Loyalty in the Workplace

Loyalty in the Workplace By Chris Woolard Chris Woolard, Walker's employee loyalty expert shares his thoughts on all things related to employees and the workplace.

Walker has a new employee, Star.  She is a beautiful Lab/Retriever mix with a great disposition.  Star is not a pet but is being trained to be a service dog.  Star is a puppy that is currently part of an organization called ICAN.  ICAN is the only organization in Indiana to use the prison system to train dogs.  Once the dogs are trained, they are placed with all kinds of handicapped individuals (including recently training a dog to alert the owner with diabetes when their sugar is too low). 

I always enjoy walking by the office where Star is to pet her, it just kind of brightens up the day.  No matter what is going on, there is something about playing with Star that just seems relaxing and allows you to take your mind of the day for just a few minutes. 

I had a client years ago that had a company dog.  It was a very laid-back dog and when you first walked in, it spooked you a bit because this dog just walked up to you.  Then you realize how sweet the dog was and how nice it was to have a dog walking around while you were meeting. 

A recent article confirms the benefits of having a pet at work.  Obviously this would not work everywhere, I have a son that is highly allergic to most dogs and cats.  Clearly that would need to be considered before bringing in a pet to the workplace.  I know there are other factors that would prevent something like this.  However, my point is this is just another creative thing companies are doing to make the workplace just a little better, which is going to lead to improved employee loyalty.

 

 

 

 

I am sure you all remember my blog from a couple of weeks ago where I wrote about the results of a recent study we conducted that found companies plan to increase hiring.  This study was conducted in Indiana only.  I just happened to read another company has confirmed what we found across the nation.

This study is an ongoing study by Manpower and they have been tracking the employee outlook for a number of years.  They calculate what is called the Net Employment Outlook, which is the percent that say they are going to increase hiring minus the percent that are going to decrease hiring.  The Net Employment Outlook is at 10% which is the first time it has been in the double digits since Q1 of 2008.  This also marks a considerable jump from the low of -2% in 2009. 

A few other interesting findings:

-All industries had a positive Net Employment Outlook

-18% of companies said they were going to increase hiring 

-For those of you in North Dakota, the future is especially bright with an outlook of 26%, the highest of all states and a jump of 14%

-The states with the most positive Net Employment Outlook after North Dakota are Alaska, Vermont, Delaware, and Oklahoma

As I mentioned in my previous blog, not everyone they are hiring are people who are unemployed.  There will be some pirating of talent from other companies.  This is why having employee loyalty is so critical right now.  Employees are more likely to resist offers from other companies when they have high degrees of employee engagement.  How do you improve employee engagement?  The answer is simple, ask the employees.  I have found when employees feel responses will be kept confidential, they will be pretty open and honest about what could be improved.  However, I only recommend that you take the time to ask employees if you are willing to take action on the results, otherwise you could do more harm than good. 

A colleague sent me this picture below put together by National Business Research Institute (the full article can be found here).  I thought it was a very clever, and easy to understand illustration of employee engagement, its impact, and its drivers.  I also think it has some great info, specifically over half say they will definitely leave.  Our research confirms that one of the top reasons why someone leaves is there is no room for advancement.  What stands out to you?

I have been blogging for some time that eventually the dam will burst and employees will start moving around.  I think the dam is starting to leak.  We recently conducted a survey of Indiana business leaders and asked if they were going to increase hiring in the next year.  The percent of those indicating they were going to increase hiring went up 7 percentage points compared to 2011 (to read more about this study go to www.indianabusinesscouncil.com) .  I recently saw a study by Young Presidents Organization (YPO).  This is organization of, as you can guess, presidents of organizations that are below a certain age.  This study asked these presidents about various aspects of their business; sales, fixed investments, and employee count.  In this study, more than 30% said they planned to increase hiring by at least 10% over the next year, with more than 10% saying they will increase hiring by 20% or more.   So who do you think they are going to hire?  Sure some of the unemployed will get snatched up but the majority of these hires will be companies pilfering the top talent from other companies, your top talent.    

As business leaders you have a couple of choices here.  You can turn away and ignore the dam and explain it away.  You can try to put your finger in a few of the holes in hopes that it will get you by.  Or you can put up some bricks and mortar to reinforce the dam, the bricks and mortar is called employee loyalty.  By measuring what employees are looking for in their job and from their company, you can take the appropriate action that will have an impact on employee loyalty and the organization as a whole.  We know for a fact that loyal employees are less likely to leave an organization and more likely to resist offers.  We also know these employees are more likely to speak highly of the company, help out co-workers with heavy workloads, support the strategy of the organization, and go above and beyond in their job.  The graph below is from a national employee loyalty study from several years ago but it clearly illustrates that loyal employees are more likely to exhibit positive behaviors. 

 

Several weeks ago I shared a blog from Slingshot SEO's CEO, Jay Love, about the advantages of a four day work week.   He is back at it with another great blog about employee recognition.   I would recommend reading the entire post but I have posted his five types of recognition below.  What most companies do is maybe one or two of these.  Why not do ALL of these, they should not cost that much and will have a huge impact on employee loyalty.

1. Quarterly reviews. Mandate one-on-one feedback sessions between each supervisor and team member on a quarterly basis. To ensure these are effective, have each manager carve out one hour for each employee. (At Slingshot SEO, we review the status of each quarterly goal and career objective, as well as take the time to chat to know each other better. The goals and any progress are summarized in a simple feedback form.)
2. Peer recognition. Each month, I solicit open nominations for Slingshot SEO’s Outstanding Team Member of the Month. Each employee with at least 60 seconds to spare can e-mail me with their recommendations. Although just two are publicly honored at each monthly meeting, many others are encouraged by this program: I always forward the e-mails of the remarkable kudos to all the nominees along with a few comments of my own.
3. Team highlights. Insist on your department heads sharing stories from their departments and highlighting the achievements of team members at the monthly All-Company Meeting. Lively presentations that include photographs, videos and client comments make this one even better!
4. Yearly awards ceremony. Hold an Annual Award Event for your organization. (We award a Rookie of the Year, Most Improved, Innovator of the Year and Employee of the Year, plus we invite our Customer of the Year and Partner of the Year to make the event memorable.)
5. Spontaneous kudos. Insist that every supervisor works hard to catch a team member doing something right or special as they wander around or peruse communications. When they do, have them point it out in front of the person’s peers or via departmental e-mail. (The more often the better, but beware… large smiles might take over your office.)

Love, J. “5 Ways to Reward Your All-Stars”. Inc., February, 8, 2012.  http://admin.inc.com/2012/02/08/5-ways-to-reward-your-all-stars/

Too many companies focus on the employees that are struggling or a "problem" and completely forget about the top performers.  In fact, most companies would be better served giving time and attention to the top performers as they will have a greater return to the company.  

 

As I was down there, a colleague of mine e-mailed me some links about the company that makes footballs for the NFL, Wilson Sporting Goods.  These footballs are what are used in almost every football game across the country and are considered the best out there.  I actually owned one for a while and someone stole it from my garage so apparently they are pretty valuable. 

As I read about the company, it is quite amazing what they do to get the footballs ready for the Super Bowl which you can read about here.  What is more impressive is the apparent employee loyalty at this company.  If you look at some of these videos you will hear people talk about being part of the company for 40 years or more, and they seem excited to talk about Wilson and their job. You listen to Willie talk about the bladder in this video and you can just see the pride he has when he talks about his job, it is inspiring.  Look at how long many of those employees have been there.  Generally in a manufacturing environment, employee loyalty can be lower than other industries so to have what seems to be very high employee loyalty is quite impressive. 

Think about this for a second, do you take such pride in what you produce, be it either a good or service?  Probably not. Why is that?  Are you not proud of the products and services you produce?  My guess is you are.  Too many of you what you do probably feels like a job, that is why it is critical for Senior Leaders to articulate the bigger picture and then for managers to help employees understand their role and how they impact the organization overall and when possible, community and society as whole.  For example, I heard about a company that produces products and technology to help improve animal wellness and productivity.  However, they talk about their mission really being to help impact world hunger.  Talk about being motivated to do your job, if you can take it past the day-to-day activities and how they are impacting something bigger than themselves, that is how you get someone excited about their job.

*Just to clarify, the only time I have been asked for an autograph is when I was 13 and did some freestyle biking at a local church to a group of elementary and middle schoolers and one of them came up and asked for my autograph. 

In an interview with Slingshot SEO CEO Jay Love, he talks about the business advantage of having a four day work week.  I know many of you are probably thinking, a four day work week would never work in our environment or I am already working 10 hour days every day, how could I get my work done in 4 days.  Here is my challenge for you, instead of thinking it won't work, take five minutes and think about how it could work.  I would be willing to bet, in most companies, it is not a matter of something like this never being able to work, it is a matter of people who refuse to entertain the idea of how could it work.  I read through a number of the comments in this article and there were many employees who are working in this environment and love it.  Many said they might still log in on Friday for a couple of hours to get ahead but they enjoy the flexibility the four day work week affords.

I truly believe the way we do work is going to shift dramatically over the next decade.  Things like ROWE , compressed work weeks, etc., will be the norm, not the exception. (If you don't know what ROWE  is, I  have blogged about this several times here, here, and here.) Companies who understand this will try to stay ahead of the curve and work to see how these innovative work structures can be implemented now, rather than waiting until their top talent is gone in favor of these environments. 

Let me give you a real life example that just happened last week.  A friend of mine is currently looking for a job.  One of the companies he was talking to said they are moving to ROWE in Q2.  He specifically said that with all things being equal between different companies, he would go with this company because of the work environment.  In fact, he went on to say he was so excited by ROWE that he would be willing to take slightly less to have the flexibility in his work schedule that ROWE affords. 

In the upcoming battle on talent, and yes there will be one once the economy opens up, work environment issues will attract the necessary top talent and if all other things are equal, could tip the scales in companies obtaining the talent necessary to be successful in the future. 

So again I challenge you, stop thinking it won't work and take a few minutes to think about how it could work.  If you refuse to, you will be left behind in the war on talent. 

A couple of weeks ago, Phil Bounsall wrote a blog about how customers can sometimes believe the grass is greener with another vendor, and by reaching out to those customers to find out what is important, you can help prevent wandering eyes. 

The same concept applies for employees as well.  I am sure many leaders feel the employees are never happy despite giving them a good salary, interesting work, and other perks.  Many employees feel they are being taken for granted and aren't truly cared about despite these perceived perks.

Just like on the customer side it is important to ask the employees what they are looking for in the workplace and how the company can improve.  While you may not be able to fix everything, you will at least have some direction as to where to spend time and resources to ensure you are having the desired impact on employee loyalty.  For example, I talk with many companies who are throwing a lot of time and money into improving communications. However, communication does not have a large impact on employee loyalty.  Focusing on things like development, fairness, and recognition, will generally have a much larger impact on improvement employee loyalty.  

I know many people I speak with now are saying unemployment is high so they don't need to worry about turnover.  However, I have seen several studies which indicate anywhere from 20%-30% of employees plan to leave their job in the next year. Generally these are the most talented people, the ones you can least afford to lose. 

Another big problem I have found with organizations is despite unemployment being high, they cannot find the talent necessary to fill the positions.  So despite having a stack of resumes on their desk, they don't have people that are highly trained and highly skilled to fill these positions.  So combine that with the turnover that will be happening in the next 12 months and companies could be in for a difficult road.  Therefore, it is more critical than ever to be reaching out to the employees on a regular basis to asses their perceptions of the workplace and what they truly care about in their job. 

I recently tore my Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) playing basketball and several weeks ago had surgery.  In order to fix this, my doctor apparently needed what felt like my entire hamstring to recreate the new ligament.  Felt a bit like robbing Peter to pay Paul but in order to walk and be active again, that is what needed to happen.  The resulting benefit of this surgery is the joy of being on crutches for almost two months.  Being on crutches is an incredibly humbling experience.  I have little old ladies holding doors for me, strangers offering to carry things out to my car, my brother even let me borrow his BMW as my car is a stick so I can't drive it for a while.  In fact, just this morning, someone from some company in my building saw me hobbling in from the parking lot and ran down to the lobby just to hold the door for me.  It has been quite remarkable the kindness and goodness displayed by people and makes me hope I am displaying these same things to others. 

Then I heard a story on the radio about kindness and goodness of a company owner in Oklahoma.  Tim and Patty Ridge own several McDonald's in Oklahoma.  In one of their restaurants, they decided to rebuild the restaurant which would take three months. The problem was what to do with all 70 employees during these three months.  Someone looking at just the bottom line would have let the employees go or forced them to work in another restaurant.  What Tom decided to do was let the employees work at another one of his McDonald's or take the three months paid and go volunteer in the community (food banks, churches, schools, etc.)  Thirty employees decided to work at another restaurant, 40 employees decided to volunteer (what were those first 30 thinking).  Those that volunteered told Tom what an impact it had on their lives and it also had a tremendous impact on the community.  Can you imagine the impact 40 people could have if all that had to do was help the community for three months?  The impact in the community was incredible.

Many would assume that over these three months these employees would find other work or move on.  When they were ready to open the restaurant again, EVERY employee came back.  Did you catch that?  Every single employee came back.  On top of that, they had to add 30 more people because the store was so successful.  What was first seen as a huge expense, turned into to an incredibly profitable proposition for Tom.  If you listen to the interview in the link below, you will learn that Tom is a very religious man and he did not do it for the money, he did it because it was the right thing to do.  The success of the McDonald's was just an added benefit. 

Obviously companies have to be fiscally responsible but doing the right thing can lead to business success. 


If you want to hear an interview with Tom, you can click on this link.
http://www.podcasters.tv/episodes/owasso-oklahoma-mcdonalds-reopens-16223530.html

Last week I wrote about the first six aspects of a Great Place to Work.  Below I have the remaining six aspects. 

"7.  Define clear and specific expectations for what success looks like in any given job. Then, treat employees as adults by giving them as much autonomy as possible to choose when they work, where they do their work, and how best to get it accomplished."

If you have read any of my blogs for the past year or two, you know I am 100% on board with this approach and the whole ROWE movement. 

"8. Institute two-way performance reviews, so that employees not only receive regular feedback about how they're doing, in ways that support their growth, but are also given the opportunity to provide feedback to their supervisors, anonymously if they so choose, to avoid recrimination."

I like this idea and he mentions employees can provide feedback anonymously.  However, what I have seen is employees can be extremely uncomfortable giving their boss constructive feedback.  There are companies that have the culture to do this, however I have worked with many companies where the employees are afraid to give that negative feedback for fear of repercussions.  This is generally not so much an evaluation tool problem but a culture problem, where there needs to be a culture of openness and honesty. 

"9.  Hold leaders and managers accountable for treating all employees with respect and care, all of the time, and encourage them to regularly recognize those they supervise for the positive contributions they make." 

Doesn't it seem a little sad that this needs to be an aspect of a Great Place to Work and not just a given for all places to work?

"10. Create policies that encourage employees to set aside time to focus without interruption on their most important priorities, including long-term projects and more strategic and creative thinking. Ideally, give them a designated amount of time to pursue projects they're especially passionate about and which have the potential to add value to the company."

This is another area where I have seen truly great companies differentiate themselves.  They actually allow and encourage their employees to work on pet projects and brainstorm new and creative approaches to products and services offered.  

"11. Provide employees with ongoing opportunities and incentives to learn, develop and grow, both in establishing new job-specific hard skills, as well as softer skills that serve them well as individuals, and as managers and leaders."

I recently completed a survey of about 1,300 Indiana employees.  We asked them if they had changed jobs in the past 2-3 years, what was the reason for leaving.  One of the top reasons is they were not given training and development for the long-term.  Companies cannot lose sight of the importance of training employees for the long-term and providing them defined career paths.  

"12. Stand for something beyond simply increasing profits. Create products or provide services or serve causes that clearly add value in the world, making it possible for employees to derive a sense of meaning from their work, and to feel good about the companies for which they work."

Most employees want to feel they are part of something greater than themselves, especially the younger generation entering the workforce.  It is no longer just about how much money a company can make but what kind of impact they can have on the community around them.

Now that you have seen the 12, which of these aspects does your company have?   

Tony Schwartz recently posted this blog about 12 things companies should be doing to be considered a great place to work.  I  have posted six of the twelve below with a few of my thoughts after each.  I will post the other six next week. 

"1. Commit to paying every employee a living wage. To see examples of how much that is, depending on where you live, go to this site. Many companies do not meet that standard for many of their jobs. It's nothing short of obscene to pay a CEO millions of dollars a year while paying any employee a sum for full time work that falls below the poverty line."

I  completely agree, pay must meet a minimum threshold level to support an individual and/or family. When employees are constantly stressed about where the next meal will come from, they will not be very productive and focused on the job. 

"2. Give all employees a stake in the company's success, in the form of profit sharing, or stock options, or bonuses tied to performance. If the company does well, all employees should share in the success, in meaningful ways." 

I LOVE  this idea.  I firmly believe if employees have a stake in the game, they will make decisions that are in the best interest of the company rather than just in the best interest of themselves.  However, these incentives are usually reserved for only the most Senior people, which I  completely disagree with.  Everyone in the company should reap some of the rewards of the success of the company. 

"3. Design working environments that are safe, comfortable and appealing to work in. In offices, include a range of physical spaces that allow for privacy, collaboration, and simply hanging out."

I am more in favor of an Indiana Jones type of entry to the workplace where poison arrows and boulders are chasing you in.  I think productivity in the first hour of work would sky rocket. 

"4. Provide healthy, high quality food, at the lowest possible prices, including in vending machines." 

I think it is great that companies offer coffee and soda. Walker offers free soda and coffee and I thought it was wonderful when my especially delicious Mountain Dew started magically showing up in the soda cooler each morning.  Each morning was like Christmas morning as I made my way to the cooler to enjoy that sweet nectar.  However, I  noticed I started to put on weight and was more irritable in the evenings.  Now, I am a big boy and if I see what it does to my physically, it is my responsibility, and no one else's, to cut down on the soda consumption.  However, if there were healthy alternatives, I might partake in those.   Walker has started offering teas, which I do enjoy regularly and has helped off-set the Dew consumption.  I do know companies offer juices, granola bars, and fruit for free in hopes of having a healthier workforce. 

"5. Create places for employees to rest and renew during the course of the working day and encourage them to take intermittent breaks. Ideally, leaders would permit afternoon naps, which fuel higher productivity in the several hours that follow."

Afternoon naps, are you kidding me????  How could this not be the most brilliant idea in the history of mankind (outside of the invention of Mountain Dew)?  Of course, when you get free soda and coffee, napping in the afternoon is difficult but darn it, I  am willing to try.  In all seriousness, I can't see this ever taking hold in corporate America but I  have seen several studies that talk about the benefits in the workplace of just shutting down for even 30 minutes.  

"6. Offer a well equipped gym and other facilities that encourage employees to move physically and stay fit. Provide incentives for employees to use the facilities, including during the work day as a source of renewal." 

This is another great idea.  Walker has worked out a discount with a local gym, which is great, unless of course you should happen to blow out your ACL working out over lunch which will require surgery and 6-9 monthys of rehab, at which point working out does not seem like such a good idea, not that I would know anything about that. 

We recently conducted a survey with a combination of Indiana business leaders and staff. In the survey, we measured employee loyalty.  For the most part, the employees were fairly loyal, with about two-thirds of employees Truly Loyal.  Not surprisingly, loyalty dropped by level of position in the company with staff having the lowest loyalty at 40 percent.  Which is still not bad but lower than I would want to see given these are the employees dealing with the customers on a daily basis. 

We also asked CEOs to answer our loyalty questions the way they think their employees would answer.  Then we calculated loyalty using these projected responses.  The CEOs projected 74 percent of employees were Truly Loyal and only 4 percent were High Risk.  Clearly that is off from the actual where staff was 40 percent Truly Loyal and 29 percent High Risk. 

What was interesting was the CEOs projected loyalty was more similar to the employee loyalty of Senior Leaders and VPs.  We did the same thing with Supervisors and their projected loyalty was close to that of staff.  In fact, their projected loyalty was actually a bit lower than the actual loyalty of staff. 

So what does this mean for you?  Well I think the reason for the gap in projected scores could be the result of a couple of things.  It could be that CEOs have a more positive outlook in general and are more bullish about the company and the culture.  It could also be the people they interact with the most (other Senior Leaders, VPs, etc.) have a fairly positive outlook which reinforces their already positive views about the company. 

I was presenting these results to a group of HR representatives and they asked, "Does this mean CEOs are disconnected from the rank and file?" I think the answer to this is maybe but it probably depends on the CEO.  I know some CEOs that have regular meetings with staff-level employees to hear their recommendations and understand their complaints.  These are CEOs who are not disconnected.   However, I have met other CEOs that excuse away employee complaints and do not try to view the work environment from the perspective of the employee. 

I think some of this disconnect can also be attributed to middle management who maybe aren't letting the bad news travel upstream and aren't quite as positive about the company downstream. 

To help with this, CEOs must be out and visible.  They also need to conduct some type of employee feedback program on a regular basis so they can gauge the issues of the employees and understand the needs of the employees.  This will also allow them to track the progress on improving issues that arise from the feedback.  Lastly, they really need to try to view the work environment from the employees' perspective.  I have watched the show "Undercover Boss" a couple of times and invariably the CEO says it made them see things from a completely different perspective.  I am not saying each CEO needs to do the same thing they do on the show, but my point is they should try to walk in their shoes for a bit and try to look at the world from their perspective.  

Below is a blog by Jody Thompson, one of the founders of ROWE and co-author of the bestselling book Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It.  I just happened to see this and thought it was very funny and very true.  The blog is about logging the hours you work and I can't tell you how many times I have heard these statements she mentions in her blog.  I have several friends that will quickly tell you how many hours they worked as if it is a badge of honor. My response to them is that they should be more efficient in their job.  Let me know what you think.
 

Here’s why tracking time = INSANITY 

1. If you get your work done in less time (less time = less than 40 hours/week), you’ll get more work (which is no incentive for working efficiently).
2. If you get your work done in less time, your job may be perceived as unnecessary.
3. If you get your work done in less time, you’ll get paid less or put on part-time status.
4. If you take longer than the amount of time you should take to get the work done (more time = more than 40 hours/week), you may be perceived as inefficient.
5. If you take longer than the amount of time you should take to get the work done you may get a promotion, because you work so hard (which is why we all like to brag about the 50 – 60+ hours we put in each week!).
6. If you take longer than the amount of time you should take to get the work done, you may be considered dedicated, hard-working and a valuable asset.
7. If you take exactly the right amount of time to get the work done (40 hours/week), you may be perceived as only doing the bare minimum (Hey, everyone else is working 50-60 hours! Why aren’t you?).
8. If you take exactly the right amount of time to get the work done, you may never get promoted (only the hard-working, dedicated people get promoted).

The problem with tracking time is that it takes the focus away from one thing: measuring results. When you take away time-tracking, everyone becomes as efficient as possible. Nobody talks about how many hours they work, because it’s irrelevant. And, time no longer has power as the currency that measures work.

For managers, the benefits of a results-only workplace where time is not a measure of work are many:

1. Results become clear as employees seek clarity
2. Work gets done faster
3. Communication gets sharper
4. Managing to results becomes easier than managing people’s time
5. Productivity goes up
6. Morale goes up
7. Voluntary turnover goes down
8. There is much less wasted time
9. Teamwork happens without team-building exercises
10. Creativity happens

The ‘Conroys’ of the world don’t stand a chance in workplace where time-tracking has relevance.

I have written a couple of times about ROWE (here, here, and here).  As you probably can gather, I am a huge fan of this movement and firmly believe this is what the workplace will look like in the near future.  A couple of weeks ago, The Indianapolis Star ran a couple of articles on ROWE so I wanted to pass those along.  You can read the articles by clicking below.

Article 1

Article 2

I just finished reading a book called Lone Survivor.  It is the story of Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell.  The book explains some of the grueling training to become a SEAL but the main part of the book is about Operation Redwing.  Marcus and three other SEALs are tasked with finding a Taliban leader in the mountains of Afghanistan.  While these four men were in the mountains, they were attacked by a large Taliban army.  Marcus was the only surviving member of the group.  To survive, Marcus had to travel steep mountain terrain with a leg that had shrapnel in it from a grenade, a torn rotator cuff, three cracked vertebrae, a broken nose, and a huge gash on his forehead.  Then as he was escaping, he was shot by a sniper in the leg.  He was then taken in by a small village who protected him until he was able to be rescued. 

The training Marcus had to go through to become a Navy SEAL was amazing, the discipline and attitude that was displayed was inspiring.  Then when they were under attack the attitude the team had almost brought me to tears.  The other members of the team had been shot and severely wounded but were still fighting and would not give up. 

How does this relate to business and employee perceptions?  Recently, I was presenting results of a recent employee loyalty survey to a room full of executives.  This was the first time they had done this survey and the scores were very, very good.  However, the CEO sat back and looked at the head of HR and said, this is not good enough, we must get better.  Wow, what an attitude.  That is probably why they are an extremely successful company, it is their attitude that they are not good enough and they must not give up. 

Contrast that with some companies where their loyalty is significantly lower, but they are content.  They make excuses as to why the scores are where they are, or they just say the employees are negative and dismiss the results. 

I also think about this in my own career.  When I have setbacks or when the company makes decisions I don't agree with, I can either throw a fit or make excuses, or I can put my head down and work harder and not let it change my attitude.  If a guy can be shot, have broken bones, no food or water and still survive, it just shows the power of the human mind and what can be accomplished.  So my point of this blog is we have a choice, each and every day, to control the attitude we bring to the workplace.  And that attitude can then impact those around us, either positively or negatively. 

So my question to you is, are you doing all that you can, with the right attitude?  Or are you making excuses for not working as hard as you can?  Executives, are you making excuses for the state of employee loyalty at your company or are you make a concerted effort to improve the culture of the organization every day?

A study recently came out from MetLife looking at the relationship benefits play in employee loyalty and changes in employee loyalty.  Indiana Business Journal recently wrote a blog about this topic and I was able to provide some of my thoughts on the study.  To read the blog, along with more information about the MetLife study you can click here. 

In my last blog, I shared an interview Michael Reynolds, President and CEO of SpinWeb, an Indianapolis based web solutions firm.  Michael implemented ROWE (Results-Only-Work-Environment) in his company three years ago.  My last blog shared with you some of the principles of how he has implemented ROWE.  This blog will focus on the impact ROWE has had on his business. 

Michael said moving to ROWE was the greatest thing they have ever implemented at their company.  They have become more profitable and efficient.  It forced them to rethink how they price projects.  They used to estimate the number of hours each project would take and track hours.  Now they have a project price based on certain key specifications of the project.  Since hours aren’t being tracked, it encourages employees to be efficient in their job.  The less time it takes to finish their piece of the project, the more time they have to themselves. 

He said one other benefit that he did not expect was he is able to retain his top talent.  His employees love this work environment.  Over the years, top talent has also been attracted to his environment so he is able to pick the cream of the crop.  Retaining and attracting top talent, in turn, allows him to be more efficient and more profitable and serve his clients even better.   

One complaint I often hear is this approach will negatively impact customers because everyone will be off playing when a customer is calling with a need or an emergency.  Michael says customer service has actually improved because at almost any given hour, someone is working and anytime, someone can respond to the client quickly.  Customers love receiving responses after 5:00 or early in the morning.  His work environment does not have regular office hours or certain times where employees must be logged in.  Therefore, he may have employees working early in the morning or late at night.  This means when a customer sends an e-mail or leaves a message, odds are someone either is working, or will be logging in shortly to work.  Everyone in the office carries cell phones so it is not uncommon for an employee to talk on their cell anywhere or anytime. 

One big lesson he learned in implementing ROWE is it is not about a rulebook and giving employees a list of rules and can and can’t dos.  It is about rewiring your brain to think about work differently.  Far too long we assume work can only happen in an office during certain hours.  We have traded efficiency and profitability for control and lack of trust.  I know many Senior Leaders will be reading this thinking something like this will never work in their company.  That is the problem.  Maybe you have tried it and a few employees took advantage or some customer calls fell through the cracks, that does not mean ROWE is at fault.  More than likely, it was a bad hire or a lack of clear outcomes that lead to the problems.  Just because there are bumps in the road, does not mean the road is bad, it could just mean it has not been traveled often.  In today’s war on talent, Senior Leaders need to view work differently in order to attract and retain top talent, better meet customer needs, and become more profitable.  Just because it is the way you have always done it, does not make it the best way.  Maybe if you don’t think it will work, it is really telling you something about yourself rather than your work environment. 

I also know many of you are thinking this only works in an IT environment.  Wrong, Michael is working with a Day Care (yeah, you read that right) to implement it as well.  This can work in any almost any environment.  I loved what Michael said at the end of our meeting.  He said all of the productivity gains and increases in profits are great but at the end of the day, ROWE is simply the right way to work. 

if you would like to find out how to convert your organization to a ROWE, contact CultureRx at www.gorowe.com.

Last year, I wrote a blog about ROWE, Results Only Work Environment.  Through a networking group, I was introduced to Michael Reynolds, President and CEO of SpinWeb, an Indianapolis based web solutions firm.  Michael has implemented ROWE in his organization and I sat down with him to talk about the process and the impact it has had on his organization.  This blog will be focused more on the implementation and the principles.  Next week you can check back to read about the impact ROWE has had on his company. 

ROWE was implemented at SpinWeb about three years ago.  They were actually the first company in Indiana to implement ROWE.  As he was talking about some of the principles of ROWE, he specifically mentioned two areas I found interesting; meetings and the work itself. 

ALL meetings are optional, regardless of who sets up the meeting or the purpose of the meeting, meeting attendance is optional.  What this does is it cuts down on unnecessary meetings.  Let’s face it, we all spend part of every week in meetings that aren’t relevant to us or could have been accomplished with a couple of e-mails or phone calls.  Unnecessary meetings quickly stopped because employees stopped showing up.  This also forced the meeting organizer to create a clear agenda so others understood the purpose and desired outcomes of the meeting.  This allowed employees to spend more time accomplishing their objectives rather than wasting times in irrelevant meetings. 

Regarding work, Michael said all employees stop doing work they view as a waste of time.  The employee is trusted to make this decision.  If they view a part of their job as useless, they have the authority to stop it.  This requires employees to have a full understanding of the internal processes and ensure processes are incredibly efficient.  This, in turn, allows the employees to become more efficient in their job and work on the areas of greatest value to the company and the client. 

One big key to the success of ROWE is the role of management.  Management must do two things: they must trust their employees and they must set clear outcomes for its employees.  If they do not trust their employees, management will never fully allow them to make the decisions necessary for ROWE to be successful.  This requires management to put aside their egos and need for control, and truly trust their employees.  Secondly, management must be able to set clear outcomes for each employee so they know exactly what they are to accomplish.  This requires management to have a clear understanding of the business and the employees’ role in the business. 

A few other things I found interesting.  There is no set PTO policy.  People take off as they see fit.  If they want to catch a matinee movie or go play a round of golf, no problem.  As long as their outcomes are being met, when they work and how much they work is irrelevant.  SpinWeb actually has two types of vacations, Going Dark and Going Dim.  Going Dark means you are going off grid and you will not be accessible or checking in.  If an employee is Going Dark, they must coordinate with team members to ensure everything is covered.  Going Dim means you will be checking in while you are out and can move things along if needed. 

In my next blog, I will continue this interview and focus on the impact implementing ROWE has had on SpinWeb.  To learn more about ROWE, you can go to:  http://www.gorowe.com

As many of you know who follow this blog, I like to write about creative and innovative things companies are doing to create and increase employee loyalty.  Well this week I think we might have one that is going to be hard to beat. 

At Anytime Fitness, they have monthly employee training sessions, that is not the creative part.  At these training sessions, they have an on-site tattoo artist who will tattoo the company logo on any part of ones' anatomy.  When I first read about this, I thought yeah that is great, but who would get a tattoo of their company logo, unless you work for a company like Harley Davidson and happen to own and ride Harleys. 

They have had over 350 people tattoo the logo on their body.  Did you catch that?  I said 350.  Wow, you want to talk about taking employee loyalty to a new level.  I am not sure what level of loyalty it is when employees are tattooing the company logo on their body but I think goes beyond the word loyalty. 

I know many of you aren't tattoo people, I am indifferent towards them, I know some people love them, my brother-in-law has several and one is a tattoo around his neck that looks like he got decapitated but then had his head sewn back on, not really my thing, but he likes it.  Do you feel so passionate about your company that you would tattoo your company logo on your body?  If you aren't a tattoo person, do you feel so passionate about your company that you would even recommend the company to others?  If not, why not, what is holding you back from that type of passion? 

Some of this passion is dependent on the employees, let's face it, some just have a bad attitude no matter where they work.  Employees have a responsibility to at least try to have a good attitude about their company and their job and not complain about everything the company does, as if they are the only ones smart enough to see and solve all of the problems at the company. 

I also recognize Senior Leaders have a responsibility to create a culture that stirs this type of passion.  They need to explain to employees where the company is headed, what their role in the company is, provide the resources necessary, and provide rewards and incentives.  Far too often Senior Leaders expect the passion they have to just rub off on others because they are in the same room.  There are some Senior Leaders I have been around that can do that, they just have that personality that after talking to them for five minutes, you would work for them for free.  However, for most of the Senior Leaders, this takes work.  It takes a conscience effort on their part to constantly reinforce the correct behaviors and rewards those behaviors.  Maybe by doing that, employees would be more likely to tattoo their logo on their parts.  If not a tattoo, maybe at a minimum it will improve employee loyalty, which in turn, will have a positive impact on employees' likelihood to recommend, go above and beyond in their job, and resist offers from other companies. 

So who knows, maybe this tattoo thing will be the new trend, maybe I will start it at Walker.