“Will Corporate Giving Suffer In The Crunch?”

19 Feb

 charity1

The Times Online asks this important question, one which I hope all employers are carefully considering. I may be more sensistive to this as a former nonprofit executive, who knows how important corporate giving is to providing needed services in a community. Cadbury is featured in the article as one company that is holding firm:

These are uncertain times for charities dependent on corporate giving but Cadbury – associated with philanthropy since its Quaker founders created the Bourn-ville workers’ village in 1895 – insists that it, for one, will continue to give in the recession.

“It’s part of our heritage,” said Cheryl Phillips at Cadbury. “It brings a sense of cohesion to the company, increases employee engagement and develops our people.” my emphasis)

The article also points out another factor that should be considered– employee engagement– which is the theme of this blog. I know of many employers who have seen these same benefits of corporate social responsibility (CSR)– connections in the community, growth in skills, helping the brand image, a sense of satisfaction for employees involved in charitable work– these can bring a nice ROI to a company that is genuinely committed to giving back.

I certainly understand that times are tough and cutbacks may be necessary, but I encourage all employers to add employee views into the mix before making any significant changes to corporate giving.

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A Writer Goes Retail– A Lesson In Liking Your Job

17 Feb

 cash-register1

I encourage you to read the column written in the New York Times by Caitlin Kelly. The author is a freelance writer, who recently took a part-time job at a department store. In the course of her time she learns about her profession of journalism, about the store that apparently does a good job of creating a friendly, productive environment and, most importantly, something about herself. She concludes her column:

My retail co-workers have chosen this job for many reasons. Some are college students, some already work at two other jobs, and for top managers, it’s a well-paid full-time career. It offers flexible scheduling, can be a lot of fun and — in an economy forcing millions to redefine themselves professionally — its expectations are manageable and clear.

With so many media companies struggling, hundreds of my peers are losing their handsome titles and well-paid jobs. Some of them, too, may have to redefine themselves, temporarily and part time, or permanently. Right now, at our store and for this company, I play on a winning team. It feels good.

“Are you still there?” my friends ask me, month after month. Luckily, I am.

Many of us will need to rethink careers in the midst of this crisis. One thing we should keep in mind is that liking what you do and who you work is important. Ms. Kelly’s journey can be a good guide for the rest of us.

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Onboarding– Even More Important Than Ever

15 Feb

shake

According to a study published at CNN/Money.Com, getting employees off to a great start is even more important than ever:

Engaging employees early in their career with a new company is essential to employee satisfaction, retention, and performance, says data from the latest Human Capital Management benchmark report from Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS). Effective onboarding of new employees is so crucial that 50% of more than 600 human resources, talent management, and line of business executives surveyed and interviewed by Aberdeen in December 2008 and January 2009 for this study indicate that the current state of the economy will increase the importance their organization places on onboarding in 2009.

Aberdeen’s research found that the percentage of organizations with a formal onboarding process has grown from 62% to 68% over the past year. In addition, two-thirds of Best-in-Class organizations are now beginning the onboarding process before the new employee’s start date, nearly one-half of which are starting the process as soon as the employment offer is extended. “Best-in-Class organizations are utilizing a formal onboarding process to drive positive impact in the pre-hire and through the new employee’s first year with the company,” said Kevin Martin, vice president and principal analyst, Human Capital Management at Aberdeen. “In fact, at the majority of Best-in-Class organizations, onboarding is seamlessly integrated with both recruitment and performance management.”

I continue to be amazed at how many employers, who desparately want an engaged workforce, do such a rotten job of assimilating new employees. Let’s committ to starting the engagement process the day a person applies for a job at our company, and continue  that effort relentlessly– our survival may depend on it.

(Image courtesy http://www.lumaxart.com/)

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Supporting Employment Of The Disabled

14 Feb

disabled

A new program to support the employment of individuals with disabilities is being launched in New York State, according to a New York Times post:

The School of Industrial and Labor Relations’ Employment and Disability Institute is collaborating on the project “New York Makes Work Pay,” which plans to make finding employment easier for disabled people. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services is sponsoring the initiative. Collaborators with the EDI include New York State Most Integrated Settings Coordinating Council’s Employment Committee, the New York State Office of Mental Health and Syracuse University’s Burton Blatt Institute, according to the Cornell Chronicle.

In the state of New York, there are over 1 million residents between the ages of 21 and 64 that have at least one disability according to the EDI’s 2007 Disability Status Report. While 78 percent of non-disabled New York residents in that age group are employed, only 34 percent of New Yorkers with disabilities have jobs.

In the short-term, the project is working to inform disabled people of their options. Golden explained that the project will create a website to make public the information disabled people need in order to return to work. One current issue Golden mentioned was that many disabled people incorrectly believe that returning to work would compromise their current health care plan. Since they do not understand the rules they elect to avoid any risk by not returning to work.

I wish the program managers well in this endeavor. It’s sad that the unemployment/underemployment of the disabled is so high. Studies show that the retention, productivity, absenteeism and health care claim activity of the disabled is on par, or better, than peer groups. As employers, we may be missing out on a group of talented people who could add value to our companies.

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Hard At Work???

13 Feb

I’m pretty sure one of the principles of employee engagement has to be the desire/ability to stay awake…have a nice weekend!

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Technology-Assisted Training @ Convenience Store Chain– What We Can Learn

13 Feb

learning

An article at Convenience Store News reports on a technology-based training solution the convenience store chain Village Pantry has utilized for their 200-stores. The article describes the outcomes of their first training effort (a sales promotion that was more complex than usual) and plans to use the technology moving forward:

After training was complete, TSi (the firm that designed the technology used by Village Pantry) conducted telephone surveys with questions approved by Village Pantry to validate employees’ knowledge of the promotion, and their feelings toward the training method. The results were “far and away the best training” (Village Pantry CEO Mick) Parker said he’s ever seen. There was only one negative comment about the method of training, due to an equipment problem.

Even better, the Marathon promotion was deemed a success by all measures. Village Pantry saw a good increase in the percentage of customers who used the Marathon card, according to Parker.

Going forward, Village Pantry plans to create a training system for the entire lifecycle of an employee, from new hire training through career development and specialized training, such as store manager training, according to Parker. To date, Village Pantry completed modules prepping store employees, managers and district managers for ongoing store remodeling activities, as well as modules for new hire orientation and restricted sales. Other training modules on Village Pantry’s agenda are point-of-sale, customer service and shift duty training.

The article points out how this method worked for Village Pantry, and serves as a reminder of where technology can play a role in our training and development efforts. It also shows important elements we can all learn from, regardless of whether we embrace a technology-base program:

  • Solicit employee feedback— any learning effort will only be as good as employees believe it to be;
  • Measure Outcomes— a process to measure the effectiveness of the training. There should be an ROI to training and development– we simply need to take the time and effort to think that through; and
  • A committment from senior leadership— congratulations to the CEO for embracing this effort.

With these best practices in mind, many training and development initiatives have a far greater chance of success.

(The image used in this post is by http://www.lumaxart.com/.)

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“Happy Hospitals Make Happy Patients”…

11 Feb

happy-cookies

… Or says a study recently published in Science Daily. The research, conducted by University of Michigan Professor John Griffith, concludes:

In a newly published report, Griffith examined the attributes of 34 community hospitals in nine states that have earned the Health Care Sector Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, a nationally recognized quality benchmark for various industries.

Griffith’s findings suggest that the single-biggest factor in patient satisfaction is hospital employee morale, which starts with outside-the-box thinking at the very top management levels.

These community hospitals had the happiest patients and caregivers, but only because these hospitals departed radically from traditional hospital management, Griffith says.

My co-author Leigh Branham and I conducted a study of the employee engagement in over 100 hospitals, and came to the same conclusion– there is a direct link between employee engagement  and patient satisfaction. Moreover, employee at hospitals with very low engagement results were far more likely to report patient safety and other complaince-related problems, something no hospital wants. Perhaps one way to deal with our health care crisis is to create more engaged workplaces like these honored today.

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Think You Know What Your Employees Are Thinking Right Now? Think Again.

9 Feb

listen

Salary.Com Inc. has conducted a survey of employee and employer perceptions about employee job satisfaction and intent-to-stay. The study, reviewed at Occupational Safety & Health Online reports:

According to the survey, employee satisfaction levels are often overestimated by employers. A set of questions new to this year’s survey found that the current economic climate was less of a deterrent to job seeking than employers anticipated, while variables such as income, job level, industry and age remained consistent factors that affect job satisfaction year-over-year.

Key data points:

• Overall, the survey showed that 65 percent of employees are at least somewhat satisfied in their jobs while employers estimated that figure to be 77 percent. 
• Approximately 65 percent of employees admitted to passively or actively looking for a new job, compared to employers’ estimate of 37 percent. 
• While employers have a good sense of overall employee satisfaction, they often overestimate the degree of extremely satisfied employees nearly 2 to 1. 
• The levels of satisfaction among employees surveyed varied by job level and salary. Not surprisingly, the results of the survey suggest there is a direct link between pay and satisfaction — the higher the salary and job level, the greater the number of extremely satisfied employees. 
• Age affects job satisfaction — millennials report the lowest job satisfaction.

Perhaps this study doesn’t shock you, but it does reveal an important insight that should call us to action–the best way to find about how employees are feeling is to ask them. We need to do a much better job of listening, really hearing, what our associates are feeling right now.

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That’s Not Decaf, Is It?

8 Feb

Hope you have a terrific week! Thought it might be good to start it with a smile:

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“Using Integrity to Repair Trust”

8 Feb

shaking-hands

That was the headline of an excellent article in my hometown newspaper, the Omaha World-Herald. The article reported on a conference called “Aiming Higher”, sponsored by the Greater Omaha (Nebraska, USA) Business Ethics Alliance. The conference brought community leaders and students together to discuss this topic. The article quotes Creighton University professor Beverly Kracher as to why a conference like this is important:

“Everybody seems to lack trust in business as a whole,” Kracher said. “One of the ways to repair that trust is for the public to have good examples. These examples are so powerful they help us all learn.”

This topic of business ethics is particularly important to me this weekend, and I just learned that someone I care about deeply has been affected by the Bernard Madoff scandal. My heart just sank at this news. That sad story has now become quite personal. I am even more upset that his actions have affected how all of us view business and leadership.

Trust in our leaders in many quarters, sadly, has eroded. The hope, from my point of view, is that not all is lost. Our studies of highly engaged workplaces shows that employers with outstanding engagement survey results still present high “Trust In Senior Leaders” ratings. Truth- telling, employee engagement and success in business go hand-in-hand. I think it incumbent on those of who are passionate about great workplaces to continue open dialogue about this topic. The scars of Madoff will not easily be healed– it’s up to us to make that happen.

For excerpts from the Omaha World-Herald of interviews from leaders who participated in this event, Click Here. The full interviews, along with additional information on this topic, can be found at the Business Ethics Alliance web site.

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