' I've Had Enough '

We've all had those days when we've 'Had enough' and want to pop a letter to the management and say' I resign'. Well, we are going to let you do that with the added benefit that anything you say cannot be held against you and if you are able to blow us away, we give you a prize ! 

Here's what you need to do ? ✔ [Step 1] Submit the coolest resignation letter you can come up with, as a comment on the contest post on our Facebook wall and ✔ [Step 2] Get as many friends as you can to like your comment before the contest deadline. ✿ The entry with the maximum number of likes wins super cool goodies and gets featured on our blog. 

Is there a catch? None except one. You cannot simply lift a letter off the net. It has to be your creation. Hurry! Contest ends 6:00 p.m. on 24 May 2013. 

Here's the winning entry. Congratulations to Kali Rawat on winning this contest. 

It's Annual Appraisal Time!

Its that time of the year again. When bosses noticing your work becomes all important. When staying back at work and sending out 'Reply to All' mails at 11:59 p.m. become the fad. Its that time when ' personal ratings ' (not the stock you picked) suddenly become more important than remembering to have your stress pills or your own personal credit score. Yup! We are talking about your annual 'oh so important' appraisals! Considering you work or should we say live in a company that follows an April to March reporting, the last two months are your worst ever. Simply because now is the time to showcase what you have been up to for the last 10 months and how your work matters. Have you been a good team player ? Did you achieve your 'i-m-possible' targets ? And If you work in payroll, well there is loads to do. Appraisals, ratings, increment letters, announcements and then a quick dash to check attrition scores from last year! 

While last week, we ran a contest on our Facebook page titled ' The things you hear around appraisals and what they really mean '. While most of the answers had us in splits, reading some of the entries also got us thinking on how can one effectively prepare and manage your appraisal and feedback. 

We though of 4 things to keep in mind. Here they are:

1. Prepare : Nothing beats this formula! Since most companies have appraisal cycles more than once a year i.e. a quarterly or mid-term rating, it would be prudent to keep a folder in outlook titled ' Jobs done '. Each time to send out a crucial email, mark your self in 'bcc' and ensure you copy/transfer the mail to the folder. This way, when the time comes, all you have to do is look at this one place instead of ravaging through all your emails and that you know can take days. This one also comes super handy if you have a change in command (middle of the year) and you need to showcase what you have done to your new boss. 

2. 'Areas Of Improvement' : Yes ! There will be feedback. And sometimes it can run into pages. The first thing to keep in mind is be aware of your body language during your appraisal meeting. Be assertive rather than defensive of what you have achieved and show that you are listening. Everyone has areas one needs to improve (even your boss) Remember that constructive feedback is like a gift and not a tsunami about to rock your world. Yes is not always easy to listen (especially if you think your boss needs some improvement too) but keep your cool. Don't let the points you want to share with your boss cloud your listening abilities. 

3. Listen and Observe : Remember that sometimes, your appraisal has got nothing to do with your performance over the last year. Assess the situation. Your boss may be a new   entrant who could still learning the 'way things work around here'. Or maybe, its about showing authority. She/he (your boss) might want your attention cause you've ignored the hints that were being dropped. Also keep in mind that a low score does not mean you are headed for disaster but it would be prudent to look for signs for e.g. If your boss try to tell you, ' You are a real star and we depend on you to make this team work ' and then you get slammed with a truckload of criticism and new responsibilities. 

4. Say no to emotions and assumptions : We all have pre-conceived notions. Especially when it comes to our boss. Who he/she favors. How he/she thinks and is more likely to react. So on and so forth... It is important that you keep these assumptions outside the door along with your ego and emotions when you get into that appraisal meeting. Simply because then you are not coming from a position of being open to criticism but rather approaching this like World War II and are more likely to say or do something that might make the meeting extremely un-productive and rather meaningless. 

Do remember that Bosses will be bosses and yes there will be agendas. What matters is how you manage things by keeping your cool.

Psst. This post also featured on the SHRM India Blog. Happy Reading :)

The Last Working Day!

So the last working day of 2012 is a Monday. For a change, we hear stories of joy (away from the usual 'Monday Blues' discussions) on how we survived the Mayan prophecy and the  corporate world lives on to see another appraisal cycle! As we prepare to put our feet up and party, we thought it would be prudent to share a few thoughts on the year to come and our view on Employee Engagement & People Management and some of the people challenges for 2013! 

While the job market is open for the ‘right candidate, one of the key challenges that human resource managers have faced across industries is ‘engaging talent’ once on board. Another challenge that remains is ‘building effective and transparent’ dialogue between the core management team and everyone else. There is no dearth of employable talent with the sheer number of employable ‘Gen Y’ candidates coming from colleges and B-Schools across the country, we feel recruiting people who ‘fit the company culture’ needs to take precedence before their pedigree. Only then can we have the right task force.

With a fresh batch of employees joining each year, a clear cut strategy on their career progression during their stint needs to be in place and this needs to be communicated regularly and effectively. Especially since this new and diverse breed of employees also come with a different set of expectations as compared to their predecessors. Managing these expectations in an attempt to curb attrition seems to be one of the biggest challenges HR professionals face today.  Attrition numbers in the first year or 1.5 years across companies or industries is an indicator of the amount of work that is needed in the space of active employee engagement.

While companies remain open to caring for their employees and paying ‘attention’ to engagement scores, organizations need to truly start looking at employees as their greatest asset (not necessarily just a cost center)  and undertake initiatives and prove this belief on a consistent basis.  This can be either to rewarding emotional intelligence or taking steps to build the right ‘top down’ culture across the company by ingraining company values while remembering that this is not a one-time task. We sure have miles to go before we sleep

On this note we wish you a happy new year. May 2013 be stress-free and; may you remain hale and hearty. May your bonuses multiply and appraisals be a cake walk. Here's  to the new year and a fresh start!  

Witty @ Work Contest !

With the last working day of this financial year just hours away, what better way than to end the year with a ' Witty @ Work' contest .  Before you think of what we are going to ask you to do, remember, winners take home some awesome goodies as prizes. Here's what you need to do ... 

Log in to our pages on Facebook or Pinterest and share your wittiest comments about life at work below the post keeping these for images in mind (we have numbered them for you ...duh!). Is that all ? Well no... that's one part... lets just make it easy...Step 1. Like us on Facebook or Pinterest Step 2. Post your comment/s keeping these pictures in mind. Step 3. Get your friends to like it. Needless to say, more likes means more points. Deadline ? Midnight of 05 April 2012 

Log on to our pages on Facebook or Pinterest to submit your entries.

Rules (cause we need  a few) @ Post your comments below the picture on the fan pages @ Judges decision will be final. We take care to ensure that only the coolest entries win. @ Prizes will be sent within a week after the contest ends. Please direct all queries and questions to info@willnevergrowup.com I "Never Grow Up" and the "Never Grow Up Brown box" logo are registered trademarks of Never Grow Up Workshops Pvt. Ltd. The design used in the contest creatives have been procured for Never Grow Up WPL. All rights reserved.© 2012. I

Life @ Work Tee Design Contest !

Here's your chance to Startdom and take home some some $$. Get inspired by the fun culture at work, go beyond and enthuse some "Masti" into a t-shirt that would liven up meetings!". 

What's The Brief ? 1) Design a T-Shirt keeping the ideology around Never Grow Up and what Life @ Work is all about. Designs may have ‘Never Grow Up’ infused in the creative (if you think it’s cool) 2) Restrict your design to a maximum of five colours.3) Keep in mind a workable area of maximum 11 x 16 inches for your design.4) All submissions will also be eligible to be a part of the SheepStop Evergreen Competition. 5)You may submit more than one entry.

The deadline to submit your design is Sunday, February 12, 2012. The winning designs will be announced online on February 27, 2012

Loot for the Never Grow Up "Life @ Work" Tee Design Contest:

• 1st Prize: Rs.5000 + Your winning Tee + Royalty
• 1st Runner Up: Rs.3000 + Your winning Tee + Royalty
• 2nd Runner Up: Rs.2000 + Your winning Tee + Royalty

That's not all, the final three tshirts will be printed and sent to Sheep Stop distribution stores across the country :) Submit your entries @ http://www.sheepstop.com/contests/nevergrowup 

"Never Grow Up" and the "Never Grow Up Brown box" logo are registered trademarks of Never Grow Up Workshops Pvt. Ltd. The design used in the contest creatives have been created exclusively for Never Grow Up WPL. All rights reserved.© 2012

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.  

' Screw Dheela Hai ' Season 2

Its Back ! The legendary Screw Dheela Hai Contest is back with Season 2. A fun and kick a## contest with 3 simple steps and a chance to win loads of prizes!!!

1. Remember the day you were doing something looney, with a funny expression on your face and a friend or colleague was quick to catch u in the act? Or the day you had fun with your team @ work. (The stuff you laugh about now and say Screw dheela hai mera! (As in that was one whacked out – not in my character moment). Yes! Pick those photos. 

2. Send us these photos (jpeg/png) at info@willnevergrowup.com with your full name & city. And your pet name (if you have one). Also send us a small note on the incident in question!

3. Get Rewarded: Top three entries win some super cool prizes (priceless!). One of them is an IPod Shuffle while others include cool merchandise and gift vouchers. 

Contest Rules:

a. You can send in a maximum of 5 photos per person. These can be photos and images right from childhood to your perceived adult stage. Remember... being crazy and out of the box is the key. You can also create these moments now that you know there is a prize.

b. Last date for submission is 8^th December 2011 by 4:00 pm IST

c. Contest is open to people across the universe :) So don’t forget to tell your friends!

If u want to know what you are up against, check out the SDH Video from Season I. Remember though, this is just the tip of the iceberg :) 

Preoccupations : Trust Evidence !

Preoccupations : Trust Evidence for Effective Management

Failure to consider sound evidence repeatedly inflicts unnecessary damage on employee well-being & group performance

Consider this hypothetical situation: You have a serious illness. Your doctor prescribes an intrusive, painful and costly treatment. What she doesn’t say — because she hasn't consulted the research — is that most studies find the treatment ineffective and fraught with negative side effects. You go through the procedure, which doesn’t work. You later find the research your doctor failed to consult. When you ask why, she answers: “Who pays attention to studies? I have years of clinical experience. Besides, the protocol seemed as if it ought to work.” Does that sound like malpractice? It does to us. Fortunately, pressures to practice evidence-based medicine are reducing preventable errors. That isn’t the case, however, in most workplaces, where failure to consider sound evidence repeatedly inflicts unnecessary damage on employee well- being and group performance. It doesn’t have to be that way. Consider the issue of incentive pay. Many people believe that paying for performance will work in virtually any organization, so it is used again and again to solve problems — even where evidence shows it is ineffective. As The New York Times reported in July, a study found that the effort to link incentive pay to student performance “had no positive effect on either student performance or teachers’ attitudes.” But that bad news could have been predicted long before spending all that time and money. After all, the failure of similar efforts to improve school performance has been documented for decades. 

Here is another example: Research has shown that stable membership is a hallmark of effective work teams. People with more experience, working together, typically communicate and coordinate more effectively. Although this effect is seen in studies of everything from product development teams to airplane cockpit crews, managers often can’t resist the temptation to rotate people in and out to minimize costs and make scheduling easier. 

Another workplace danger is excessive self-confidence, which can help people rise to positions of power but can also render them less effective leaders. Overconfident decision-makers use a practice that is ineffective for most others — but they believe they are so talented that the usual findings don’t apply to them. In medicine, the evidence-based movement arose in response to thousands of deaths and billions of wasted dollars that could have been averted by applying proven practices. Similarly, in other fields, the growing pile of studies on the human and financial costs of employee disengagement, management distrust, poor group dynamics, faulty incentive schemes and other preventable damage suggests a need for an evidence-based management movement. Some organizations are leading the way. It’s time for many more to follow suit. 

Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton are professors at Stanford : The New York Times / Condensed from the ET Mumbai 13 Sept.

Insights into WLB & Gen Y

Balance it right!

• A startling 85% of recruiters say that candidates turn down job offers from employers that aren’t work-life balance-friendly. According to a work-life balance survey 80 per cent of executives say that work-life balance as a parameter plays a vital role during the job search process. 
• Work-life balance today directly impacts the retention of top executive talent. An unhealthy work-life balance leads to increased stress, strain on personal relationships and a lack of personal fulfilment. All of these factors will push executives towards greener pastures. Other aspects like compensation and perks are of a transactional nature. 
• According to some, the degree at which work-life balance influences the decision of a job-seeker is closely linked to one’s age and the nature of the role the employee has chosen to perform. 
• According to the AESC survey, two-thirds of companies are developing programmes to help top candidates boost their family time without sacrificing their careers.

Making it work :) 

• Time-out: It is an efficient tool by which every employee is given an opportunity to choose time-out during work hours.This can be followed on a daily/weekly basis depending on the nature of the business. An employee can take 30-45 minutes of time-out to read, listen to music, play an indoor game, take a nap, exercise, practice yoga, watch a movie, etc. But at the same time, the employee must be within the company premises at a dedicated space allocated to pursue such activities. 
• Child care: It’s necessary to develop a children’s programme for working mothers/fathers wherein companies need to invest in a separate space where a working parent can spend time with their kid/kids during work hours. A progressive firm needs to make arrangements w.r.t school pick-up/drop and other basic amenities in the form of indoor games, stationary, food, etc. 
• Personalize your workspace: The offices are likely to provide much more than just a cubicle. You will find the office space designed to take care of employees’ “needs” beyond work. 
• Work-exchange: Creating a “trading place” where employees can opt to pursue something that they aspire to pursue (read: hobby) will foster positive results. 

How Gen Y today defines and perceives work-life balance?

• The Gen Y job-seeker has different priorities/aspirations. Experts say that besides a good salary, they show concern w.r.t flexible working. “While compensation, career growth, importance of the task performed, etc are important, work-life balance assures employees that they will work in a conducive environment"
• “The whole phenomenon of ‘my own space’ seems to be the flavour of the day, especially for Gen Y,” According to a recent study across Asia Pacific, work-life balance is the single largest contributor to the Gen Y group of employees who are anticipating a change in their career in the next five years. 
• On being asked the reason for not having aspirations to advance to an executive position, they again attributed as the impact it would have on their work-life balance as the prime reason. 

This post is a series of snippets from the ascent and various other reports that has been compiled to share insights into work life balance, looking at things that work and managing a young a vibrant workforce in the years to come !