It’s the first Friday of March, and Employee Appreciation Day is upon us.

This day serves as a reminder to employers to celebrate their greatest asset: their employees!

This had me thinking on some of the typical ways employers celebrate their employees on Employee Appreciation Day:

A Simple “Thank You”

This can be a powerful way to thank your employees for a job well done. The key is to be heartfelt and sincere. If not, it will be viewed by employees as a cheap way to thank them for their hard work and service.

Hosting Breakfast or Lunch

This will excite the office, and will actually save your employees money (in lunch expenses). The problem is that this is a temporary token of appreciation that employees can only enjoy once.

Hosting an Appreciation Party.

Like hosting a breakfast or lunch, this is temporary, and on Monday everything will be back to normal.  Also, if an employee is absent that day, they will feel left out from the celebration.

Giving Gifts:

This is a typical way employers who want to go above and beyond thank their employees. This is good if the employers can accurately account for everyone’s gift preferences. This idea may work for small companies with few employees, but for larger companies this will be impossible.

So what is a fool-proof way to thank your employees?

It’s easy: setting up a recognition program that fulfills your employees’ need for recognition and engagement all year-long. Like the famous Chinese proverb says. “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” By setting up a recognition program that will fulfill your employees’ need for recognition and engagement all year-long, there will be no need for employee appreciation parties or food, as your employees will be celebrated every day.

You don’t become Finance Minister of British Columbia, Canada without making a few enemies. Just ask Kevin Falcon, Finance Minister of British Columbia, Canada, and all of his enemies.

Why does Mr. Falcon have so many enemies? It wasn’t always this way. There was a time when he was a fixture within the community; the women swooned over his fine-tailored suits, the men respected his rugged confidence, and Canadian schoolchildren skipped in his footsteps wherever he walked, immortalizing him in honorific playground rhymes. But those days are over. On Monday morning, Falcon found himself in hot water after it was revealed to a local newspaper that the Finance Ministry of British Columbia, under Falcon’s oversight, currently spends $1.5 million in taxpayer dollars per year on a secret government program. Upon hearing the news, B.C. citizens were appalled – APALLED! – at the Finance Minister’s flagrant spending practices and lack of transparency in these austere economic times.

What is this secret government-funded operation that is fleecing Canadian coffers and enraging hardworking British Columbians? Dumping mercury in school lunches? Atomic tests on the Hudson Bay? Laser-guided dolphins? Close. The funding in question goes toward a peer-to-peer and service recognition program. Ministry employees utilize the annual $1.5 million budget to award each other gifts from an online catalog for on-the-spot awards, as well as fund long service awards for anniversaries of 20 years and up.

That’s right; citizens of B.C. have taken great umbrage with the heretofore unknown practice of Canadian government officials rewarding Canadian government employees for their hard work and dedication. But as they say in Canada, “What’s the big hubbub, eh?” Non-cash incentives, like the ones found in the Finance Ministry’s program, have been proven to be greater financial motivators for employees than, well, cash itself. Double that, industry research has time and again proven the link between employee engagement and job performance. So when you think about it, this can only work out to the citizens of British Columbia’s advantage: a group of engaged, motivated government employees will result in a higher-performing government, therefore making life easier for everyone, correct?

Not so! Reaction to the news ranged from unsupportive – “Another waste of taxpayer dollars” – to mildly supportive – “It’s so ridiculous, shut it down now” – to indignant ultimatums – “Can we expect your resignation? I thought so.” At an impromptu press conference (called to quell the rising pitchforks), Falcon was quick to point out that the Finance Ministry of British Columbia is the largest employer in the B.C. Province, with a staff of 30,000 employees, and that the $1.5 million sum allocated for the reward and recognition program only represents 0.004% of the government body’s $42 billion annual budget.

I suppose it’s a sign of the times when the Finance Minister of British Columbia becomes an embattled figure for defending his employees’ recognition budget.  But Kevin Falcon is tough, and he doesn’t come with a comfort strip. He made it perfectly clear that the current program would not be changing:

“Recognizing employees that have served the province for decades is entirely appropriate and I’m not going to be an employer that is going to cancel those kinds of programs,” said Falcon.

That is why Kevin Falcon, Finance Minister of British Columbia, Canada, is an Unsung Recognition Hero.

For posterity’s sake, and in honor of the man, I have reprinted below (with permission) one of Mr. Falcon’s most popular Canadian playground rhymes:

Falcon flying high above,

Soars across an endless gray,

Around the time the taxman comes,

He can help you itemize the benefits of your IRA.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Falcon+defends+reward+program/6142413/story.html#ixzz1mI36YTvx

The Superbowl is just a few days away, and I just picked out the boxes in my annual office pool. I was psyched that I got to be one of the first people to choose my boxes, but it got me thinking….are these pools appropriate for the workplace? What about the NCAA Final Four, and fantasy football leagues?

How do these activities impact your organization’s productivity and resources?  It seems pretty time-consuming to visit all of the various departments soliciting involvement and keeping everyone informed. If someone wants to organize a pool and still gets their job done, what’s the real harm and impact? I personally do not see these pools as a problem, and perhaps they have positive team building and morale benefits.

What stands out the most to me is the ambiguity of whether or not it is allowed. I recently looked in my employee manual, and could not find anything about gambling or fantasy sports.

According to a 2010 SHRM study, 79% of the 280 organizations polled do not have a formal or informal gambling policy. Fifty-five percent of respondents saw a positive impact on morale, while 37% saw a negative impact on productivity.

Does your organization currently have a gambling policy in place?

It’s 2012 and New Year’s resolutions abound. We spend the holiday season hiding from the cold weather with food on lap and drink in hand. With the turning of the calendar we resolve to make this “the best year ever”. A New Year is always an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. We take the last moments of any given year to reflect – determining adjustments we need to make to learn from our failures. Some may document a plan for the year and put up goals in their cubicle, home, or tell a friend or coworker. Today we will examine why most New Year’s resolutions fall short by February 1^st.

In 2009, Keith Ferrazzi wrote Who’s Got Your Back, a strategic guide to relationship management. Among the principles Ferrazzi suggests are Vulnerability, Generosity and Accountability – these principles play a direct role in keeping your New Year’s resolutions.

The question we face is how can we mirror our personal New Year’s resolutions with your professional goals? Your company may be willing to help!

Here are 3 ways organizations can help their employees honor their New Year’s resolutions:

• Wellness Programs
• Incentive Programs
• Mentoring Programs

Get Busy Living

These are trying times, and many employees are being asked to do more work with fewer resources. To counteract this phenomenon, many companies have started to make a concerted effort to help employees balance professional production with personal development – also known as a wellness program. Popular wellness initiatives include:

• Smoking cessation
• Promoting a healthy diet
• Gym membership reimbursement

Sound familiar? The aforementioned initiatives are at the top of all of our New Year’s resolutions. In the workplace we tend to forget that we are surrounded by people with common goals. Through a great wellness program you can gain positive feedback for the behaviors you wish to reinforce, along with a built-in peer group to support you.

Like New Year’s resolutions, wellness programs fall short without a system of accountability and rewards. Companies should have a system for tracking employee’s progress to healthier living.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos and author of Delivering Happiness, has been called the “guru of company culture” because of all the progress he has made in developing employee appreciation at his company. Tony admits his secret is alignment: helping employees align their personal preferences with their professional directives. As a company you have a perfect opportunity to do this by marrying your employees’ New Year’s resolutions with your wellness program. But why stop there? In the long term, wellness programs can lower health insurance premiums (thereby increasing profits), and healthier employees mean fewer sick days taken and higher productivity. New Year’s resolutions that work in accordance with company wellness objectives produce a win/win!

Everyone Cares

Employers may not realize how much their employees genuinely care about the organization’s goals. As every year comes to a close people consider how they can better achieve their professional objectives.

Incentives have been historically confused as only applicable to “revenue-producing employees”. In actuality, everyone has goals and everyone can be rewarded for achieving said goals. Employers will promote a culture of recognition if they reward business-critical behaviors, however small.

Teams have projects to complete, Managers have job vacancies to fill, new hires must be trained, and employees have an obligation to keep themselves and their co-workers safe at work. Every employee company-wide has goals for professional development. When we do well at work, we are happier. When our organization rewards behavior that is aligned with our New Year’s resolutions, we develop as people and professionals.

Incentives are not just numbers tied to production. Incentives work in recognizing critical behaviors and decision making that differentiates great companies from good companies.

Every employee is a “revenue-producing employee” because their time on the clock moves your organization closer to your revenue goals. It is always a good idea to reward actions instead of suffering the consequence of reactions.

Find Your Robin Williams

We’ve all seen movies where two people from uncommon worlds develop a friendship. There are people with whom we identify that come into our world by happenstance. You might see a person at the coffee shop every morning who shares a few stories with you that carries you through your day… someone who becomes a mentor.

Great companies ask more of their employees. A senior manager may be asked to meet with an upstart producer on a monthly basis. The upstart can learn from the senior manager’s experience, and the senior manager can in turn benefit from the young upstart’s enthusiasm.

Many years ago, as a Senior Sales Representative, I was asked to check in with one of our new hires every Friday afternoon. The mentorship started as a training exercise and over time has blossomed into a friendship. I learned as much from him as he did from me. We still talk every Friday. Because of our connection, we are twice as committed to our goals when someone we respect gives us a task. It also helps to have another perspective in our day-to-day problem solving. Through a great mentoring program we are held accountable to our resolutions and we share our success with others.

If your company does not support a formal mentoring program, you can always seek out additional advisors. Reach out to someone you respect within your company. Seek wisdom and be sure to honor that wisdom by putting it to good use. Everyone wants to cement their legacy in a company and the best way to do that is to pass it along to a capable apprentice. A good mentor will hold you accountable to your New Year’s resolutions and reward you when you succeed!

It’s the mid-point of the first month of 2012. You are most likely still committed to your New Year’s resolutions. As the year endures, sticking to your resolutions may become more difficult, but your company is a great resource to your personal development.

Points for Employers to Remember:

• Healthy workers are happy workers
• Employees are more productive when their personal and professional goals are aligned
• We all need a buddy at work that will hold us accountable

Thank You for Reading,

David J Kovacovich

Four years after the worldwide financial crisis paralyzed our economy and ruined more than a few weekends for everyone, our economy is still caught in the ripple effect of all that bad debt exploding, but confidence is high. Or is it? The answer is no. We continue to see the fallout occur not just here in America with unemployment rates pushing double-digits nationwide, but also on a global scale with the crippling Euro Zone Crisis. The world is in debt with nary enough money to be found, and the powers-that-be are far too concerned with retaining and consolidating their power in preparation for what historians are already calling the next Gilded Age. Soon it will all come crashing down, the entirety of the world’s wealth will be liquidated, dogs and cats will live together, and rampant warfare will cause the human race to scorch the surface of the Earth, forcing all of us to move into underground caves for survival (and if you think that’s bad, don’t even get me started on the Mole People).

But what does this mean to the “Person on the Street,” the “Average Joe,” or the “Salt of the Earth,” namely, “Me?” Ostensibly, it means low engagement. Yes, the American Worker has not been this depressed since the last election. Employee engagement is at its lowest level since 2007. According to a recent Gallup poll, 73 percent of US workers consider themselves either “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” in their work. Globally, job satisfaction rates have plummeted to the 40 percent range, signaling a prevailing indifferent attitude about the success or failure of respective employers (in a related study, employee engagement among the Mole People is at a healthy 99%, though experts warn that poll results may be skewed due to the totalitarian rule of Balrog the Mole Emperor). All in all, this is not a good portent for American businesses.

So what can be done to address this scourge of indifference? I don’t have the answers. I am a man of humble means. I only labor in the fields for my pittance, hanging on a thin hope for meager rations and a soft bed when the sun goes down. But a good idea would be to look at some of the best places to work, and take a cue. Besides, why solve a problem on your own when you can steal the ideas of those who are smarter than you?

Newburyport Bank was recently named the top small business to work for in Massachusetts by The Boston Globe. The keys to their success? They credit viewing each of their employees as a family member, paying 100% of health care premiums, and offering cash bonuses for personal milestones such as weddings and births.

There is also ARAG, a legal solutions firm out of Iowa which was recently voted the best place to work in insurance by Business Insurance Magazine. ARAG employees enjoy a generous benefits package similar to the other companies on this list, but key differentiators were their incentive, community outreach, wellness, and work-life balance programs. In fact, ARAG employees are so happy to be there, they report an astronomical 96% survey response rate.

And finally, in North Carolina there is Red Ventures, a technology company that gets consistently high marks from the Charlotte Business Journal’s annual list of best places to work. The litany of workplace amenities that Red Ventures employees enjoy will make you want to cry: a regulation basketball court and running track, a fully realized fitness center, subsidized meals at local gourmet eateries, and a comprehensive benefits package, to name a few.

If throwing amenities and benefits around like so much candy makes you a great place to work and engages your employees, all our low engagement worries are solved, and there’s no reason to invest in that bomb shelter you’ve had your eye on. However, the real driving factor lies beyond material rewards. The one thing these employers have in common is not a willingness to spend money, but a willingness to create a flexible working environment that respects work/life balance and encourages creative thinking through incentives and recognition. Newburyport Bank builds trust by inviting employees into their family and making gestures that reinforce that premise. ARAG offers some unique benefits while putting a strong focus on the employee’s happiness and well-being. Red Ventures has practically turned their workplace into a social club with all their creature comforts, promoting a free exchange of ideas. Each company engages the employee before they have a chance to disengage, and hopefully builds a true bond between them and the company in the process. Red Ventures CEO Ric Elias sums it up eloquently: “…we value flexibility over process, talent over tenure… employees can drive their own career path.” When an employee is empowered to take ownership of their work, it usually brings out the best in them.

For those of you wondering, the Mole People get no health benefits, incentives, or any type of employee recognition, but are sometimes allowed to take home leftover dirt at the end of the day.

Success is defined by the choices we make!

If we think about what differentiates great companies from average ones, it comes down to one critical process: decision making. Each day we are faced with challenges:

• To do the right thing
• To go above and beyond the call of duty
• To admit our shortcomings

In essence, the ability to do more when no one is looking makes individual effort a collective contribution. When an organization can naturally hardwire the willingness to do more into its workforce, a company becomes a culture.

Do you have a reason to do more? Has your company encouraged your effort to the point that doing more has become the norm?

Ideally, a company would like an established identity that guides their hiring practices and affects the decision-making capabilities of their workforce. Often, we hope our company’s core values will serve this purpose. Beyond that, we want to ensure our departmental objectives are in line with our core values. The combination of the aforementioned factors helps establish a corporate identity that is in sync with the individual personalities of our employees.

So how can we inspire our employees to make the right decision?

Promote core values

I would bet 50% of employees in any given company cannot recite the company’s core values. This is because most company core values are written on the lobby wall gathering dust. A method is needed for communicating our core values:

• Highlight one core value each month
• Develop a nomination program that is driven by core value-influenced behavior
• Provide interpretation of each core value that is relevant to departmental goals
• Use repetition to reinforce the importance of organizational alignment with core values

Incentivize “above and beyond” behavior

It’s Friday afternoon. I am faced with the dilemma of going home to see my kids or staying late to finish month-end reporting. If I know that this effort will be recognized in some way, shape or form….I will be far more likely to go above and beyond if:

• My manager is willing to share stories of extra effort with their team
• The entire organization has a platform to share stories of extra effort
• A non-cash reward for such behavior adds trophy value to my tasks

With these resources, I can be more readily motivated to go above and beyond, and encourage others in my organization to do the same.

Decisions are driven by trust

“Trust” is not a core value promoted by every company… but it should be. Nothing is more important to employee motivation than trust. People do great things and are more likely to continue that trend if their effort is recognized. Likewise, if people know they can admit their screw ups without having their overall viability questioned, they will be more likely to admit they are wrong and seek guidance to avoid repeating a mistake.

Trust works to motivate outstanding behavior and to dispel mistakes.

• If you think your company’s core values are lame… take a closer look.
• If you are unwilling to stay late to complete a task… ask yourself what would incentivize you to do so.
• If you are afraid to admit you are wrong… investigate the degree of trust that your organization promotes.

Fact: In the history of employment not a single person has loved their job every day! We are human; our personal lives spill into our work, we begrudge others for getting ahead unethically, and we get caught up in details. More often than not, we fail to recognize the common purpose that brings us together and that we are all on the same team!

Examine your organizational purpose and find your place in it. Set higher expectations than those of your employer. Recognize extra effort and its benefit to the common cause.

Thank you for reading –

Dave Kovacovich

It is finally Thanksgiving week; the only holiday where it’s acceptable to be in public with your pants undone.  Thanksgiving is all about eating, passing out, waking up just enough to eat more and then fall back asleep.  Oh and maybe watch some football if you’re into that.  In honor of this great holiday of indulgence, here are some things we are thankful for.

I am thankful that there is a NFL season…..GO COWBOYS (who happen to always play on Thanksgiving)!! – Cord, Director of the Dream Team

I am thankful for Steve Jobs, if it was not for him, I would not have met my new BFF, Siri, who lives inside my iPhone. – Kelly, Legal Assassin

I am thankful for the new Keurig machine in the cafeteria.  Monday mornings can be rough without a caffeine fix. – Lizzie, Master of All

I am thankful for my DVR because if I missed an episode of Glee I’d probably die. – Erica, Salesforce.com Guru

I am thankful for the little people who enhance my creativity every day. They are called my children and they ask me questions like, ‘why do trees eat rain?’ – David, Magician

I’m thankful for my commute and my Kindle. It allows me to read as much as I want while not having to carry around a 1,400 page book. – Urszula, Smarty Pants

I am thankful for Seamless Web, for without you I would not be able to order a Turkish/Asian/Latin fusion lunch with just a click of a button. – Jackie, Graphics Warrior

I am thankful for having a good new job at a great company in a tough economy (*Sigh* new girl, can’t blame her). – Lauren, Process Master

I am thankful for my dear friend Prilosec.  Your ninja-like abilities have allowed me to enjoy my favorite foods of coffee, chocolate, pizza, and all things deep fried. – Rachel, Marketing Ninja

I am thankful I live in Manhattan and not Minnesota anymore…what else could a girl ask for?  I’m never leaving! – Liz, the Sweetest Person on Earth

And now from the guy in our office who fancies himself a playwright and completely misunderstood the task (one would think reading and writing go together) and took this to a whole new level.

2 is the Loveliest Number

Thanksgiving is upon us, and just as the Pilgrims sat with the Native Americans hundreds of years ago to share a meal under a banner of peace and gratitude to inaugurate the holiday, we too prepare for heavily orchestrated, tension-filled family dinners of our own. On this bounteous of days we are reminded to recall the things in our lives we are thankful for and think about them for longer than we normally would, then feast into the late evening hours, or until someone physically pulls your plate away and asks, “who let you in here?”

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for many things, things such as the Dixon Ticonderoga Company. For those who may not be aware, Dixon Ticonderoga makes pencils. You are probably thinking, “who ever heard of a guy being thankful for pencils on Thanksgiving?” Well, I have. And I heard it from me.

Dixon Ticonderoga makes the Ticonderoga HB #2 Black, my pencil of choice. You might assume all pencils are the same. You would be wrong. The Ticonderoga Black offers outstanding lead density, sturdy wood construction (no composite materials), and most importantly, a latex-free eraser tip that actually works. They stay sharper longer, write as smooth as silk, and thanks to a standard satin black finish, they feel incredibly comfortable to write with. Add on to that the classy emerald green eraser plating and embossed silver lettering, and you not only have a strikingly handsome pencil; you’ve got yourself the Best Pencil Ever Made. Added bonus? They’re made in the good old US of A.

For the last several years I have used the #2 Black for taking notes, writing plays, and the occasional doodle or sketch. During that time it has proven itself a durable, versatile companion. Conventional wisdom tells us if we like something so much, we should consider marrying it. Currently man-and-pencil civil unions are frowned upon by society, but if I had my druthers, I would gladly pledge the rest of my life and half of my annual income to this penultimate writing instrument. King Pelias had his golden fleece, Hemingway had his whiskey, and I have my Ticonderoga HB #2 Black. Repeat after me: there are no other pencils, only Ticonderogas.

So as you sit down for your heavily orchestrated, tension-filled Thanksgiving dinner this holiday, remember this rambling manifesto and let it remind you to be thankful for the small, slender pleasures in life.

-Adam (We don’t actually know what he does. He just showed up one day during lunch and never left.)

And of course we are thankful for our customers because everything we do, we do it for you.  And now you are totally going to have the song in your head all day.  You’re welcome.

To all our customers, coworkers, families, friends, and pets, Happy Thanksgiving!

-From the Marketing and Sales Department, aka The Dream Team

Occupy Wall Street has gone global.  Protestors are fighting for a myriad of issues and causes.  I don’t want to get too political (this is a company blog) nor will I pretend to understand everything (I am, after all, just your average sword-wielding superhero).  But I think it should be brought up; especially from a non-political standpoint in a business environment.  Regardless of what side of the issues you fall on, companies should take note.  Although people supporting the movement are diverse and range in age, race, and gender, many are calling this a Generation Y or Millennial movement.  And whether you like it or not, they are your current and future workforce.

They are a different generation, raised with different values and beliefs.  Somehow companies will have to find a way to engage and retain this generation of managers, leaders, and employees.  Long gone are the days of finding a job and staying until retirement even if you despise it because hey, it’s a paycheck.  Millennials on average only stay at a job for 3.1 years.  And now, finding a good job is even harder no matter what degree or experience you have.  It’s disaffecting.   In response, many Millennials are forgoing the typical job and forging their own path.   I know several people who’d rather wait tables and do something that makes them happy on the side than take a bad corporate job.  They aren’t their parents’ generation.  With the economy the way it is, Occupy Wall Street going down, maybe it’s a good time for businesses (both large AND small) to rethink the way it treats employees and vice versa.  I’m not trying to trivialize OWS and the larger issues at play.  But we all know how this began.  Plus we spend a minimum of 40 hours a week at work.  It’s more time then we spend with friends and sometimes family.  And at the end of the day we need each other.  Businesses need workers and we need jobs.  So maybe, just maybe, we could figure out a way to make it a better experience for all of us.  Call me crazy.  It wouldn’t be the first time.

What does your company do?

This question is usually asked to gauge your organization’s industry and the product or service you create. It’s a simple enough question to answer, its usually asked casually…and followed by more significant questions. Why not cut to the chase?

Perhaps a better question to ask: Why Does Your Company Exist?

Now we’re getting somewhere….

Can you recite your company’s core values or mission statement? Is there a story to tell about your founding principles? Has the mission changed over the years?

Culture has been a buzz word in 2011. We affiliate the term with ping pong tables, office parades, and roof top happy hours. But, what if your company doesn’t have the intention of playing ping pong? An audience member at a recent Tony Hsieh keynote commented, “My company isn’t cool like Zappos, so your message doesn’t resonate with our Senior Managers”. Tony replied that office happy hours were merely a gathering place for Zappos to create alignment.

How does your company create alignment?

Some companies are committed to customer service, other companies have a daily mission to keep their employees safe, and there are other companies who promote a world class sales organization. You don’t need super hip employees or an informal dress code to have an organizational culture. All you need is a “purpose” that aligns your organization’s founding principles to the goals of the individuals that serve it!

How are you promoting your Mission and Values?

What are your core business drivers?

Are you celebrating the individual?

Why Do You Care?

Accountability is high and mighty term to use in every day business. How can we attach an extended meaning to Accountability that makes sense to those in the trenches? To act with Accountability may mean staying late on a Friday to finish reporting for an absent team member. This extra effort showcases an employee’s dedication to their department, the organization, and an extended purpose. In this case, the A word is not an “or else” but the “the right thing to do”.  People are always willing to do the right thing! If communicated not as an expectation but a common goal, the accountability to any effort seems reasonable.

So what if the person who stayed late on Friday received a personal message on Monday explaining how their actions exemplified Accountability. Formulating a nomination program in accordance with the aforementioned scenario creates alignment. Someone put similar effort into founding the company 100 years ago. It’s good to know people still care…and what mattered then still matters now.

Why Are You In Business?

Rewarding employees for ‘above and beyond’ behavior keeps them feeling appreciated! Attaching ROI to such behavior can be difficult. So, we look at the reasons we are in business and create incentives. This often takes the shape of a trophy for someone who doesn’t value it…

Why can’t we award project managers for finishing a project ahead of time? Why can’t we reward an IT team for performing a disaster recovery test in a timely manner during operating hours? Show us the metrics for effective customer service and when we perform to them…how about some perks?

Every member of the team is responsible for driving revenue: some save time, some save money, and other save lives….incent accordingly!

Who Are You?

A team is a collection of individuals and no individual is more important than the team. But that doesn’t mean we can throw a tarp over a dynamic group and call it leadership. Every member of your team has distinct personal preferences and those preferences align with your organizational goals. How can we prove it to them?

You hire people first for their common sense. It makes sense to people to do things like show up for work, answer the phone, and to perform to minimum requirements. When we get past the minimum we start creating culture. We get past the minimum by asking for accelerated effort in accordance with personal interests. So, when John gets to the office and learns that Jennifer affiliated his use of creativity with the “making a difference” company motto….he feels like he is at home!

No one works for just a pay check. Everyone appreciates it when someone tells them that the work they do makes a difference. To learn that the office you sit in was built by a woman (your grandma’s age) that cared about the same things you do…..gives your life purpose!

Thanks for reading!

Dave Kovacovich

October is Work-Life Balance Month.  Who knew?  Clearly none of my previous employers.  I’m sure some of you lucky ones are currently experiencing this while the rest of us laugh or silently cry at our desks (which is what I would be doing if I were still at my last job).

For those unsure what it is, Work-Life Balance examines how, when, where, and to what extent employees work.  What may be ideal for one person may not be for another.  Various options exist for Work-Life Balance including flexible hours, telecommuting (which is an adult way of saying I’ll be working from home in my sweatpants today), flexible paid time off, seasonal relocation (yes please) and paternity leave to name just a few.  Taking this even further and what I hope will eventually become the future is the Results-Only Work Environment, shifting focus away from when and where you do your job to results, efficiency, and effectiveness.  Whoa.  You mean treat employees like adults expecting quality work done on time?  What, a crazy concept.

But it makes sense.  At least to me.  We don’t live in a Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5pm culture anymore.  We live in a 24/7 global community, 365 days a year with business being done around the clock.  If we can order groceries online at 2:00 am, why can’t our work lives adjust as well?  You know everyone with a Crackberry or Smartphone is continually checking work emails (and personal email, Facebook, and Twitter simultaneously) from sunrise to sunset.  Although some jobs may always require on-site employees during specific office hours, the majority of positions no longer do.  Work-Life Balance is meant to be tailored for each company, department, and employee/manager.  It’s not a one-size fits all plan so employer and employee have the opportunity to sit down and agree upon the terms that best suit them.

When 88% of employees are experiencing difficulty juggling work and life[1], 40% describing their office environment as “most like a real-life survivor program”[2], and 39% feeling very angry toward their employers[3], do companies really think they are getting the best from their employees?  Wouldn’t people be more productive if they weren’t making mental lists of everything they need to do after work during work?  It doesn’t mean they are bad employees.  But if they can’t find a balance, eventually the two blur together and you’re left with employees worried about home at work and work at home and not performing their best at either.  In the United States employees work more hours yearly than Japanese, French and British employees. [4] European countries have more paid leave (4-5 weeks minimum) per year than the United States but their productivity rate is still higher. [5] Accordingly, 40% of US employees work overtime or bring work home with them at least once a week[6].  It’s depressing just typing that information let alone having to live it.  And yet, we have to take a vacation day to wait for the cable guy (as if that isn’t frustrating enough)?  Or spend 3 hours commuting to work in a snow storm instead of just working from home?  You know, working.

People, especially younger generations, are reevaluating what is important to them in the workforce.  Currently, 92% of Gen Y/Millennials cite career-life fit as their top priority[7] and even 65% of workers aged 45 to 70 say they are looking for ways to better manage work and personal life.[8] Maybe the key is to look at Work-Life Balance like Best Buy and Marriott International did and move focus away from schedules and set hours to efficiency and effectiveness.  This allows employees (i.e. the adults you’ve hired and entrusted to do a job) to take responsibility for their work and set the schedules that best allow them to do their job AND live their life.

[1] (Aon Consulting)
[2] (USAToday.com, 2004)
[3] (Overwork in America: Whey the Way We Work Becomes Too Much)
[4] (ILO Report)
[5] (U.S. Federal Reserve Board)
[6] (Xylo Report, 2000)
[7] (Deloitte, 2011)
[8] (AARP)