Posts Tagged ‘employees’
7 Employee Concerns Managers Shouldn’t Ignore
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011Whether your business is local or global, retaining good talent has never been more important for firms who wish to compete in today’s digital marketplace. However, despite an unstable economy, knowledge workers are still free agents, and won’t show loyalty to companies that they feel aren’t living up to their side of the employment “contract. Below are 7 concerns that ambitious, high-performing employees have which will make them question their loyalty to your organization:
1. Lack of Advancement/Development Opportunity – Employees worth retaining are those who constantly seek to improve themselves, build their skillsets and assume greater responsibility within the organization. If they feel that the company isn’t providing them with the advancement and professional development they will require for their next position, they will jump ship.
2. Disagreement Company’s Strategic Direction – The best employees are those who keep the bigger picture in mind, and view their decision making through the lens of what’s best for the firm. However, if these smart staff members disagree with the vision and direction which management has set, they are more likely to find a position elsewhere which they feel more comfortable with.
3. Not Feeling Valued – Nothing is more morale-busting for motivated employees than feeling that their efforts are for nothing, and are going unrecognized. Feeling undervalued isn’t just some silly, touchy-feely fear; it will ultimately affect the bottom line, as well as turnover rates.
4. Lack of Mentorship – Smart employees seek out those who know more than they do, and smart companies facilitate these connections. If your best and brightest don’t feel they have anyone whom they can learn from, their performance will stagnate, leaving them to either wither on the vine, or take the next best job offer which comes along.
5. Micromanagement – Good employees are self-motivated, and intrinsically want to do a good job. In his book “The 8th Habit,” bestselling author Steven Covey talks about empowering employees by giving them more responsibility, in so doing telling them that you trust their judgment- which in turn gives them more confidence and “ownership” of their work. The opposite is true as well: smother workers with hyper-accountability, and their performance will fade.
6. Neglect – On the flip side, leaving employees completely on their own without any sort of accountability or guidance aside from hitting their numbers sends the message that management has better things to do, making employees feel inferior and not part of the “big picture.”
7. Office Drama – You won’t find this in much of the literature on improving ROI or margins, but workplace antics should not be dismissed outright. Petty gossip, jealousy, cliques and the like are damaging to workplace morale, and make people not want to come into the office, let alone do their best.
Sure, there are plenty of concerns employees have in this post-recession environment, not least of which include job security and maintenance of compensation/benefits. However, there are other concerns beyond money which cause your staff to stay awake at night, and question their loyalty to your firm. What other employee concerns can you think of? As a manager, what can you do to address them?
(FYI I am currently on the road, and my posts this week will appear more sporadically; I’ll be back with my usual daily posts next week, complete with pretty pictures and all)
30 Clues That Your Company Has a Morale Issue
Friday, July 15th, 2011
Recent studies have shown that low employee morale leads to reduced productivity, higher turnover and unhappy customers. Common sense also dictates that when staff feels dispirited or underappreciated, they will not do their jobs as effectively, efficiently or with great care. As a business owner or senior manager, how do you know when your people are feeling blue?
If your company’s experienced any of the following recently, chances are you’ve got a morale issue on your hands (in no particular order):
1. Layoffs
2. Restructuring
3. Furloughs
4. Elimination of bonuses
5. Pay raise caps
6. Hiring freezes
7. Merger/acquisition
8. Loss of major existing/prospective client(s)
9. Sharp increase in staff attrition
10. Spike in customer service complaints
11. Departure of company founder/longtime senior manager
12. Increased absenteeism
13. Increased reporting of staff to HR
14. Decreased revenue relative to expense
15. Reduced per-employee productivity
16. Negative media reports about company or staff
17. Theft of office equipment/proprietary information
18. Sabotage of workflow processes
19. Unusual delays in product/service delivery
20. Increase in customer refund/exchange requests
21. Reduction or elimination of employee benefits, sick/vacation days or amenities
22. Staff relocation due to facility move/construction
23. Long-term client crisis
24. Staff required to work extra hours, days or on holidays/weekends
25. New staff responsibilities without commensurate compensation
26. New dress code, Internet usage or other HR policies
27. Implementation of new performance evaluation system
28. Technological/system changes
29. Negative comments about company on employee blogs, Facebook pages or other social media
30. Addition of new step(s) to something that’s always been done the same way
Low workplace morale isn’t good for business, but you can do something about it, so long as you can detect it. What are some other signs that office morale might be down?
How to Maximize Slim Budgets When Entertaining Employees
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
The recession isn’t over like we thought. As reported last week, only 18,000 US jobs were created last month, and unemployment is still over 9%. In this type of economy, 2 realities emerge: 1) employees aren’t as likely to leave the security of their jobs, and 2) they are going to be working harder for the privilege of keeping their jobs. Companies which value their employees naturally want to give economic and other incentives for this hard work, but in the current environment, raises and bonuses may not be feasible; how, then, can managers find the budget to provide employee entertainment activities designed to boost morale during challenging times?
Below are a few quick tips to stretch your allocated entertainment funds, in order to reward staff for their hard work:
1) Plan Your Event Early in the Week – This isn’t to avoid conflict with Friday happy hour; rather, most venues where you will hold your activity – bars, lounges, restaurants etc. – will be FAR more reasonable with their pricing if you bring your group on an “off” night, such as a Monday or Tuesday, when they are typically not as busy as they are later in the week or on weekends.
2) Bring As Many People as You Possibly Can – Most venues are thrilled to have a large group spend a couple of hours eating & drinking at their establishment. The more people you bring, the more flexible they are likely to be on pricing for food, drink and space use – guarantee a minimum spend, and you can likely get a private room at no fee (typically very expensive), as well as avoid committing to a hefty per-person arrangement, which may make a large group event untenable. Open the event to other departments, divisions or the entire company, to let as many people attend as possible.
3) Hold the Event in or Around Your Office – While a true “escape” from the office would ideally mean just that, there are plenty of options for arranging an employee staff party or professional team building activity within your workplace. However, if you’re adamant about doing something outside of the office, keep the options within walking distance, to save on transportation expenses.
4) Skip the Stuff That Doesn’t Matter – T-shirts, trophies, coffee mugs emblazoned with the company logo – all nice, but not necessary. Focus your limited funds on venue, food/drink and talent, to ensure that the group has the best experience possible.
5) Keep the Activity Simple – With a huge range of employee entertainment options out there, it’s tempting to want to give your group a real show. However, when your dollars are extremely tight, the goal should be to give staff a fun & memorable reward, not to completely blow their minds; find something which works for you and go with it (assuming the team building vendor has a good reputation, that is). If your budget basically allows for venue and not much more, you can even opt to develop your own activity: About.com has a nice resource for creating your own employee team building events.
I’m a big advocate for treating employees well, and in times such as this, I feel strongly that staff should be rewarded for their hard efforts. Do you have any thoughts, questions or suggestions for how to entertain employees on a tight budget? Please share below!
Party Like it’s 1776: Declare Independence from Middle Management Syndrome!
Monday, July 4th, 2011
Today being Independence Day, I thought it would be an ideal time to explore a topic directly affecting many of those who plan and attend NYC team building activities. As a manager in your company – perhaps you are in charge of the team or division, head of the HR department or even the company itself – you are under a tremendous amount of pressure from both above and below to get things done. In a sense, everyone in a leadership role is a middle manager dealing with both direct reports who have their needs, issues and concerns, as well as bosses, clients and other stakeholders whose expectations must be met.
When I was in business school, we had a case study in our organizational behavior management class which I loved called “Bob Knowlton.” Perhaps one of the best-known studies in its area, the piece depicts a fictional employee, Bob, a skilled tech worker who does his job well – so well, in fact, that he is suddenly promoted into a management role, directly supervising a handful of his former peers. Sounds pretty good, right? The only problem is, while Bob is technically proficient in a specialized practice area, he is neither trained nor experienced as a manager of people. Bob soon finds his days filled with the frustrations, fears and politics of middle management, on top of his own work duties.
This “middle manager syndrome” is really quite typical, isn’t it? Someone becomes competent at their job, get promoted, and soon faces a host is scenarios & situations which have nothing to do with the work itself, but with delegation, performance and supervision. At the same time, those above are seeking accountability from the newly-promoted on a far greater scale than ever before. What is a middle manager to do, when there are so many stakeholders to appease?
I argue that “middle manager syndrome” can be kicked to the curb the moment managers decide they are no longer going to try and please everyone all the time. Yes, of course it’s important to keep the bosses and clients happy, and direct reports cannot simply be ignored; however, to truly break free of the familiar “Bob Knowlton” trap, managers should instead seek to devote themselves fully to a set of key professional goals and objectives, and do whatever it takes to get there. It’s a change of mindset from “keeping everyone happy” to “getting things done” which will make all the difference, and allow people to declare independence from “middle manager syndrome” once and for all.
But that’s just my opinion, a lowly NYC corporate event entertainment company owner. Are you an HR professional, management or industrial organizational expert? What are your thoughts on how to overcome “middle management syndrome?”
Bribing Employees is a Good Thing
Friday, July 1st, 2011
HR managers, take note: employees are unhappy. They are unhappy with their workloads and unchallenging tasks, dissatisfied with their compensation packages, uncomfortable with co-workers and angry at The Man. In fairness, work is serious business, and isn’t supposed to be fun (although I’ve argued against this in a previous post). However, there is good news: bribing employees makes them enjoy their jobs more.
Fellow psychology majors may remember the behaviorist theory of “classical conditioning,” which basically boils down to carrot and stick motivation: reward wanted behaviors, punish unwanted ones. In the workplace, I would argue that you can take this a step further: directly reward wanted behaviors, but also encourage positive attitudes by indirectly rewarding favorable work environments. This can easily be done through bribes.
Now, my use of “bribes” here is not meant to be taken literally – you can’t outright pay people to like their jobs more. You can, however, promote a happier work environment by “paying” employees to work better with one another, collaborate more, communicate better and foster an overall more collegiate work environment. This may of course be done with money: employees are regularly provided with bonuses and other financial incentives. However, in order to really promote positive interactions which will ultimately benefit morale and productivity, the “bribes” should extend beyond dollars, and focus on improving performance.
How else can employees be rewarded for behavior which leads to a happier workplace? Give them what they want: professional development, recognition, and opportunities to bond with their colleagues. As both an employee and a business owner, I know firsthand how important it is to let staff know that they are valued, and to keep them motivated by providing positive feedback, opportunities for growth, acknowledgement of good work, and the chance to just relax and have fun with their fellow workers. Doing so provides the necessary incentives to keep workers happy, engaged, and full of enthusiasm necessary to do their jobs well.
Are there downsides to this approach? Of course – I think we have all just had a very good lesson with the recent economic downturn about how excessive reward can delude staff at all levels into thinking that they are invincible, and that they can carry on with business as usual without recourse. However, keeping employees stimulated with regular “bribes” of good will, encouragement and opportunities to bond as a team will certainly help create an atmosphere which encourages teamwork, pride and positive attitude towards work in general.
What are your thoughts on “bribing” employees to keep morale high? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!
TrivWorks founder David Jacobson blogs daily on a wide range of topics relevant to corporate event entertainment, team building and live trivia. 
