"Take our 20 best people away, and I tell you that Microsoft would become an unimportant company," said Bill Gates, emphasising a timeless truth: people are an organisation's greatest asset.  

Today, companies that invest deeply in their employees don't just create happier workplaces, they outperform competitors by up to 23% higher profitability. Organisations with highly engaged teams also experience 18% more productivity.

In this blog, we’ll explore how three forward-thinking companies and Wegmans, Netflix, and Twimbit, are redefining what great employee experience looks like. As a hallmark of the new EX movement, their bold focus on feedback, self-empowerment, and advocacy shows that the future belongs to organisations that invest in their people.

Wegman (Glassdoor Rating: 4.1/5)

Great Place To Work® and Fortune® have recognised Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. as one of the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® in 2025, and a cornerstone of Wegmans' employee experience is its Employee Advocate Program.

These Employee Advocates offer exclusive, dedicated support and are stationed at many Wegmans locations, where there are often two full-time advocates per store. They serve as a safe space for employees to seek guidance, resolve issues, access benefits, and find development opportunities. This level of support creates an environment where employees feel not only valued but truly heard.

Beyond professional matters, Employee Advocates also offer invaluable support when employees face personal challenges. By building one-on-one relationships with staff, advocates become trusted allies, helping employees navigate difficult times, access various employee assistance programs, and connect to resources that support both personal and professional well-being.

"Rather than reporting to a store manager or anyone in the employee’s chain of command, advocates report to an HR director, who in turn reports to our vice president of store operations HR," explains Riley, a key leadership figure at Wegmans. This structure ensures that the advocates maintain impartiality and that employees can trust their advocates to represent them fairly, independent of their immediate workplace hierarchy.

In addition to day-to-day support, Wegmans has long been committed to empowering its employees through education. Since 1984, Wegmans has awarded more than USD 145 million in scholarships to over 46,500 employees, demonstrating its dedication to long-term growth. Full-time employees and Management Interns can receive up to USD 16,000 over four years, while part-time employees are eligible for up to USD 8,000. Currently, more than 5,000 employees are benefiting from this program, helping them build brighter futures both inside and outside the company.

Netflix (Glassdoor Rating: 4.2/5)

Any employee experience blog would be incomplete without mentioning Netflix, recently named among Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work 2024 and winner of Comparably’s Best Company Culture award. A pioneer of feedback culture, Netflix has revolutionised how employees engage with their teams and leaders. Known for its deep commitment to transparency and open communication, Netflix’s approach has significantly enhanced employee satisfaction — with a remarkable 73% increase in overall happiness among staff.

Encouraging feedback is one thing; making employees feel safe, heard, and appreciated during the exercise is another. At Netflix, managers are trained to react to feedback with gratitude and belonging cues, non-verbal signals (like open body language, nodding, and attentive listening) that assure employees their voices are valued. By responding with openness, not defensiveness, managers reinforce that employees were right to speak up,  making them more likely to do so again.

Employees are actively encouraged to provide feedback to their managers as well. This reciprocity fosters a transparent, open environment where everyone feels empowered to contribute. Yet, one of the hardest parts of building a feedback culture is getting employees to feel comfortable giving feedback upward, especially when challenging authority doesn’t come naturally.

To further structure and normalise this radical candor, Netflix follows the "4A Rule" of Feedback, a model outlined in No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer, and prominently featured in Netflix's Culture Deck:

• Aim to Assist: Feedback should be offered with positive intent, aimed at helping the recipient improve.

• Actionable: Feedback must be clear, specific, and focused on behavior that can be changed.

• Appreciate: Recipients are encouraged to acknowledge feedback with gratitude, resisting defensiveness.

• Accept or Discard: After reflection, individuals have the freedom to choose whether to act on the feedback or not.

Feedback isn’t just about managers assessing their teams; it’s a two-way street.

Twimbit (Glassdoor Rating: 4.4/5)

At a time when traditional career ladders are being questioned, Twimbit has boldly reimagined the way professional growth is nurtured. Here, career progression isn’t a one-sided management decision, it’s an employee-driven journey, designed thoughtfully to align personal purpose with organisational success.

At the heart of this philosophy is Twimbit’s self-evaluation model, built on three key pillars: Do, Develop, and Show. This model ensures that performance, aspirations, and cultural contribution are equally valued in career discussions, creating a truly holistic development experience.

🔹 Do (65%)
This pillar focuses on the core responsibilities of an employee. Individuals align their job-related goals with their mentors, ensuring clarity of expectations and a sharp focus on delivering high performance. Given its central role in organisational success, this area carries the greatest weight.

🔹 Develop (15%)
At Twimbit, growth is never accidental. Employees embark on action learning projects that tap into areas they are passionate about whether it’s developing new skills, building leadership capabilities, or exploring uncharted territories. Personal and professional enrichment is not just encouraged; it's institutionalised.

🔹 Show (20%)
Culture is the invisible thread that binds Twimbit together. Employees are assessed on how they live by the Twimbit Code, embodying collaboration, innovation, integrity, and most importantly, playfulness. By celebrating cultural ambassadors, Twimbit places company values at the core of career advancement.

The core principles that anchor this framework are clear:

• High Performance

• Aspirational Development

• Learning on the Job

Through this structured and empowering self-evaluation approach, Twimbit ensures that career progression is deeply personal, transparent, and meaningful. Growth isn’t something employees passively wait for, it’s something they own, craft, and celebrate.

But Twimbit’s employee-first philosophy doesn’t stop there. The company also champions flexibility and autonomy with its unlimited leave policy, trusting individuals to manage their time responsibly while maintaining excellence. Moreover, employees are encouraged to select roles aligned with their interests, ensuring that passion fuels performance.

By focusing heavily on revolutionising the consulting and advisory space with a spirit of playfulness, Twimbit is setting a new benchmark: a workplace where ambition, creativity, and joy coexist beautifully.

Key takeaways for companies

1. Make Career Growth a Shared Responsibility
   Move beyond top-down promotions. Twimbit shows that when employees co-own their career path, aligning goals, growth, and impact, it builds deeper engagement, loyalty, and long-term performance.

2. Create a Culture of Safe, Actionable Feedback
   Feedback should feel safe, heard, and lead to change. Netflix’s 4A Rule and Wegmans’ advocacy model highlight the need for systems that protect psychological safety and encourage honest dialogue without fear.

3. Support the Whole Person, Not Just the Role
   True potential emerges when companies invest in the individual. Wegmans’ life programs and Twimbit’s passion-based roles show the value of nurturing personal growth, emotional well-being, and purpose alignment.