The simplest way to improve morale

Say thank you.

Sounds simple enough, right?

In most businesses across the country, numbers are down and stress levels are skyrocketing. It’s an unfortunate combination that doesn’t do much for employee morale.

Right now, you may not have the money to take your team out for lunch or the company can’t contribute to a recognition program. It’s times like these when you’ll find that sometimes it’s the simplest signs of appreciation that can do an even better job than the fancy stuff.

Showing honest appreciation for the people on your team can do wonders for morale. Whether you stop by their desk to say thanks for their help on that last project or leave a funny greeting card on their desk expressing how much you appreciate all the hard work they put in, simple recognition can go a long way.

I recently came across a great post at Pamela Slim’s Escape From Cubicle Nation where Slim shared a personal story about a day that began with a not-so-pleasant experience at the airport.

She was dropped off almost two hours before her 6:30 a.m. flight, well before Starbucks opened their doors, and had to navigate through a blockade of airport construction. The caffeine-less Slim decided to sit down and write a blog post, but the only topics that came to mind included why mean people suck and sleep deprivation.

Then, almost magically, she received a tweet from a fan of her book: “@pamslim Pam, your book really is an achievement. It’s the best book I have read on the topic and the one I will be recommending widely.”

The message changed her mood right there on the spot. So much of a change that she started thinking of ways to show the same kindness as her tweeting fan.

Now I will look for opportunities throughout my trip to show the same kindness as Daniel, by doing things like:

• Saying thank you often and sincerely
• Complimenting someone on a job well done
• Encouraging to my clients and students
  

Kindness is not a little thing. It is not fluffy, unicorn and rainbow coachy stuff.

Kindness heals.

I highly recommend it.

The next time someone on your team looks like they’re having a difficult day, use it as an opportunity to share some words of encouragement and appreciation. In the same way it turned Slim’s day around, your words have the power to change their day for the better.

Should improving employee morale come with a black eye?

When you’re brainstorming ways to improve employee morale you usually think of friendly events including picnics, team building retreats and competitive games. An event where employees duke it out in a boxing ring would probably be the last idea on your list, but it’s exactly what one Southern California start-up has in mind.

Since the economic downturn began, Chris Lyman, CEO Fonality, noticed that the “energy was different” within the company and thought up an extreme idea to improve it. Fonality makes affordable business phone systems for companies with 5-500 employees and competes with the likes of Cisco, Avaya, and Nortel.

Instead of “hugging it out” they would “punch it out” in a new “Fight Club” inspired employee competition, according to socialTech.

Fonality employees are currently training for the “Fonality Fight Club,” a mixed-martial arts (MMA) employee tournament. They’re so serious about it that the company hired martial arts expert Chris Reilly, who trains fighters for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), to referee the competition.

According to CEO Chris Lyman and VP of Product and Marketing Corey Brundage, the idea for the fight club came when Lyman ran into Reilly in a restaurant, and learned about his fighting class. Lyman explains that because of the lackluster economy, the "energy was different" around the firm, and they felt instead of solving by "hugging it out" they'd "punch it out." (socialTech)

When asked if he’s worried about employees being injured, Lyman said employees will be wearing the proper safety equipment and any employee with fighting experience may not enter the tournament. There were 17 employees signed up for the event, at the time the socialTech article was published.

So how is a “fight club” supposed to improve employee morale? The tournament winner is awarded two free weeks of vacation. The loser must grow a mustache, equal in length to the round they lost in the fight (we assume the company is all male), and write an apology letter to the winner’s mother for losing.

Apart from this being one of the craziest ideas to improve employee morale, organizing an event like the “Fonality Fight Club” can cause serious human resources and legal issues.

What if an employee is seriously injured while fighting a coworker?

Would beating each other up create a hostile work environment?

Could the fight club losers and their mustaches become targets for workplace harassment?

Do you think the employee fight club is a fun idea for boosting employee morale or has the company set themselves up for a potential disaster?

Please share your thoughts and opinions in a comment below.

Bringing kids to work may improve morale

If your company has been searching for affordable ways to improve morale, you may need to look no further than your employees’ families.

Next Thursday, April 23, 2009, is the national date for the Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work program. While opening a child’s eyes to what their parents do for a living, the program can also serve as an inexpensive way to boost employee morale.

The yearly event exposes children to what their parents do during the workday, showing them the value of education and what their future can hold. Though the program is centered around kids, bringing children into the workplace for a day may hold even more benefits for employers.

Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day benefits workplaces by providing an important boost to workers and their families, while keeping costs to a minimum. Holding a family day at work can foster employees’ pride in their work, which will ultimately improve performance.

Think kids would be bored senseless at your workplace? Take a look at some of these educational ideas and activities that just about every organization can incorporate, including:

• Hold hands-on department workshops. From Accounting to Human Resources, create activities where children use their problem-solving skills to tackle real workplace issues like managing a budget or interviewing new job candidates.


• Give a tour. Take children on a tour of your workplace starting at the front desk and make your way through every department of the organization. Show children how your product or service is developed from beginning to end.


• Have a brown-bag lunch. Have families eat together in the main lunchroom and set up an interactive Q & A session with the head of the company. Have your CEO explain what they do and allow children to ask questions on anything they would like to know about the job.

Whether you’re able to allocate a full day to the event, or just a half-day, giving employees the opportunity to share what they do with their families can have a positive impact on their work.

Discover more resources, activity guides and ideas at the Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work official website.

Are you living to work or working to live?

A new survey examining the health and well-being of Americans discovered that the majority of people value their work for more than just the paycheck it delivers by asking: Do you live to work or work to live?

As the U.S. economy struggles through a recession and companies lay off hundreds of thousands of workers, CIGNA conducted the survey to explore attitudes toward work and disability insurance, along with the effect the economy is having on work environments.

Key findings of the survey include:

• Americans have a strong work ethic and derive satisfaction from their jobs.
• Americans feel unproductive, worried, afraid, anxious and depressed when they’re out of work because of an injury or illness.
• Most say the overall mood in the workplace has changed in the past six months – and most say those changes have been for the worse.

When asked about how they viewed their job, those surveyed revealed that:

• 65% would say they belong in the “Live to Work” category
• 35% put themselves in the “Work to Live” category
• 31% like their job and feel a sense of satisfaction by going to work each day
• 21% love their job and would continue working even if they won the lottery
• 13% said their work give their life structure and purpose

Among those who work to live, survey respondents said that it was the paycheck or insurance benefits keeping them at their current job. Many felt stuck because of the economy or had hopes of retiring soon, but can’t afford to.

The most common reasons why respondents felt they live to work: they like their co-workers, feel a sense of accomplishment from their job, are proud of their work, or feel their work makes a difference.

“The good news for U.S. employers is that most people say they enjoy their work and derive satisfaction from it,” said Jodi Prohofsky, Ph.D., a licensed therapist and senior vice president of health solutions operations at CIGNA. “On the other hand, the economy is causing more stress and anxiety among workers, and we know that stress can often contribute to or lead to disabling illnesses, so it’s important for employers to help their employees manage stress and anxiety before that happens.”

Earlier this week we talked about how employees desire more in-person communication with top management in their organizations. Making employees a part of the conversation during tough times is one of the most effective ways to help employees manage the stress and fear that typically comes along with organizational change.

Effective communication can have a powerful impact on morale within an organization. Though you may be navigating some rough waters right now, focusing on communication and employee morale will have you smooth sailing when everything finally calms down.

So, the question is: Do you work to live or live to work?

Improving employee engagement? Ask 3 questions

Over the weekend, Tammy Erickson shared an insightful story at Harvard Business about how any business can find low cost ways to improve engagement. She believes it all starts with creating goose-bump moments for employees.

She explained how years ago AARP asked her to audit their employment policies. AARP, an association dedicated to serving retirees and older Americans, also touts its commitment to being an employer of choice and strives to follow only the best human resource practices.

So, when company representatives began their presentation for Erickson and she became extremely bored, she interrupted and asked the presenters a few questions, including these three:

1. Why do you work here?
2. How often do you feel passionate about your work?
3. How often do you get to have experiences that make you feel passionate about your work?

One of the presenters explained how passionate she was for improving the lives of older Americans. She described a goose-bump moment she had with the company on Capitol Hill when a piece of legislation AARP worked to support became law.

“I strongly believe that the essence of a great employee experience — one that deepens our commitment and heightens our engagement — are those moments that give us goose bumps — the moments that remind us why we chose to work for this particular organization in the first place.”

With the recession taking a serious toll on morale, improving employee engagement is a top goal for many organizations. As Erickson explained in her article, sometimes all it takes is reminding people of the reasons why they wanted to work for the company in the first place.

Though the reasons for wanting to work for a company will vary from employee to employee, the desire to be happy and feel passionate about what they do is a shared feeling among many. Creating opportunities for employees to have goose-bump moments will remind employees of that passion and encourage them to go above and beyond in their work.

“In this difficult year, it's important to understand why people joined your organization and reinforce those values. In most cases, these steps don't cost a lot of money, but they can have a huge impact on employee engagement and commitment.”

Reminding employees of the reasons why they chose to work at an organization can be as simple as talking to customers or as involved as a trip to Capitol Hill. It’s all about creating experiences for employees that bolster the passion they have for the work they do.

“Find the authentic core of work at your organization and create ways to amplify and extend the experience to all employees. Give 'em goose bumps.”

How do you remind employees about what it means to be a part of your organization? How do you “give ‘em goose bumps”?

Change puts engagement and productivity at risk

More than one-third of employees are unable to adapt to workplace changes, decreasing their effectiveness on the job and suggesting that employee engagement and productivity are at high risk, according to a recent survey by Right Management.

Right Management asked more than 100 senior human resource professionals across North America: Is your workforce able to adapt to change and increase their effectiveness on the job?

• 31% answered, “No, employee engagement and productivity are a major risk”
• 43% answered, “Somewhat, our workforce gets the job done, but morale suffers”
• 26% answered, “Yes, our workforce is very agile and responds to new challenges”

Among other changes, layoffs and organizational restructuring require leaders to make difficult decisions that many employees have trouble dealing with.

"As our poll results demonstrate—with only one in four employees having the agility to adapt to change—most organizations don’t prepare their employees to handle changes at work. As a result, change management strategies tend to fail, undermining the organization's ability to achieve the goals the change initiative was designed to produce," notes Right Management President and COO Douglas J. Matthews.

Matthews also commented that most hardships originate from a lack of planning, preparedness and skill in managing the change process. It is only through careful planning and with support at every level of an organization that employees will be able to manage change effectively.

Though the causes of workplace change can vary, there are a few basic concepts that every manager should review to help reduce its impact on engagement and productivity:

• Communication. Keep communication lines open and inform your staff of upcoming changes as soon as possible. Having clear expectations is one of the most powerful ways to reduce workplace stress.


• Participation. Involve employees in the decision-making process whenever you can. Involve your staff in managing the change and ask for their input when implementing new procedures or training programs.


• Provide positive options. If a negative change, like a layoff, is unavoidable, offer employees something positive to balance out the situation. For example, implementing an employee development program for the remaining staff after a layoff can help improve productivity and relieve stress.


• Monitor progress. Monitor the progress of your staff throughout the change. Keep an eye on productivity, attendance records, turnover rates, the use of sick leave - anything that may suggest your team is not adapting well.

Whether your organization is moving offices or has gone through a series of layoffs, communication is the key to making sure employees are managing stress effectively. Managers must listen, learn and take action to replace negative situations with positive experiences.

How a yellow sticky note can boost morale

Over at the Proper Pants blog, I came across a great idea for employee recognition that requires a familiar item in most office environments – the Post-it Note.

The process is very simple. Grab a pen, pull off a sticky note for each employee and stick them to your desk. Start every note with the words: “I appreciate you because ...” Follow that opening line with something you genuinely appreciate about each employee.

After you’re done writing, stick the Post-it Notes on each employee’s desk and watch what happens.

“I thought this was a fun thing to do at the office and I hoped it would make them smile for a while. This evening I was walking around at the office and noticed that several notes where hanging at their partition wall. And I started to realize that this really meant a lot for some of them,” said Frode Heimen, author of Proper Pants, after he tried the recognition idea in his office.

In return for his kind display of employee recognition, Frode received a Post-it Note signed by an entire shift of employees saying that he was a great boss, a couple of thank-you emails, improved morale and an overall smiling department.

Employee recognition doesn’t have to be expensive or loud. Sometimes it’s the simplest gesture, like a heartfelt message on a sticky note, that can have the biggest impact on employees.

Have you ever tried anything like the Post-it Note recognition idea in your office? Do you know of any other simple and effective recognition ideas that our readers could try out?

Boost employee productivity by keeping score?

In the search for ideas on how to improve employee productivity, earlier today I ran across an article from Colorado’s Steamboat Pilot & Today about a local business owner’s creative approach to improving his teams’ productivity.

Steamboat Motors manager Jeff Steinke has improved his bottom line and is helping other small business owners boost their own by putting his motto, “If you measure it, you improve it,” into practice.

“Make sure your employees know how they are judged. Establishing criteria in the short term is important. Employees need to know what they need to accomplish that day,” Steinke recently told a group of business owners at a seminar.

His approach to employee productivity at his dealership is based on his assumption that everyone is competitive by nature. In his dealership’s service department, where diagnostic and repair tasks can be standardized, he’s turned work into a productivity competition.

Here’s a clip from the article:

“In our service department, we sell time,” Steinke said. He observed that if a service technician can accomplish a repair usually allotted one hour in eight-tenths of an hour, that technician has achieved 120 percent productivity.

Steinke makes certain everyone in the service department knows who is achieving by posting a productivity scorecard on a door for all to see.

Business owners who adopt a similar technique can be prepared for the veteran employees initially to rebel but gradually come around to the new regime, he said.

“They’ll go out there and tear (the scorecards) down,” Steinke said. “It takes about two weeks to purge.”

He backs up his productivity charts with three-ringed binders stuffed with detailed job descriptions and pay scales tied to productivity levels.

In addition to posting employee productivity scores, Steinke works to improve productivity by giving employees a voice in how their departments run. Following recognition, being involved in their department is most important to employees and is “one of the biggest things we can overlook,” according to Steinke.

After reading the article, I still have some questions:

Productivity may improve when employees finish job in “eight-tenths of an hour” that were originally allotted an hour to complete, but was the quality of their work affected? Is the owner more focused on productivity than in producing a quality service?

According to the article, businesses should “be prepared for the veteran employees initially to rebel” when putting Steinke’s system into practice. Could turning work into competition hurt morale and cause resentment among employees?


What do you think about this approach to employee productivity? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Improve a process, boost productivity and morale

If you’ve been traveling recently, you’ve probably taken notice of an interesting change in the way airlines do business - cashless flights. Many major airlines are no longer accepting cash for in-flight services and only taking credit.

On the outside it may seem like a simple business decision that modernized a dated process, but for those on the inside it has made a considerable impact on the way they work.

Mark Mader at the Smartsheet blog told a story last week about how Alaska Airlines improved a process that was working “just fine” and found that the change impacted more than just the cost of doing business.

“As I saw the flight attendant slowly make her way to row 26, I thought, "why would Alaska give up the 2-4% margin to the credit card companies?". Following the first beverage service, I headed back to the galley to ask Cindy, the lead flight attendant, what she thought of moving away from the simple cash transaction.”

He asked the flight attendant how the new process has impacted the way she does her job. She answered, "I LOVE it!"

Switching to the cashless process made her job significantly better by eliminating the chance that she’ll forget to give someone their change, having to remember who rented digital movie players and putting an end to the tedious and stressful process of managing cash throughout the flight.

Though most processes are a necessary part of business, some may be more of a burden than a blessing when it comes to helping employees get their jobs done.

If we can find ways to simplify people’s jobs and reduce their stress, whether it’s through streamlining a work process or through employee training, they’ll appreciate it and be happier at work because of it.

Fixing that one tiresome process can snowball from happier employees to an overall improvement in productivity and morale across the company. Find ways to help employees get their jobs done more efficiently and they’ll be saying ‘thank you’ in the quality of their work.

When going ‘business casual’ causes a wardrobe malfunction

For some employees, casual Fridays are one small benefit in corporate America that can make a big difference in your organization’s morale.

Everyone usually looks forward to that last day of the workweek, where they can shed those stuffy business threads for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, but it can also cause a lot of confusion if your rules are unclear.

What’s considered appropriate dress code for ‘business casual’ Fridays can greatly vary from company to company and from employee to employee.

In order to avoid any confusion, set aside some employee training time to remind everyone about your company’s definition of ‘casual’ dress. It could save a few employees from having an embarrassing day at the office if they show up wearing the wrong outfit.

We hope you’re having a great casual Friday and that you don’t come across a wardrobe malfunction as bad as this:

First step to improving motivation: Communication

Right now it’s almost impossible to get through the day without hearing another depressing story on the economy and its affect on business. Instead of telling you more bad news about how the economy is taking our 401(k)s and morale down the drain with it, we’re going to share some good news on how to improve motivation in your company and you don’t have to spend a single dime.

The simplest and cheapest way to improve motivation in your organization is to improve your internal communication. Especially when management is making necessary, but tough changes including layoffs and budget cuts, it is always in your best interest to clearly communicate those changes to everyone involved.

A new study indicates that workers are twice as likely to put in extra effort for their employer and nearly four times as likely to recommend their company to a friend if they are satisfied with the ways in which their company communicates difficult decisions.

The results of the OuchPoint survey from Opinion Research Corporation suggest that effective communication has a powerful impact on employee motivation and morale.

“Positive perceptions around company communications serve to both boost motivation levels among current employees as well as foster employee advocacy, ultimately resulting in a strengthened employee brand,” said Lisa Wojtkowiak of Opinion Research Corporation’s Employee Engagement Practice. “When the economic situation improves, this strong employee advocacy will be critical to attracting and retaining top talent.”

Of those surveyed, 44% said their company has taken action in response to the recession over the last six months. Nearly half of respondents (49%) gave their employer top marks regarding their effective communication of the organizational actions taken.

The type of communication employees value the most included:

• Thorough explanations of the actions taken and the reasons behind the action (28%)
• Being kept informed of ongoing decisions and reasons for those decisions as the economy continues to toss and turn (13%)
• Providing early indications of impending difficult decisions so employees are not caught off-guard (11%)
• Open and honest communication (9%)
• Providing regular updates through frequent communication (8%)

As the economy continues to create more uncertainty, employees are finding solace in the simple ways their employers show appreciation. From effective communication to giving employees the respect they deserve, organizations can effectively improve employee morale in some of the most simple and affordable ways.

For more ideas on how to improve communication and motivation in your organization, read a few of these related posts:

Taking steps to improve employee morale

The one thing employees want at work

10 low-cost employee incentive ideas

5 tips to build employee morale in a down economy

Ideas for everyday training on a budget

Taking steps to improve employee morale

To deal with the recession and the effect it’s having on the workforce, more employers are taking steps to improve morale in their companies, according to a new survey by Accountemps.

Almost seven out of ten (68%) chief financial officers (CFOs) interviewed said they are implementing strategies to uplift their teams’ mood. However, more than one-quarter (26%) of executives say their organizations have done nothing to boost morale.

CFOs were asked, “In the past 12 months, what steps, if any, has your company taken to improve employee morale?” They chose the following responses (multiple responses were allowed):

• Increased frequency, quality of communication (37%)
• Offered additional financial rewards (18%)
• Provided additional professional development opportunities (18%)
• Conducted additional team-building activities (18%)
• Enhanced employee recognition programs (15%)
• No steps taken (26%)

While finding ways to improve dwindling sales numbers may be at the top of your ‘to-do’ list right now, it would be worth your while to work employee morale into the top slot of that list as well.

"Employee motivation should be a continual priority for businesses, but in a period of economic uncertainty, managers need to invest even more time and effort into maintaining team morale," said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps. "Companies that work diligently to keep their top performers engaged improve their chances to retain these key contributors."

Past surveys have shown that the economy has been bringing employee engagement down with it. Companies that work to counteract the economy’s effects by keeping employees motivated and engaged will find more success when the market turns around.

What is your company doing to improve morale despite the economic downturn? Please share any suggestions you may have for motivating employees during a recession.

You can also check out some of these posts for ideas on improving employee morale on a budget:

The one thing employees want at work

10 low-cost employee incentive ideas

5 tips to build employee morale in a down economy

Employee incentive ideas on a budget

Looking for new employee incentive ideas? Listen to Aretha Franklin

Boost employee morale with one simple question

Could the secret to employee morale lie in the answer to one simple question?

It may, according to Janet Smith at The Power of Goodwill. She recently wrote a couple posts on the most important question bosses should ask their employees, especially those employees you depend on the most.

The question - What can I do to make your job more rewarding, interesting, and satisfying?

The point is that you should never take any employee for granted—particularly the ones you need the most. And to let these folks know that you appreciate them, value them, care about them, and want to keep them happy at work, there’s one question you absolutely must ask them. It may seem simple. It may seem obvious. But how often have you asked this question (or had it asked of you)?

Before asking the question, there are a few rules you need to follow:

1. Regardless of the employee’s answer, take it seriously and show interest in what they say.
2. Discuss the answer with the employee and tell them honestly what you can and can’t do.
3. Let them know what you would like to do and when you think it could happen.

After asking the question and taking a sincere interest in their answer, do it all over again three months from now.

Why?

Employees who know that their feelings and opinions are valued by the company will show it in their work. When bosses listen, it improves employee morale and makes employees want to work harder because they know they are valued.

So, ask the question, ask it often and let employees know you care.

Dream On: Improving employee morale one wish at a time

Last week, the folks over at Incentive Intelligence featured a new and surprising incentive and recognition program one company is using to improve employee morale and engagement.

Appletree Answering Service, a Delaware-based telephone services and call center firm, has found great success with a new employee incentive program called “Dream On.”

The program is simple - employees fill out a “wish” request and management fulfills wishes.

From the Delaware Online article:

"We've always had a philosophy based on taking care of our employees," said Appletree founder and CEO John Ratliff. "Dream On grew out of a concierge idea, where we would use our resources to help employees meet their personal needs."

The program is based on the Make-a-Wish idea of granting an employee's special wish for themselves or others.

"There are no criteria for structuring a wish," Ratliff said. "It doesn't have to involve a serious personal or health issue. There are no categories or limitations on what the wish can be, nor is there a set budget."

Employees can even submit wishes for other co-workers. In one instance, an Appletree employee received football tickets after a co-worker overheard how much she wanted to take her husband, currently battling cancer, to a game. The employee’s wish was granted before she ever asked for it.

With the Dream On employee incentive program, the company successfully tackled a 90-percent turnover rate among frontline employees. After the first full month of putting the program into action, the company has seen dramatically lower employee turnover rates and the savings in new-hire training costs has completely covered the cost of wishes granted.

Why the program works: By mixing the element of surprise and involving employees in the process, Appletree has found a way to improve morale and employee engagement across the board. Who doesn’t love receiving a gift from out of the blue?

How it could go wrong: One potential downside to the program may be the lack of “wish” limitations. Management fulfills wishes at random and the value of each wish varies. Without any set limitations, spending may increase to a point where cost outweighs the benefit of the program.

We want to know - Why do you like or not like this employee incentive program? What added benefits and potential problems do you see cropping up?

How to improve morale during the holidays

Maybe it’s because of the canceled company holiday party or low year-end sales numbers, but it seems like this holiday season is lacking the same excitement surrounding past years.

Even when the economy was doing great, the holidays always have a way of distracting us from the things we need to get done around the office. With everything going on in employees’ lives outside of work, it can be tough to find the motivation to tackle that to-do list by the time New Year’s rolls around.

Here are a few tips to motivate employees and boost morale during the holidays:

• Food. Throughout the year, especially during the holidays, food has magical way of bringing people together. Hold a bake sale, coordinate a luncheon or bring in a bag of bagels for your coworkers. It’s a quick way to lift everyone’s spirits without anyone having to spend a lot of money.


• Compliments. Encourage supervisors to hand out compliments to employees when they notice positive work or achievements. Compliments are also an immediate way to lift spirits and make employees feel confident in their work. And, they’re free. Simply saying “thank you” can do wonders for employee morale.


• Holiday cards. Business holiday cards are just a small way businesses can show their appreciation for all of the hard work employees have put in throughout the year. Take a few minutes to write a hand-written message on the inside of the card to add a personal touch.


• Fun. Find simple ways to improve morale at work every day. Hold contests, bring in pizza for lunch or make up a nonsense holiday, like “Funny Hat Day.” Decorate the office with winter decorations to brighten up the office and encourage teamwork. Keep it simple, just focus on getting everyone involved and having a great time.


• Humor. Hold an event that brings some laughter into the office. Organize an office-wide activity where supervisors hand out funny awards to employees. Not every employee views formal awards as fair, or feel left out. Funny awards get everyone laughing, whether they receive an award or not. You don’t have to spend a dime on this one either. Use supplies in the office to create awards that everyone will love. A word of caution - keep awards focused on what people did well, not on something they failed to do.

Don’t wait until January 2 to start improving employee morale around the office, get going now. With simple ideas and some creativity, a little bit of effort on your part can go a long way.

Nixed holiday party impacts employee morale

It looks like the trend of canceling holiday parties has spread from under the umbrella of Viacom companies and into Main Street businesses.

Following Viacom’s lead, Morgan Stanley, ABC News and American Express are three of the latest major employers to cancel company holiday parties this year.

The current economic downturn has employers cutting back on end of the year costs by trimming expenses and muting, sometimes canceling, year-end parties.

According to a national survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.:

• 77% of employers are planning holiday parties this year, down from 90% in 2007.
• 13% of employers are cutting their party budget an average of 53%.
• Only 4.3% are increasing party budgets, and increases average only about 5%.

This depressed holiday season will mark a 20-year low in the number of company-sponsored celebrations held, according to a survey by executive search firm Battalia Winston Amrop of more than 100 American leading businesses.

About 37% of businesses said their event has been canceled or scaled down because of the economy, almost double the 19% of companies affected last year, according to the Battalia survey.

Of those companies celebrating the season with a holiday party, the most popular cost-cutting measures include:

• Not serving alcohol or limiting open bar hours
• Not using a caterer or outside party planning service
• Hiring a DJ instead of a live band
• Holding a party in January when rates are less expensive than December
• Limiting the party to employees only
• Holding the party on a workday or near the end of a workday

Even with a strapped budget this holiday season, studies show that simple employee incentive ideas can be just as effective as throwing a lavish party. Companies can improve employee loyalty and increase productivity with simple communication, including telling employees “thank you,” leaving a lighthearted holiday card on the employees’ desk or taking a deserving employee out to lunch.

“Hosting a more low-key or low-budget celebration is better than canceling the party entirely, says Challenger, who advises employers that “these year-end celebrations are an effective way of boosting employee morale, especially in tough economic times.”

With a struggling economy and worried employees, now is not the time to forget about employee appreciation. If your company canceled their end of the year party, or are thinking about it, remember to find other creative ways to recognize employees and spread some holiday cheer.

We would like to know - Is your company having a holiday party this year? Do you have any new ideas for cutting holiday party costs?

How to deal with negative coworkers

Every workplace has one, that “Negative Nancy” or “Ned” who never seems to have anything positive to talk about. Whenever you’re in a conversation with that person, it always seems to turn down a negative road no matter how hard you try to drive it back in a positive direction.

Unfortunately, there’s no magic button that will completely eliminate negativity in the office, but there are ways to deal with it. Dealing with negative people in the office takes a good mix of sensitivity, objectivity and defense tactics.

Use these tips to help you deal with negative people at work:

• Smile. Don’t feed into someone else’s negativity with more negativity from your side. Smile and say something that will make the other person smile too, like a simple compliment. With the way our brains are wired, it’s difficult to smile and be negative at the same time.


• Don’t take it personally. It seems like some people in our world were born angry, and some of those people have managed to find a way into your office. Whatever that negative person is angry about, you had nothing to do with it. Let their comments roll off your back and don’t let their attitude have an impact on your day.


• Avoid negativity. If possible, do your best to avoid negative coworkers by taking a different route to the printer or leave for lunch a few minutes earlier than usual. Avoiding negative people all together will eliminate the risk of falling prey to their negative ways.


• Let them vent. If you can’t avoid the person and smiling had no effect, try to just let the person vent their frustrations to you. Sometimes people keep repeating negative sentiments because they feel no one has truly heard them. Actively listen to their rant with an objective ear and ask questions to make sure they know you’re listening.


• Lend a hand. Sometimes people have a legitimate reason for being angry. If you agree with the reason for their anger and think you could help (and want to help) in their situation, lend a helping hand or at least some advice on how they could resolve the issue.


• Set limits. Whether you agree to listen to someone’s complaints or agree to help them out, set personal limits to the extent of your involvement. If you sit and listen to someone vent for hours and hours one day, expect that person to come searching for you the next time they need to let out their frustrations.

There will always be negative people at work. It’s your decision whether to let those people affect your own outlook. Learning how to deal with negativity is an ongoing process, but just remember to keep smiling.

What is the best way you’ve found to deal with negative coworkers?

Incentives and rewards: Now is the time to act

When is the best time to launch an employee incentive and reward program?

Now.

At least that’s what they think over at Incentive Intelligence and we agree. Here's a clip from a recent post on incentive and reward programs:

The one thing every company needs right now is an initiative that clearly spells out what you want your employees and your channel partners to do to ensure success in the future.

You need to establish an influence initiative that clearly delineates the things that you want your business to accomplish and outlines the behaviors that will get you there.

Creating a program that clearly outlines your organization’s goals and the actions that will get you there creates certainty and eliminates poor decision making. Sitting back and doing nothing is not an option, you can only “act your way out” of a business issue, according to those at Incentive Intelligence.

Implementing an employee reward and incentive program will help you show everyone, from top executives to sales callers, what you think needs to be done to ensure success in your business’ future.

With that said, here are some tips and employee incentive ideas to get your program off the ground:

• Identify goals. What business goals do you wish to accomplish and how will and employee incentive program help you get there? Set goals that are realistic and measurable.


• Determine appropriate incentives. Incentives that work for one business may not be right for another. It all depends on the nature of your business and the size of your budget. Incentives and rewards don’t have to be expensive to be effective, explore our list of employee incentive ideas on a budget and also take a look at how key motivators differ across generations at work.


• Communicate objectives clearly. If employees don’t know what is expected of them, how will they know what to do? Clearly outline objectives for your employee rewards program, the correct actions employees should take and how they will be rewarded for quality work. Effective communication is essential to the success of your program. Remember to give employees feedback on their progress at every step of the program.


• Measure results. How is your business performing after implementing the rewards program compared to before? Identify what worked and what failed to help tweak your program in the future.

An effective employee incentive program will help your organization reach business goals by engaging and motivating employees. Only with clear goals, effective communication and constant feedback can your program be a success.

How does your organization use employee incentive programs to create results?

Telecommuting = Productivity, healthy employees, more money

If you’re noticing more of your coworkers coming to work angry everyday or heightened tensions around the office then the latest survey results from the American Psychological Association may not surprise you:

More than 8 out of 10 Americans are significantly more stressed about their personal finances and the economy than ever before.

“Half of the respondents in the survey said they are increasingly stressed about their ability to provide for their family's basic needs. More than half, 56 percent, expressed concerns about job stability. This has translated into less productivity at work, because of anxieties about salary, heavy workload and job security,” as reported on CNN.

With money woes in most employees’ lives and businesses trying to save money, you would think more would be using telecommuting programs to save money on both sides.

Companies who offer employees telecommuting options find greater employee productivity, lower operating costs, improved employee health and higher retention rates, according to recently released telecommuting statistics from the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

The latest telecommuting statistics from CompTIA’s research show:

• 67% of companies polled said employees were more productive, mainly because they spent less time commuting.
• 59% reported having saved money from reduced use of office-related supplies and resources.
• 39% reported easier access to a more qualified staff located in other regions.
• 37% said telecommuting improved employee retention.
• 25% reported better employee health, citing lower stress levels by eliminating commuting.
• Companies cited other benefits including promotion of safety through reduced highway use (18%) and environmental benefits (17%).

Whether your company offers telecommuting as a part-time or full-time option, you now have evidence that it protects the bottom line while lightening employees’ financial burdens. It’s a win-win situation.

Here are some resources to help get your telecommuting program off the ground:

Top 5 reasons to let employees telecommute - The Chief Happiness Officer

5 most common telecommuting mistakes - HR Tech News

Telecommuting: Getting bosses on board - BusinessWeek

Managing Telecommuters - Chapter 573.2 - The Future of Work Weblog

New study: Positive work environments = healthy employees

Though it may sound obvious, we now have scientific research proving that happy employees are healthier and miss less work. Positive, trusting work environments where employees utilize their strengths are instrumental to a sense of well-being, according to results from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

“In the first six months of 2008, 56 percent of workers in high-quality jobs (those who express satisfaction with their work, use their strengths daily, work in a culture of trust and have an employee-boss partnership) were classified as thriving, while only 39 percent of workers in low-quality jobs (those with two or less of the above attributes) were thriving,” according to poll results.

People in “high-quality jobs” said the way they feel on weekends is similar to how they feel on weekdays when it comes to respect, happiness, and feelings of anger or stress. People in “low-quality jobs” feel significantly worse on weekdays than on weekends and are less likely to feel happiness, experience learning or feel respected.

On average, people in negative work environments stay home 1.25 days each month, 15 days a year more than those in more “pleasant” work environments.

Factors contributing to a negative work environment include job dissatisfaction, an authoritative boss, lack of trust and lack of focus on individual strengths.

A strong worker well-being is determined by engaging work with opportunity for career development, social time with family and friends, regular exercise (30 minutes/day), frequent laughter and job satisfaction.

We have the proof that positive work environments promote employee health and well-being, now what are we going to do with it?

For starters, you could:

• Explore some of our past ideas to reduce stress at work.
• Help improve employee health, loyalty and engagement by starting a wellness program.
• Play video games at work.
• Or, just break stuff.