There’s been a ton of coverage relating to Bob Sutton’s new book – The No Asshole Rule, which I wrote about recently after Bob came to speak at our last company meeting.

From The Today Show to Guy Kawasaki, Bob’s book is burning up the airwaves and the Internet. Lucky for us, he thinks our company is cool. Why? Because we have a strong, stated no-asshole policy – and it’s something we take very seriously.

Guy Kawasaki actually posted what we call our Rules of Engagement in his blog post – and it unleashed a wave of comment. While some people like our "rules of engagement" a lot of the comments were very critical.

Here are a few of my favorite comments:

"I would question the viability of a company that feels the need for its employees to sign a "no assholes" agreement. In my experience, good companies build an environment where people don’t want to act like assholes – nobody needs to be bound by an agreement."

"Signing an irreverent-sounding no-ahole contract is IMO a bit like a town putting up a pithy "This is a drug free zone" sign with every local mucky-muck showing up to get their picture taken, then walking away."

"What a demeaning, patronizing, idiotic and stupid contract. How can anybody sign a contract that says shiitake like "I will have fun at work"? How can you even control that? Having fun at work comes from the workplace, not from the person working there."

"I am interested to know what the employees of "SuccessFactors" say about these rules when they are having a beer in the pub at night."

I think it would be silly to try to defend the rules of engagement in a well-worded and logical essay. I don’t think that would convince any naysayer and, to me,  the proof is in the pudding. So I went in search of proof. Proof that our Rules of Engagement has value to SuccessFactors employees - including and especially the No-Asshole provision. To find it,  I walked around our office in San Mateo and asked some colleagues if they wouldn’t mind telling the world what they think of our Rules of Engagement.

Here then, in their own words, is the value SuccessFactors employees find in our contractual "Rules of Engagement:"

Oh, and you can feel free to email them if you want, too -to find out more.

In this day and age, we should be more aware of how important our company values are, and by reinforcing these company values on paper, each person signing the agreement can feel a sense of accountability and ownership.  In short, signing a written agreement is much more significant than hearing someone drone about it in a lengthy 2 hour on-boarding snoozefest. The pen is mightier than the sword (or verbal agreement).
Christine Ng - Proposal Specialist

I remember my first interview at SF, and the “Rules of Engagement” were posted on the wall.  I read through them while I waited for my first interviewer, and then we ended up discussing them.  When you read “asshole” in a company document like that, it is certainly shocking at first, but eventually it put me at ease about the work culture.  A couple of weeks ago, the whole company got together and shouted “No Assholes” at the top of our lungs in front of our new headquarters.  It’s a crude, but direct expression of our goal to perform as a company but without the toxicity that is practically a given in other organizations.  It’s a worthy mission that others should adopt. But while the “no asshole” rule is important and certainly stands out, the other word I hear most often around the office with regards to the Rules of Engagement is “Kaizen.” 
Joe Cha - Product Management

"No Assholes is critical because as a frontline employee, it makes me comfortable that I can complain about a more senior person being a jerk. There’s no ambiguity about whether that kind of behavior is allowed for anyone."
Jake Adger - Marketing

 

Why do we need a contract (Rules of Engagement)?  It sets a clear expectation as to what we’re about. When you start here, read that document, sign it…. You’re thinking “yeah sure”.  But then you’re here for a week and you start to realize that everybody is living it.  It’s contagious.  It is not too good to be true.

Do we really live it? Absolutely.  Our people have integrity. We hire people with it and we’re allergic to people without it.  Complaining about a swear word in a blog is petty. Let’s focus on the content and what we can learn, instead of getting hung up on one word.

Measuring people is abusive? What happens when we don’t measure people? Heroes go unrecognized, unrewarded.  Misplaced talent goes unnoticed. Mediocrity ensues. Anyone that says this has never achieved much or is deluding themselves.  

Measuring people will make us “cogs”?  Automated Performance does sound a bit THX1138, but when you actually see it action, you realize that this is what will help put people in the right jobs at the right times, help people get rewarded what they should and breakdown the politics.
Cary Roll - Sales

"I saw the contract hanging in the conference room two minutes before my job interview with Lars, our CEO. The one I saw included a quote from Lars, "It’s okay to have an asshole, just don’t be one." And I felt like here is a place that values nice people… that don’t take themselves too seriously. At the end of the day though, you can have all the contracts in the world… and it won’t make any difference.  SuccessFactors happens to live and breathe these values and that’s what counts.
Alex Shevelenko - New Business Ops.

My own personal experience with no assholes is very simple. Once, my boss was being a jerk. I told him so – in those words. Instead of getting mad, he accepted the comment and we moved on. Later, he thanked me for telling him. My boss thanked me for calling him a jerk. Let me repeat that. My boss thanked me for calling him a jerk. Calling the behavior what it was helped everyone work better together and get more done. Can you do that at your company?