Haidilao began as a hot pot restaurant in Jianyang, Sichuan, and now operates over 60 chain stores nationwide.
What makes Haidilao employees so dedicated and happy in their work?
First, the company's core value: "Change your destiny with your own hands."Most employees come from rural backgrounds. Compared to competitors, Haidilao's better compensation makes it a haven for these low-educated individuals yearning for urban life. "Lean on a wall, and it may collapse; rely on people, and they may leave; depend on parents, and they will age. Relying on oneself is best. Change your destiny with your own hands. We cannot choose our birth, but we can choose to keep learning and transform our fate." This embodies the Haidilao spirit.
Second, Haidilao's empowerment. Trusting someone is the greatest respect, and empowerment is the hallmark of that trust. From general managers to regional managers, store managers to servers, everyone at Haidilao holds distinct authority. For instance, they can gift complimentary dishes or waive bills for valid reasons. This empowerment allows frontline staff to better understand customer needs and promptly address them.
Third, Haidilao treats its employees as customers, establishing a distinctive corporate culture. The company provides employees with heated housing managed by dedicated housekeepers; operates boarding schools for employees' children; rewards outstanding staff with family vacations; and even pays pensions to employees' parents as a gesture of filial piety and gratitude.
The author believes that "to repel external threats, one must first secure the interior." By infusing warmth into employees' lives, addressing their concerns, and treating them like valued customers, Haidilao fosters a culture where seemingly minor gestures play a pivotal role in motivating staff.
Corporate culture must be underpinned by corresponding systems and processes. To guarantee customer experience, Haidilao has established a comprehensive set of procedures: from complimentary shoe shining, manicures, and internet access while customers wait, to providing aprons and phone cases upon seating, to serving hot towels, refilling tea, and offering eyeglass cloths to customers wearing glasses throughout the meal.
While these systems and procedures may appear rigid, their effective implementation relies entirely on employees' flexible application. For instance, the primary responsibility system mandates that any employee receiving a customer request becomes the primary responsible party, ensuring the request is fulfilled rather than merely passing it to a colleague. Daily ingredient records are retained to facilitate tracking and inspection of food quality and safety.
Hai Di Lao evaluates each store manager based on two metrics: customer satisfaction and employee motivation. Stores are required to staff at 110% of actual needs to support expansion. These policies aren't merely posted on walls—they're discussed and explained during evening meetings led by managers, ensuring employee involvement.
At Haidilao, when an employee makes a mistake, the team leader assumes responsibility, facing either reprimand or fines. Cultivating future management talent is a key metric for evaluating mid-to-senior level managers. The company even mandates that regional leaders live in employee dormitories for three days each month, personally experiencing the comfort of staff accommodations, meals, and daily life to facilitate timely improvements.
If systems and processes are a company's laws, then corporate culture is its moral compass, serving to unite hearts and minds. Exceptional enterprises invariably succeed because their founders distilled universally resonant corporate values and consistently adhered to these core principles. Maintaining unwavering commitment to these values throughout growth is the profound reason behind the success of Fortune 500 companies.
Many companies loudly proclaim slogans like "respecting talent" and "people-oriented," yet behind the scenes, it's the boss calling all the shots. Rigid systems exist where punishment culture prevails over reward culture, and this is especially true in labor-intensive enterprises.High employee turnover discourages long-term investment in staff development, while workers jump between jobs without deepening expertise in any field. This vicious cycle inflates social costs for both companies and individuals, harming both employers and employees.Hai Di Lao's internal publication features two memorable lines: "Promote the principle that hard work changes destiny, foster a culture of fairness and justice within the company." Among Hai Di Lao's three corporate goals, "expanding Hai Di Lao nationwide" ranks only third, while "creating a fair and just work environment" and "making the value of changing destiny through hard work a reality at Hai Di Lao" occupy the top two positions.Respecting and trusting people form Haidilao's core values.
While Western fast-food chains' emphasis on systematization, standardization, and proceduralization undeniably ensures product and service quality, it simultaneously stifles employee creativity and the resulting job satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. Haidilao believes that requiring employees to strictly follow systems and procedures is akin to hiring only their hands.The food service industry is inherently characterized by high-intensity repetitive work. How can employees be made to feel joyful?
The answer is simple: empower employees with creativity and emphasize customer interaction. At Haidilao, staff are encouraged to engage with patrons in memorable ways. This interaction begins the moment customers enter—every employee can offer shoe-shining services. Here, tasks like wiping tables or preparing noodles become highly performative and entertaining.
The company encourages employee innovation, even naming inventions after their creators. Staff are granted significant autonomy: ordinary servers possess the authority to waive bills or accept food returns. Employees reside in formal residential complexes with free internet access and dedicated dormitory staff for cleaning. When new hires make mistakes, colleagues promptly point them out and correct them.
Haidilao has successfully cultivated a family-like culture, alleviating employees' concerns so they can fully dedicate themselves to their work. The company established a private boarding school in Jianyang where employees' children can attend tuition-free, paying only for textbooks.Beyond the Engineering Department, Logistics Center, and Finance Department—which employ external managers—Haidilao prioritizes internal promotion throughout its system. Notably, all store managers rise from the ranks. The chain's expansion of new locations provides employees with career advancement opportunities and a platform for long-term growth within the company.Corporate culture and institutional processes are the two wheels driving a company's sustained development—neither can be neglected. A corporate culture without institutional processes becomes too abstract, while processes without culture become rigid, stifling employee creativity. With a corporate culture that consistently aligns words and actions, backed by robust institutional processes, Haidilao's "enigma" becomes understandable. Management models vary widely, and each enterprise selects the approach best suited to its current situation and characteristics.Regardless of the chosen model, exceptional managers must prioritize "meeting others' needs" and "treating people fairly." They should value each individual, emphasize leading by example and encouraging active participation, genuinely support employees, and share the joy of work with them. Only then can they earn employees' respect, foster cohesion and combat effectiveness within the company, and truly embody the essence of a "people-oriented" management philosophy. (