4Cs Blog: Happy Employees = Happy Customers

The dot-com culture has changed the traditional brick-and-mortar workplace culture. There is something creative and energetic in the free flowing, open workspace atmosphere. Part of the dot-com appeal is the indoor/outdoor blend that harkens back to the days of a garage-based office with the door wide open. Getting your staff to enjoy some nature time can bring up productivity, creativity and job satisfaction.

It is hard to know what sacrifices are worth making to get ahead in your career. Many people dream of traveling abroad, but fear that taking time off from their current job or from the job hunt will have a negative impact. On the contrary, time spent traveling has proven to pay dividends in both job growth and resume building.

Not all travel is created equal when it comes to your career, though. A week spent lounging on the beach of an all-inclusive resort in Mexico may reduce stress and make you a more productive worker but will probably not impact your career trajectory or impress future employers. Instead, consider travel that will broaden your understanding of other cultures and customs while challenging you to get outside your comfort zone. 

Cost of Living Comparisons

One of the biggest barriers to job mobililty in the last few years was a direct result of the real estate market crash in 2008. Let's say you lost your job in the big recession and after months of searching, you finally got a great job offer in your industry but that job was across the country in a new city. Fantastic, right? Except the home you bought in 2005 is now worth 30% less than when you bought it and you're underwater on your mortgage. How, under those circumstances, could you have packed up and moved across the country to take that great new job? It wasn't possible and it was a big drag on the recovery.

Thankfully the housing market today is a whole lot healthier than it was 7 years ago, so moving cross-country to take a new job isn't the impossible task it was back then. But there are still big questions that you have to consider. Even if that new job offers a higher salary, the cost of living varies substantially from city-to-city in the U.S. Living in San Francisco, for example, is a whole lot more expensive than living in Boise. Will that great new salary still allow you to maintain a comfortable lifestyle or will you be struggling to keep up? That's where the MoneyGeek Cost of Living Calculator can help.

When asked about the most important factor in job satisfaction in a recent survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, 72 percent of respondents agreed that respectful treatment of all employees is paramount. When considering your company's benefits, respect should be a common theme as well. Here are five perks to show your team that you respect them and value their hard work so you can retain top talent for the long haul.

Education Subsidies

Your employees' education doesn't just help them, it benefits the company, too. Encourage all employees to advance their skills with continued education. Whether it's taking a single class or earning a Master's degree or doctorate, your company should encourage employees to seek out more knowledge in order to get maximum fulfillment on the job. By subsidizing education costs, your employees can also feel more respected and valued.

I watched a video recently called ‘Take Care of You First’ that depicted a woman telling her daughter how hard it is to be a mother, a wife and a daughter because the messaging mothers get in our society tells them they must sacrifice everything for their families, even their own happiness. It’s not a particularly healthy message and as she explains to her daughter, everyone, even mothers, have a right to be happy.

What has this got to do with being an engaged or unhappy employee? The video shares a universal message that we can all relate to, it has to do with the understanding that no one else can make you happy, we each have to do it for ourselves.

The way to happiness is by taking responsibility for ourselves and we do that by taking care of ourselves.

Gallup recently reported that only 30% of employees surveyed in their Q12 Engagement Survey are engaged at work. Meaning that most companies aren't getting their best out of their employees, and those same employees are not motivated to perform well. They're either tuned out or burned out. Daniel Goleman argues that the remedy isn't simply finding new managers to motivate teams, it's about committing to continuous improvement for all employees throughout the organization.

We're all in this together

Whether you conducted an employee survey this year or not, our businesses are connected by virtue of our commitment to making work a better place by putting employees first. Building a company that people love starts with inspiration but we know from experience that developing a team of engaged employees is not easy. HR managers have to juggle a lot of different factors to achieve success and hearing from employees is just one of those factors.

We try to make that step pain-free with our scientifically designed employee survey using questions to help you understand engagement in your workforce. Each question is uniquely designed to provide insight into the essence of your employee’s attitudes and feelings so you know whether their needs are being met, or not. Determining your employee engagement index is our goal and we feel strongly that our ability to get you this information sets us apart from our competitors

With Helping Hands 

Many businesses have begun to realize they have the ability to transform the lives of billions by simply looking in their own back yard.

Employees who are given the opportunity to perform acts of service in their communities not only feel better about themselves, they develop closer relationships to each other and associate all those good feelings with the place they work, so increased feeling of morale, loyalty and ultimately engagement, not to mention the how they can positively impact their communities as well. Volunteerism is becoming the norm for companies and the core around which many employee engagement initiatives are being created.

Ask the people who work there!

January 2016.A time for new ideas and new plans.

If you are looking to break with tradition and get a fresh start, why not start with morale. Your foundation is built on it after all. If it is strong you are probably going to have a blockbuster year. If it stinks then next year could be bumpy or worse.

There is only one way to find out how good morale is in your company- you have to ask the people who work there.

Companies are notoriously good at analyzing sales and other aspects of their business but many fail to see or realize the benefit of analyzing morale. Which, when you consider that every business relies on its people to succeed, measuring morale is serious ‘stuff’. Not measuring moral is akin to gambling when you are willing to take the chance that everything is okay. Instincts are good but the facts speak for themselves and they trump false impressions and misconceptions every time.

While you may think finding good employees is difficult, keeping them happy and fulfilled at you company is even harder. Employee perks are becoming more competitive industry wide, which means it's time for you to fine-tune your methods for motivating and retaining employees. Here are a few strategies to keep your employees around for the long haul.

1. Start a Mentor Program

The value of mentoring can easily get lost in our "me first" selfish culture, but its value should not be underestimated. Mentoring new employees can help them feel a greater sense of belonging, accountability and create an overall desire to succeed.

While you may want to pair employees in the same departments, don't. Instead pair new employees with a mentor in another department to help broaden their view of how the company works. Senior management and executives may seem too busy to take part, but they can be the most valuable mentors to new employees, especially those who are just starting out in their careers. Mentoring pairs do not need to meet very often, once every other week or monthly is sufficient. Just be sure these parameters are clear up front to get the most participation and value out of your mentor program.

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