amazed at the lengths our team members will go to in order to do the right thing and get the job done. We try to quantify that through characteristics but haven´t found that one thing. Whatever it is, we must be doing it right judging by the number of letters I receive every week from clients writing to tell me how impressed they are by the quality of client service they´ve received.
HR.com:Do you have a list of ISM´s?
BE: I actually do. There are 18 of them.
HR.com: Thank you for sharing this list. Can you tell us about one or two other major ISMs?
BE: The number one thing that runs through all of our ISMs is to always raise our level of awareness. There´s one thread through all these ISMs and that is about being aware; truly having your eyes open and having your head on swivel and picking up things that most people won´t and doing the right thing for our clients. For instance, how many people would know the color of the eyes of a co-worker they sit beside and interact with everyday? Probably 20 or 30 per cent of people, because their level of awareness is not as high as what it needs to be.
One of my favorite ISMs is "You´ll believe it when you see it." The statement, "I´ll believe it when I see it," is a pessimist´s view. So we flipped it around because anything great that´s ever been done, any great idea or any new invention, anything that you´ve seen that has made a difference first started with a belief...a belief system.
Many times when you´re coming out of the gate, you´re going to have people saying that you can´t do that. Those are the naysayers. But you have to stick to your guns, stick to your belief; that if you believe you can achieve something strongly enough, you will. So that´s one that I really like.
"Good news and bad news must travel fast and tell it like Forrest Gump" is another. Good news can travel fast. It´s very easy. But bad news has to travel just as fast and you can´t shoot the messenger! When we communicate inside this organization, we don´t sugar coat anything. We want everyone to know everything that´s going on. We don´t want to hide anything from anybody ever. We want everyone who works here to know where we´re ultimately going as a company.
In order for something to become an ISM, there has to be a phrase that gets used in this organization on a daily basis. When they get used often enough to become part of our culture we grant them "ISM" status! We review them every year. They´re living, breathing things that people talk about here everyday. For instance: "Innovation is rewarded; execution is worshipped." Ideas are great and we need many, many ideas. But a bunch of ideas that never get implemented aren´t going to help you. People who execute and get the ideas implemented are the ones who you have to really bow down to because they´re the ones who are making things happen every single day.
You mentioned monthly meetings. How else do you communicate? I would say the number one problem in every organization is communication. Even people who think they´re good communicators, when they do their employee survey, find that people feel that they´re still not being properly communicated to.
BE: First of all, we stress that there are no barriers to communication. We expect people to pipe up if they have good ideas. At the same time, we believe in sharing information as frequently as needed. We communicate at meetings every month. We are fanatical users of our voice mail system. We get messages out everyday. Email is used a lot, too, but can cause productivity losses because people spend too much time on email. But if used properly and efficiently, you can get good information out there. We also have a great intranet site. It´s not one thing that´s done that makes communication start to work effectively. It starts from day one when they come in, from laying the foundation. It starts from laying out the culture and as people hear it and see it and then they come into the workforce, after coming out of training, they feel it. That´s when it starts to matter.
HR.com: So do you send out a daily voice mail message to talk about something new or something that´s been implemented and give credit to people who deserve it? What kind of things do you put out in your voice mail?
BE: Absolutely. From a company perspective, I´m probably out on voice mail, once a week. But there are so many other leaders in the organization communicating to their folks every single day. Take Process Perks, for example. We send out, on a weekly basis, information to people. We thank people for putting their ideas forth. We recognize them in email and voicemail. We talk about their ideas, and how it got implemented, what impact it had. And that mere recognition on a weekly basis involving people is amazing. Most people don´t really care that much about money. They really want to know that what they do makes a difference. And then once a month, we pick the best idea and we reward that individual with $200 for having submitting their idea and for going through the process and actually having it implemented. And that´s just one example of things that we do to make sure that we recognize those efforts.
HR.com: It´s interesting. I had a Reality HR interview the other day with one of the head IT people at Proctor and Gamble and it goes back to that email problem. You might find it interesting. She says that she had a problem with productivity where they were expected to do more with less people. They needed to become more effective. They found that email was bogging them down. What happened was that everyone thought that if they sent an email to somebody, they would transfer the responsibility for the task from themselves to somebody else. As a result, there were so many emails going around by transferring the task and it´s "off my plate" that they changed the methodology in their organization so now, if you sent an email in the organization, you´re still responsible for what it was, and it´s reduced their email by two thirds.
BE: We´re fortunate not to have that problem. People here aren´t afraid to take ownership of their ideas. In our organization, everyone is responsible and that comes out in orientation. We´re all responsible to each other for how we communicate, and what we do everyday and how we show up. Just as one individual can have a strong impact on the company with an idea and some of the things they do, that same individual can have an impact on 10 or 12 people who are around them everyday, by their attitude and the way they show up. We can´t afford to have people here who are not responsible to themselves and the things that go on. For us, lack of responsibility in email is not as big of an issue.
One of the things that kind of sums it up for us is this ISM: "Numbers and money follow; they do not lead." We had a meeting a few days ago. We did not mention one production number or one income number. Instead we focused totally on our "ISMs" - that is our culture and philosophy because we know that with the right philosophy and having the right people in this organization be the best they can be, we will achieve the goals and we will make the money necessary. We don´t want people being focused on the money and numbers. We want people focused on doing the right thing and taking care of the client. The rest will follow. And we´ve grown tremendously as a result. The last year has been a difficult time for a lot of companies, but we´ve continued to grow because people in this organization understand it; they get it. It makes a big difference for us. Take the Home Loan Benefit program I mentioned earlier. One loan officer had an idea about offering a Home Loan Benefit plan to area employers and started to work on it on his own. We looked at it, thought it was a great idea and provided him resources to do it well. He took a concept, an idea and developed it into a national program for us. He now runs the program for the entire company and has signed up major employers like Dell, Boeing, etc. It´s just one example of how one person with an idea who is empowered to take that idea and run with it, can take it from scratch and turn it into something great.
HR.com: You must have a very low turnover rate within your organization.
BE: As far as turnover rates go in this industry, it is pretty low.
HR.com: Do you do employee surveys? If so, what are the results?
BE: You mentioned surveys previously and indicated how the company hears from their team members that they´re not necessarily recognized or they never have enough input. We never get that when we do a survey. That´s one of the things that we´re most proud of about the FORTUNE "100 Best Places To Work" award. Two thirds of the score is based on an anonymous survey of the people who work in the organization who provide their direct and honest feedback. I know that´s what helped propel us to be as high on the list as we are. I know that we wouldn´t have so many happy mortgage clients if we didn´t have happy people working here.
HR.com: What is your goal? Are you always trying to improve that?
BE: Absolutely. We want to continue to gain market share until we´re the leading lender in America and then we´ll find another goal and work at being number one at that again.
HR.com: Great. Could you summarize and provide some final words of wisdom?
BE: It comes down to this. Any organization can become a great place to work if it chooses to focus on the right things in the organization; I think two things are key.
If you have any questions, about anything I touched on during this interview, such as our philosophy or the Quicken Loans Home Loan Benefit Program, please don´t hesitate to contact Todd Krieger, Quicken Loans´ Public Relations Manager. He can be reached at 734-805-4895 or via email at toddkrieger[at]quickenloans.com.