Culture, Employee Morale, Innovation

Company Culture

I came across a very interesting article on Company Culture written by Arshad Chowdhury for Fast Company.  The article points out a few very cool culture ideas for companies to implement for happier employees.   Here are a few from the article:

  • Celebrate Going Home Early.  By focusing on work output rather than hours worked, you can foster a culture where employees will work much harder because it means they can get out of the office early.
  • Talk About the Future.  Find out what your employees’ 5 and 10-year goals are and support them in their endeavor, whatever it may be. The example in the article is that if an employee wants to be an actor, then you should help them find acting classes and work with their schedule.  So even if the employee does not have plans to be at your company in the next few years, he or she will be much more loyal and work harder for you because of your understanding.
  • Encourage Employee Expertise.   By encouraging employees to become experts in their jobs and to share their expertise with their coworkers, you can foster an environment where more employees will take pride in their work.

There are a lot of other suggestions within the article, and I highly recommend taking some time look at it.

 

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Employee Morale, Inspiration, Problem Solving

Teamwork Part 1

“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, and a civilization work.’’   — Vince Lombardi I think this is one of the hardest aspects of any managers’ job:  getting individuals to put aside their own selfish desires for the good of the team/company. […]

Employee Morale

Creative Customer Service

I noticed this article (Customer Hall of Shame), and it got me thinking about why some companies have such terrible reputations for customer service.   To me it seems that many companies get so caught up in following the correct policies and procedures that employees’ ability to creatively solve customer services issues has been taken away. […]

Employee Morale, Innovation

Generating New Ideas

In my dealings, employers generally do a terrible job of creating an environment where employees consistently are willing to share new ideas. If employees are not rewarded for their new ideas, there is a good chance they are not going to be willing to share them. Here’s what kills me: what could a really good […]