http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Travel+perks+keep+employees+engaged/2956071/story.html

Employee engagement is the next big thing in human resources, because employees who are engaged - who feel they're getting as much out of work as they're putting into it - are more likely to stick around. And travel perks help increase engagement.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Travel+perks+keep+employees+engaged/2956071/story.html#ixzz0mXGL8cae

How Gen Y and Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda - DiversityInc.com

Bookend Generations

Right now, a battle for survival has eclipsed the war for talent. Business leaders are slashing headcounts and budgets and focusing with laser vision on what it takes to succeed in a deep global recession. But when the economy recovers, companies will return swiftly to the crucial work of recruiting and retaining top performers. Renewal and growth cannot be rekindled without high-octane brain power.

Yet the value proposition is changing dramatically in a new era of talent management. Two dominant demographic cohorts--Generation Y and baby boomers--are redefining what it takes for a company to be an "employer of choice." The 78 million boomers and 70 million Gen Y's crave flexibility, personal growth, connection and opportunities to "give back." The Bookend Generations are remapping old ideals of success as they pursue a "Rewards Remix" that prizes meaning and choice over money.

For more in-depth information on generations in the workplace, visit DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

What do the Bookend Generations want?

Top Picks for Gen Y and Baby Boomers:

• Y's and boomers crave Odysseys. They are highly loyal yet see their careers as fluid journeys, suffused with flexibility over the day and over the long term. For these adventurers, career is a lifelong Odyssey, often punctuated by short time-outs or mini-odysseys to explore passions and altruism.
• Y's and boomers are shifting from Me to We. Vested in healing the planet and improving the lot of humankind, they want some of this "give back" to happen on company time.
• Y's and boomers value work/life balance and prioritize Flexibility and Remote Work. They are shedding Industrial Age conceptions of work and demanding control over when, where and how work gets done.

A Key Finding: The Bookend Generations seek a radical Rewards Remix. Gen Y's and boomers want employers to deliver on an important set of non-monetary rewards. Opportunities to take a short sabbatical, to give back to the community through work, or to engage in stimulating, challenging projects often can trump the size of the boomer or Gen Y paycheck. Our most recent data (January 2009) shows rising job insecurity and financial pressures yet a continued strong desire for newer rewards from odysseys to altruistic work.

This shift in the core values of a sizable proportion of the work force is both challenging and liberating for employers. Companies now must begin tackling the difficult task of creating more complex, holistic incentive structures. They must decipher how to use time as currency, make perks such as sabbaticals into norms of career planning, and realize the value of a green workplace as a retention tool. Such work is not easy. But the good news is that these motivators are far less costly than raises and bonuses at a time of shrinking budgets.

Best Practices: Finally, this report details cutting-edge best practices: 27 new company initiatives that take steps toward offering a needed Rewards Remix. Best and next practices, ranging from Houston's "Flex in the City" program to Ernst & Young's "Corporate Responsibility Fellowships" show how progressive employers are responding to a sea-change in employee attitudes.

How Gen Y and Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda - DiversityInc.com

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2010/04/employers_must_work_hard_to_im.html

Last year, I wrote about employees taking pay cuts, furloughs, lower bonuses and other hits because the business world was upside down. Many of these cuts were necessary to help companies through a difficult recession. Most employees, just being happy to be employed, accepted these changes.

As often occurs, the pendulum swung too far and now employees are unhappy. While the economy is by no means healthy, it seems to be rebounding a bit or at least consumer confidence is on the upswing. There are signs of life, admittedly not much yet, in the previously moribund job market.

Many companies took advantage of employees, reallocating wealth in many of the same ways the federal government has. Tough times generate dangerous precedents. A very profitable, major New Jersey company went as far as cutting its lunchroom subsidy. Their decision angered employees and reduced productivity since many employees now eat offsite, thus resulting in longer lunch periods.

401(k) matches or bonuses are not considered perks, rather they are an expected part of a compensation package. When expectations are not met, loyalty and trust are diminished.

Too many people are putting in long hours, but are not actively engaged or emotionally connected to their organizations. They are going through the motions, not offering the discretionary or "extra" effort that research shows encompasses roughly 35 percent of their capacity. In other words, employers are not getting full productivity.

In a strange twist, the very efforts companies implemented to ensure their future viability are actually having the opposite effect of diminishing employee performance, loyalty and engagement.

My advice to managers and organizations: Transform yourselves to demonstrate employee commitment or accept lower performance and higher turnover. The following ideas will facilitate improvement in employee performance and retention:

Communicate. During tough times employers must over commmunicate. At the beginning of the downturn I implemented a few communication strategies at my company that were very successful.

First, we began monthly employee lunches at more than 60 locations. For example, at our New York City headquarters, we have more than 150 employees gather for lunch, games and a state of the firm talk. We began holding employee events such as bowling and dodge ball.

Second, the company president regularly sends out a state of the firm e-mail that always has a realistic, but positive tone. Keeping employees informed during tough times proactively negates rumors.

Third, I encouraged all senior executives to be more visible and connected to their employees. By walking around each morning they gained a better pulse on morale and increased employee commitment.

Finally, we actively engaged employees in the benefits renewal process. Specifically, we allowed the employee council to evaluate our health plan options and choose the plan they felt made the most sense. Active engagement creates support.

Restore. If your company reduced or eliminated benefits or perks, now is the time to restore them. For example, if a company did not match the 401k in the last year or two it should commit and communicate that it plans on matching this year. If your organization cannot afford to reinstate the match it should offer its employees, or at least key ones, perks such as extra days off.

Communicate the link between the employee’s effort, the employer’s inability to match and the reward.

To complete the example you might say, "It has been difficult watching you work so hard and to not be able to reward you. Instead of a 401k match this year, which we are unable to do, we would like to offer an additional paid week off. I wish we could do more, but please understand this is our way of showing you how much we appreciate your effort and how important you are to the organization."

Make promises you can keep. When employees believe that things will return to normalcy, their productivity will rise. So if you are certain there will be year-end bonuses and raises, communicate it now. Sending the message that ‘business as usual’ is returning will increase employee engagement.

Understand. Employers should empathize with employees. Instead of being aggressive and assertive with employees who are not performing at their previous levels try to understand and address the cause.

At a time when employee engagement and loyalty is low these tips will begin to restore your organization back to where it belongs

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2010/04/employers_must_work_hard_to_im.html

Attention Managers! Your Employees Just Aren't That Into You - DiversityInc.com

Picture this scenario: You're trying to finish a project but you need some information from your direct report. You call his desk to see if he can give you the information over the phone, but he doesn't answer. You walk over to his desk only for him to put his finger up as an indication that he is busy, and when he finally does look up, he is glaring at you for interrupting his thoughts.

He's probably just dealing with personal issues, right? Possibly. Or he just might not be that into you--and that's not only potentially damaging to you. It could hurt your company as well. Is there a cultural or generational gap? You need to understand what's happening and what, if anything, you can do about it.

"Employees who are not engaged are less productive," says Barbara Frankel, senior vice president and executive editor at DiversityInc. "[Disengaged employees] are almost never innovative and don't give you the creative spark necessary to get ahead in the growing global economy."

Here are some signs that your employees are "unplugged" from the company:

1. Coming to work late

2. Leaving early

3. Being on the phone with personal matters and texting during the day

4. Responding negatively or indifferently to teammates

5. Not paying attention in meetings

6. Not making eye contact

So what's the solution? For starters, you have to unload the dead weight, suggests Carolynn Johnson, vice president of business development at DiversityInc.

She also advises having a conversation before assuming the employee is simply disengaged. This, she says, helps your employees understand that you do care about them as a person as well as a worker.

"Before you make any allegations, ask the question: 'Are you OK?'" she says. "It's important to try and remember specific examples of what you are talking about. During the conversation, you, as the manager, may discover that your employee was too afraid to ask for help."

Here are other ways managers can turn the situation around:

1. Don't ignore the situation--address things when they happen

2. Don't try to change someone's passion

3. If there are cultural factors at play, reach out to employee-resource groups

4. Re-evaluate organizational changes and whether the individual still fits the changed corporate climate

Attention Managers! Your Employees Just Aren't That Into You - DiversityInc.com

Why Gay & Lesbian Employees Are Less Engaged - DiversityInc.com

Fifty-one percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers do not reveal their sexual orientation to all their coworkers. Only 5 percent of LGBT workers ages 18–24 reveal their sexual orientation to all of their coworkers. These are just two of the statistics found in the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)'s new report, "Degrees of Equality: A National Study Examining Workplace Climate for LGBT Employees."

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, states that the new study "helps us bridge the gap between policy and practice to fully understand LGBT workers' experiences."

The study also provides information on the reasons LGBT workers choose to disclose/not disclose their identity; different workplace scenarios where this issue arose and its impact on the business; and suggestions for improving engagement and retention. What are some of the key findings?

As a result of working in an environment not deemed to be LGBT-friendly:

• Twenty-seven percent of LGBT workers found it distracting
• Twenty-one percent have searched for a new job
• Thirteen percent have stayed home from work for this reason at least once in the last year

Why do LGBT workers not disclose their identity?

• Thirty-nine percent believe they will lose connections
• Twenty-eight percent believe they will lose promotion opportunities
• Seventeen percent believe they will be fired; this number increases to 42 percent for transgender workers
• Thirteen percent fear actual physical harm; this number increases to 40 percent for transgender workers

What scenarios are likely to arise to create an uncomfortable environment?

• Nearly half of LGBT workers feel "very" uncomfortable having conversations about their social lives, relationship status and the topic of sex, all of which occur frequently in the workplace and are found to be essential in "building productive work relationships"
• Fifty-eight percent of LGBT workers say someone in their workplace makes jokes or derogatory comments about LGBT people
• Sixty-two percent of LGBT workers say someone in their workplace makes jokes or derogatory comments about "minority" groups—which, HRC states, also creates a negative climate

Additionally, you may not be aware of non-inclusive behavior in your workplace because most LGBT workers do not report instances of anti-LGBT remarks.

• Sixty-seven percent completely ignore the remarks
• Nine percent raise the issue with a manager
• Five percent raise the issue with human resources

To view the full report, click here. For more from DiversityIncBestPractices.com on diversity training, click here, and for research on LGBT rights, here. Also, can you name The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees? Find out which companies are on the list here.

Why Gay & Lesbian Employees Are Less Engaged - DiversityInc.com

Corporate social responsibility pays off in improved employee engagement and business performance Human Resources - News | HR News | HR Magazine | hrmagazine.co.uk

 

An organisation's participation in corporate responsibility and environmentally-friendly business practices has a significant influence on employee engagement and business outcomes, new research reveals.

The research from the Kenexa Research Insititute, timed to coincide with Earth Day 2010 based on a survey of 1,000 employees, found 40% of employees claim to work in an organisation that demonstrates a genuine commitment to CSR and contributes to the community in which it operates.

The survey shows working for an organisation whose employees positively view corporate responsibility efforts has a significant, favourable impact on how they rate their pride in the organisation, their overall satisfaction and their willingness to recommend it as a place to work. And employees with favourable opinions of their organisation's corporate responsibility activities are more likely to state an intention to stay.

Anne Herman, research consultant at the Kenexa Research Institute, said: "Our research clearly indicates that organisations operating with a strong corporate responsibility climate have more engaged, confident and customer-oriented employees. It will be of great interest to senior leaders, however, that our results also indicate that those organisations that implement corporate responsibility efforts outperform those that do not on important financial metrics such as diluted earnings per share.

"Corporate responsibility activities increase the overall job satisfaction of employees, particularly those in upper and middle-management roles. Having a strong corporate responsibility climate can play a key part in helping organisations achieve their retention targets."

Corporate social responsibility pays off in improved employee engagement and business performance Human Resources - News | HR News | HR Magazine | hrmagazine.co.uk

Employee Engagement Recession May Be Thawing

Employee Engagement Recession May Be Thawing

Employee attitudes about work engagement, hit hard by the recession, are improving, according to a survey of 62,000 employees collected in the first quarter of 2010.

Omaha, NE (PRWEB) April 22, 2010 -- Employee attitudes about employee engagement, hit hard by the recession, are improving, according to a survey of 62,000 employees collected in the first quarter of 2010. The study, conducted by Quantum Workplace of Omaha, Nebraska, shows overall employee engagement increasing in comparison to results from previous years. The overall engagement index increased to 87.7, up from the previous two years.

“This is the first sign we’ve seen that the impact of the recession on employee engagement may be easing,” according to Quantum Workplace President Gregory Harris. The survey collects responses for ten dimensions, including employee perceptions of senior leadership, team effectiveness, fair compensation and manager effectiveness.

“Although these results are encouraging, we have a long way to go in creating highly engaged workplaces,” according to Mark Hirschfeld, Principal at SilverStone Group in Omaha, Nebraska, who has collaborated with Quantum Workplace on this study over the past three years. “There is a large group of employees who experienced poor leadership over the last two years, and many of them are still disengaged. This disengagement has impacted their productivity to the point where they will leave for better work environments,” said Hirschfeld, co-author of Re-Engage: How America’s Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times, published earlier this year by McGraw-Hill.

Harris concludes: “The companies we study who have the highest levels of engagement aren’t taking anything for granted right now. They’re continuing to invest in their employees, and our data indicates they’ll be in a better position to make their way out of this recession than companies with disengaged workforces. These companies are winning because they’ve built an engaging culture.”

Employee Engagement Recession May Be Thawing

http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/04/16/study-brain-splits-to-multi-task/

 

A person's inability to multi-task may result from the brain's predisposed mechanisms, BBC News reports.

When we work on two things simultaneously, each half of the brain focuses on the separate tasks, according to a French study published in the journal "Science." This may not only explain the difficulty of multi-tasking, but also individuals' tendencies to make irrational decisions when presented with multiple options.

"My view is that [irrational decisions are] critically related to this division of [labor] between the two hemispheres to keep track of two tasks or two options but not more," Dr. Etienne Koechlin, of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris and the study's lead author, told BBC. "Our result is likely to provide an explanation for why people are good in binary choice but not multiple choice."

French researchers used brain scans to analyze activity in the frontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for impulse control, of 32 participants.

Researchers asked the volunteers to complete a letter-matching activity and when they completed one task at a time, one side of the frontal lobes lit up. When they completed two tasks simultaneously, the lobes divided the tasks between them. The primary task worked the left frontal lobe, while the secondary task corresponded to the right frontal lobe.

"You can cook and at the same time talk on the phone but you cannot really do a third task such as trying to read a newspaper," Koechlin told BBC. "If you have three or more tasks you lose track of one task."

http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/04/16/study-brain-splits-to-multi-task/

http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20100419-211257.html

Wanted: Bosses who show they care

By Marissa Lee

WE ALL want a certain something from our bosses but what the head honchos actually deliver can be off the mark, according to a new survey.

Human resources consultancy Towers Watson polled 20,000 employees in 22 countries from last November to January and found that two-thirds placed caring about others' well-being as a leader's most desirable trait.

Trustworthiness was next, followed by encouraging talent development and leading changes in practices and policies effectively.

While these desired qualities would mostly fall under the umbrella of people skills, the top four traits actually found in leaders tend to be more task-oriented, according to the study.

These four traits comprise being trustworthy, which 61 per cent of employees agree is evident in their bosses, exemplifying organisational values (60 per cent), effectively communicating change (60 per cent) and effectively managing risks (58 per cent).

'Employees increasingly want their leaders to connect with them on a more emotional level, out of concern and not just out of necessity,' said Dr Brent Ruge, Towers Watson's head of employee surveys in South-east Asia.

Managers who are only managers cannot be leaders, and with all the buzz about productivity, closing the manager-leader expectation gap is now more relevant than ever.

Along with efficient organisational structures and cost control, Dr Ruge lists employee engagement as one of the cornerstones of a productive company, and that engagement must stem from employees having their leadership expectations met.

'In general, when people's expectations are not met, it could drive down their engagement, make them not work as hard,' Dr Ruge said.

'All else being equal, you want to have good people practices to take advantage of all that infrastructure you've built within the company.'

But there are other more uniquely Singaporean obstacles standing in productivity's way.

Dr Ruge said: 'Your strength is your weakness. In Singapore, there is a lot of emphasis on individual talent, which makes people very competitive individually. But the downside to that is a long-term trend in the difficulty of teamwork and collaboration with other work units.

'From what I've seen over the years, Singaporeans tend to work well in small teams, but when you talk about cross-team collaboration, it tends to break down.'

One reason why competition works against productivity is that collaboration is not built into the rewards system. According to Dr Ruge, most companies' key performance indicators are built around individual attainment and do not place a substantial emphasis on teamwork. So when teams are made to work on cross-division projects, their priorities are not aligned as they should be.

'It's natural that people focus on what they're measured on,' said Dr Ruge.

Companies should therefore set clearer teamwide, companywide goals and align performance systems to those greater goals.

Other findings from the Towers Watson Global Workforce Study, which polled 1,022 employees in Singapore, showed that workers here were more 'mobile' than their global counterparts.

Only 25 per cent of workers here said they had no plans to leave their current employers, compared with 42 per cent globally. And half of Singapore employees are willing to switch organisations when suitable job opportunities arise, compared with just one-third globally.

With Singapore recovering from the recession much faster than the United States and Europe, Dr Ruge also pointed to job-hopping as a potential problem on the horizon.

'Because Singapore has climbed the economic ladder and more jobs now are high-knowledge, high-skill jobs, any turnover you experience is going to be more painful and will affect productivity to a greater extent,' he said.

'So you want to make sure you retain your people and inspire them to expend some discretionary effort on behalf of the organisation.'

http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20100419-211257.html

Increasing Employee Retention Through Employee Engagement

You've seen it happen many times. An organization that provides top wages and benefits loses a great employee to a competitor for no apparent reason. Of course, some employee turnover is to be expected, but if your company is truly engaging your employees, there is no good reason for the unexpected loss of quality staff members. Many companies already know that wages and benefits are important to employees, but compensation alone is not enough to keep the highly skilled, motivated and experienced workforce your business needs to excel.
Why is Employment Engagement so important?
An organization's capacity to manage employee engagement is closely related to its ability to achieve high performance levels and superior business results.
Engaged employees will stay with the company, be an advocate of the company and its products and services, and contribute to bottom line business success. Engaged employees also normally perform better and are more motivated. There is a significant link between employee engagement and profitability. Employee engagement is critical to any organization that seeks not only to retain valued employees, but also increase its level of performance.

Many organizational factors influence employee engagement and retention such as:

• A culture of respect where outstanding work is valued

• Availability of constructive feedback and mentoring

• Opportunity for advancement and professional development

• Fair and appropriate reward, recognition and incentive systems

• Availability of effective leadership

• Clear job expectations

• Adequate tools to complete work responsibilities

• High levels of motivation

Read complete article. Increasing Employee Retention Through Employee Engagement

http://theengagementfactor.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/tim-wrightman-and-engagement/

Tim Wrightman, a former All-American UCLA football player, tells a story about how, as a rookie lineman in the National Football League, he was up against the legendary pass rusher Lawrence Taylor. Taylor was not only physically powerful and uncommonly quick but a master at verbal intimidation.

Looking young Tim in the eye, he said, “Sonny, get ready. I’m going to the left and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Wrightman coolly responded, “Sir, is that your left or mine?”

The question froze Taylor long enough to allow Wrightman to throw a perfect block on him.

What is amazing about this story is it’s illustration that anyone –smaller, less innate ability, less experience–can outperform even the best if they put their mind to it.  We have choices we are able to make each day.  We choose how we will react.

Will we freeze?  Will we become paralyzed by our thoughts and fears? Or

Will we keep our cool?  Will we think strategically?

Will we let fear, intimidation, and stress be our jailor or counselor today?

I know what Tim Wrightman chose on that day.  What about you?  Engage yourself and outperform those around you.

http://theengagementfactor.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/tim-wrightman-and-engagement/

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/mar2010/ca20100316_385201.htm

Five Destructive Company HR Policies

Theft-of-time, no-references, and certain other HR rules take the "human" out of "human resources" and drive talent to your competitors

Thinking about the problems facing the business, a CEO is likely to pinpoint such bogeymen as competitive pressures and labor costs. The organization's internal policies aren't likely to make the list of things that keep a leader up at night. Maybe they should. Most organizations of more than a few hundred people are burdened by unfortunate and misguided policies that serve to slow operations and drive away talented employees.

Overwritten or heavy-handed policy manuals hurt your business in three ways. First, they take your employees out of the realm known to sports psychologists as The Zone—the most productive mental place to be. It's the arena where staffers can push your agenda in a fully engaged, minimally distracted way. Bad policies force an employee to stop and look up a rule or consult a manager, slowing down the action. Second, policies are expensive to disseminate and costly to administer. Third and most destructive, policies speak loudly about CEOs' trust in themselves and their management teams. Where trust abounds, policies are few. In organizations where trust exists, leaders have confidence in themselves to hire and manage team members without minute-to-minute supervision. In fear-filled environments, policies rule the day.

Here's our list of the five most destructive human resources policies we've come across. If several of these protocols are in place in your company, the sucking sound you hear may be your profits gushing down the drain, as smart and capable employees flee your shop for more adult environments.

1. Sorry, We Can't Accommodate Your Life

A sure sign of a second-rate organization is a time-off policy oblivious to a normal person's entanglements and obligations. One young friend of mine began a job with a multinational bank, only to be told on orientation day: "I'm sorry, we can't accommodate the two hours of time off you need for a court date three weeks from now. You'll have earned enough time off to take that two-hour break in a few months." She walked out halfway through the day. Employers who can't flex in small ways to accommodate carbon-based life forms don't deserve their talents.

Why this unaccommodating policy reeks: It broadcasts to employees that "your personal life has no value to us; invest your mental and emotional energy in us accordingly."

2. We'll Transfer You When We Feel Like It

It's reasonable to expect a new employee to stay in his or her job for a year, but to put your managers forever in charge of your employees' career progress is a very bad idea. Smart people who don't love their assignments can leave your company and join your competitors, and if you make it too hard for them to apply for an internal opening, that's what they'll do. Don't make managers the decisionmakers on their employees' transfer requests. Let hiring managers in other groups interview and hire (or not) your current team members the same way they consider outside applicants.

Why a manager-driven transfer policy is the pits: It lets employees know that if they can't trust their boss to look out for their interests when an appealing job in the company is available, their best bet is to bail on the organization entirely.

3. Sorry, We Don't Give References

It's stunning and horrifying to realize, if you haven't heard it before, that many employers do not allow their managers to give references for people who have worked on their teams in the past. The boneheaded logic here is that managers might say something unfortunate, subjecting the employer to defamation charges. Withholding positive references for people who served your interests is unethical and shameful. Put your managers back in the reference-giving game if you want talented people to invest brain cells in your success

Why the no-references policy makes our list: It says that "our concern over the unlikely prospect of a defamation charge—brought on, if one should happen, by our ineffectiveness at training managers—is more than ample justification for us to prevent you from getting the good reference that your excellent work at our company should have earned you."

4. Bereavement Leave Police

The phone rings with awful news: A family member has died. At this low point, your employees call their managers to report that they'll have to miss a few days of work. Here's when they learn that your company doesn't trust them to take a few days off with pay. They are told they've got to bring documentation from the funeral home to prove that their loved one has died. Could anything be tackier, more insulting, and less professional? Nearly every day I get queries from HR people who've been charged with writing and installing these bereavement leave policies. If you can't trust your employees for two days off during a family crisis, why are they are on your payroll at all?

Why this policy stinks: It's the ultimate in bad-faith, bad-taste management, an enormous insult to your trusted employees and the capable managers who hired them.

5. Theft-of-Time Policies

When HR people call or write me asking about theft-of-time policies, I feel like a character in a science fiction novel. Theft-of-time policies are the ones that seek to ding (or terminate) employees for checking eBay (EBAY), updating their blogs or Facebook profiles, or otherwise doing nonwork stuff during the workday. Problem is, there is no theft of time for salaried employees. We don't pay for their time. We pay for their hard work and their good ideas. In my experience, the people you want on your team (and why would you keep any other kind around?) can't stop thinking about work, even when they want to. So why would you care whether they get their work done in 40 hours a week, or 55, or 22.5, and whether every minute at the office is spent "productively?" When we implement policies that bust people for "stealing time," we're making it clear that we really don't know how to manage or evaluate the work our people do. We only know how to count the hours their body is in the seat. That's a management failing—and a time-obsessed culture will drive your best people right into your competitors' arms.

Why theft-of-time policies fail: They make it clear that while your company may believe in talent, its true love is old-fashioned face time. Big Brotherish software programs that track minutes spent on outside Web sites are equally ridiculous. If your best call-center rep has a Solitaire addiction that gets her through the day, what do you care?

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/mar2010/ca20100316_385201.htm