Management

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3 Reasons You Want Employees to Take Vacation

In France, taking days off is considered a national birthright. The standard for an average worker is 30 days paid leave a year. One company, the utility EDF, has a policy that if you work more than 35 hours a week, you get an additional 23 days off every year. That’s on top of the company’s standard 27 days. Yes, that means 50 days of vacation a year – 10 weeks.

Pretty much the entire country takes two to three weeks off in July or August. In fact, the French people are divided into two camps and they even have names for them: Those who vacation in July are called Juillettists and those who chose August are called Aoûtiens.

In case you are wondering, yes, there is a massive traffic jam every year around the last weekend in July when the Juillettists are returning home as the Aoûtiens are just setting out. There’s even a name for that too: it’s known as the chassé-croisé. So here’s your warning: don’t try to travel on the highways in France that weekend.

We do take vacation in the U.S. although the average worker gets just 15 days a year. And even with that amount, some people have to be forced out of the office. But CEOs and business owners would be wise to make people take time off. Here are three reasons why:

  1. It’s better for their health
  2. It makes employees more productive
  3. It can give you a chance to detect fraud

For more on the topic, please refer to “Why You Want Your Employees to Take Vacation.”

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Want People to Work for You? Make Them Feel Heard

They have 14,000 employees. And more clamoring to come on board.

Under Armour was recently included on LinkedIn’s U.S. list of Top Attractors, the top 40 companies at attracting and keeping the best employees. In an article referencing the inclusion, “To Thrive at Under Armour, You Have to Answer Kevin Plank’s Three Questions,” I found out one of the reasons why more people want to join the ranks at the sports clothing and accessories company with close to $4 billion in revenue.

The three questions management is encouraged to ask after every meeting or conversation are:

  • This is what I heard
  • This is what I think
  • This is what we are going to do

The goal of the questions, Kevin said, is to make sure you heard and understood what people said. With this method you don’t waste time on miscommunication, you facilitate buy-in and people feel their ideas have been heard, a huge factor in employee morale and retention.

My favorite method for clear communication is the whiteboard. I’m a huge fan of the whiteboard, even writing a whole chapter on its use in my book, “How Not to Hire a Guy Like Me: Lessons Learned from CEOs’ Mistakes.”

For more reasons I love the whiteboard, please read my post “The Value of the Low-Tech Whiteboard in a High-Tech World.” Good luck with your new and improved communication.

 

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Qualities of Millennials and How to Work with Them, Part Two

This is the second of a two-part series on working with millennials. The first post introduced three qualities of millennials in the workplace. Part two will examine how to embrace these qualities and use them to retain quality employees and contribute to the success of your company.

Building a motivated, dedicated workforce. That’s one of the most critical components to the success of your business, as I mentioned in part one. As Principal of GlassRatner in our restructuring and bankruptcy practice, I see so many instances where a company may have many of the basics covered, like having a good product and effective distribution channels, but are struggling due to a high rate of turnover and the lack of a productive workforce.

Qualities of millennials include being tech savvy, not being motivated only by money and being used to working in teams to find creative solutions. Here are some ways to embrace these qualities to enhance the success of your business and retain those employees:

1. Leverage their knowledge of tech by instituting a form of reverse mentoring.

While older generations may have decades of knowledge in their field, millennials tend to keep up more with social media and changes in technology. They are the first generation to grow up immersed in tech. So ask their advice, give them a seat at the table if you’re discussing how to incorporate social media into building your brand. They will feel appreciated and valued, and your business will benefit.

The Wall Street Journal article “Mentor Your Boss” mentions a website founder who made a 21-year-old intern their expert for social media. Stacy DeBroff said, “There are so many changes and so many technologies coming alive, and twentysomethings, who have ‘grown up’ using social-media sites, tend to find solutions quickly.”

2. Make their work feel meaningful.

More than once I’ve had employees leave, either with no other job or with one that paid significantly less. And it’s not just happening to me.

A 2012 survey showed 56 percent of millennials would take a pay cut to to work somewhere that is changing the world for the better. Think about that for a second. More than half your workers may leave, for less money, if they felt they’d found a more meaningful place to work. And 91% say that a company’s social impact efforts are important when they are considering which companies to work for, according to the article “Study: Millennials’ Work Ethic Is In The Eye Of The Beholder.”

So take a look at your business. How is it helping people and helping the world? Focus on that narrative about your business and share it. Make your millennial workers feel proud to work for your business because they are working to make the world a better place.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal in “Helping Bosses Decode Millennials—for $20,000 an Hour,” the consultant Lisa McLeod helps companies “set a ‘noble purpose’ to strengthen young employees’ connection to their work.” And share stories of how your company benefits the world with stories rather than statistics, as they find those more compelling.

chart13. Incorporate more brainstorming and teamwork into your business.

In a 2013 survey conducted by IdeaPaint on millennial workplace trends, millennials were asked to complete the statement, “My favorite place to generate big ideas is ….” More than 86 percent responded by saying either collaborating with a small group of colleagues (2-3) or brainstorming with a large group of people.

Millennials feed off the energy of others in the workplace. Give them the opportunity to work collaboratively by forming teams and holding brainstorming meetings during which they are encouraged to share their ideas and they feel their opinions are valued. Create collaborative working spaces.

Making changes in your workplace to embrace the differences that millennials bring will pay off. As this article in Fortune, “How tech-savvy millennials humanize your workplace” pointed out, “The so-called “millennial” has become more than a demographic age group; it is a mindset. A way of looking at the world and, regardless of age, declaring, ‘there has to be a better way.’”

You want that mindset working for you and your business.

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Qualities of Millennials and How to Work with Them, Part 1

This is the first of a two-part series on working with millennials. This first part introduces three qualities of millennials in the workplace. Part two will examine how to deal with these qualities and use them to contribute to the success of your company.

 As Principal of GlassRatner in our restructuring and bankruptcy practice, I know that to be successful, a “turnaround” must include many facets. These include financial re-engineering, legal and contractual issues, vendor and customer relations and extensive operational adjustments.

A critical part of the operational piece is not how the “widget” is made or distributed, but whether you have a motivated, dedicated workforce to accomplish the corporate goals. Most company’s workforce is multi-generational and the millennial component is becoming more and more important to one’s success.

Millennials have officially taken over as the group with the largest demographic in our country. Numbering 75.4 million, they recently overtook baby boomers, according to a recent survey released by Pew Research Center. Last year, this generation also took over the majority of the U.S. workforce.

So odds are great that you work in an office with millennials. And if you don’t you still come in contact with them every day in the business world. This generation has some qualities that are different than previous generations — in their work habits, outlook on life and even what motivates them.

So Baby Boomers and Gen X can all lament about it, joke about it and get frustrated about it. Or they can try to understand the qualities millennials bring to our businesses and use them to our advantage.

Megan Abbott is a millennial life coach — yes, there is such a thing — and founder of Fruition Personal Coaching. In an article in Forbes, “Study: Millennials’ Work Ethic Is In The Eye Of The Beholder,” she said,  “Older employers can disapprove and judge millennial values as inferior to their own … or they can accept and strive to understand what drives this new generation.”

As a first step to understanding, here are three qualities that have been identified as defining the millennial generation.

  1. They are tech savvy.

Millennials are the most connected generation in history, and have been referred to as digital natives. They grew up with technology at their fingertips and never took a photo on film, listened to something on a tape and have probably never sullied their fingertips with ink rubbed off a newspaper.

People in older generations are what is referred to as digital immigrants. Generally, they have had to migrate over to each massive shift in technology, adapting to a new way of doing things.

  1. They are not as motivated by money.

You’ve got some employees doing a great job and seemingly happy doing so. Then one day they just quit, possibly with no other job or one at a lot lower salary. It’s happened in companies that I’ve re-engineered and has probably happened to you. What’s that about?

While millennials are definitely motivated, it isn’t always about making money.

They want a good quality of life and want to change the world for the better. While baby boomers seek money, an impressive title and recognition, millennials want to know how their work fits into the bigger picture.

  1. They are used to working in teams and are creative in finding solutions.

Education styles change. While many previous generations primarily learned on their own, millennials were educated in a more collaborative method. They are more comfortable working in teams and also place a high value finding creative solutions to problems.

Do these qualities sound familiar? In the next blog, I’ll discuss how to leverage these qualities to contribute to the success of your company.

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Would Your Employees Fire You?

In a recent episode of the TV show “Mad Men” one of the account execs, Ken, was fired by the ad agency’s new owner, McCann Erickson, and ordered to turn over his accounts to Pete, another account exec.

The next day Ken returns to the agency to inform them he has a new job. As the new head of advertising for Dow, one of the agency’s largest clients. Ken is now his former agency’s client.

Pete and Roger immediately assume he will fire their agency because he was poorly treated. But he says no. He’ll actually be seeing more of them but he will be a “very hard client to please.”

Steve Carell as Michael Scott in "The Office."-- NBC Photo: Mitchell Haaseth

Steve Carell as Michael Scott in “The Office.”– NBC Photo: Mitchell Haaseth

Ken opted not to fire his former boss, but instead stick around and make him jump through hoops for him as the client. If one of your employees had the chance, do you think you would be fired, or made miserable in your present position?

It seems a majority of employees would actually rather fire their boss than get a raise. That was one of the questions asked for a survey conducted and reported in an article on Forbes.com, “Majority of Americans Would Rather Fire Their Boss Than Get a Raise.”

Psychologist and best-selling author Michelle McQuaid conducted the survey or more than 1,000 workers from different generations, locations and professions. It seems 65 percent of the people polled would be happier if they could fire their boss than if they got a raise.

Many felt the extra money isn’t worth the anxiety, stress and low morale caused by working for a bad boss. And let’s talk about the effect on productivity. According to McQuaid, people who view their bosses negatively took 15 more sick days and slowed down their work.

“The current situation in the workplace is taking an incredible personal toll on employees—and for organizations it is costing $360 billion a year in lost productivity.”

The survey showed that 60 percent of employees said they would do a better job if they got along better with their boss, with 58 percent saying they would be more successful.

If you’re concerned about how you measure up as a boss and what your employees would say about you, you may want to take this quiz: How to Know If You’re a Bad Boss.

It’s a list of 15 questions and some may be revealing to you. Here are a few examples:

If I had to switch places for a week with one of my employees, I would:

  • Enjoy the job.
  • Probably not enjoy the job but could be pleasantly surprised.
  • Slit my throat.

When there’s a crisis in the company…

  • I share the news with my employees as soon as I’m certain there really is a problem.
  • I don’t want to cause a panic, so I keep my employees in the dark as long as possible.
  • Once the electricity’s been turned off and it’s actually dark, I still think it’s none of their business how I run my business.

As the Turnaround Authority, I’ve talked with thousands of people at dozens of companies and asked how they felt about the company and about their boss during my initial assessment of the situation at the company. Sad to say, but the results of this survey don’t surprise me much.

Bad bosses cost your company money in lost productivity, turnover and low morale. Start at the top and make sure you aren’t one of them.

Although with a continued high percentage of bad bosses, I’ll never run out of clients as the Turnaround Authority.

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5 Key Findings from State of the American Manager Report

Gallup released its latest State of the American Manager Report this week.* The renowned research and consulting company did its homework. The report is based on four decades of research and a study of 2.5 million manager-led teams in 195 countries. These folks analyzed the engagement of 27 million employees. So I tend to believe the results. And they are not pretty.

Although as the Turnaround Authority, I do get more consulting assignments related to the failings of managers as pointed out in this report. But that doesn’t make me happy about the state of management in our country.

Today I’ll share the most important findings of the report, and in future blogs, will delve deeper into some of these findings.

  • Manager talent is rare, and organizations have a hard time finding it

Wow. Research showed that the majority of managers are not suited to their role; 82 percent don’t have the high talent required. That talent naturally exists in just 1 in 10 people, but two in 10 can be trained to be successful managers.

The study listed five talents of great managers. They motivate their employees, make unbiased decisions for the good of the team and the company, create a culture of accountability, build trusting relationships and assert themselves to overcome obstacles.

  • Talent is the most powerful predictor of performance

If you hire a talented manager, you can expect a 48 percent increase in profitability. That’s huge.

These managers are more engaged, function as brand ambassadors for the company and focus more on employees’ strengths than weaknesses.

  • Managers have the greatest impact on engagement

I don’t know how research companies figure out such things, but Gallup research found that managers who are not engaged in their jobs or who are actively disengaged, cost the U.S. economy $319 billion to $398 billion annually. Or roughly the GNP of our entire country in 1953.

And the percentages of managers who are not engaged are high: 51 percent are not engaged, 14 percent are actively disengaged for a total of 65 percent.

Equally disturbing is the finding that at some point in their career, one in two employees have left their job to get away from their manager.

    •   Female managers have an engagement advantage

It’s true guys, according to Gallup. Female managers are more likely to be engaged than male managers, at 41 percent versus 35.

For the highest percentage of engaged employees, look for females working for a female manager. They will have a 35 percent engagement rate. Male employees working for male managers had the lowest rate, at just 25 percent.

  • Specific behaviors can help managers increase employee engagement

I suppose this is a glimmer of good news. At this point in reviewing the report, I felt I needed it.

Two-thirds of employees who strongly agree that their manager helps them set work priorities and goals are engaged. And more than half of employees who strongly agree that their manager is open and approachable are engaged.

I do agree that managers can adapt certain behaviors that can engage employees in their companies. For tips of keeping your employees engaged, see my previous column, “Top Tips for Keeping Employees Engaged.”

Stay tuned in the coming weeks as I talk more about what the findings of the report are and what you can do about it in your company.

* Click here to download a PDF of the report.