Secrets of Combatting Job Misery
Making Success Measurable
Success is a difficult thing to define, though most everyone wants it. But, most definitions of personal success have a common theme – the personal achievement of an important goal or vision. Sadly, many people feel unfulfilled and unsuccessful at work, and it often makes them miserable. According to Patrick Lencioni, author of The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, this feeling often occurs when people don’t have the ability to measure their success on the job.
So, what’s an employer to do? The solution is easy enough, Lencioni says. Employers and managers must equip every employee with the tools and goals they need to personally measure their own job success. Here are three tips for doing just that:
1. Focus on things employees control.
The first step is to find areas of their jobs that employees have direct control over. No one should have to measure their personal success based on factors they can’t control or even influence. Too often, employers fall into the trap of only tying employee success to overall company goals like hitting a certain sales number. While it’s important to help employees understand how their individual efforts contribute to these goals, make sure you’re helping employees measure their actual contributions and efforts instead. Make sure things they measure are closely tied to their actual jobs. Also, give employees the tools and resources they need to measure their success themselves. In most workplaces, the closest thing employees have to this is the feedback they get from their boss. While feedback is important, having no other resources for measuring success can be problematic because it’s subjective and often enables politics and favoritism to come into play.
2. Make measurement meaningful.
Ensure that the areas employees measure their success by are directly related to the big-picture relevance of their jobs. You can identify relevance by asking “who does this job serve, and how?” It’s critical to link measurement to job relevance, otherwise employees are often left wondering why they don’t measure the most important part of their jobs, Lencioni says.
3. Don’t confuse measurable with quantifiable.
Employers seeking to create goals often overemphasize numerical metrics that rarely have intrinsic meaning for employees. That’s because numbers are typically chosen arbitrarily and easily become an artificial, meaningless thing to measure. It’s fine to measure the metrics, but make sure you’re also building other types of measurement. Lencioni suggests that effective areas of measurement are often behavioral. You can measure these through informal surveys or observations of customer satisfaction,
for example.
By helping employees measure their success in meaningful ways, you can equip them to achieve greater job satisfaction – even if you don’t increase compensation. In fact, research shows that goals don’t have to be linked to pay incentives to be effective. So, if you can’t afford to pay employees when they meet measurable goals, don’t worry about it too much. You can create a happier workforce simply by helping employees measure how successfully they are doing what they’re already being paid to do.
Want More?
• What Are the Three Signs of a Miserable Job?
• Understanding the Problem of Anonymity and How to Fix It
• Tips for Making Work More Meaningful
Introducing New Employees to the Workplace
Onboarding Can Boost Productivity, Retention
How employers handle a person’s first on-the-job experience determines a lot about their ability to perform over time. But, effectively transitioning new employees into the workforce is about more than just the first few days. Research shows that it takes people some time on the job to reach full productivity – from eight to 26 weeks according to one report by the Society for Human Resource Management. So, what’s the best way to help new employees ramp up quickly? Investing in the long-term success of employees through onboarding is a great way to start.
Orientation v. Onboarding
Onboarding is the process of equipping a new employee for their role within an organization over time. On the other hand, orientation typically occurs on a new employee’s first day and consists of giving new hires an overview of the company products, services, customers, and organizational structure. It’s also when new hires fill out personnel paperwork and get the basic lay of the land. Orientation is a critical part of onboarding, but many companies leave employees to fend for themselves after this introductory session. So, to effectively boost new hires, it’s important to create a program that extends beyond orientation.
The Goal of Onboarding
Onboarding expands the process of helping new hires understand their roles. Many programs last from a month to a year. A great program doesn’t have to be an official checklist of materials and procedures. Experts say onboarding programs should have one main goal: to help the hiring manager build a relationship with the new employee. This may be surprising since many companies focus on providing information more than the employee-employer relationship. But, research shows that one of the most important factors in job satisfaction is this relationship. That’s because it helps employees understand their jobs better, get relevant feedback, and understand what is expected of them.
Enable Conversations
Beverly Kaye, author of Love ‘em or Lose ‘em: Getting Good People to Stay, suggests having managers focus on having regular conversations with new hires during the onboarding period. What should these talks cover? Kaye suggests the following: how the employee can build relationships within the team, what the employee’s passions are, how they can use their passions on the job, what challenges they desire in order to grow, how the job relates to overall company goals, how they can maintain work/life balance, and how to follow-through on feedback from the boss.
Request Questions
One of the hardest things for new hires to do is ask questions. Many waste a lot of time in their first 90 days just trying to guess their way around systems, procedures, and norms. So, it’s critical in an onboarding period to ensure a culture in which new hires feel comfortable asking questions. One easy way to do this is to create a specific way or time new hires can ask questions. You could set aside the first five minutes of staff meetings for general Q&A, or establish weekly individual meetings for new hires and managers to discuss overall questions. Or, take an informal approach and ask co-workers to check in with new hires regularly to see if they need help.
Foster Relationships
Another important element in bringing new hires in is helping them build relationships with new co-workers. This helps them feel connected and also facilitates question asking. A great way to help new hires feel welcomed from day one is to create a buddy program for the first few weeks. Assign new employees to seasoned ones who can show them around and help them meet new people on the team.
Remember that onboarding doesn’t have to be a complicated process. But, helping employees learn more than just the basics of the company can also help them see why your company is a great fit, boosting not just productivity, but retention as well.
Keeping Your Workplace Well
Tips to Combat Presenteeism
The arrival of cold weather also means the arrival of cold and flu season. Sometimes, sick employees continue to show up for work, bringing their germs along with them. When sick employees come to work instead of staying at home and recuperating, this is called presenteeism. Employers report it as a growing problem, for many reasons.
First, there’s an increased risk of spreading illness to other workers and customers. According to the annual CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey, 87% of employers reported that sick workers come to work with short-term illnesses that can easily spread. Also, there’s an increased chance for errors along with loss of productivity and creativity when employees are sick on the job. All this can add up to a hit to the bottom line. In fact, research shows presenteeism can cost employers $2,000 per worker per year.
Solving the Problem of Presenteeism
The most common tactic employers use to address presenteeism is simply sending sick workers home. The CCH survey found that 54% of employers utilize this approach to reduce presenteeism. Here are a few other tips to combat presenteeism.
• Paid Time Off (PTO) Policies – Sixty-nine percent of employers reported that having a paid time-off system helps deter presenteeism, according to the CCH Survey. An employee can use PTO at their own discretion, which enables them to feel less obligated to come in when they are sick.
• Carry Over PTO-Sick Leave – In addition to having a PTO policy, you may want to consider implementing a carry-over policy, so that employees can carry over some or all of their unused sick days each year. Having extra sick leave can help employees take the time they need to fully recuperate.
• Education and Wellness Programs – Keeping workers healthy is the most cost effective tactic employers can use. Wellness programs help companies proactively help employees manage their health and avoid becoming ill to begin with. It’s also important to educate your workers on where the company stands about coming to work sick and the importance of avoiding spreading illnesses to others.
• Working from Home – Telecommuting is another method many employers use to help combat presenteeism. If an employee is contagious or recovering from an illness, consider allowing them to perform their work functions from home. This method is best used for illnesses or conditions that don’t hamper cognitive processes but may be contagious – like chicken pox. The CCH Survey shows that 30% of companies are allowing sick workers to telecommute.
• Flu Shot Programs – A preventative approach for employers to battle presenteeism is to provide on-site flu vaccinations. Vaccination programs were available to 66% of the companies surveyed by the CCH Survey.
• Use Temporary Help – The CCH Survey reports that only 25% of companies have a plan in place in the event that a large percentage of employees become sick. But you can always turn to a staffing agency for help. When you regularly utilize temporary staffing to cover workloads when employees call in sick, your workforce will be reassured that their work will be taken care of while they recover.
Stocking up on tissues isn’t the only way to prepare for flu season. Consider alternative programs to promote health and prevent illness. Employers can keep the majority of their co-workers healthy while allowing sick workers to recover by making an effort to curb presenteeism.
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Exchange is a publication of Express Services, Inc., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Copyright 2008.