Why Your Employees Pretend to Work 80-Hour Weeks

Whether you know it or not, your employees feel immense pressure to be committed to their jobs--and available 24 hours a day. 

You might, at first, be happy about this. What kind of founder doesn't want a hard-working staff? But the reality is more nuanced. While you might think your team is devoted 24/7 to work, in truth, most of them are finding ways to deal with your company's inclination toward workaholism. 

In fact, according to research published yesterday in the Harvard Business Review, your employees are likely to cope with the pressure to be perpetually available in one of three ways...Read on Inc.com

3 Dysfunctional Ways We've Adapted To The Hell Of The 24/7 Workplace

How do you deal with the “cult of busy”? That’s the term Erin Reid uses to describe today’s work-first culture in which ideal employees are expected to put their jobs first, work all the time and be constantly available to the boss.

In the June cover story of Harvard Business Review, “Managing the High-Intensity Workplace,” Reid and coauthor Lakshmi Ramarajan describe how workers adapt to these demands. It’s not a good look for anyone.

“Our research shows that being always available is actually dysfunctional for everyone at some level,” Reid, an assistant professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, told The Huffington Post.

Recall the recent portrayal of employees at Amazon, where work culture is so bruising that The New York Times reported workers were crying at their desks. In the company’s warehouses, workers collapse from exhaustion.

It’s not just employees who suffer. When companies create a work-first culture, turnover is likely higher — people quit, and the cost of replacing them is high. Read more on Huffington Post

Employee Engagement the UPS Way

Does your team lack cohesion? Do you often ask yourself if your employees are even taking you seriously?

Would you like to transform your “me” culture into a “we” culture?

In his new book, Leadership Lessons from a UPS Driver: Delivering a Culture of We, Not Me, former UPS International president and one-time driver, Ron Wallace, reveals how to establish quality employee engagement that builds strong, unified teams for lasting business success.

Wallace knows a thing or two about leadership and team building: during a career of nearly 40 years, he served as a UPS driver for six years and eventually became the president of UPS International, leading more than 60,000 employees and overseeing the operations of UPS in more than 200 countries. Drawing on decades of experience leading one of the most well-known and successful companies in the world, in his new book, Wallace shares essential tips for growing the best team of inspired employees to make any business thrive.

In the book, Wallace gives several tips on how leaders can build a “we not me culture” and deliver exceptional results. Read more on Huffingtonpost