Category Archives: Uncategorized

Why Companies Should Survey Employees

What is the easiest way to gather information from someone?  Ask that person questions about what you want to know.  This simple solution is often overlooked by many organizations when attempting to understand employee engagement and staff opinions about their jobs.

More often than they should, organizations rely on overheard gossip, anecdotal stories, or grapevine information when determining workers’ thoughts and perspectives.  Leadership then makes errant conclusions and changes based on hearsay.  Employees are left feeling unheard and confused, which often leads to dissatisfaction and disengagement.

To fully understand how your employees feel, you must ask them directly.  Administering employee surveys will allow your organization to gather more valid and informative data than simply relying on overheard discussions or complaints.  Responses from surveys can deliver valuable knowledge that directly affects your bottom line and fosters positive change in any or all of the following ways:

Benefits of Employee Survey

Understanding why you should survey and what information surveys can provide is the first step toward improving employee engagement at your organization.  You must then design a survey that asks the right questions in order to create effective improvement plans.  Find out next week what types of questions will provide the most actionable data.

Employees Can’t “Play Ball” without Effective Training

Water cooler chat being what it is, even a baseball ignorant like myself can’t make it very far into spring without knowing a thing or two about what’s going on in the Major League. This year, I’ve looked on as baseball’s preseason has segued into the competitive, regular season, and excitement among my coworkers has grown palpably.

Early into the year, many of my peers had already enjoyed a glut of show-stopping performances and the equally dismal outings comprising Spring Training in Arizona and Florida. The quality of the athletics in demonstration have supported the notion that “Spring Training performances are never as good as they look or as bad as they appear,” a truism recently ascribed by sportswriter Hal Bodley to the Phillies’ late general manager John Quinn (1). Meaning, I gather, that we can’t predict the outcome of a season based on individual training performances – though many among us will try.

But imagine a season without any training or practice at all. What would it look like? Even if you can’t judge a season by its exhibition games, training is without a doubt one of the most important components of a team’s annual crusade for the pennant. The same is true in any workforce, whether your business is manufacturing, healthcare, gaming, or financial services. All employees need practical, ongoing training in order to succeed at what they do. And it’s not just a matter of skills acquisition and knowledge transfer.

Just like in sports, training offers employees an opportunity to get amped up about what they do – to cultivate a mindset in which they can execute with alacrity and enthusiasm. In fact, research by Avatar Solutions has shown that training and professional development is one of the top drivers of employee engagement. And yet responses to Avatar Solutions Employee Surveys show that 21% of employees are not satisfied with the level of training they receive.

443726_31923700 v2To help employees achieve the high levels of engagement to which many aspire, business leaders can take a page from the Major League Baseball playbook and institute programs of training that occur on an ongoing basis, with meaningful frequency. This doesn’t necessarily call for expensive learning modules and formal classes – although these resources may be the right choice for some organizations.  Rather, organizations can encourage and empower their managers to provide on-the-job training and development opportunities to employees as they perform their regular job functions.  Taking inspiration from America’s national pastime, here are just a few of the ways to build training into your employees’ work week:

Great coaching begets great performance. Coaching is something everybody needs but that few companies do systemically. Yet, when we were children we had coaches in our parents, in Little League we may have had a coach, and in high school and college had access to excellent teachers and academic advisors. So why does the coaching end when the paycheck begins? If an organization does not have an established program or process for providing coaching to employees, facilitate the coaching experience by encouraging your team to seek out a coach among senior staffers. HR can provide assistance by setting an expectation that senior-level employees spend an hour each week mentoring junior staff. The organization can provide senior leaders with a small stipend for coffee with employees, or lunch, and model behaviors by demonstrating effective methods for identifying and communicating with a potential coach, as well as responding to an employee request for mentorship.

Stick to the playbook – most of the time. Checklists and step-by-step process descriptions are useful for all employees, especially those who are new to the job or who perform a given task only occasionally. To assist your team in developing facility within their job functions, create training and how-to documents for performing the important tasks handled by your team. Ask that all stakeholders contribute to and review the checklists, so that the most effective methods for completing an assignment are represented. Reflecting on tasks and participating in the creation of the documents will help solidify employees’ job knowledge, as well as build their confidence in the skills they have acquired. Once checklists have been created and utilized for some time, establish a process for recommending updates to the documents. While it is important to “stick to the playbook” overall, encouraging employees to innovate and develop better methods for completing tasks is vital to their engagement and the success of your team.

Get tenured employees involved in onboarding. When a new pitcher is added to the team roster, they’re often paired off with a seasoned opener or closer as a way to help them develop their skills, gain critical performance feedback, learn methods of dealing with their high-stress position, and acclimate to the team culture. In other industries, this practice is also an absolute grand slam, because it achieves several important ends in support of employee engagement. First, it provides new employees with a robust, supportive onboarding framework while taking some pressure off of the hiring manager. Second, it allows tenured employees to strengthen their own understanding of the functions they perform, as well as providing some leadership experience. Finally, and perhaps most important, it builds crucial interpersonal relationships within the team.

Whether your workplace is the baseball diamond, office suite, or production floor, training is an integral component of any high-performing team. So the next time you cheer on as the local favorite bests their arch rival – or, if you’re like me, the next time you feign interest about it around the water cooler – remember the many hours of practice and careful training that goes into a single swing of the bat. As American as baseball, the lesson is one that has universal application.

(1) http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130321&content_id=43079868&vkey=news_phi&c_id=phi

The HR-Sanctioned Office Romance

Over my cornflakes this morning, I read an interesting statistic: 38 percent or so of adults say they do not celebrate Valentine’s Day[1].

I find this statistic off putting, not because of the implications for card companies and makers of cloying sweets, but because it’s unnerving to see so many otherwise sensible people willingly forgo an opportunity to act young and foolishly.

I propose that the utility of Valentine’s Day need not be restricted to spurring inane fun, preventing domestic strife, or to challenging your ability to recall important dates.  Valentine’s Day can also help you reconnect with and honor the people and things you love.  Like a partner or your job!

If you’re one of the 29 percent of employees who are engaged at work, you’re probably already doing a great deal to honor your job.  You may not even realize it, but you are.  From our work conducting Employee Engagement Surveys for thousands of organizations, Avatar HR Solutions has identified the behaviors through which engaged employees often demonstrate their love of their organizations and jobs.  The following represent just a few that I’ve witnessed recently.  For an extra special Valentine’s, try incorporating these behaviors into your day:

Smile!  Employees who love their job smile because they’re happy.  Their happiness, in turn, can have a profound impact on customers, both internal and external.  The power of the smile and its connection with engagement was revealed to me recently during a conversation with Rodger Brown, Vice President of Human Resources at North Mississippi Health Services (NMHS), an Avatar HR Solutions client and Malcolm Baldrige Award winner. Brown explained that smiles are so important at NMHS, they’re actually a part of the organization’s value system.

“When you go to any of our facilities, you see the smiles,” said Brown, who will speak at the 2013 Avatar Symposium in May. “You can look at an employee and see that they are engaged. And you know that the patients are seeing the same thing.”

On Valentine’s Day and every day, be mindful of the frequency with which you smile.  Take the initiative to smile at coworkers and at your customers or patients.  Like the team at NMHS, you’ll be honoring your love for your work, as well as paying the happiness forward.

Work hard!  Employees who love their job often work harder and perform better than those who are disengaged.  This is partly because engaged employees feel accountable to their organization, their manager, and their peers, and their work reflects that sense of personal responsibility.

To honor your job, put a little extra effort into your work, even if you’re already used to giving one hundred and ten percent.  Consider taking on an extra voluntary project or helping out a coworker.  You’ll feel a wonderful sense of accomplishment, and your colleagues will appreciate your efforts on the team’s behalf.  Not least of all, Avatar HR Solutions has found that high levels of employee engagement correlate with increased profitability.  Some Valentine’s gift!

Support yourself!  In the tradition of self-starters, employees who love their job tend to take personal responsibility for their satisfaction with work.  They proactively ask for feedback on their performance and implement that feedback to improve outcomes.  With their supervisor, they discuss concerns that impact their engagement and suggest workable solutions.

On Valentine’s Day and beyond, become a co-owner of your own engagement.  Make a list of the top three things that hinder your engagement, and the top three things that contribute most to it.  Then share this list with your manager and talk about ways you can mitigate the detractors, while enhancing your positive work experiences.  You simply cannot give yourself – or your supervisor – a greater gift than taking personal responsibility for your sense of well-being and development.

Conclusion

Even on Valentine’s Day, “getting engaged” doesn’t need to entail a terrific outlay on jewelry and taffeta.  Taking steps to support your own engagement, and that of your peers or employees, can be a simple, enjoyable affair that enhances your feelings of personal and professional connection with your job.  And in any labor market, a little love for your work is a very good thing.  Because, as a wise Captain and his first mate once said – “Love will keep us together.”

[1] http://www.history.com/interactives/valentines-day-by-the-numbers

A Human Resources Prescription for 2013

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That’s change on the horizon for your employees and organization. Are you ready to help them embrace it?

Well, the end of the Mayan calendar came and went late last year, and many of us were relieved to find that much is the same as it was before.  The earth still orbits the sun, coffee and pizza remain as delicious as ever, and we are heartened to observe unemployment rates inching slowly downward. 

But if there’s anything we’ve learned from apocalyptic prophesy, recent global weather patterns, and the specter of the “fiscal cliff,” it’s that 2013 is likely to be a challenging year for many Americans. In particular, ongoing tax reform and roll-out of Obamacare may have weighty implications for the average worker.

Facing these likelihoods, Human Resources executives planning for the year ahead must be ready to assess and communicate potential changes to employee benefits and take-home pay, so that unpleasant surprises do not occur and employee engagement levels can remain high.

The Fiscal Cliff and its Aftermath

President Obama and top economists have acknowledged the need for further reform of taxation and government spending in order to address the soaring national debt. According to Workforce magazine, experts predict that tax reform in 2013 could reduce the maximum pretax amount employees are permitted to contribute to 401(k) retirement accounts, thereby increasing the taxes paid by workers. While this would not decrease the monies employees have available to address the day-to-day costs of living, any such measure could affect their ability to save for retirement. Understandably, employees will be concerned and are likely to have questions.

Sea Change in Healthcare

Meanwhile, business leaders across the nation are poised to respond to the roll-out of Obamacare, with many organizations already investigating alternatives to their current employee benefit offerings. According to the Wall Street Journal, some organizations may opt out of providing employee healthcare insurance, because the penalty for not doing so would be less in many cases than the cost of covering employees. Other employers are considering cutting back on the number of full-time workers they employ, or raising employees’ premium contributions. Whatever tactic is chosen, your approach to communicating benefits changes will determine whether employees are able to understand and accept them.

Communicating Change

When communicating significant change, utilizing a blend of methods is advisable. Whenever possible, incorporate live, interactive communications, such as town hall–style meetings, into your strategy.  Live meetings allow employees to see the human side of the change—your tone and body language can convey compassion and encourage togetherness, which are harder to get across in written communications. Provide employees with an opportunity to ask questions, and encourage managers to hold smaller group “huddles” after the meeting, so employees can raise concerns they may not feel comfortable sharing in a larger group setting.

When change involves pay or benefits, providing written notification may be required by law, but in any case it is highly recommended. Written notification gives employees a resource they can digest at their own pace, and which they can return to as need arises. Ideally, written communications should be concise, address all pertinent/actionable points, and reflect a neutral, unbiased tone. Written communications may also encourage employees to approach their manager or Human Resources with any questions they may have. Finally, use your annual employee survey or pulse survey to assess the efficacy of your communication strategy and adjust accordingly.

Revisiting Value

Whether change is the result of internal decision-making or the influence of external pressures on the organization, employees are likely to view developments concerning their paychecks or benefits as impacting the employee-employer value proposition. To support employee engagement, it may be wise for employers to try to rebalance the proposition through low-cost initiatives and resources available to them. If, for instance, your organization must switch to a high-premium insurance option from a lower-premium plan, consider holding free annual wellness clinics for employees. Or if tax legislation significantly decreases take home pay, look into low-cost financial seminars that can help employees do more with less. While certainly no magic bullet, these efforts, when effectively communicated, can help employees to see that their employer cares about them and takes seriously the responsibility to provide fair value to employees.

In Sum

The coming year need not be one of gloom and doom, but it surely holds challenge in store for everyone—from the line-level worker up through the C-Suite. But isn’t that what work and growth are all about? With the right combination of careful planning, robust communication, and a little elbow grease, Human Resources executives can steer their organizations through difficult change so that their organizations aren’t better in spite of those changes, but because of them. That’s what I call a positive, productive, and very happy New Year.

A Thanksgiving Story

For many, Thanksgiving marks the start of the winter holiday season, when everywhere you look, hands grip red paper cups of pumpkin or choco-peppermint latte, malls seethe with panicky shoppers, and waistlines beg futilely for quarter.

But everyone knows that Thanksgiving isn’t just a raucous glut giving onto the biggest retail shopping day of the year.  In our frenetic, modern lives where cities never sleep and so much is taken for granted, Thanksgiving is foremost a time for stepping back, slowing down, and taking an inventory of the things that make our lives beautiful.

This is perhaps made more important by our tendency only to become truly aware of our good fortune when we take the time to articulate it.

I became aware of this tendency in myself about a year ago, just as Thanksgiving was rolling around – my first holiday season at Avatar HR Solutions.  I’d been at the firm for just two months, and was really only beginning to observe and internalize the culture here.

That’s when an email was sent around requesting we participate in a fun Thanksgiving project.  In the kitchen were markers and leaf-shape cutouts on construction paper.  We were encouraged to write down something we were grateful for at work and post it on the wall.

Photo courtesy of http://www.psdgraphics.com

Perhaps you’ll think I’m awful when I tell you that reading the email, I balked.  I did!  I loved my new position at Avatar HR Solutions and admired the creative, collegial, inclusive culture.  But gratitude for something at work, a place where our efforts are numeric variables in a cool economic transaction?  It had never occurred to me to be grateful for work before.  What’s worse, I confess that I say this as a young professional who worked through the Great Recession.But then something remarkable happened.  In the kitchen one afternoon, I picked up a marker and considered the things I love about working at Avatar HR Solutions.  They were and still are: being able to write and tell stories (about people, about organizations, about products); being challenged and solving problems; my coworkers, who are so unique and talented; our sense of community; and yes, being fairly paid, so I can put food on the table and have a roof over my head.Marker in hand, I realized that day that I was grateful for a LOT of things at work.  By giving voice to gratitude, I had allowed myself to be grateful for an immense blessing in my life.  And though my leaf is no longer up in the kitchen – we couldn’t keep them up ALL year! – seldom is there a day when I don’t come in to work remembering exactly what it is I love about Avatar HR Solutions.

So I encourage you to take a moment to share your gratitude with your family, friends, and coworkers.  If you’re anything like me, you’ll realize you have a lot more to be thankful for than you thought: lattes, malls, waistline, and all.

Is There a Moral Case for Employee Engagement?

Understandably, we often talk about employee engagement in terms of how it supports the achievement of business goals. But recently I’ve begun to think there might be an equally important case for employee engagement that sets aside the question of business outcomes—a case that is argued, instead, in the conscience.

This idea formed in my mind a few weeks ago as I scanned the headlines and saw that Foxconn, maker of electronics parts for such megalithic brands as Microsoft, Apple, and Hewlett-Packard, was again at the epicenter of a labor scandal—this time a riot involving 2,000 workers at a factory in Taiyuan, China. Facts about the riot and its genesis were dubious at best, and so I wondered why Foxconn workers were once again making headlines under violent circumstances.

It might not be fair to speculate as to the cause of the riot, but I think it is safe to say that workers who riot are usually not engaged. In fact, examine the cause of most any riot or rebellion great or small, modern or historical, and most likely you will uncover a group of profoundly unhappy individuals—people who feel misused, disenfranchised, or taken advantage of, and who feel impelled to act.

In the democratic first-world nations, we are incredibly lucky. Much as we love to gripe about politics, work, and the economy, our experience with events like what has occurred at Foxconn is largely impersonal. We read about our less-fortunate brothers and sisters in the newspaper and maybe wish for a few moments that there was something we could do. And if we begin to feel mistreated at work, we speak up or look for other opportunities. Our environment is such that we always have this power.

Incidents like what has unfolded at Foxconn in the absence of empowering circumstances—a robust, decentralized economy and protective labor laws, for instance—these events remind us that providing employees with a fair value proposition is more than just a method for staying competitive in business. Compensation representative of employees’ contributions, optimal working conditions, an environment in which employees can grow as individuals—sometimes a scan of the headlines is all it takes to demonstrate that there is profound justice in perpetuating these drivers of employee engagement.

And when we occasionally feel unsure of how we can support further engagement at our organizations, we’re lucky enough to have another excellent resource at hand—the employees themselves and their feedback.
They may be one of the most powerful moral compasses we have.

Soaring Engagement and High-Altitude Customer Service

I am a dedicated customer of Southwest Airlines.  I will choose to fly this airline even if it is slightly more expensive than alternative organizations.  I constantly recommend Southwest to my friends and family when they ask for recommendations on what airline they should fly.

While it’s true that many times Southwest is the cheapest option for me, based on where I am flying, I don’t choose Southwest due to the price; I choose to fly this airline because of the employees.  Southwest is widely known for great customer service, and in all my experience, the airline has consistently confirmed this image.         

The overall culture of Southwest Airlines provides a great illustration of what engagement should look like.  Team members go above and beyond their job duties to provide the best possible experience for customers.  In an airport, this dedication to customer support is especially important because people who are traveling can be stressed and at times are extremely difficult to handle.  Engaged employees are the employees who recognize, while it may require a little more work, providing good customer service will help the overall organization.  As such, they are willing to put forth the effort to provide a better experience.

Just as engaged employees are committed to the organization, the organization must be committed to employees as well.  As part of Southwest’s mission, publicized online, leadership at the airline promises to provide employees with a stable work environment, opportunities to express creativity, career development options, and “the same level of concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer.”  If you’ve read other blog posts on our site, you know these initiatives are all factors that help create a culture of engagement.        

When companies are in the same industry and offering the same services or products, employees are often the differentiating factor between one organization and its competitors.  What makes an organization really shine is how engaged employees are, and how leadership and team members treat customers.  Recently, a blog post discussing an incident at United Airlines where an unaccompanied minor was “lost” on her way to meet family members was published here.  The post illustrates employees in a starkly different light than Southwest employees portray, and unfortunately provides examples of incredibly disengaged employees.  Bob Sutton’s account of the airline losing his friend’s 10 year old daughter outlines how employees refused to accept responsibility, were unwilling to go out of their way to help, and expressed a “do not care” attitude.  This lack of engagement increased the problem, causing anger and frustration among the child’s parents, eventually leading to negative publicity for United. 

United certainly has engaged employees that work for them, just as Southwest most likely has disengaged employees.  Unfortunately, United is better known for its culture of disengagement and apathy, and this is the image some consumers may consider when choosing a flight.  In order to overcome this image, United should work toward building a culture of engagement.  The same can be said for all industries; increasing engagement and altering your culture will help improve your reputation, and likely increase customer retention.

As for me, I will remain a devoted Southwest advocate until United’s culture changes.    

 

Take A Break – You Deserve It!

As the summer comes to a close, many people are preparing to take one final vacation before work gets busier, school begins, and the leaves start falling.  Most people would agree that taking a break from work every now and then is beneficial.  Vacations often allow employees to relax, spend time with their families/friends, and come back to work refreshed and more productive.  

Despite these benefits, however, many employees shy away from taking vacation time or truly letting themselves leave work behind for a set period.  In the always-connected world in which we live, it is definitely hard to completely shut yourself off from work, yet it is possible, if you make a conscious effort to do so.  However, many people do not make this effort, and I can think of two common reasons why: Guilt and Image.   

I feel guilty…

Sometimes, individuals experience feelings of guilt when they take time off.  Whether they are worrying tasks at work won’t get done, someone will need them in the interim, or they are taking “too much time away,” these feelings of guilt can affect their willingness to disconnect completely.  Often, this is why people continue to check their email and voicemail while out of the office.  Remember, however, there was a time before the internet and smart phones, when people truly were unreachable if not in the same place, and the business world survived just fine.  Don’t feel guilty because you are taking a break from work; think about how much more rested, dedicated, and ready to put forth your best work you will be when you come back.  If you let go and stop thinking about your job for awhile, you never know what ideas and insight will pop into your head.  After all, it’s been said that many people think of their best ideas when they take a step back and do something else.  You work hard the majority of the year, and you deserve a little time off.  You earned those vacation days!      

As a manager, you should let employees know that, despite how valuable they are to your organization, the business will survive without them for a short period of time.  Doing so may lessen the feelings of guilt many employees face when requesting time off.  Encourage your employees to avoid checking email and voicemail while on vacation.  Make vacations a normal part of each employee’s job.  You could even go so far as requiring employees to use a certain amount of vacation time each quarter, such as by giving employees a free “mental health day” which they must use.  Additionally, you should lead by example, and use your vacation time to disconnect from work as well.  After all, everyone, including you, needs a break at times. 

But taking vacation time could make me seem like a less engaged or dedicated employee…

Often, individuals think that when they go on vacation, their managers and coworkers will view them as less engaged and not as dedicated to their work.  After all, if a person truly loved his or her job, he or she wouldn’t take time off, right?  How very wrong this thinking is.  Personally, I know there are things I absolutely love to do, yet even if I had the option, I would not spend all of my time participating in these activities.  Life requires a balance.  Regardless of how much an employee loves his/her job, there are other interests the person has which should be given priority as well.  Striking a balance is key to engagement and happiness.

The idea that taking time off makes one look less dedicated finds its foundation in the commonly held (and outdated!) belief that those individuals who are more present and visible in the office are harder workers.  Managers and employees alike must move beyond this thought process, especially given that in this day and age, many people have the option to work from anywhere, depending on their job functions.  Just because a person works longer hours or is in the office more often than another person does not necessarily indicate he or she is getting more done or is more dedicated to work.  Everyone has different styles of working and various paces at which they complete tasks.  As long as the work gets done, that’s really all that matters.  Thus, if tasks are finished on time and in good quality, there is nothing to indicate that an employee is less engaged because he or she is on vacation or not in the office. 

Now that we’ve addressed two roadblocks people encounter when thinking about taking a vacation, let’s examine some tips for ensuring work runs smoothly while the employee is out of the office.

Tips for vacationing employees and their managers:

  • Establish an out-of-office plan so other team members know which of the employee’s tasks fall to them when that person is on vacation.
  • Set email guidelines.  Often, when employees return from being gone for longer periods of time, their inboxes are overflowing with emails.  Other employees and managers should make a committed attempt to think about which emails the vacationing employee should be copied on, which are urgent, and which emails can wait to be sent until the employee returns.
  • Communicate.  If employees are proactive by letting their colleagues know when they will be out of the office, and give coworkers plenty of time to request certain things before they leave, it will make the transition easier.
  • Remember to turn on an out-of-office response for emails and voicemails, indicating who people should contact if they need immediate assistance.

Everyone deserves a break, especially with the amount of work most people put in throughout the year.  So squash those feelings of guilt, pack that bag, turn off your phone, and go enjoy your vacation while this weather lasts.  You will be a more dedicated, reinvigorated, and engaged employee for it.

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/.

How Are You Engaging Your Nurses?

 This week is National Nurses Week, a seven day period dedicated to honoring the women and men who dedicate their lives on a daily basis to keeping patients healthy, safe, and happy within the healthcare environment.  Nurses are some of the most vital people in a hospital or health system, and without their dedication, many physicians and other healthcare employees would have much more on their plates than they currently handle. 

 The modern nursing profession began with Florence Nightingale, whose work during the Crimean War in Europe helped secure a respected place for nurses in the medical world.  Nightingale spent her life advocating for the improvement of military hospitals and the necessity of the nursing profession.  She dedicated countless hours to securing funds and political backing, which created the important vocation we recognize today.  Without Nightingale, nursing would not look the same.   

 Although modern-day nurses do not necessarily have to dedicate as much effort toward validating the profession as Nightingale did, they still play a key role in medicine.  Their interactions with patients, and work on various medical tasks, are paramount to shaping the patient’s journey through the hospital.  Engaged and dedicated nurses lead to happy and satisfied patients.  

 Techniques for Engaging Nurses

Take some time this week to consider what you are doing to keep your nursing staff engaged.  Like for other employees, recognition is the number one driver of engagement for nurses.  Take a moment to recognize individual nurses for their hard work.  Whether you do it privately in one-on-one conversations, or in front of their peers, it is important nurses know you notice their dedication and effort.  Everyone wants to be recognized for the work they do, and this week is a great opportunity to showcase on a large scale the impact nurses have on the patient and the healthcare experience.  Don’t limit recognition to this week alone though; it must be an ongoing and frequent part of the job. 

 You should also take this week to reiterate every nurse’s key role in the strategy and mission of the organization.  Since nurses often interact directly with patients, you may believe they can see the influence they have on the overall outcome of the hospital, but it is important to put this into words as well.  Nurses, like all employees, want to understand their impact.  They want the freedom and autonomy to succeed.  Consider whether you are trusting nurses to make decisions “on the fly” while on the hospital floor, and if not, use this week to reevaluate and determine new ways to allow nurses to better contribute to the organization’s success.  Giving your nurses this freedom will engage them and encourage them to exert more discretionary effort, from which everyone will benefit. 

 Nurses are a key part of any hospital experience, and they deserve to be honored for their commitment and influence.  While the fact that it is National Nurses Week may bring nurses’ engagement to the forefront of your mind, don’t let them fall off your radar once this week is over.  Continue to engage your nursing staff, no matter what time of year it is.  After all, without nurses, a hospital would be a very, very different place.