NetTrac Communications Inc. - News
Posted: July 10, 2009
In today’s ever-changing economies, environment, political opinion and public concern, how does the responsible corporate entity measure their successes?
There may be more to this than just looking at the bottom line and demanding more from employees. Can you really say you have a successful business when your absentee rate is crushing your production or you can’t hang on to good workers. Perhaps you are noticing that your staff can’t keep up with a work load that 2 years ago they could have easily handled. Or maybe you have noticed that supervisors you thought were spark plugs have lost their spark. Of course the obvious answer to these questions is a resounding NO, but how can you be sure you are “on track” with little corporate successes that are, today, becoming an essential part of the message your customers need to hear. They want to know that you do the right things behind the scenes that will help them to know the product they buy from you was made by people that care, and that they will be able to depend on your fast friendly service each and every time they buy from you.
We all know that today, our employees are our #1 asset. If this is the case, we need to ensure that the jobs they have are fulfilling, challenging, and enjoyable so that they put forth their best effort and reward you with high productivity. Remember that in high tech sectors, long hours actually is a productivity killer. No one is putting forth their best effort when they are literally falling asleep in front of their monitors or spinning their wheels trying to solve a problem that a fresh mind could tackle easily in half the time. It is easy to fall into the pit of overtime when sales are up to deal with the extra workload, but when you do this you will find more errors are made, the solutions are perhaps not the best, or your employee’s absenteeism goes up not to mention the extra work takes forever to get done and it is usually not your best.
Here are a couple of ideas that may help you get your productivity up, and get your employees in a scenario that is conducive of a healthy work place. If you are swamped with work, don’t load up your best workers with extra tasks. A lot of the time, a junior temp or fill in can get in the groove quickly and with the proper supervision from more experienced staff, they can knock off lots of outstanding tasks . It keeps you from burdening already busy staff with overtime and gets the job done and a talented junior person will save you cash not to mention they may be able to do enough mundane work that your key staff can tackle the new work or the big projects you have been putting off.
If your workers have to spend hours in intense concentration to do their jobs, like programmers, make sure they are getting their breaks. Stop by staff’s desks and make sure frustration is not overtaking them. If it is, get them to take a break with you. Or ask them if they would just like to go for a walk to stretch their legs. Talk about some things that are not work related and see if the employee is managing to get the proper leisure time for themselves and with their families at home.
If you have a employee whose attitude is not conducive to the team or is disgruntled, warn them they are not contributing to the work atmosphere in a positive way. If they fail to resolve their problems or do not seek the assistance they should to help them deal with their problem, then you should take steps to replace that person. A person that is poisoning your work environment for whatever reason has no place in any team.
If you take your staff out to lunch, do not talk shop. Unless you have made it clear that this lunch is a business meeting, save your questions and business banter for a scheduled meeting. People take their lunches as part of a routine that gives them a break in the day, let them have it.
Keep your office environment informal, friendly and fun. There is nothing worse than working in an office where the key ingredient in the air is tension. Always make sure you or your supervisors are taking the time to keep the mood enjoyable. If someone has screwed up, don’t dwell on it and don’t talk to the responsible party about it in front of other staff. Usually when something bad happens the person that did it has enough sense to know they have made a mistake. Perhaps the best way to handle it is to pass it off with a joke, or just drop it all together. You don’t have to make someone feel like a heel no matter how bad the mistake was.
And a couple things I have learned working in foreign countries. First of all, not all your staff are likely to have the same social background. If you have staff that are more comfortable dealing with work related communication in their own language, don’t be a stickler and insist that people speak only English in your work environment. Often they will solve a problem faster in their own language compared to trying to wrap another language around it. If you happen to be stuck in the middle of a conversation about a work related item that is taking place in a foreign language don’t interrupt. Usually if you pay attention, no matter what the language, you will quickly figure out that they really are talking about a work issue rather than making fun of your tie. After they are done, you can politely ask if they could fill you in the salient details. Then you can add your two cents worth if necessary.
Also not everyone is equal. All of your employees have strengths and weaknesses. Try to make it a point to know all off your staff and know their good points and weak ones. It will make it easier to pair up teams if you have to and you will know who will be good combinations and split up tasks on the fly accordingly so that tasks are completed in the most efficient way.. This will help you get the job done quickly and the teams you make will be well balanced.
Make sure your office has enough lighting, enough windows, and suitable heat or air conditioning. Making your staff work in a back hole or without proper heat or air conditioning can really dampen anyone spirits.. and where does your productivity go? Yes you got it – Down the Drain! So make sure you take the extra steps, fix the broken air conditioner, replace those burnt out florescent tubes and you will see more smiles and better quality work.
Finally, have patience. If you are swamped, take the time to hire that extra staff. Understand it will take time to find the right person, get them hired and getting them to a level of productivity that you need. Your customers will understand. It is better to have a little delay at the onset of a new job than to work at it piecemeal and have lots of ongoing delays. That is the kind of scenario that will cost you customers.
At NetTrac, the work week is 37.5 hours. We do not allow our employees to work over time as we believe their home life is more important than their work life. We make sure that the work is varied and never boring. We spread out the mundane tasks so that no one person is stuck with a crappy job or responsibility. Finally we try to have fun every day. Whether it be an additional break to talk about world events, or share a funny anecdote. Or - to just caffeine up. We make sure that breaks are taken sitting on a sofa, not at a desk. We keep our work atmosphere cheerful, clean, and most of all, healthy for those that work there. After all, where would you be really, if it weren’t for your staff?
Yes and by the way, I wrote this on my day off. Yes it is overtime work, but I do break my rules when it comes to myself. As a principal of a corporation there is no escape from the reality of working more hours than everyone else in your company. But I do make sure that it is not the norm, but the exception.
This is the first in a series called Measuring Success. The series will cover the work place and how what we do there affects our lives daily and how these things measure up to Corporate Success that is not monetary, but will help you bring about financial gain nevertheless.
Next time,,, Working Green.
Measuring Success-Your People
In today’s ever-changing economies, environment, political opinion and public concern, how does the responsible corporate entity measure their successes?
There may be more to this than just looking at the bottom line and demanding more from employees. Can you really say you have a successful business when your absentee rate is crushing your production or you can’t hang on to good workers. Perhaps you are noticing that your staff can’t keep up with a work load that 2 years ago they could have easily handled. Or maybe you have noticed that supervisors you thought were spark plugs have lost their spark. Of course the obvious answer to these questions is a resounding NO, but how can you be sure you are “on track” with little corporate successes that are, today, becoming an essential part of the message your customers need to hear. They want to know that you do the right things behind the scenes that will help them to know the product they buy from you was made by people that care, and that they will be able to depend on your fast friendly service each and every time they buy from you.
We all know that today, our employees are our #1 asset. If this is the case, we need to ensure that the jobs they have are fulfilling, challenging, and enjoyable so that they put forth their best effort and reward you with high productivity. Remember that in high tech sectors, long hours actually is a productivity killer. No one is putting forth their best effort when they are literally falling asleep in front of their monitors or spinning their wheels trying to solve a problem that a fresh mind could tackle easily in half the time. It is easy to fall into the pit of overtime when sales are up to deal with the extra workload, but when you do this you will find more errors are made, the solutions are perhaps not the best, or your employee’s absenteeism goes up not to mention the extra work takes forever to get done and it is usually not your best.
Here are a couple of ideas that may help you get your productivity up, and get your employees in a scenario that is conducive of a healthy work place. If you are swamped with work, don’t load up your best workers with extra tasks. A lot of the time, a junior temp or fill in can get in the groove quickly and with the proper supervision from more experienced staff, they can knock off lots of outstanding tasks . It keeps you from burdening already busy staff with overtime and gets the job done and a talented junior person will save you cash not to mention they may be able to do enough mundane work that your key staff can tackle the new work or the big projects you have been putting off.
If your workers have to spend hours in intense concentration to do their jobs, like programmers, make sure they are getting their breaks. Stop by staff’s desks and make sure frustration is not overtaking them. If it is, get them to take a break with you. Or ask them if they would just like to go for a walk to stretch their legs. Talk about some things that are not work related and see if the employee is managing to get the proper leisure time for themselves and with their families at home.
If you have a employee whose attitude is not conducive to the team or is disgruntled, warn them they are not contributing to the work atmosphere in a positive way. If they fail to resolve their problems or do not seek the assistance they should to help them deal with their problem, then you should take steps to replace that person. A person that is poisoning your work environment for whatever reason has no place in any team.
If you take your staff out to lunch, do not talk shop. Unless you have made it clear that this lunch is a business meeting, save your questions and business banter for a scheduled meeting. People take their lunches as part of a routine that gives them a break in the day, let them have it.
Keep your office environment informal, friendly and fun. There is nothing worse than working in an office where the key ingredient in the air is tension. Always make sure you or your supervisors are taking the time to keep the mood enjoyable. If someone has screwed up, don’t dwell on it and don’t talk to the responsible party about it in front of other staff. Usually when something bad happens the person that did it has enough sense to know they have made a mistake. Perhaps the best way to handle it is to pass it off with a joke, or just drop it all together. You don’t have to make someone feel like a heel no matter how bad the mistake was.
And a couple things I have learned working in foreign countries. First of all, not all your staff are likely to have the same social background. If you have staff that are more comfortable dealing with work related communication in their own language, don’t be a stickler and insist that people speak only English in your work environment. Often they will solve a problem faster in their own language compared to trying to wrap another language around it. If you happen to be stuck in the middle of a conversation about a work related item that is taking place in a foreign language don’t interrupt. Usually if you pay attention, no matter what the language, you will quickly figure out that they really are talking about a work issue rather than making fun of your tie. After they are done, you can politely ask if they could fill you in the salient details. Then you can add your two cents worth if necessary.
Also not everyone is equal. All of your employees have strengths and weaknesses. Try to make it a point to know all off your staff and know their good points and weak ones. It will make it easier to pair up teams if you have to and you will know who will be good combinations and split up tasks on the fly accordingly so that tasks are completed in the most efficient way.. This will help you get the job done quickly and the teams you make will be well balanced.
Make sure your office has enough lighting, enough windows, and suitable heat or air conditioning. Making your staff work in a back hole or without proper heat or air conditioning can really dampen anyone spirits.. and where does your productivity go? Yes you got it – Down the Drain! So make sure you take the extra steps, fix the broken air conditioner, replace those burnt out florescent tubes and you will see more smiles and better quality work.
Finally, have patience. If you are swamped, take the time to hire that extra staff. Understand it will take time to find the right person, get them hired and getting them to a level of productivity that you need. Your customers will understand. It is better to have a little delay at the onset of a new job than to work at it piecemeal and have lots of ongoing delays. That is the kind of scenario that will cost you customers.
At NetTrac, the work week is 37.5 hours. We do not allow our employees to work over time as we believe their home life is more important than their work life. We make sure that the work is varied and never boring. We spread out the mundane tasks so that no one person is stuck with a crappy job or responsibility. Finally we try to have fun every day. Whether it be an additional break to talk about world events, or share a funny anecdote. Or - to just caffeine up. We make sure that breaks are taken sitting on a sofa, not at a desk. We keep our work atmosphere cheerful, clean, and most of all, healthy for those that work there. After all, where would you be really, if it weren’t for your staff?
Yes and by the way, I wrote this on my day off. Yes it is overtime work, but I do break my rules when it comes to myself. As a principal of a corporation there is no escape from the reality of working more hours than everyone else in your company. But I do make sure that it is not the norm, but the exception.
This is the first in a series called Measuring Success. The series will cover the work place and how what we do there affects our lives daily and how these things measure up to Corporate Success that is not monetary, but will help you bring about financial gain nevertheless.
Next time,,, Working Green.
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