Employees’ #1 summer wish: TIME

If employees had it their way this summer, they’d be given the chance to leave early on Fridays and would have more flextime to work with, according to a new survey.

OfficeTeam recently polled more than 450 workers and found that time is at the top of most employees’ summer benefits wish lists.

Workers were asked “Which of the following summer benefits would you most like to have?” Their top answers were:

• Flexible schedules - 38%
• Leave early on Fridays - 32%
• Activities (e.g. company picnic, potluck) - 6%
• More relaxed dress code - 5%

“Employees appreciate flexibility in their jobs because it gives them greater control and enables them to handle other commitments without sacrificing their work performance,” said Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam.

Allowing employees to have more flexible schedules during the summer months and throughout the year can be an inexpensive way to improve motivation. Just like the “Leave the Office Earlier” holiday promoted earlier this month, most of us could use a break away from the office.

Employees are more stressed than ever, spending more time at work to complete increasingly heavier workloads. Allowing for workplace flexibility benefits both employees and employers by improving retention rates, productivity and reduces stress.

So, if you’re looking for a simple way to improve morale around the office, give employees more time away from it. Let them leave early on Friday or work from home for a few hours next week and make your employees’ wishes come true.

Does your office loosen up during the summer months to allow for more flextime? Is going home early on Fridays ever an option? Leave a comment and let us know.

Work/life balancing act has more moms burnt out

Spending quality time with family was at the top of most moms’ “to-do” lists this Mother’s Day, according to CareerBuilder’s annual Mother’s Day survey.

We hope they were able to check it off their list this weekend, but even during an average week our current economy is making it harder than ever to balance work and home.

Some working moms say they’re having a hard time finding work/life balance as they take on extra hours and second jobs as the economy falters, according to the survey of almost 500 women, who were employed full-time, with children under the age of 18.

The survey also found that:

• 30% of working moms, whose employers have had layoffs in the past year, are working longer hours and 14% have taken on second jobs to help make ends meet.
• 34% of working moms reported they are burned out.
• 40% fear losing their jobs today more than they did 12 months ago.
• 43% work more than 40 hours per week.
• 16% bring work home at least twice a week.
• 6% bring work home every workday.

“Nearly one-third say that despite it being one of the toughest economies in the nation’s history, they would even consider taking a pay cut to spend more time with their kids. If you’re struggling with work/life balance, talk to your manager.

Working moms who communicate their need for flexible time, job sharing or something in between will find that most companies are receptive to these kinds of policies,” said Mary Delaney, President of CareerBuilder’s talent management and recruitment outsourcing division, Personified, and mother of three.

The survey revealed that many working moms’ would gladly accept alternative schedules in order to spend more time with their children. More than half (55%) of working moms already take advantage of flexible work arrangements at their organizations, and most say that their decision has not adversely affected their career progress.

Whether you’re a working mom searching for work/life balance or just an average employee on the verge of burnout, follow these tips to reduce work stress and find balance:

• Take a vacation. It’s the most tried and true method for finding relaxation and getting some perspective on your situation. Even if you don’t leave town, use your vacation time to determine the source of your stress and find a way to change it.


• Talk to your boss. Sit down and have a serious conversation with your manager about finding a work arrangement that will help you achieve better work/life balance and improve your productivity. Whether it’s coming in early or working a few days from home, there’s always an alternative option out there.


• Set boundaries. Avoid bringing work home at all costs. Do your best to get it all done during the workday, but know that it’s not the end of the world if some unfinished tasks make it on tomorrow’s to-do list.


• Get out and play. Take time out each day to play with your kids. If you don’t have kids, take an hour or two out of your day to spend with friends, exercise and/or meditate. Eliminate distractions by turning off your cell phone and computer.

Also take a look at:

Burned out at work or bad day? Know the difference and how to beat it

How to feel happier at work ... instantly

I’m Not Stressed – That Pencil Had It Coming!!!

Are you living to work or working to live

Change puts engagement and productivity at risk

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

De-stress at work and encourage innovation

The economy is in bad shape. So bad even Warren Buffett is worried.

Whether its the falling dollar, gas prices or debt, our country’s financial problems have all of us pretty stressed out these days. Aside from some of the more violent effects of a bad economy on the workplace, stress has a direct impact on employee productivity and your bottom line.

According to the 2007 “Stress in America Report” by the American Psychological Association, more than half of Americans said they are less productive at work as a result of stress.

From Entrepreneur.com:

“All that stress adds up to an estimated $300 billion a year in costs for U.S. businesses due to absenteeism, decreased productivity, employee turnover, and medical, legal and insurance fees.”

On top of the economy, the bleak medical benefits situation in the US is stifling innovation. As medical premiums and medical deductibles rise, more money is taken out of paychecks and people have less money to spend. Innovation is difficult to find when employees are overwhelmed with medical bills.

While we can’t change our country’s health care system or improve the economy overnight, we can do something to help lessen employee stress at work. Get their minds off their finances and focused on innovation, and you’ll start seeing happier, more productive employees with better ideas coming out of your company.

A few ideas to de-stress employees and spark innovation:

Start a Fantasy Football league. It’s helped some big companies like NuVox motivate their staff and build teamwork. Some friendly office competition that doesn’t take employees away from their work for too long can help alleviate stress.

Start a skunkworks program or innovation league. It’s hard to get businesses to take risks in a bad economy. Sideline any fear of risk and start a company within your company (called Skunkworks) where innovation is encouraged. Once all of the “real” work is done, get together with the skunkworks team to innovate and empower employees. It can be as little as four hours a week, or more depending on how much time is available.

Start an employee wellness program. Regular exercise improves health and reduces stress. Start a weekly walking program or make a deal with a local gym for discounted employees memberships, and get employees moving. Healthier employees make less trips to the doctor, reducing medical costs and insurance rates.

Start telecommuting. Allow employees to telecommute for part of the week. Just reducing an employee’s weekly commute by one day can make a big dent in how much they spend each month in gas. By spending less money commuting to the office, employees will have one less thing to worry about financially.


Unless you have $800 million in your back pocket, no one is going to solve the nation’s financial crisis anytime soon. Until the economy begins to turn around, all we can do is work to mold company cultures to help de-stress employees and encourage innovation.

Yammer: Winning employee communication tool

Less formal than a corporate intranet, but more business-focused and private than Twitter, Yammer is making online employee communication more effective than ever.

Yammer is an internal communication tool, “essentially Twitter for business,” that keeps employees in-touch and informed. It has the potential to improve employee productivity by sending short messages over a public forum, rather than searching through cluttered inboxes.

All it takes is a company email address to register and create a network. Once registered, employees can share status updates, news, links, ask coworkers’ questions and answer Yammer’s most important question: “What are you working on?”

The program is free for employees, but affordable for companies to claim their network and gain full administrative control. For $1 per employee per month (after a three-month trial period) admins can gain network control over messages, users and security requirements.

Practical uses for Yammer at work:

• Top executives can to keep everyone up-to-date on company news and quickly see what different employees are currently working on.
• HR departments can remind employees of an upcoming training opportunity or corporate event.
• Employees can update coworkers on the status of certain jobs within the private corporate network.
• Sales teams can quickly share information about new accounts or impressive sales numbers with the rest of the company.
• Telecommuting employees can stay connected and current on the day-to-day activities back at the office.

Yammer’s privacy and administrative tools make it more attractive to those companies afraid to let employees use social media at work. Since messages are posted on a public forum and administrators can remove comments, spreading gossip or talking about inappropriate topics is difficult.

Just how employee handbooks guide behavior in the office, companies worried that Yammer could cause problems should create a short guide complete with rules, policies and consequences for violations.

After taking top prize at TechCrunch50, you can expect to see even more great things out of Yammer. The event awarded the young start-up with $50,000 to help grow its business model.

We would like to know ... Does your company currently use online communication tools like Yammer, or would your company ever consider it? Are your managers still too worried that using social media in the office would impact productivity?

5 tips to build employee morale in a down economy

The economy is down, the unemployment rate is at a four-year high and the cost of commuting is taking a toll on workers across the country. You can’t control the economy and gas prices, but your actions have a direct impact on employee morale at your company.

Especially if you’ve been through a round of layoffs or hiring freezes, keeping morale high for those employees still with the company is one of your top priorities. People who feel they are being treated fairly and honestly by an organization will be more inclined to stick it out, through good financial times or bad.

Happy employees are loyal employees who want to do their best to see the company succeed. Keep them happy and use these five tips to build employee morale in a down economy:

1. Focus on the positive. If all you’re talking about is how bad things are, that’s all your employees will be thinking about. Sympathize with employees, but remain optimistic.

2. Forbid rumors. One tiny lie or piece of conversation taken out of context can wreak havoc on morale. Squelch rumors, however small they may be, as soon as you hear them and encourage employees to do the same.

3. Recognize employees without breaking the bank. Studies show that simple employee incentives work just as well as handing out raises. Read one of our past posts with creative employee incentive ideas on a budget to help you get started.

4. Keep training employees. Employees who participate in company-sponsored training are more loyal and engaged. Training shows employees that the company cares enough to invest time and resources in their career development. Review our tips for employee training on a budget.

5. Start telecommuting. Telecommuting is a proven way to improve employee morale, productivity and retention. By allowing employees to telecommute just one or two days out of the week, you will cut business costs and employee stress.


There’s more than one way to improve sentiments in the workplace, but all involve hard work and dedication. Overlooking the impact of how workers are feeling during tough economic times will drain employee confidence and have many looking for greener pastures. Be careful not to kill morale with promises you can’t deliver on, skimping on necessary business tools or creating distrust among employees.

Tough times will test employee dedication and only the best will stick it out. Ensure you’ve done all you can to keep enthusiasm high, even while the going gets tough.

IDidWork: Employee performance in 160 characters or less

So, performance review time is just around the corner and you’re scratching your head, digging through lists of emails, scouring through piles of notepads, trying to remember exactly what each of your team members completed in the past year.

In big companies it can be difficult to track employee productivity on a daily or weekly basis, leading supervisors to make judgments based on work that seems productive, like employees coming in early everyday or working through lunch.

Make it a little easier next year and base employee progress decisions on hard evidence with IDidWork, a new performance tracking website that feels a lot like Twitter, but for work.

With IDidWork, employees log daily tasks in short, 160 character entries. Come review time, employees can submit a progress report to their manager in the form of a chart, graph or simple summary. Managers can easily deliver feedback through the system and even “grade” employee progress.

From a training perspective, IDidWork can be used to track employee progress during a training program or monitor how an employee is implementing what they learned into their daily routine. Supervisors can clearly see how employees are progressing, even if employees aren’t in the office everyday.


With more employees telecommuting, the service may offer a better solution for remotely tracking employee performance. If the boss isn’t a fan of IDidWork, remote employees can still use it as a time management tool, tracking personal progress and analyzing where they’re spending most of their time.

Employees collaborating on a project can use IDidWork to share individual progress, almost eliminating the need for status meetings. Employees can see where each team member is within the project and track the team’s overall progress.

Right now the service is free, but the founders do plan on charging a fee after the service gains a following. They also have expansion plans including integrated desktop widgets and customized performance breakdowns.

The possibilities for the IDidWork are endless: employees tracking their time while working from home, students managing their study time or fitness junkies following their workout progress.

Depending on your line of work, it could be a big help from managing projects to writing performance reviews. Get your team on board and give it a try while it’s free, you’ve got nothing to lose.

Do employee incentives improve energy efficiency?

At Microsoft they do.

With energy costs rising daily, everyone is looking for ways to become more energy efficient. Microsoft has found a way to use employee incentive programs to reduce the energy consumption of its growing data centers.

In the past, Microsoft business groups were charged for using the company’s data centers based on the floor space they took up. Instead of charging for space, Microsoft now charges business units on the amount of energy they consumed. The shift made individual business models more conscious of energy consumption, finding new ways to cut back.

Yearly bonuses for Microsoft facility managers are now also based on efficiency improvements. Executives say there has been a noticeable behavior change.

Small businesses, like one New York real estate developer, are also using employee incentives to promote energy efficiency among employees. RexCorp, real estate developer and property management company, offers prime parking spaces for hybrid driving employees, visibly marked “hybrid only.”

From the Environmental Leader, the list of companies developing new employee incentive ideas for energy efficiency is growing:

• GlaxoSmithKline, pharmaceutical company, reimburses employees the first $30 for bus fees.
• IBM encourages telecommuting, with more than 40% of employees working outside of the office.
• 
Verizon reports any idling time of technicians’ vehicles over 10 minutes as a deviation.
• Cisco Systems created 36 VIP parking spaces for hybrids and cars that use biodiesel or ethanol.
• Swiss Re offers employees’ subsidies for environmental purchases including hybrid cars.

What do you think? We know that employee incentives can improve performance and employee retention, but can they improve the energy efficiency of your business?

New telecommuting statistics show environmental benefits

Sure, telecommuting helps the environment, but where’s the proof? Thanks to Sun Microsystems, we have it.

Sun Microsystems’ Open Work Energy Measurement Project is an internal study comparing energy use at home, in the office and during commuting of more than 100 participants in its flexible work program.

More than half (56%) of Sun Microsystems’ employees around the world work from home or in a flexible office arrangement. The nearly 19,000 employees are part of Sun’s Open Work platform, a program that has been recognized by the Environmental Defense Fund as an innovative example of eco responsibility.

The study found that by reducing time spent in the office to only 2.5 days a week, employees can significantly cut their energy usage and carbon footprint on the environment. Analysts tried to answer the question: “Does Open Work really save energy, or just transfer energy cost and load to employees?”

Here are some key findings:

• Sun employees saved more than $1,700 per year in gas and vehicle deterioration by working at home an average of 2.5 days a week.
• Office equipment energy consumption is double that of home office consumption. Only 64 watts per hour of energy consumption is needed at home, compared to 130 watts at the office.
• Commuting was 98% of each employee’s carbon footprint for work, compared to less than 1.7% of total carbon emissions to power office equipment.
• Eliminating commuting to just 2.5 days per week, employees reduce energy used for work by the equivalent of 5,400 Kilowatt hours/year.
• Working from home 2.5 days per week saved the employees in the study an average of 2.5 weeks of commute time (8 hours/day, 5 days/week).

Well, there’s the proof, take it or leave it.