By Hilary Terrell, Associate Product Marketing Manager

There’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned pat on the back. Or, in the world of Performance & Talent Management, there’s nothing like fair pay-for-performance. I recently completed my first review cycle at SuccessFactors and realized just what I’ve been missing.

I knew that coming to work here would be a (welcome) change in corporate culture, but I learned first-hand how valuable the concept of pay-for-performance truly is. Sure, I’m surrounded each day by materials that promote the values of paying for performance, aligning your workforce, and retaining your talent, and how our products are helping other organizations to do just that. But to truly experience a culture of pay-for-performance for the first time? Now that was educational.

Perhaps it’s the result of coming from a company that had no inkling of such a culture—seeing the stark contrast of night and day. For the past four years, I slogged away in an industry in New York City that people clamor to break into, but an industry in which the modest financial rewards come much farther down the line. For years, you try to make a name for yourself, all without getting much of the credit and for one of the lowest starting professional salaries there is (you might fall out of your chair if I told you…). But when you love the trade you’re learning, you convince yourself that it’s worth sticking through such a situation.

Until you learn that…this isn’t the way the rest of the world works!

Excuse me?!? Come again???

Up until this point my experience with yearly performance reviews was limited to filling out three questions on a Word document, including my “goals.” I’d discuss these items with my manager, having walked in eager at the chance of getting a promotion or raise and then…nothing. I didn’t know what my manager’s (or manager’s manager) goals were, or how mine fit into the larger picture. We didn’t discuss the previous year’s goals and whether they had been achieved. And I didn’t see my performance being rewarded in any tangible way, aside from increased workload and being told that I was doing a good job. Even more frustrating, I didn’t know if there was something I just wasn’t doing quite right that was preventing me from moving up the ladder. Since all of the feedback from my manager was positive, what were the missing pieces? And what was my team’s plan for the coming year? I would soon learn that there was nothing overtly performance-oriented about the slow crawl to the top—it was simply a case of too many qualified people vying for the same positions and a matter of whittling down the pool over time. Interesting. Did I want to stay in such a rat race?

I knew from friends in other industries that there were companies out there that valued their employees, and had heard of these wonderful things called “raises” and “bonuses”–and ones above the 1% range. But who got them, and how was it decided how much each person received? Was every person that met their goals rewarded? (what a concept!) I found out this and much more during my first review cycle at SuccessFactors.

Throughout my review process here, not only was it clear that I was being rewarded for a job well done, but it was clear exactly what I was being rewarded for. Specific goals had been set and achieved, numerous projects had been completed successfully, and we discussed all of this and more. I was able to wrap my head around the accomplishments of the past year—and what could be improved upon—and set my sights on the goals for the upcoming year. It wasn’t a mystery what my manager’s goals were for the coming year—quite the opposite, as we went through and made sure that our goals were aligned to one another. It was crystal clear what I needed to do over the next year, how I fit into the company’s larger goals, and what I would be evaluated on. What’s more, I knew that my work was being valued and I came out of my review motivated—really and truly motivated—to have a killer year.

It’s amazing what pay-for-performance—coupled with insightful goal alignment and meaningful face-to-face time in the process—can do for your employees’ productivity and motivation. It certainly made me a believer.

Post script…And it looks like I’m not the only in-house fan of our culture. Just after this post was written, SuccessFactors earned another well-deserved award for being one of the best places to work.

I admit—it’s reassuring on your first day at a new job (and new to the other side of the country) to see the Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America award up on the wall when you walk in. I already liked what I knew about SuccessFactors from the interview process, but finally seeing the office in person and such accolades on my first day I thought, “Huh, this is going to work out just fine.”

But it’s one thing to have corporate awards displayed for all to see (who wouldn’t?), and quite another to infuse, and continue to infuse, your work culture with all of the things that got a company such an award in the first place. I would soon learn that SuccessFactors didn’t just proudly display these awards, but they displayed their corporate values and unique culture through their people each day.

At first glance, the open office was a frightening thing—desks clustered together throughout the huge floor, no cube walls providing faux separation, no VPs tucked away in corner offices. “What to make of this?” I pondered. “Will everyone see me as I eat my snacks??” After a few weeks here, the value of this sort of office layout was clear. Have a question? Walk right over to the appropriate person and ask them. Working on a collaborative project? Your team mates are just a stone’s throw—or virtual meeting–away and collaboration happens as often as coffee is brewing in the central cafeteria. Need to discuss something with your boss? He or she isn’t in hiding; they’re just a few desks away, in full view. Working on a project with someone in a different SF office than yours? Everyone’s contact info is impossible not to find and working with them feels like they’re just around the corner. At any point in time, you can see coworkers crowded around one computer monitor working on various projects, or colleagues engaging one another in passing as they traverse the floor. While we do have conference rooms, they’re floor to ceiling glass, allowing you to see exactly what sort meeting is going on. It’s that sort of transparent environment that promotes open dialogue, no matter what the project, issue, or challenge, and it’s clear that no one is dilly-dallying here. We’re all taking advantage of the vast network of people around us each day. I may not work on the Customer Success team, but I can see their dedication to our customers each day as they work meticulously through various customer issues. I may not be in Sales, but I can still applaud when a rep rings the bell to indicate a new member to the SuccessFactors family of clients. And I may not report directly to our CEO Lars, but I can still be inspired by his dedication to this company that we see whether he’s in the office, sleeves rolled up just like the rest of us, or fully engaged and sending motivating emails when he’s on the road.

The way that everyone at SuccessFactors interacts with one another–and the real core of those interactions–is a clear testament to why we are proud to receive awards like being one of the Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America. And like a Hollywood sequel, it’s not easy to live up to. But I have a feeling that 2008 will be an award-winning year for SFSF as well….

UPDATE! Several weeks after this post was written, SuccessFactors does it again! We were recently named one of the Best Places to Work in the Bay Area.