Every Employee Happy. Every Day.
Every Employee Engaged. Every Day.
Some of you have seen the above on my email signature. If you haven’t; I’m putting it out there right now for the rest of the world to see. It’s what I’m striving for beginning January 1, 2010
Can we do it?
Of course not. I’m a dreamer. A cheerleader. I’m unrealistic. It is also “helpful” that some people were destined to be miserable; and sadly…. enjoy being miserable. What is up with those people anyway; and I still say we should start one company and just let them all work there. We can call it MISERInc. Use bailout money if we have to; that would be a good use of funds; keeping the miserable people at bay has got to have value. But I digress.
Now in addition to miserable people some companies are just not as committed to the idea and philosophy of a happy and engaged workforce. But then there are others like McDonald’s, Iroquois Pipeline and Covidien, organizations that I had the opportunity to work with this year. They believe it needs to be done. They recognize the importance of celebrating success and contribution. They understand that to keep employees happy and get people engaged/re-engaged in their work requires a commitment to the talented people who work in those organizations.
Will you join me?
So what will it take to keep every employee happy? To keep every employee engaged?
- Will it take money?
- Will it take embracing more expression of individual creativity in people’s work?
- Will it take fewer policies and rules?
- Will it take a work environment that lends itself to happiness?
- Will it take workload redesign?
- Will it take allowing people to change roles?
- Will it take better communication and listening?
- Will it take respect?
- Will it take a commitment to training?
- Will it be the responsibility of both the employee and the employer?
- Will it take……………………?
I’ve been reading lots of information this year about pay cuts and benefit reductions by companies large and small. Let’s be clear that these are not coming back anytime soon; perhaps at all. Do I need to repeat that for the other unrealistic ones? They are not coming back. But then again I’m unrealistic; so maybe they will come back? Just like the income tax in CT is to be abolished. We were told a long long time ago it was just temporary. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
But now more than ever is time to encourage professional growth and development and to include more people in the process of making your organization great. Flatten the chain of command. Knock down the secret meeting doors and join me in 2010 as I embark on a motto/credo/vision of Every Employee Happy. Every Day.
So the only question that remains is……….
Are you up for the task?
