Getting the Most Out of Your Company's Employees

A chief of a corporation in the Colorado area provided an interview to a friend's son, a graduate business student, preparing his thesis. The young man asked questions about marketing, budgeting, and the best market techniques. The conversation and questions also including business pitfalls and challenges, protecting assets and the problems and practices in increasing sales. The CEO mentioned that managing a firm's long-term investments had always been at the heart of his energy and determining stakeholders was important. Weighing alternatives in every aspect was his solution to the question about best decision-making practice. The 60 minute interview was almost over when the graduate asked his last question about what was the biggest liability and what was the biggest asset in the company. After blundering through a list of financial jargon, the CEO stopped unexpectedly and thought carefully before saying that all of that was secondary because the employees could be the greatest asset or they could be the greatest liability. The folks working for you can make or break the company. Simple as that. The CEO then took our friend's son out to lunch and they continued to talk. The conversation included examples from the CEO's working experience when he worked at a restaurant through college and when he managed various establishments. He had many examples of how good workers actually made the company money and the managers and owners did not always know it or recognize it. At the same moment, a impolite or incompetent or an employee with a bad attitude could ruin not only the sale at the time, but later. They discussed about the television show Undercover Bosses where CEOs pretend to be new employees on the ground level for a week to actually get some in field experience and insight. The CEO admitted that he had thought of doing that. The two of them throughout lunch talked about different episodes and came to the conclusion that employees do make or break a company. And usually what they want most even more than money or raises is to be dealt with respectfully and to have their efforts acknowledged. They want a thank you of some kind whether it be just a sincere thanks, a gift card, money, a promotion of a gift. The graduate revealed that his mom who had been an administrative assistant had just quit her job the week before saying she had just had enough. Her boss not only did not see what she had done but did not seem to care about rewarding anyone. When she recommended he give gift cards he said that was fine but she would have to give them and write the note and he put her on a small budget. After a year she suggested they give time off to employees but he refused saying. She observed morale was extremely low and he did agree and she was to come up with something. She told him to come into the next morning meeting, which employees hated, with food. He told her to get some cheap donuts from the bakery. She started just standing up to him and said no, he needed to spend some bucks and get quality pastries or food and quality coffee boxes from the Panera Bread down the street. He delegated her to do it and to be sure it was there on time. It did the trick and employees liked it. She needed a different idea for the mid afternoon meetings. So when she saw the huge basket delivered next door with all kinds of treats for employees she was impressed and contacted the basket company, Baskets by Rita. For the same money they put together a large basket with goodies to put in the break room for everyone to enjoy. It was big and they delivered it to her that day. The boss walked in with the Rocky Mountain Gift Basket and there were cheers from the once tired employees. The student made an appointment the next day with his adviser to change his thesis topic to center on the importance of appreciation and acknowledgment for employees contending that they are the most valuable long term investment.

Ways Corporations can improve company morale

Today's writing features tips reaped from a few companies about how to raise morale and not lose excellent employees. Striving to keep the job positive should be of major concern to CEOs and bosses. Losing revenue and time is a great concern. If workers are content and like to come to work production increases. If they feel that they are part of the team and that they are appreciated they become engaged to the company. Factory made thank yous and anticipated pats on the back even increases and the exact same bonuses or gifts or treats lose their impact after awhile. In fact employees begin to bank on predictable gratitudes and gifts and treats. If you provide donuts every Friday it becomes the norm and just a natural part of the work schedule. If you give a gift card for every 10 sales it becomes predictable and if you miss one you will get resentment instead of thanks for the gift cards you have given. Remember the movie with Chevy Chase in the Christmas movie where he banks on the yearly bonus from work and when it is not given one year the manager becomes the bad guy in everyone's eyes. In the movie and in real life people just expect the bonus, money gift, turkey, whatever is the norm every year. Often they order good or spend the money before it even comes in. For that reason organizations need to be cautious not to do the same thing week after week or month after month or year after year. Food treats should not be the common because they become anticipated and actually become rather lackluster. Some would say that money is always the best way to go because everyone can spend it however they want. True, but it also can get repetitive. If you throw out a dollar at the weekly meeting one week for something, the next week you get a gourmet coffee cart. If you provide a grocery card for Christmas one year you need to deliver a gourmet gift basket the next year. If you provide lunch a day one month you need to do something diverse the next month. Most executives feel that this type of imagination is not a part of their tasks and it is not crucial. Morale boosters are very essential. corporate appreciation gifts are one of the best way to say thanks for a task well done and to encourage hard work in the future. Most of the time organizations use administrative assistants to find ideas and put together the thank you. For women flowers and spa packages and gift cards work. For men beer tubs, hardware/home improvement gift cards are excellent. Restaurant gift certificates are good too. You just have to get innovative. Corporate Gifts or Company gifts can be challenging when you are including a lot of people in one office--it could be a gesture of empathy or a thank you gift to a whole office or company. You either have food delivered or if you are worried about food spoilage send a huge corporate gift basket with various items. My company has put the burden on me, the administrative assistant, to come up with two new ideas each month to spend only $300 on the 20 employees. They said I need to find gifts of appreciation to include everyone. I am looking for new ideas for next month but this month we have seen a big difference in favorable attitude around the office after my two appreciation gifts were done. The first was for each employee to find one dollar bills in various places during a week. This last week to thank them for their labors, we had a huge Snack Gift Basket arrive to overpower the snack table. After hearing workers talking about the Aurora movie theatre shooting victims, we chose an Aurora gift basket company, Baskets by Rita and we were not disappointed. So remember to thank your employees and show gratitute for a job well done and to encourage really hard work.