Apparently, a lot. 

Though often portrayed a the typical evil corporation archetype, some of them are doing some pretty amazing and innovative work around operating organizations on a massive scale.  

I recently heard Statoil‘s Bjarte Bogsnes give a wonderful talk at LKNA ’14 on how this  23,000-employee, publicly-traded Norwegian oil company is managing its budgeting process and business performance in general. 

I was so impressed with the company, that I did some more digging around and uncovered this gem: 

The Statoil (employee) Book

It’s one of better employee handbooks that I’ve ever seen. Here’s why I think it’s awesome: 

• Company Values (p10-13)
  • Strong framing of the company’s purpose
  • Only 4 top values that are unique (unlikely to find this particular set of values elsewhere)
  • Values are broken down to be actionable
• People and Leadership (p14-21)
  • Defining the partnership between the company and the individual (rare, brilliant)
  • Defining what leadership means at Statoil in a detailed enough resolution to build effective evaluation, coaching and training around
  • Tying the performance review cycle to values and strategy
  • Defining cross company career tracks (“leadership” and “professional”)
• Corporate Policies (p54-74)
  • Concise and in plain English – only 20 pages! (how long are your company’s?) 
  • Simple, consistent and clear structure: our approach -> we are committed to -> how we work

What’s the best handbook you’ve seen out there? (don’t say Valve)