Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Public Relations Scandals
Poor Pepsi! They can't even be Number One in public relations scandals. Someone else is always better. Congratulations to United Airlines for stepping up and showing everyone who's boss!
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
The Emotional Experience of the Workplace
After a long day of work, employees can expect to come home feeling tired, worn out, stressed out, and even exhausted. Work is often demanding, and the amount of work that an employee must complete in a day is not always under the control of management.
Deadlines can converge. Supply chains can be interrupted. Crises can happen.
Clients can be demanding. Orders can surge unexpectedly. Colleagues may need to take a day off without warning.
So, if you're tired at the end of the day, welcome to the club. You have plenty of hard-working company.
The more important questions are:
Do employees feel valued, respected, and appreciated? Do they believe that their contributions are important? Do their efforts provide them with a sense of satisfaction?
Or do they feel disposable, overly criticized, or under-appreciated? Do they believe that their contributions are futile? Does the work leave them feeling frustrated and miserable?
The emotional experience of the workplace is an area where management has considerable influence. If employees routinely feel demeaned, undervalued, micro-managed, brow beaten, or otherwise miserable, management isn't doing its job.
I'm going to repeat that statement in capital letters: MANAGEMENT IS NOT DOING ITS JOB.
Do your employees have to deal with difficult customers? Support them and put policies in place that help to protect them from abuse.
Do your employees feel uncertain about their future at your firm? Reassure them to the degree that you can.
Do your employees feel stressed out from an unrealistic workload? There are many solutions. Streamline the workflow. Set reasonable expectations with clients. Provide better training. Or hire more people.
Do your employees feel unappreciated, hopeless, and downtrodden? That doesn't happen when management encourages them actively.
Is there friction between employees? Talk to them separately, address what each one feels is unfair, and take action to make everyone feel listened to and respected.
Management's job is to deliver results in a timely, efficient, and ethical manner.
Miserable employees are not efficient. They're not focused on the work; they're focused on how bad they're feeling about the work. They're not focusing on the important customers; they're agonizing over the jerk that berated them (and the boss who didn't support them adequately). They don't have the company's best interest at heart; they're trying to figure out how to get through the week without having a heart attack.
When the workplace is miserable, the more talented employees will leave. The less talented will stay on but while being consumed by the hopelessness of their plight.
Management is in charge. If morale is low, some level of management bears the lion's share of the responsibility for that. Not every manager is necessarily at fault. It's not uncommon for the line manager to be constrained by financial pressure from above. But SOMEONE in the management chain is responsible for bad morale, and it's up to those people to do something about it before the entire operation falls apart.
Deadlines can converge. Supply chains can be interrupted. Crises can happen.
Clients can be demanding. Orders can surge unexpectedly. Colleagues may need to take a day off without warning.
So, if you're tired at the end of the day, welcome to the club. You have plenty of hard-working company.
The more important questions are:
Do employees feel valued, respected, and appreciated? Do they believe that their contributions are important? Do their efforts provide them with a sense of satisfaction?
Or do they feel disposable, overly criticized, or under-appreciated? Do they believe that their contributions are futile? Does the work leave them feeling frustrated and miserable?
The emotional experience of the workplace is an area where management has considerable influence. If employees routinely feel demeaned, undervalued, micro-managed, brow beaten, or otherwise miserable, management isn't doing its job.
I'm going to repeat that statement in capital letters: MANAGEMENT IS NOT DOING ITS JOB.
Do your employees have to deal with difficult customers? Support them and put policies in place that help to protect them from abuse.
Do your employees feel uncertain about their future at your firm? Reassure them to the degree that you can.
Do your employees feel stressed out from an unrealistic workload? There are many solutions. Streamline the workflow. Set reasonable expectations with clients. Provide better training. Or hire more people.
Do your employees feel unappreciated, hopeless, and downtrodden? That doesn't happen when management encourages them actively.
Is there friction between employees? Talk to them separately, address what each one feels is unfair, and take action to make everyone feel listened to and respected.
Management's job is to deliver results in a timely, efficient, and ethical manner.
Miserable employees are not efficient. They're not focused on the work; they're focused on how bad they're feeling about the work. They're not focusing on the important customers; they're agonizing over the jerk that berated them (and the boss who didn't support them adequately). They don't have the company's best interest at heart; they're trying to figure out how to get through the week without having a heart attack.
When the workplace is miserable, the more talented employees will leave. The less talented will stay on but while being consumed by the hopelessness of their plight.
Management is in charge. If morale is low, some level of management bears the lion's share of the responsibility for that. Not every manager is necessarily at fault. It's not uncommon for the line manager to be constrained by financial pressure from above. But SOMEONE in the management chain is responsible for bad morale, and it's up to those people to do something about it before the entire operation falls apart.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Obnoxious Office Behavior
Of all of the obnoxious, unneighborly, and downright stomach-turning behavior that I have encountered in offices over the years - the loud talkers, the unrelenting political debaters, the soup slurpers, the ear and nose pickers, the too much information on the telephone guy, the people who clip their fingernals and toenails at the desk, and those who stink up the entire floor by microwaving fish at lunchtime - the current record-holder is a guy who clears his throat throughout the day with a loud, deep-throated, "hocker" sound whilst sitting as his desk during business hours.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Angels
In an environment that thrives on negative reinforcement, treasure those kind and thoughtful souls who take the time to help you when you desperately need support.
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
An Ounce of Common Courtesy
It's not that difficult to chew with your mouth closed. Really, it isn't! Perhaps you might try practicing the technique at home before bringing your meals into the office.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
The Loudest Guy In The Office
That moment when the loudest guy in the office suite scolds someone else for talking while HE'S on the phone.
"Keep it DOWN! I'm trying to HEAR!"
Yeah, well, welcome to our world, you mannerless troglodyte!
"Keep it DOWN! I'm trying to HEAR!"
Yeah, well, welcome to our world, you mannerless troglodyte!
Thursday, March 31, 2016
An Open Letter
An open letter to the place where I worked a few years ago:
While I still have friends slaving away in your offices, I hesitate to tell the whole brutal truth about the way that you treat your workforce. But I have a long memory and a talent for putting my experiences into prose. Your day is coming. The cold, uncensored light of reality is poised and ready to shine down brightly upon you and expose every detail of your miserable, malignant festering sore of a corporate culture.
In the meantime, maybe you should clean up your act. Because this is going to be an interesting read for you shareholders and prospective employees.
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