Surgeon General’s Workplace Warning

The state of the American workplace is so bad, the US Surgeon General has now stepped in. The same guy who warns us of the deadly consequences of smoking is now saying Americans suffer from mental and physical health problems because of stressful, sometimes hostile, often toxic workplaces.

He cites specific workplace conditions that contribute to […]

By |2022-10-25T18:51:25+00:00October 25th, 2022|Categories: Post|Tags: , , , , , , , |0 Comments

We Were Warned

We were warned.

For years, companies like Gallup cautioned that the vast majority of our employees were disengaged from their work. Researchers showed us that this lowered productivity and morale, and increased absenteeism and employee turnover. They said that large chunks of our workforce were considering changing jobs or careers.

And they placed the blame squarely on […]

By |2021-10-21T19:29:19+00:00October 21st, 2021|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

Be Careful What You Bonus For

In all areas of life, incentives work really well. They’re easy to understand—if I do this, I will get that—and they focus people on a specific outcome. We start young—eat your vegetables and you’ll get dessert—and we continue to respond to incentives all our lives.

In business, incentives are incredibly successful. Do you want your employee […]

By |2021-08-03T14:23:07+00:00June 11th, 2021|Categories: Post|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

The Biggest Obstacle to Great Employee Relations

We’ve heard the slogans: “People are our most important asset.” “We want to be an employer of choice.”

And we know most companies fall far short of those aspirations, for lots of reasons.

Sometimes, it’s because their leaders say the words but really don’t understand why they should have an engaged workforce. To them, it seems like […]

By |2021-05-11T17:46:14+00:00May 11th, 2021|Categories: Post|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

Three Keys to Great Employee Relations

Amazon and some of its workers are going through tough times right now. News coverage of Amazon’s labor problems often refer to the company as being “at war” with its employees.

Imagine that.

It’s like an auto-immune disorder in which the mechanisms designed to keep the body healthy attack it instead.

The company’s leadership needs employees in order […]

By |2021-04-09T22:21:08+00:00April 9th, 2021|Categories: Post|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

Manage Like You Live Next Door

As a manager, your job is pretty straightforward: make sure the people on your team do their work as well and as efficiently as possible.

Good managers accomplish this by putting their team members first, keeping their focus on the business (not on their own ego), communicating honestly and frequently, rewarding success, and publicly promoting their […]

By |2021-04-04T21:09:26+00:00April 4th, 2021|Categories: Post|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

What Young Millennials and Gen Z Employees Expect

The latest Gallup report says all employees look for ethical leadership and companies that care about employees’ wellbeing, while younger employees also prioritize diverse and inclusive company cultures.

But are managers creating those kinds of workplaces? Most often, no.

“Employees experience your organization through their manager. If your managers aren’t doing it, it’s not your culture.”

4 […]

By |2021-04-04T19:47:57+00:00April 1st, 2021|Categories: Post|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Got Any Bright Ideas?

Do you feel pressure to come up with new ideas?

Things change so quickly these days, it seems we need new ideas and fresh thinking just to survive. We need to understand how our customers are changing. Will they still need us a year from now? What should we do to our products, distribution, or marketing […]

By |2021-02-20T23:23:20+00:00February 20th, 2021|Categories: Post|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

Another Day, Another Scandal – Why Don’t We Learn?

(published January 26, 2021) Another day, another scandal involving executives who are said to have engaged in sexist, racist behavior.

Today’s story has all the usual elements—bad boys whose maturation appears to have stopped in the frat house, traumatized staff afraid of retaliation, and a corporation expressing shock that such things could have […]

By |2021-02-20T23:25:30+00:00January 26th, 2021|Categories: Post|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

Terms of Engagement

There’s no debate that companies with engaged employees and diverse teams are more successful. They have greater profitability, lower costs, and higher stock prices than companies with disengaged, homogeneous workforces. For years, studies and real-world experience have shown this to be true, and yet here we are at the beginning of 2021, […]

By |2021-01-20T22:08:03+00:00January 13th, 2021|Categories: Post|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
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