Monthly Archives: June 2012

Heat Wave

I don’t know about where you live, but here in Chicago the weather seems to be stuck on one temperature: HOT.  Most days, that heat comes with a side of sunshine.  With all of this beautiful weather, you may notice your coworkers spending an exorbitant amount of time staring longingly out the window, daydreaming about sand, sun, and dripping ice cream cones.

To help employees refocus their energy back into the office, consider offering employees additional flexibility during the summer months.  Added flexibility will allow them to participate in the summer activities they love outside of the office, while still meeting deadlines and completing projects at work.  It may seem counterintuitive to expect employees to be more productive by allowing them out of the office more.  However, numerous studies have shown that allowing people time to let their mind wander and relax actually return to the office more productive and enthusiastic than before they left.

Below are four ways to add fun and flexibility to your employees’ summer:

1. Summer Flex Hours

During the summer, most of our favorite activities, i.e., going to the beach, fishing, playing/watching sports, or visiting amusement parks and zoos, are best enjoyed when they happen during the day.  During the summer, why not be flexible with the hours employees work?  An employee could choose to work from noon to eight in order to go fishing during the early morning hours, or could take an extended lunch break to see his daughter’s t-ball game before returning to the office.  Organizations could also offer more work-from-home time during the summer to allow employees to work from their backyards or balconies if they so choose.

2. Staff Skip Day

Remember organized “Senior Skip Days” in high school?  I didn’t get to go on mine due to an unfortunate scheduling conflict, but the idea of skip day has still always stood out in my mind as an incredibly fun idea.  Skip days are more special than a regular party or vacation day because you’re really supposed to be doing something else.

Planning a full skip day for employees might be tough if they don’t know it’s coming because of busy schedules.  Instead, you could plan to surprise employees by letting them out several hours early for a surprise party.    Radio Flyer does this every year for their annual “Maya Del Sol” party.  Employees, or “Flyers” as they’re known at Radio Flyer, know that the party will happen every summer, but are never sure which day they’ll get pulled out of meetings to enjoy food, drinks, and a mariachi band.  The surprise and anticipation make the party that much more fun!

3. Vacation Plus Days

Vacation Plus Days were a concept I heard about during my last job search, but I have yet to meet a person who actually receives this mythical type of vacation time.  These days are additional vacation days that have to be used between Memorial Day and Labor Day.  The idea behind them is to encourage employees to enjoy their summer and take a vacation.  Many employees feel taking a long trip will make them look uncommitted to their position and the organization.  By offering days that have to be used during the summer, management is encouraging employees to get out of the office and have a little fun.

4. Summer Office Hours

Summer office hours, where employees are allowed to leave early on Friday, are a great perk to employees without taking away that much time from the organization.  Here at Avatar HR Solutions, we get to leave an hour earlier than normal working hours on Fridays.  Other organizations close two or three hours early to allow employees to get a jump start on the weekend.  Taking an hour or two out of the work week won’t have a huge impact on productivity, but getting to leave early makes a big difference to employees.

Actively Engaged Workers Go Above and Beyond Their Job Description

Most people are familiar with the phrase “finding a needle in a haystack.”  Yet, few can actually give an example of a time when they found a tiny object that was feared gone forever due to the quick thinking and positive attitude of an Actively Engaged employee.

Deb Kirby, a resident of Attleboro, Massachusetts, is one of those people after she accidentally threw away five of her favorite rings, including her wedding and engagement bands, last month.  Fortunately, she was reunited with them after Waste Management workers helped her sift through 15 tons of garbage.  What makes this story special is not only did Kirby get back her beloved rings, but the Actively Engaged Waste Management employees who went above and beyond the call of duty to help Kirby did so without thinking twice.

As soon as Kirby determined she had thrown out the rings with paper towels, she called Aaron Smith, who is the district manager of Waste Management and the trash hauler for Attleboro.  Smith was truly touched by Kirby’s story and felt compelled to do everything in his power to try and recover the rings.

After making a handful of telephone calls, Smith figured out that the truck carrying Kirby’s rings was not far from the incinerator.  In the nick of time, he had the truck immediately redirected to a transfer station where the trash bags were unloaded.  Upon narrowing their search to between 100 and 200 bags, eight Waste Management workers and Kirby began to search them.  As soon as one of the workers found Kirby’s jewelry, she became overwhelmed with emotion and immediately hugged him and his co-workers.

Kirby was more than impressed with the Waste Management crew.  “They could have very easily said there’s no way you’re going to find those rings,” Kirby said.  “But they took the extra steps and they made the effort and it paid off.”

This story is a perfect example of how Smith and his engaged colleagues created a satisfied customer who was happy to openly share her experience with others.  Smith and his fellow workers boosted Waste Management’s external brand reputation simply by going above and beyond.  Plus, people who heard this captivating anecdote will now have a more positive association with Waste Management.  Overall, Actively Engaged employees truly care about their job and demonstrate a willingness to go outside of the responsibilities included in their job description to help a customer.

Preventing the Spread of the “Summertime Grumps”

For many of us, summer carries pleasant associations.  When we think of the “dog days,” we conjure up images of barbecues, swimming pools, and just generally enjoying nature’s splendor.  But the dog days also have bite.  You may know this if you’ve ever lived in a fourth-floor walk-up or summarily fallen asleep on the beach before applying sunscreen.  (Guilty of both counts, I’m afraid!)

Innocuous though these examples seem, sociologists and journlists also tell us of direr summertime scourges, such as elevated rates of violent crime and domestic upheaval.  Perhaps less injurious, but equally concerning for your work team, is the spread of the “summertime grumps,” a formal clinical term I’ve coined to describe the state of mind that pervades office buildings across the nation when air conditioning systems falter and the view from one’s cubical pales beside the vivid blues and greens outside the office windows.

Luckily, experts say the summertime grumps can be kept at bay.  The following are three proven tips for maintaining a congenial, fun, and productive office environment through the hot summer months.

Keep Your Cool

Even in the newest office buildings, central air conditioning systems are often challenged during the hot summer months, especially at the beginning of the season, when quick changes in temperature are especially difficult to predict and climate control, having gone untested for up to a year, is particularly unreliable.  When employees begin asking “Is it hot in here?” look to policies that will allow your staff to stay cool.  Letting employees work virtually through the summer months or wear cooler clothing like shorts and flip flops can prevent the grumps from taking hold in what could otherwise become a hot, cranky environment.

Turn Lemons into Lemonade

Your engaging office culture notwithstanding, there will be gorgeous days this summer when slogging to work on the crowded train or sitting in traffic is not what your employees really want to do with their morning.  This is human and to be expected, and it doesn’t mean the office can’t remain a productive, fun place to spend the day.  In fact, summer is the perfect time to take lemons and turn them into lemonade.  Sweeten the office environment by offering employees low-cost, healthy summertime pick-me-ups like fresh lemonade or frozen bars made with real fruit.  For your more caffeinated coworkers, brew a pot of coffee at the end of the day and leave it to chill in the refrigerator overnight.  Sure, the traffic may be thick as molasses, the heat sweltering, but now your employees have a refreshing glass of iced coffee to look forward to enjoying as they browse their morning emails.

Bite Back!

In order for employees to stay engaged in their work, they need regular opportunities to socialize with their supervisors and coworkers.  What better way, then, to ameliorate the dog days’ bite than to socialize with colleagues in a relaxed, air conditioned environment?  Even if your organization doesn’t have a companywide summer barbecue or picnic planned, management can encourage socialization by spearheading informal, voluntary weekly lunch outings.  Each week, send around a signup sheet inviting the team to join their coworkers at a local restaurant.  Let employees vote on a location for the lunch and suggest the team walk there together, if the weather and distance permit.  Informal lunches afford workers an opportunity to enjoy the weather during the workday, socialize, and learn more about their coworkers from other departments, who they might not normally have the chance to interact with.

Supporting employee engagement is a perennial endeavor requiring insight, creativity, and the flexibility to adapt to the changing conditions and needs of your workers.  The tips provided above are inspired by and intended for summertime, but with a little tweaking they can spark initiatives for your employees to enjoy year round.  For more best practices for engaging your employees, visit http://www.hrsolutionsinc.com/best_practices/.

Using Social Media for Good

Most organizations have strict social media policies, either severely restricting how and when employees can post or banning the use of social media altogether.  Many organizations are not keen on loosening their grip on their presence on the web, and worry that allowing their employees to discuss their organization online will deteriorate their image and reputation.  I, however, am against this common viewpoint and think the use of social media on the job can and should be allowed (gasp!).  Letting employees use social media for work purposes can have very positive outcomes both for employees and customers/patients.

One of the main benefits of social media use is that it allows individuals to communicate directly with an organization.  While many organizations have a corporate Facebook or Twitter account to interact with their customers or patients, few allow individual employees to create professional accounts.  Imagine how powerful a direct connection with employees could be.  An individual planning on shopping at an electronics store could reach out online for a personalized recommendation.  A nurse discharging a patient could check in the next day to make sure medication was taken or if there were any issues.  This direct connection could dramatically improve both customer and patient satisfaction.

In addition, social media usage can have a major impact on customer service issues.  Let me use an example that has been quite popular over the last few years (including in this blog): The “United Breaks Guitars” YouTube video.  This video had millions of hits and thousands of comments.  However, none of these comments were actually from employees of United addressing the complaints in the video.  Imagine how this negative situation could have been turned around if hundreds of United employees had commented on the video, discussing the improvements they’ve made based on the video, how much they like United, and what customers should expect when they choose to fly with United.  On a smaller scale, a customer posting a negative experience about an organization could receive an immediate direct message from an employee of that organization offering his or her apologies and a coupon code for a discount on future purchases.

By allowing employees to communicate directly with consumers, organizations not only improve customer service, but can also improve employee engagement.  Employees want to see that they are making a difference and that their organization treats customers well.  By directly interacting with customers and hearing about positive outcomes, an employee’s pride in the organization can improve dramatically, which in turn raises his or her engagement level.

Some may worry that employees will get their organization in trouble by releasing unauthorized statements or making inappropriate comments.  To counter this, let employees know the expectations of creating and using a professional social media account, including what topics are appropriate and how to best interact with clients.  In addition, when telling employees about developments within the organization, make sure to let them know whether or not news is private or can be shared privately.

When it comes to the internet, the more hits, likes, posts, follows, and tweets, the better.  Enlisting employees to help spread positive messaging about your organization can only help to improve your organization’s online presence, as well as reputation, customer and patient satisfaction, and employee engagement.