How (not) to Screw up an Employee Survey

Excellent article on the perils of trying to do your own employee survey. Especially liked this part. So true!

If there's anything worse than a survey designed by an amateur, it's a survey designed by a committee of amateurs. If you really want a mish-mash of vague ideas, contradictory concepts and irrelevant babble dressed up like a survey, then a committee is your best bet. In other words, please don't do it. Better to invest a little more money and hire an experienced consultant who can at least give you a good, valid survey framework and help you avoid the most common mistakes that amateurs make. And by the way, that "Please tell us anything else you'd like to add" question is probably the single most useless survey question you could ever ask, ridiculed by professional researchers for good reason (read How to Write An Employee Survey for rules on writing a good survey).

Read the whole thing here.

Watermelons, Chuck Taylors, And How Caribou Coffee Encourages A Culture Of Innovation

At Caribou Coffee, a company known for its arms-wide-open culture, CEO Mike Tattersfield lives by the mantra "listening, developing, recognizing" when it comes to employees. Unconventional tools to that end? Watermelons and Chuck Taylors.

To understand how a company known for its arms-wide-open culture manages to sustain it, look no further than the corner office at Caribou Coffee.

There you’ll find Mike Tattersfield--at a desk that doubles as a foosball table--surrounded by action shots of his employees’ feet, clad in customized Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers (more on that later). “It’s a conversation starter,” admits Tattersfield with a hearty laugh, but the photos represent his larger vision for the company: “Listening, developing, recognizing,” and a cornerstone for its innovation process.

Read the full story:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1843448/watermelons-chuck-taylors-how-caribou-coffee-encourages-a-culture-of-innovation?partner=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fastcompany%2Fheadlines+%28Fast+Company+Headlines%29

Resurrecting Employee Loyalty

Managers are killing off employee loyalty.

In a time when employees want more freedom, openness, and say over the work they do, management practices and beliefs, on the whole, have calcified. Management has failed to adapt to the dynamic influences on how work can be done in the 21st century. Entrenched managers, supported by the false comfort of yesterday’s beliefs, continue to ignore employee passion which is vital to innovate, and create solutions of value to customers.

Read the full story:

http://www.theleadershipadvisor.com/2012/07/19/resurrecting-employee-loyalty/

8 Ways Your Productivity Affects the Unemployment Rate

When it comes to productivity, few of us consider the big picture. Being more productive at work means much more than just being able to finish more work in a day or getting your boss to notice your work ethic; it can also have a marked effect on the economy as a whole, especially when considered in relation to unemployment levels. These two markers of economic success (or distress as the case may be) are intertwined in a number of complex ways and the relationship between the two isn’t always as clear cut as we might think. Here, we explore some of the ways that worker productivity — yes, even your own — can and has affected unemployment (and vice versa), both in our own country and in others around the world.

Read the full article here

Six Tips to Create a Collaborative Culture

Social media can contribute to a positive workplace culture, but It’s the tip of the iceberg. Try these steps to really make an impact.

Companies such as Google have succeeded in creating enviable corporate culture that has landed them on lists like Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. Other companies following suit think social media might be the answer — and, while useful, it’s just the beginning.

A June 2012 Deloitte survey titled “Core Values and Beliefs,” which included responses from more than 1,000 full-time employees and more than 300 executives, found a stark contrast in the way executives and employers view the role of social media in promoting workplace culture. Whereas 41 percent of executives surveyed said they view social networking as an aid in building and maintaining workplace culture, only 21 percent of employees agreed with the same statement.

Read the full story:

http://talentmgt.com/articles/view/six-tips-to-create-a-collaborative-culture/1

Workers Quit for Quirky Reasons

Some unusual reasons for saying “buh buy,” according to a phone survey for OfficeTeam conducted with more than 1,300 senior managers at companies with 20 or more employees in the U.S. and Canada:

• The employee’s boss lost the dog she gave him.
• The employee did not like the way the office smelled.
• The employee did not like the wall colors.
• The employee thought the building was unattractive.
• The employee hated the carpet.
• The employee hated the lighting in the building.
• The lobby was too small.
• The employee lost her cell phone too many times at work.
• The employee said he changed jobs every six months.
• The employee said he was making too much money and didn’t think he was worth it.

Read more on SHRM online

School's in Session at Google

Google Inc. Chief Executive Larry Page has spent the past year trying to bring a renewed sense of urgency and focus to the search company, in what he calls putting "more wood behind fewer arrows." Playing a big part in that effort to battle threats from Facebook Inc., Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., is GoogleEDU, the company's two-year-old learning and leadership-development program.

GoogleEDU is formalizing learning at the company in an entirely new way, relying on data analytics and other measures to ensure it is teaching employees what they need to know to keep profits humming.

Read the full story:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303410404577466852658514144.html?KEYWORDS=google+training

Employee Survey Secrets

Time and time again we hear the same concerns from HR professionals like you when they've been give the task of implementing an employee survey in their organization. How do we get good participation? How do we ensure valid responses? How do we get valid comparisons to other companies? How do we design a survey that meets our needs?

We've been in the research business for more than 30 years and there's nothing we haven't encountered when it comes to surveys. Here are some of the things we've learned that go miles towards making a project successful. These shouldn't be secrets, but we're always surprised when these simple principles (which should be obvious) go unheeded or ignored.

Read the full article on our site: Four Employee Survey Secrets

Happy 4th of July!!

Remedying Pay Angst: Clarity, Process and Structure

As an independent advisor, I am often called in to help with situations where compensation has become a very emotional and even intractable problem. Having the opportunity to work with -- and through -- many of these situations over the years has taught me a lot.

The biggest lesson is probably this: Clarity, process and structure are the most effective remedies for compensation angst. This is true whether the pay concern involves an individual or a group of people.

Read the full story:

http://www.compensationforce.com/2012/06/remedying-pay-angst-clarity-process-and-structure.html

Happy Canada Day

In honor of Canada's birthday, we wish our Canadian friends and clients good health, peace and prosperity.

For Americans looking for some inspiration for a great trip to the North, check out this travel gallery of stunning images from across Canada.

Gallery

Happy Canada Day!

Why Good People Can't Get Jobs

Peter Cappelli confronts the myth of the skills gap and provides an actionable path forward to put people back to work. 

Even in a time of perilously high unemployment, companies contend that they cannot find the employees they need. Pointing to a skills gap, employers argue applicants are simply not qualified; schools aren't preparing students for jobs; the government isn't letting in enough high-skill immigrants; and even when the match is right, prospective employees won’t accept jobs at the wages offered. In this powerful and fast-reading book, Peter Cappelli, Wharton management professor and director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources, debunks the arguments and exposes the real reasons good people can’t get hired. Drawing on jobs data, anecdotes from all sides of the employer-employee divide, and interviews with jobs professionals, he explores the paradoxical forces bearing down on the American workplace and lays out solutions that can help us break through what has become a crippling employer-employee stand-off.


Among the questions he confronts: Is there really a skills gap? To what extent is the hiring process being held hostage by automated software that can crunch thousands of applications an hour? What kind of training could best bridge the gap between employer expectations and applicant realities, and who should foot the bill for it? Are schools really at fault? Named one of HR Magazine’s Top 20 Most Influential Thinkers of 2011, Cappelli not only changes the way we think about hiring but points the way forward to rev America’s job engine again. 

Get the book on Amazon.com