This phenomenon was was just written about in the blog of the Harvard Business review and articulated very well by Rob Markey. Rob Markey is co-author, with Fred Reichheld, of the book: The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World, just published by HBR Press. He is a partner in Bain & Company’s New York office and head of the firm’s global Customer Strategy and Marketing practice. Here is the link to his blog: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/transform_your_employees_into.html.

In his article he mentions employee surveys as a tool. That is what we do at Data Wise. We go into companies and for a modest price conduct independent surveys of the employees on their thoughts about the company, what they might like to see change, etc. We then follow up with Plan Based Action Planning. Employees get happier when they discover management wants to know that they have on their mind and any changes in structure or policy they would like to make.

It’s a great way to re-set the mind set and more closely align the teams! To say nothing of getting your company name and product and service out there when the time is right.

When paid jobs get a priority for your volunteers, How do you motivate and engage your volunteers?
There isn’t a simple solution, but I have found that if you keep assignments short they seem to be motivated to at least sign up for a shift.

If there is a long term committee commitment, I have found that email or some type of a collaborative system works the best.   At their leisure, Volunteers can read and respond to discussions.

What about perks to get engagement?
My current role is chairing the Talent and Stage Committee for a music festival.    We handle artiest selection and the production of the show.     We are into our 3 year and I have a dedicated crew that works the whole show (12 to 16 hour).  Why?  Because of the perks.  Food, drink, and free tickets.

They’ve neglected the happiness quotient and aren’t reinforcing in their employees the three things that drive people: 1) an assurance of success if they follow clear direction 2)  reward for their labors 3) recognition and appreciation of a job well done.

Put the happiness back in the job may seem like a difficult task, but anonymous surveys inexpensively and skillfully administered can go a long way towards buoying morale. Followed by focused, attentive action planning based on the direction laid out in the surveys can make the mood of any company go from gloomy to sunny.

If you’d like to start with the customer side, we would be happy to do customer satisfaction surveys as well for you in the same purposeful, objective manner.

Soon your customers will be singing your employees praises. Employees who have learned that management cares enough to listen AND act will bolster productivity and self-esteem which they will wear on their faces in the form of smiles that can be heard over the phone and seen in person by your every customer!

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”  ― Dr. Seuss

The key to being stress free at work is taking the advice of Author, Poet and Cartoonist Theodor Seuss Geisel otherwise known as Dr. Seuss.

“Psychology Today” would agree, “Scientists find that days filled with a string of stressful events will do it. But so will one chronic source of stress – like an abrasive relative or co-worker. In either case, our body fails to turn down the volume on the stress response. If we keep going through stress spirals, we enter what neurobiologists call “frazzle,” a technical term for the state of being overwhelmed. While frazzled we react in rigid ways, can’t adapt to change, can’t concentrate.”

Much of workplace stress is due to people not being their true, or genuine selves. They put on an act at work and try to act more “professional” more “low-key” or more “wound-up” to fit into the company culture at hand.

Add this to the stress to perform, the stress of the holidays, stress to get ahead, etc. leaves employees “frazzled” and unable to concentrate, also says “Psychology Today” on November 21, 2011.

So what can we glean from Dr. Seuss’ words that will help us in the workplace? Be who you are first of all. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. Say what you feel and think, courteously, be honest. Honest feedback will help your company more than just mimicking the standard company line. Why? Because those who mind, the petty, the gossips, those ruthlessly climing to the top DON’T matter. That is old school and won’t work for them in this new age of information, communication, genuine connection and leading from within. And those who matter, your mentors, true leaders, WON’T mind. They want you to be yourself. They want to hear what you have to say. They hired you to contribute to the team.

If this sounds like an ideal workplace, it is. Yours can be like this too. And Data Wise Business Solutions can help. If you would like to impact your company culture so all of your employees have a voice, and you are reaping the rewards s of increased productivity and growth we are here. Anonymous surveys and key action planning can begin to turn the tide for your company.

If you are an employee who would like to see change, put this article on your fearless leader’s desk. Dialogue about it. Think together how great it would be to put your company on track with genuine employees feeling free to speak up, and work the way they were intended to, with joy and passion.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”  ― Dr. Seuss

  Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

William James

Read more:http://www.brainyquote.com

Are Your Employees Happy?

It’s important to know for three reasons:

1. It’s very expensive to lose an employee. Employee turnover in the U.S. is low at the present time, but that will change when the economy improves. And the facts are that the cost of losing an employee costs a company between 25-250 percent of his annual income.

2. Unhappiness takes a bite out of productivity. Whoever you have on staff who is happy is getting the majority of the work done. That is a fact. Unhappy people’s productivity drops dramatically and continues to sink with their mood. If your whole company basically is in a bad mood, you could be in real trouble.

3. Unhappy employees have unreliable attendance which costs you and everyone else on their team time and money. They call in sick, take longer breaks and are late more often

Boost your Employees Happiness Quotient:

1. Employee satisfaction surveys, will measure the mood at your office. The amazing thing is that throwing money at employees is not the answer. You need to discover why your employees are unhappy and take steps to remedy their situation. Surveys conducted by an objective third party will allow them to be honest about their feelings.

2. Follow the surveys with key action planning. Responding to your employees feedback is crucial.

3. Follow through with the changes that were asked for in the surveys and bring about true organizational change.

Once you’ve listened to your employees, keep doing it. You will be surprised to discover that many people still take pride in a job well done, as much as a raise — although those are important — and a word of encouragement and validation from their manager goes a long way to making their job worthwhile.

Enjoy a happy atmosphere in your “new” company!

[Source]

Motivate Your Employees:

1. Managing individual expectations: make sure each employee knows what is expected of them, have clearly defined goals and objectives to measure performance against and don’t change it midstream.
2. Reward each employee for meeting their objectives: Say “Thank You”. Give them a day off if they’ve been pulling some unpaid overtime. How about a gift card to a local restaurant for them and a friend or family member? None of this is expensive, but practiced regularly will build loyalty and motivate employees to work hard to please because they like you and enjoy their work.
3. Lead well and with kindness. Keep your lip buttoned when negativity enters your mind. Negativity kills motivation and ruins workplace atmosphere. It goes a long way to putting your entire company or organization in a bad mood.
4. Communicate, communicate, communicate! Employees like and need to know what is happening with the company, the industry, everything you feel comfortable sharing. Remember a happy company is like a family and two-way communication is essential for growth. So let them know where you stand, where they stand and listen to their ideas and concerns. They will like you better for it!
5. Have some fun at work! Encourage laughter and goodwill by being an ambassador of both. Laugh at yourself once in a while, the whole room will join in. Allow for breaks in the day and don’t allow employees to keep their faces buried in their desks all day. Encourage collaboration, team work and positivity. It goes a long way!
6. Survey your employees to discover what they need and want that is lacking in your company culture and ACT on the results!

For help with #6 call us at: 952-491-0148

An Information Technology Company.   …St. Cloud-based Marco Inc., which sells, installs and manages networked voice, data, video and print solutions, doesn’t hold patents, manufacture anything or offer unique products…

The company is owned by the employees.   That can help with employee satisfaction.  …which is 100 percent employee-owned through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), returns 100 percent of its profits to employees…  …Marco launched its ESOP in 1989 and has been wholly employee-owned since 2001…

They survey their employees annually.   … One way Marco gauges employee happiness is by surveying its workforce. The company, which enjoys low turnover, has been conducting employee satisfaction surveys for 22 years…

“We invest a lot in validating that our employees really do like this as a place to work,” Gau said [Company CEO]. “Everybody claims they have the best people. I like to see it validated sometimes. I’ll put my report card up against anybody’s because you know what? I’ve got one. Having a report card, having a point of validation helps, and our customers want to know we’re just not talking about it.”….

They also survey their customers.   …Marco also has been conducting frequent customer satisfaction surveys since 1994. If a customer responds negatively to any of the 12 questions on the survey, the sales rep has 24 hours to get in touch and “start the recovery process,” Gau said [Company CEO].

“We recover them almost 100 percent of the time,” Gau said, adding that he’s returned six-figure payments to customers “to make it right. That’s really painful. But you get to keep the customer for life.”…

Source

The answer is Yes.

Employees will give honest answers when they know that their identity is protected.    If employees don’t trust the survey process, you will see data distribution is very neutral.

Are web based surveys any more anonymous then paper?     The answer is yes.

For a web based survey, communications go from survey provider directly to the participant.    With paper, many people can touch it.    A more costly paper solution would to directly mail the survey to the employee’s home address.

Should a company host their own survey using a one of the free survey web hosting like surveymonkey?      Well the answer to that does get people to argue for each side.      We say Yes.

We at Data Wise believe you will get better responses if you use an external company.  We are in the business, so you would expect that statement from us shouldn’t you?   Well, we have seen it when clients go from internal to external they do get better participation and better responses.   Employees seem to not trust HR when they host a survey.

One last thing to think about.   If you need to report responses based on department.   How do you collect what department they work in?    Survey Question?    How does the individual response get protected?     An internal survey, the HR administrator will see all responses.   An external survey,   reporting is aggregated (summarized).

There are several factors to consider when polling your employees.

1. Do your employees trust HR or Management?
2. Do your employees think they can be identified through their responses?
3. Do your employees trust the survey process.  Be it paper or internet?

It should be a big surprise that trust of HR or Management can be low.   We have found with working with our clients, that employees trust Management with strategic decisions but not necessary decisions when it comes to employees.

Any time an employee thinks they can be identified, they either will not participate or they will respond neutral.

How do you make an employee trust the survey will be confidential?
DO NOT

• The first and easy way is not to ask employees personal information.   Never ask for Name, phone, Mail Station, and etc.   That might seem obvious, but we have seen clients that have done that.
• Don’t ask detailed demographic information.   Example: Years served, Title, Position, Function.
• When asking board demographic information,  make sure the number of employees in a category are more than 5.    Example:  Department, City, Country.     Remember if your Europe office only has 2 employees, do not ask what is your Country.

DO

• When corresponding with your employees.  Make sure it is a person that the employees trust. Receiving an email from the Evil HR Director will not instill trust.
• Have a set of questions that are not positivity or negatively tainted.
• Communicate as soon as possible the outcome of the survey to the employees.
• Have a 3rd party administrator like Data Wise Business Solutions will help

But what about the other two thirds of you work force? Studies show they’re simply putting in their time.

So what do we do about two thirds of the work force, many of whom are just getting by? Half perhaps at least are dreaming of a way out. They’ve caught the “Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” mindset. They are definitely looking for greener pastures. Some of them, staid and depressed economy or not — they are going to make a break for it. The others are only working two hours perhaps of real work per day. This is very costly. Training new employees and replacing once seasoned workers is a big financial burden…paying employees who aren’t really working a full day is another terrific expense.

What if there was a low cost solution to this very expensive problem? There is and it has to do with engaging with your employees on the level where they live: honest discourse is your answer…but how do you accomplish honest two-way, productive communication? Survey says: Survey your employees and commit to change as a result of what they tell you!

Employees won’t survey themselves to happiness, but you as employers can affect big changes in their level of job engagement starting with a method that is tried and true: The objective 3rd party survey, conducted without judgment, analyzed by skilled survey technicians and backed up with effective action planning so the changes that are recommended by the survey data are made in the company culture and led by an inspired, committed management team.

Sound too difficult? Data Wise Business Solutions can make it happen for you and bring the other two thirds of your staff up to a level of engagement that will revolutionize your company, impact your industry and greatly impact all of your customers.

Call us today!