4Cs Blog: Happy Employees = Happy Customers

 What are the most important goals for your oranization in the coming year? The folks over at Ceridian have an interesting infographic giving some answers to this question. The following is a summary of what they found:

 Wasn't this a hilarious Big Bang Theory episode? You know, the one where Dr. Sheldon Cooper decides to send himself to work via a PC screen attached to a mobile robot. Double Robotics has created this novel device which allows you to turn your iPad into a movable virtual presence device just like Sheldon's making plain old teleconferencing look positively stone age.

Here's an interesting TED talk on the puzzle of motivation from Dan Pink. Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. In other words, carrots and sticks don't work. Hit the Read More link below to watch the video.

 Collaborative enviroments are an important factor in highly engaged workplaces. In this short video from Harvard Business Review, Robert Chavez, CEO of Hermès US, argues companies should consider the personalities of the people they hire as much as the skill sets they have. Qualities like a sense of humor, cheerfulness and easy rapport with others are a huge benefit to your organization as a whole if they come naturally to the people you hire. "We can't teach people how to smile." says Chavez.

Election day is upon us! After what seems like an especially long campaign, it's finally all over but the celebrating (or the weeping). We've seen a number of stories come out during this election season (purportedly as a result of the Supreme Court's "Citizen's United" decision) that describe an increasing tendency for some employers to "encourage" their employees to vote for one candidate versus another.  Whether it's company-wide memos in favor of the CEO's favorite candidate, or "mandatory" participation in political rallies for one party over another, or even going so far as threatening job loss for a wrongly cast ballot, there's one thing we are certain of.  It's a very bad idea. By all means, encourage them to excercise their right to vote and participate in our democracy. Go the extra mile and allow them time off in order to do so. They'll think you're a hero! But please don't badger, intimidate or coerce your employees into voting the way you want them to. Then they'll just think you're a heel.

Jeffrey Pfeffer over at the HBR Blog Network agrees. Besides being just the wrong thing to do, it probably won't work (we think it will backfire big time) because as Jeff points out...

1. You probably won't sway them.
2. It diminishes your influence in other realms.
3. It takes you off-message.

There are many challenges to running a company and maintaining a workforce that's both committed and engaged and rooting for your company's success. As Jeff says: "The last thing a company facing a difficult economy and competitive challenges needs is a CEO that uses communications channels with employees to introduce yet another distraction: Politics."  We couldn't agree more. Read Jeff's complete blog posting at HBR here.

Found this great list on the University of Washington's Human Resources Web Site. It has 57 ideas for reward & recognition that won't cost you a penny.

1. Post a thank you note on an employee’s door.
2. Take time to explain to new employees the norms and culture of your department.
3. Give special assignments to people who show initiative.
4. Arrange for a team to present the results of its efforts to upper management.
5. Encourage and recognize staff who pursue continuing education.
6. Create and post an “Employee Honor Roll” in reception area.
7. Acknowledge individual achievements by using employee’s name when preparing a status report
8. Make a thank-you card by hand.
9. Give employees an extra long lunch break.
10. Establish a place to display memos, posters, photos and so on, recognizing progress towards goals and thanking individual employees for their help

Click on the Read More link below to see the full list of 57 ideas.

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