Implementing 5S as a branding strategy

5s has been for a long type a tool to simply improve workplace organization and establishing a structure to initiate other lean implementations. 5S more than a tool, is a culture, and you can use it as a branding strategy.

So far companies have been focusing on the customer experience, while employees have now become the customers of the workplace, highlighting the importance of the employee experience. They choose to be part of a company based on the purpose, brand and culture. As per Gallup research one-third of global employees strongly agree with the statement, “The mission and purpose of my organization make me feel my job is important.” By moving that ratio to eight in 10 employees, business units have realized a 51% reduction in absenteeism, a 64% drop in safety incidents and a 29% improvement in quality.

Disengaged workers compared with all other workers, report more days of work missed (3.5 more days per person per year) and more days of work missed for illness (0.55 days per person). The lower productivity of actively disengaged workers penalizes U.S. economic performance by about $300 billion.

Purpose, brand and culture are key to boost the employee experience. That is why many companies are directing their efforts to use their culture as a branding strategy.

Certain cultural behaviors can easily be spotted as good or bad in a company just by doing a short walk around. Colorful workstations, open spaces, round tables, in-company restaurants, information boards, multiple common areas, and groups of employees chatting informally are usually signs of team-oriented cultures. Some companies like Google or Zappos use their culture to brand the companies to hire the best employees: they show the beautiful restaurants they have in the facilities, the mini golfs, swimming pools, relax stations or even the parties they organize. It is part of who they are and why they are successful.

GE and Toyota were among the first companies to use quality and workplace organization to brand their companies. 5S is actually one of the lean methods that Toyota applies to achieve organization and cleanliness. Just like Marie Kondo has a series on Netflix about “making your home spark joy”, The 5 steps of the Japanese tool 5S (sort, store, shine, standardize and sustain) can help companies easily stand out from other competitors.

5S is a visual help to align strategy (what you think) with the brand (what you say) with the culture (what you do).

I have seen many companies willing to continue a long term 5s implementation, is, apart from the good metrics, the astonishing compliments they get from visitors, customers or even VPs. The way 5S changes how a workplace looks like is so impressive that any visitor who has been previously at the plant can notice a difference. The before-after pictures, the audit comments posted on the boards or the labels and signs help even more to highlight how a company can change from the bottom-up. Companies implementing 5S can do the same, by showcasing workplace organization, that can easily be spotted by any visitor.

5s as a branding strategy — 5S before and after

5S driving culture change

Furthermore, when 5S is implemented thoughtfully with a long-term mindset, it actually helps companies to radically change their cultures. 5s results include improved employee engagement, reduction in safety incidents, improved productivity and better quality. And the reason why all these results are accomplished and continue to thrive in the long term is that employees have actually changed their behaviors. There is no need to control, they are autonomous and self-disciplined. When they find a problem, they try to correct it immediately, or at least they report it. They clean more often, and they even avoid machines or workspaces from getting dirty by working in a more conscious and present way. They organize their tools before leaving the shift. They are proud of their workspace, increasing their willingness to participate in improvement projects. When behaviors change across different sectors, change starts to spread faster, introducing a cultural change. And the best sign of cultural change is employee’s reaction to audits. At first, they were hiding issues, they didn’t care that much about the audit results, they just didn’t want to get more work to do. When employees want to be audited, they are ready to showcase their improvements and already have in mind what they want to work on for the next review, a cultural change has occurred.

5S Methodology

Benefits of using the 5S as a branding strategy

There are various benefits of using culture as a branding strategy:

Employees become our brand ambassadors, reducing training and hiring costs. They even recommend the company to their friends.
Customers become brand ambassadors: customers can recognize the value of our company. 5s becomes a sign of quality and organization, so they feel comfortable recommending the company to others.
There is a virtuous cycle, for which employees and managers feel proud about their 5S brand, so they boost efforts to continue making it better through time. 5S implementation never ends, change is continuous and contagious, and gets stronger through time.

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5S more than a tool, it is a culture itself. Using 5S a branding strategy help companies build stronger bonds with their customers, suppliers, employees and even the families of their employees, showing long term commitment and setting an example for others to imitate.

Lu Paulise – Coach, book author and speaker