Pehle Aap (People First) !

It’s been said that ‘Home is where the heart is’ well the same applies for any organization. Work, check; place, check; pay hike, check, office-they say. Be it sole-proprietorship, partnership, joint-stock, all initiates with money, material, machinery, method and Man. (err, women too). And the man being referred here as the company or the employee of the organization. The fact is the company grows, spreads gradually with the employees, along with them. Yes selection, recruitment are only process and types. Nothing beyond it. Man-made process, machinery, idea is all cost and figure but the real thing comes with the employees. An identity or existence of a particular organization is again through the employees, directly or indirectly. Company cultures are like country cultures’- Peter Drucker, and the citizens are working men. When we talk about the ‘aam aadmi’, it connects like nothing else.   

Research and experience clearly show it’s worth the time and money to build a high performing workforce. The cost of replacing an employee typically ranges from one to three times his or her annual salary and the average company loses about $1 million with every 10 professional employees who leave. The investment side is also affected. According to a recent analysis done by investment firm Frank Russell Co for the Great Place To Work Institute, money invested in a portfolio of stocks of Fortune 100 Best Companies in 1997 and held through 2003, returned almost three times more (72.9% return) than the same amount invested in an S&P 500 portfolio (25.2% return) during this six year period. Customers, contractors, advertisers, other agencies, shareholders, & valuation fluctuate but the employees are a bit more. Belonging-ness and esteem are two basic human needs, and if it is provided, things just fall into place. Grievance, suggestions, advice, interest, loss, advantage, risk all are primarily known, spoken, heard by them. Making sure employees are happy and satisfied with the job, the working environment, remuneration, and most importantly the sense of belonging does work wonders.

                                                                              

Because the security guard you pass by gives you that welcoming smile, or a ‘salaam’ while entering the office premises.      

Because the receptionist gives that warm gesture while passing his/her desk and comes forward to help.                        

Because the departmental manager stands informed about the records enquired the very last day.                               

Because the whole thing works, very much like this. So the first priority should ideally be to accurately gauge the true sentiment of the employee so that strategic and tactical changes can to put into motion to promote employee satisfaction which adds the real value. 

  -PEHELE AAP, dear employees.

Guest Writer Submission: The Author, Ankita P is currently pursuing English honours from Calcutta University. The views mentioned above belong to the author. © Never Grow Up.2011.  

To Tell or Not To Tell ?

The Gossip Paradox : We all do it. We like to share stories but the trick is to set boundaries at work. A sample of senior vice-presidents of communication at Fortune 500 companies stated that harmful rumours reached their ears on an average of nearly once a week. Gossiping at work is also about passive workplace aggression. Even those in leadership roles indulge in making remarks about others. Be cautious, because that’s how negative reputations are made.

The urge to gossip can get you in trouble. Billionaire Ray Dalio, Wall Street heavyweight, has a new stringent diktat! He’s banning office gossip and sacking employees who are caught gossiping more than three times. His policy is ruthless: If employees are caught tongue-wagging about their bosses or colleagues behind their backs, they get two verbal warnings. It’s an unlucky third time when they get fired on the spot. In the company email, he wrote, “Never say anything about a person you wouldn’t say to him directly. If you do, you are a slimy weasel.” Psychology Today reports, “Gossip is like sex. It is so much fun that people can’t stop themselves from doing it.

Can chitchat help you get ahead? 

Even though gossip gets a bad rap, experts also believe that nuanced chitchat may be essential to getting ahead in a career. “If you must be negative, be smart not only about what you say, but also how you say it. Anyone who is an achiever or has good looks or their boss’s favourite will be an easy target. Some disclosures are deliberately spread by senior management in the form of gossip to make people more alert (or so is rumoured). 

Edited from Times Life : September 2011.  

Do Happier People Work Harder ?

Do Happier People Work Harder?

Research shows that staff perform better when they’re happily engaged at work

Americans (And if we extrapolate this to our country) now feel worse about their jobs – and work environments – than ever before. And there’s no reason to think things will soon improve, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which has been polling more than 1,000 adults every day since January 2008. Employee engagement may seem like a frill in a downturn economy. But it can make a big difference in a company’s survival. 

In a 2010 study, James K. Harter and colleagues found that lower job satisfaction foreshadowed poorer bottom-line performance. Gallup estimates the cost of America’s disengagement crisis at a staggering $300 billion in lost productivity annually. When people don’t care about their jobs or their employers, they don’t show up consistently, they produce less or their work quality suffers. 

Over the past decade, the research looked into the micro-level causes behind this macro-level problem. To gain real-time perspective into everyday work lives, nearly 12,000 electronic diary entries from 238 professionals in seven companies were collected. The analysis revealed their inner work lives – the usually hidden perceptions, emotions and motivations that people experience as they react to and make sense of events in their workdays. 

The results were sobering. In one-third of the 12,000 diary entries, the diarist was unhappy, unmotivated or both. In fact, workers often expressed frustration, disdain or disgust. Research shows that inner work life has a profound impact on workers’ creativity, productivity, commitment and collegiality. Employees are far more likely to have new ideas on days when they feel happier. Conventional wisdom suggests that pressure enhances performance; the real-time data, however, shows that workers perform better when they are happily engaged in what they do. 

Teresa Amabile, a professor at Harvard Business School, and Steven Kramer, an independent researcher, are the authors of The Progress Principle:  The New York Times / ET Mumbai , 13 Sept. 2011

Pay Not the First Priority Anymore?

Would you nix a high-paying job offer if it fails to assure career growth opportunities? According to a recent survey, the modern-day job-seeker is doing just that...

India Inc today is a fragment of an ever-changing corporate scenario and as its dynamics evolve, employees and job-seekers find their aspirations and incentives shifting. Mercer’s ‘What’s Working’ survey validates that out of 13 possible reward elements, Indian respondents say that career advancement is their most important reward element. Base pay is the second-most important followed by training opportunities. “Reward points in today’s scenario get far more complicated than the good old days, where you would have a son coming home to his parents with a box of sweets, proclaiming his salary hike, followed by the entire family breaking into a song and dance of how their lives have changed for good. Today’s youth demands are more focussed, planned and diverse. A macro point of view for reward schemes seems quite simple and can be generalised, but as you look closer, rewards need to be personalised and customised to suit needs and desires.”

So, what is it that makes career advancement the most sought-after reward element? 

“In a hyper-growth environment, ‘growth’ is the mantra for business success. For an employee, their organisation or manager working with them on a career development plan is imperative to their personal and professional growth. From an organisation’s perspective, career advancement is important for retention as also for attracting talented employees to the workplace. It increases employee engagement levels as well.” 

    

“Career advancement is one way in which employees believe that they can stay relevant. It ensures that employees can keep up with the changes. The age at which one becomes obsolete and redundant is decreasing. Hence, rather than chasing basic pay, employees understand the need to be relevant and have a ‘career’.” After career advancement and base pay, the third most sought-after career incentive was training opportunities, thus revealing that India Inc employees don’t just aspire to accomplish a good career, but also want to get better at what they do. 

Consequently, whether the bait for climbing up the corporate ladder is training opportunities, career advancement incentives or basic pay, one cannot refute the fact that India Inc today is more motivated than ever to be on top of their game. 

Condensed from the Times Ascent 07 September 2011