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Who's Using EAP Tools?
- Federal Govt Agencies
- ARMY ASAP
- NAVY
- Fortune 500 Companies
- Private Industry
- Cities and Municipalities
- Universities
- Internal EAPs
- External EAPs
- Non-profit Assoc.
- Foreign Countries
- Hospitals
- Railroads
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<<Prior Strategy Next Strategy>>
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EAPs:
Improving Morale When the Budget is Zero
 In the bottom half of this EAP Toolbox Message is
an outline for a workshop for supervisors on, "Improving Morale When Your
Budget Is Zero."
Use your mouse to copy and paste the workshop
outline to a document and save it.
Certainly, you have experienced how
difficult it is to get training time with supervisors. Mention a workshop on
this subject to management and see if the doors don't swing open.
First,
however, I thought you would find the following press release on loyalty and gas
prices an interesting read.
(Side note) I am trying to produce a few
more supervisor-oriented fact sheets. My goal is to make each one--more or
less--a workshop or mini-seminar that you can give to supervisors. Simply use
the fact sheet as your guide.
So, keep your eyes peeled for them. You
will see one or two of these supervisor-oriented fact sheets in the next Group 6
set of fact sheets that will be available soon. (Hey, did you see Group
5?)
Please note. If you are on my list for free fact sheets, you may
get two e-mails when I send them out. I always send out the fact sheets through
the EAP Toolbox (that's what you are reading now). However, I also use a
separate list of about 400 workplace professionals who have only signed up for
only fact sheets. If you are on both lists, you will know it because you will
get two messages.
"Unsubscribe" from the reproducible fact sheet list if
you get two messages and you find that annoying.
Make sure you put dfapublish@aol.com and publisher@eaptools.com in your address
book. If you don't--most stuff is going to your spam file. I send out a lot of
otherwise expensive free-bees, so you don't want to miss them.
PRESS
RELEASE (Then the workshop outline follows.)
Price of Gas Takes Toll
on Employee Loyalty, Finds TransitCenter Study:One-Quarter of Workers
Considering Changing Jobs to Improve Commute
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS
WIRE)--Rising fuel prices and worsening traffic are driving 26 percent of
employees to consider changing jobs to improve their commutes, reports a study
conducted by BusinessWeek Research Services (BWRS) and commissioned by
TransitCenter, Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides tax-free transit
benefits as a means to promote mass transit use. The survey, entitled, "The
Impact of Commuting on Employees," finds that 48 percent of employees say their
commute is getting worse. The increased frustration is building a bigger
appetite for commute-focused relief in the workforce. Indeed, 65 percent of
employees say they expect their companies to step up and take the lead in easing
their commuting difficulties.
"Three years ago the price of gas wasn't
considered an HR issue," said Larry Filler, president and CEO of TransitCenter.
"Today, it's starting to take its toll on employee loyalty and becoming a
serious concern." The study also found that nearly a quarter, or 24 percent of
employees, say they're late to work at least three times a month because of
traffic, a drain on workplace productivity.
Geography is now a critical
factor in the level of employee willingness to change jobs, according to the
TransitCenter survey findings. Nearly one of three (31 percent) people who live
in the suburbs or rural areas and travel to jobs in the city say they're willing
to consider taking another job to improve their commute. And nearly one in two
employees (46 percent) who live in the city and reverse-commute, would also
consider a new job for a better commute. When asked what commuter-related
benefits would be most attractive in their new jobs, employees cite flextime (79
percent), telecommuting (72 percent), pre-tax commuter benefits (54 percent),
and subsidies for their pre-tax commuter benefits (47 percent).
The
study polled 1,048 respondents in Chicago, New York and San Francisco in October
2007. These cities were chosen due to their geographically dispersed markets and
high concentration of commuters as identified by the U.S. Census' 2005 American
Community Survey. The survey has a 95 percent confidence level with a margin of
error of +/- 3 percent.
A copy of the TransitCenter and BusinessWeek
Research Services survey report is available by contacting Charles Kim at ckim@transitcenter.com.
OUTLINE FOR WORKSHOP ON IMPROVING MORALE
{Copyright DFA Publishing, LLC and EAPtools.com}
Feel free to
use this outline for a short, supervisor-oriented presentation on improving
employee morale with no budget
(c) DFA Publishing & Consulting.
Boosting Employee Morale When Your Budget Is Zero
The positive
effects of maintaining high employee morale have been well documented. High
morale reduces turnover, improves performance, creates loyalty, and generally
makes for a more pleasant work environment. Nothing makes a manager's job easier
than supervising a group of people who enjoy coming to work.
Now try
telling your boss that you'd like to add a morale-boosting fund to next year's
budget. Did you just get laughed out of the office? Don't worry. Most of the
best ways to boost morale are free.
Higher morale? No foolin'
When
it comes to improving employee morale, there's no gaming the system. Workplace
culture is shaped by thousands of daily experiences. It can take years to form.
Change requires sincere and sustained effort.
Your role
Multiple
surveys show that wages and benefits rank relatively low on the list of things
that influence employee morale. So what does influence it? You. An employee's
relationship with his supervisor is a prime determinant of job satisfaction.
Here are some cost-free ways to start building morale today:
- Encourage
open communication and allow for respectful disagreement. Make your expectations
clear. Share information, future plans, and company direction.
- Solicit
advice and input on changes, procedures, or plans that affect your employees.
Pull opinions from timid employees by asking direct questions like, "Brad, what
are your concerns?" and "Cheryl, do you have anything to add?" Admit that you
sometimes make mistakes and don't always have the right answers.
- Give
frequent feedback. Report the wins as well as the losses. Tell your employees
what they're doing right as often as you tell them what they're doing wrong. Use
an outstanding performance as an example of how to do things the right way.
- Praise your employees publicly for their successes. Praise them to
others when they're not around to hear it. There's no greater compliment than
hearing from a third party that someone has been saying good things about you.
- Concentrate on helping employees learn and grow from their mistakes
rather than on assigning blame. Create a culture of continuing education. Admit
that you also have room to grow.
- Manage disruptive employees. One
person can poison an entire culture if left unchecked. Start by addressing the
disruptive employee's concerns. If you can't come to a mutually satisfactory
solution, termination may be necessary.
- Discipline privately and
discreetly. Don't allow disciplinary action to become personal. Be brief and to
the point, and then let it go. Never humiliate or demean an employee. Never
bad-mouth your employees to others.
- Build trust by backing your
employees, protecting their interests, and shielding them from unfair criticism.
- Address employee concerns promptly, and give verbal status reports on
issues that you are still working to resolve. If you can't resolve an employee
concern, be up front about why. It's important for employees to know that you
didn't forget about them due to lack of interest.
- Use small perks like
allowing an employee to knock off work a few hours early after completing a big
project. This reinforces to employees that hard work is recognized and
appreciated
- Learn something about each employee's personal life and
show an interest in it. Share some part of yourself with them. Loan an employee
one of your favorite books, share a recipe, or swap tips on the best places to
shop.
- Give employees control over their work space, desk, decorations,
lighting, and other small matters. Everyone needs an occasional win.
Developing good employee morale is a matter of developing your own
personal and managerial skills. Employee morale, your own included, can
fluctuate as workplace dynamics change over time. View your attempts to lift
morale as an ongoing process rather than an ending point. No one gets it right
all the time, but the more thought and effort you put into it, the greater your
success will be.
Thanks. Take care!
Dan Feerst, LISW
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