You are here: Home / Archives for HR

Using MBTI® to Build Effective Social Media Teams

July 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

social media wheel of fortune

As social media starts to weave itself into the fiber of corporate culture, companies are beginning to recognize the need to make organizational changes in order to evolve as social businesses. One area where this is gaining importance is Human Resources. The emergence of new social media roles and how they are integrated into the structure of an organization can have a huge impact on the success of social business initiatives.

As businesses begin to experiment with assembling social media teams some will leverage existing employees, using a corner of the desk approach to gradually embed learning and build capacity, while others will look to hire new staff. Either way, how do you know which employees are best suited for these new roles?

It would seem logical to attach social media responsibilities to existing departments i.e. Marketing, Communication, Web Team, etc. But is this silo approach the most effective? It might make more sense to organize social media teams based on employee personality and the nature of the role vs. physical location or departmental boundaries.

One tool that could be helpful in maximizing human resources potential around social media is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®). The MBTI categorizes personality preferences across four primary activities, providing an effective method for understanding people and the way they behave. Here are the basic characteristics of the four areas (and the letter used to define each behaviour preference):

Energizing – How a person gets energized or re-energized.

  • Extraversion (E) – Prefer to get their energy from spending time with people and doing things.
  • Introversion (I) – Prefer to get their energy from spending time alone and reflecting on ideas.

Perceiving – How a person processes information.

  • Sensing (S) – Trust tangible, fact based information that can be processed using the 5 senses. They like to work within actual here and now scenarios.
  • Intuition (N) – Comfortable with intangible, theoretical information that is more abstract and processed through thought and tend to trust insight/intuition. They like to think of the future possibilities.

Deciding – How a person makes decisions.

  • Thinking (T) – Tend to make decisions in an objective manner based on reason, logic and rules.
  • Feeling (F) – Tend to make decisions in a more subjective way based on empathy and consensus.

Living – The lifestyle a person adopts.

  • Judging (J) – Prefer a lifestyle that is planned.
  • Perceiving (P) – Prefer a lifestyle that is spontaneous.

By combining one preference from each of the above you arrive at an individual “type” (for example, my type is ENFP) – there are a total of 16 MBTI types. For the purpose of this post let’s take a high level look at how this could be implemented using the main MBTI quadrants. Introduction to Type® in Organizations by Sandra Krebs Hirsh and Jean M. Kummerow explains the four quadrants as follows:

“One combination often used to describe personality type relates to the quadrants of the type table. These quadrants combine the energizing preferences (E-I) and the perceiving preferences (S-N) and result in IS, ES, IN and EN quadrants. The quadrants are often used to describe leadership, learning, and work styles as well as corporate culture and ways of handling change.”

By connecting employee MBTI personality preferences to responsibilities you get a better understanding of which employees across the organization might be best suited for specific social media tasks. Here is an example that maps characteristics from the four quadrants mentioned above to emerging social media roles (as highlighted by Jay Baer and Amber Naslund in the Now Revolution):

MBTI four quadrants

MBTI Benefits

Using MBTI during the social media team building process allows organizations to:

  1. Identify different employee strengths
  2. Help employees develop their careers within the organization
  3. Build more effective teams by matching roles to the most suitable employees
  4. Increase employee retention and reduce costs related to turnover

What are your experiences with MBTI in an organizational setting? Do you think it would be useful in helping build more effective social media teams?

Originally posted on Social Media Explorer

Filed Under: HR, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Dark Side of Brand Evangelism

November 26, 2008 By 8 Comments

—————————————————————————————————————————-

By Mark Smiciklas

A recent news story about iPod Loyalists places the iconic Apple brand in the middle of a discussion about the spread of “iCrime”. What happens to a brand when its influence is so great that it becomes the central focus of negative societal behaviour? Do companies have a social responsibility to try to mitigate some of the negative behavior that may be associated with their brands? Can negative brand evangelism result in long term damage to a brand or do passionate consumers simply ignore negative brand stories?

Brand Evangelism

Brand Evangelism is deemed the top rung of the brand loyalty ladder – it occurs when passionate consumers of products or services become so enthralled with a brand that they willingly engage in word of mouth marketing on behalf of an organization. These consumers have such a core belief in the brand and what it stands for that they try to convince their network to embrace its purchase or use.

In my opinion, Negative Brand Evangelism occurs when a brand becomes such a status symbol that it inadvertently promotes negative social behavior.

Social Brand Responsibility

Do companies have a responsibility to try to mitigate some of the negative behavior associated with their brands? In the case of the iPod, Apple surely can’t take responsibility for the actions of every criminal that targets their consumers – but they could try to reduce the their consumers’ exposure to risk by embedding some features into iPods that might make them less attractive to steal and re-sell. Wouldn’t this add even more value to the brand?

Tony Barr, Marketing Strategist and Founder of Brand Reasonality, believes that there are brand benefits to addressing user risk:

“As a parent of two teenagers who own iPods, I find your question particularly thought-provoking. The brewing industry’s advocacy of “responsible consumption” may be useful analog. Certainly, in some circumstances, companies have a legal duty to warn against certain types of conduct – known or potential – associated with their products or services. I suppose that one might posit, as a general principle, that companies who claim social responsibility as one of their brand pillars have an implicit duty to act reasonably against legitimate risk to their brand audience – and, derivatively, against risks to their brand value. In the case of the iPod, in particular, we would do well to remember that parents – while they might not be brand adopters per se – play an important gate-keeping role in purchase and usage behaviors. I suspect, again, as a parent myself, that reaction of the gatekeeper class to such social responsibility would be generally favourable. Moreover, I suspect – or, minimally, hope – that the reaction of the brand adopters would be similarly favourable.”

Peter Mojica, VP of Product Strategy at AXS-One Inc in Charlotte North Carolina, feels that “corporate brands have a responsibility to build products that meet consumer demand, and can be sold at a profit and build shareholder value.” During this business process, he feels that companies should act responsibly but cannot be expected to “take responsibility for miscreant’s societal ills.”

Peter goes on to draw parallels between Apple and Nike:

“I can recall a lot of news stories around Nike and the desire for Air Jordan sneakers which led to many a crime wave. It’s hard to peg Nike for some diabolical plan to create a product that would generate a desire for one fellow to knock another fellow senseless and take his sneakers off his feet! Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Nike and the Jordan brand gave away millions to charitable foundations.”

Public Relations in the Face of Negative Brand Evangelism

What should companies do when faced with negative brand evangelism? In the case of “iCrimes”, there has been some press (associated with police agencies) suggesting that consumers should swap out the traditional white iPod ear buds less obvious black ones…but I’m not sure if there has ever been a formal statement regarding this issue from Apple.

Nathan King, Art Director at Austin and Williams in New York City, suggests that the lack of any “very public announcements from Apple” is an indication that they are not concerned about iCrimes having a negative effect on the brand. “They didn’t try to change their product to react to the negative behavior. The masses of people wearing the white ear buds is a constant, visual reminder that people are using iPods – why would a company want to get rid of that?”

Brent Skinner, President & CEO at STETrevisions and a Web 2.0 public relations and marketing expert, suggests there really only two ways for companies to address Negative Brand Evangelism:

  1. Ignore it completely – the goal being to starve any attention negative brand evangelism might create
  2. Face it head on with the logic that open communication breeds truth – If the brand is undeserving of negative press, the issue will burn out more quickly with a formal series of rebuttals

Brent goes on to say:

“I know folks in communications positions at very large, high-profile companies who take option one as a matter of course and I know others who embrace item two as dogma. However, in my opinion, the approach partially depends on the strength of your brand in the first place, and your assessment of your own brand’s strength had better be accurate. For instance, GM seems to have largely ignored the groundswell of viral anti-GM sentiment that followed the release “Who Killed the Electric Car?” I think the company overestimated its brand’s strength, and now may be paying the ultimate price.”

Andrea Hill, Director of Social Media and Interactive Technology at Worldways Social Marketing in Denver, feels that it’s important to understand how your brand is perceived and to be active in managing your brand reputation. “I believe it’s far better to recognize a problem than to ignore it, and appear obtuse and out-of-touch.”

In the end, I think if a product or service has enough brand evangeslists it can likely avoid any long term erosion due to negative behaviour association. Mark Sofman, an experienced business communicator and manager of outreach, advocacy and issues management programs in Washington DC, feels that brand evangelists help protect a brand value in face of negative evangelism. He thinks that passionate consumers can be “harnessed to good purpose…not just to studiously ignore bad news, but to be motivated to critique negative stories.”

Long Term Brand Damage?

Can negative brand evangelism cause long term damage or do passionate consumers simply ignore negative brand stories? Logic might suggest that negative evangelism should erode brand value to some degree. However, using iPod as an example, I really wonder whether the brand will suffer when I read stories about kids risking getting stabbed rather than giving up their iPods…that kind of loyalty is scary!

Peter Mojica believes in the unfortunate truth that any kind of attention is better than no attention at all and feels that negative brand evangelism may actually fuel sales increases in certain situations. In the case of iPod, he doesn’t see a huge impact on the brand because the negative incidents taking place likely represent a very small percentage of the overall brand experience, which is overwhelmingly positive.

Brandon Mendelson, Editor in Chief at GSO Press in Albany New York, doesn’t think strong brands suffer long term damage:

“Look at the WWE, it took a real hard hit after the Chris Benoit incident, but over the long term their stock went up and the audience came back to watching their programming. The passionate consumers will look at the negative stories, but (after a short period of time) it won’t weigh too much into the purchasing process.”

Walter Jones, Director of Morris News Service in Atlanta GA, feels that most media is fair is dishing out brand criticism and that consumers are smart enough to recognize whether or not brands are victims of circumstance. He feels that the level of brand damage has a lot to do with how companies market their products:

“If a company deliberately sought a gangster image, say, then a news story about crime associated with the product would inevitably mention the possiblity that the company’s marketing may have set the tone for those crimes and the company would be fair game for criticism in such a case. On the other hand, I think reporters can recognize when a company is a kind of secondary victim. For example, when gangs adopted the jerseys of professional sports teams because of their colors or no-nonsense mascots rather than their success on the playing field, no one accused those teams of encouraging gang activity.”

I find this issue very interesting and been having trouble establishing a firm opinion:

  • As an “iPod Parent” I don’t expect Apple to help mitigate my kids risk…I see this as my responsibility as a parent. But the issue is real – kids are getting rolled over for their iPods. Luckily, my son has taken matters into his own hands and has established his own policy of not taking his iPod to school and has traded in his white ear buds for innocuous black ones.
  • As a socially responsible citizen, I have to say that I am troubled by what I perceive to be indifference on the part of Apple. A trial that began recently crystallizes the point for me – A youth is charged in the stabbing death of 22-year-old Michael Oatway, an Ottawa man allegedly killed for his girlfriend’s iPod on a city bus. It’s ridiculous to even suggest that Apple has any control over this type of behaviour or is culpable in any way, but, as an iconic brand, wouldn’t these type of stories prompt some sort or response? The kid died because he was wearing an iPod…Is Apple not disturbed by this?
  • As a marketer and business person, I appreciate and understand the stance that a company’s main (and some would say only) goal is to make a profit – and it can’t be held accountable for negative brand evangelism, particularly if their product or service is safe to use and does not pose a direct risk to consumers.

Michael Oatway was 22 years old when he was fatally stabbed over the iPod he had borrowed from his girlfriend (Image: Globe and Mail)

What do you think? Please submit a comment

(To enter comments from the main blog page, please click the article title and scroll down to the bottom of the post)

Filed Under: Branding, Customer Service, HR, Leadership, Marketing, Organizational Culture, Public Relations, Social Responsibility, Strategy, Website Strategy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

FREE is Recession Proof

November 2, 2008 By 2 Comments

————————————————————————————

In times of economic uncertainty are internet users less likely to trade a permission asset i.e. name. phone number, email address, etc. for content?

In a recent study conducted by Marketing Sherpa, 64% of paid content web publishers were either experiencing or expecting to feel the effects of the recent downturn in the economy.

Trends and user attitudes affecting paid content may also be applicable to gated content. I think we all know that cash flow starts to tighten in a negative
economy, but how about information flow?

When the economy is slumping and people are less interested in being “sold to”, will users presented with gated content
be even more reluctant to give up their permission asset? Will more and more organizations adopt The New Rules of Marketing and PR as best practices and start offering free content?

What do you think?

Filed Under: Free Content, HR, Marketing, Organizational Culture, Public Relations Tagged With: , , ,

Small Business Interview Series – Executive Coaching, Team Building and Leadership Development

September 21, 2008 By Leave a Comment

————————————————————————————–

Coaching is a great way for small business owners to develop leadership skills, build strong teams and grow their organizations. In this instalment of the small business interview series, I speak with leadership and learning specialist Tammy Dewar, Ph.D., Principal at Calliope Learning in Victoria, B.C.

The Evolution of Your Small Business Fuels Leadership Learning

Can you explain how the evolution of a small business might lead to a need for coaching or team building?

“Most small business owners possess a skill set related to whatever type of business they are starting. As their business develops and grows, the skill set shifts from early start up mode (where everyone does everything) to creating an environment in which jobs might become more specialized. As this happens, the need to focus on creating an overall vision to keep people engaged and working together becomes more important. As a small business matures, the shift to a team culture also becomes more important.

It’s at this point that small business owners may recognize the need to provide people with these skill sets. This can vary from hiring a consultant to do a team building workshop to hiring an individual executive coach to help the owner develop those skill sets.”

Challenging the Status Quo

How will small business owners and teams be challenged during the development process?

“While people may come to coaching and team development with an open mind and willingness to learn, often they are surprised by how this process upsets the status quo and unsettles people. It’s normal for a bit of resistance from co-workers as people try on new behaviors. It’s also normal for individuals themselves to hang onto their old way of doing things as that’s comfortable and predictable. What usually helps people move forward is a clear vision of how they want things to be different as this vision can pull them along.”

Not Just for Big Business

Coaching and team development might be viewed as something that only larger organizations get involved in. Do many small businesses engage in this type of leadership learning? What are some of the benefits of coaching and team development for small business?

“In our experience, more and more small businesses are investing in this type of development – their employees are demanding it and owners see the need when they realize they have reached a plateau in their business.

We work with several organizations of 50 employees or less. Small businesses can get even more benefit than larger organizations because they can offer the learning experience to everyone in the company as opposed to a limited number of people (which typically happens in larger companies). Taking your entire staff to an offsite retreat for a day or so can help engage and energize your team – leading to a common vision for the business and facilitating a cultural shift that will help everyone move forward constructively.”

What to Look For In an Executive Coach or Leadership Consultant

What should small business owners look for in an executive coach or team development consultant? Is it important that a coach be in the same city as the client?

“While location might be important in terms of cost, finding someone who relates to the business owner and shares some common values and philosophy is perhaps more important. Look for someone who has a blend of theory/academic preparation in leadership, learning, teambuilding and practical experience in these areas. Probably most important is personal fit … how do you think the person will relate to your staff and build trust quickly? In my experience this is what contributes to a successful relationship overall.”

Investing in Your Small Business

Do small business owners see the value of leadership learning or are they hesitant when it comes to investing in executive coaching or team development?

“Small business owners can sometimes be reluctant to invest in employees for fear they may leave. We often ask small business owners the question: What if you don’t invest in your employees and they don’t leave? How will that impact your business?

It’s often a leap of faith to invest money when you are still trying to build the business. We have faced that ourselves as a small business and have been amazed at how our own business grew substantially when we actually invested in our own learning. It paid off in a more diverse skill set and perhaps more importantly, additional confidence to take on clients and business we didn’t feel comfortable with prior to the learning experience.”

About Tammy Dewar and Calliope Learning

Tammy Dewar combines an academic background in learning (Ph.D. in Adult Learning) with practical leadership and team expertise in a variety of sectors. Her independent consulting practice includes over 15 years of experience in leading and coaching face-to-face and virtual teams. She has designed and facilitated a variety of workshops on leadership, visioning and strategic planning, team building, and individual and organizational learning. More recently, she has been working with organizations to address leadership and employee turnover and morale issues utilizing action research, learning strategies and coaching. The other third of her time is spent teaching with Royal Roads University in their MA in Leadership and Training (MALT), the Master of Business Administration (MBA), and the MA in Distributing Learning (MADL).

Calliope Learning is a leadership and learning company. As “pracademics”, the Calliope team combines sound academic research principles with grounded professional practice. They utilize action research and learning to help individuals and teams enhance their engagement, enjoyment, resilience and performance, thereby realizing workplace potential, and contributing to the overall bottom line of the organization. Calliope facilitates provocative conversations, meaningful learning, and breakthrough changes using high tech and high touch methods.

Filed Under: Coaching, HR, Leadership Tagged With: , , ,

Small Business Interview Series – Employee Benefits

July 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

By Mark Smiciklas

Employee benefits are an important topic for many small business owners and managers. In the first installment of an ongoing series, I speak with benefits specialist Rachel von Sturmer, Principal at True Benefits Financial, about employee benefits best practices, trends and challenges.

Challenges

What are some of the challenges small businesses face when it comes to providing benefits to their employees?

“The most common challenges are in setting up the plan, cost, and administration. It’s best to work with a broker who can provide a comparison of quotes from several insurers; that way a small business owner can see where they can get the best plan possible for their budget.

Employers also have questions about what their obligations are after their plan has been set up. I’d recommend using the online management portals now provided by most carriers. This will help save time in managing the monthly invoices, downloading forms, and updating employee enrollment information.

Benefit plans renew each year, at which time the insurer has the opportunity to adjust their rates. This can be a challenge for employers if the plan utilization has been very high, and rates are raised. It’s their advisor’s job to negotiate rates on their behalf, and also to design the plan in a way that will help prevent large rate increases.”

Strategies

What are some benefit strategies small businesses can use to compete with larger companies?

“Small businesses don’t always have the deep pockets that large companies do, but they are often able to be more flexible and offer employees a greater variety of hands-on experience.

Some suggestions for becoming more attractive to employees:

  • Offer flexible work hours, such as 9-5/10-6, or a 4 day X 10 schedule
  • Covering a portion of work related education
  • A good benefits plan, which is often more affordable than expected
  • Health Spending Accounts that allow employees to cover medical and dental expenses at their discretion”

Trends

What are some new trends within the benefit industry?

“Critical Illness insurance, where if an employee is diagnosed with a covered condition they receive a tax-free lump sum benefit. This is newly available as a group benefit and many small employers are able to offer $10,000 or more at a very reasonable rate.

Health Spending Accounts are becoming incredibly popular, especially as a management benefit or recruiting tool. This benefit is like a bank account for medical and dental expenses for employees. For example, an employer may offer $1,000 a year for each employee to use at their discretion.

Health and wellness has become a major focus also. Insurers have built some very sophisticated online tools for employees. They can perform a health test, or check medication information at a secure personal site.

Employee Assistance Plans (EAPs) are often bundled into benefits plans, and are great for small employers who don’t have a dedicated HR department. EAPs provide confidential 24 hour access for employees who need help with everything from financial counseling to finding a babysitter.“

Selecting a Benefits Provider

What should small business owners look for in a benefit provider? Are there any pitfalls to watch out for?

“Most employers are very interested in the initial rates that they’re quoted and will want to make a decision based on the cost. This is only one aspect of choosing an insurance carrier. I’d be wary of switching carriers only to save 5%, when it’s likely that this cost will be recouped by the insurer at the next renewal.

Business owners should be comfortable that the insurer is reputable, can adjudicate claims quickly, and offer solid administration.

Small business owners should be aware of the Target Loss Ratio. TLR is the break-even point set by the insurer for your plan, and at your renewal time they will be important in determining next year’s rates. The TLR is a ratio of premiums paid to claims paid, and for a small plan different insurers’ TLRs can range from approximately 67-75%.

Also important to look at is the plan design. Although the general description of coverage may look the same from one plan to the next, each insurer has specific clauses that will impact what can be claimed. For example, some carriers will require a minimum of five employees before they offer coverage for dental crowns. Be very clear with your advisor about what you want to cover before setting up your plan, or switching carriers!”

Advisor Services and Fees

How are benefits brokers compensated?

“There are two models: fee-based and commission-based. The majority of advisors are commission-based, in which they’re paid a small percentage of premiums by the insurer; this cost is built into a client’s costs. Fee-based advisors are usually consulting firms that deal with larger client accounts.”

What services should you expect from your benefits advisor?

“Your small business should expect the following primary services:

  • Marketing your plan to a variety of carriers and comparing the quotes for you
  • Assisting with setting up the plan and online administration
  • Negotiating the plan’s renewal rates on your behalf each year, and presenting a report 30 days before the renewal date

Some “above and beyond” services to look for are:

  • Training your plan administrator
  • Offering assistance with any difficulties that may arise during the year
  • Being in touch to let you know how the plan is running
  • Setting up employee satisfaction surveys
  • Benchmarking your plan against competitors’
  • Providing customized benefits promotion materials
  • Employee seminars and learning sessions”

About Rachel von Sturmer

Rachel von Sturmer is the Principal at True Benefits, an employee and executive benefits firm that specializes in designing, pricing and implementing benefits programs for small to mid-sized businesses. During her many years as a Benefits Specialist, Rachel von Sturmer has managed plans for a wide variety of clients, ranging from sole proprietors to large companies and university associations. Rachel takes pride in getting the details right, forming relationships with clients and learning about their businesses, and thrives on providing clients with the kind of service she herself would expect: friendly, prompt, and results oriented.

Rachel holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and Group Benefits Associate (GBA) designations, has completed the Canadian Securities and Professional Financial Planning courses through the Canadian Securities Institute, and has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of British Columbia.

Filed Under: HR, Organizational Culture, Strategy

The Importance of Getting “The Right People On The Bus”

May 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment

By Mark Smiciklas

It’s not a stretch to suggest that an organization has a greater chance of achieving success when it employs the right people.  Obviously, the goal of any company is to hire well, but many small businesses mis-step during the process of seeking out the right employees. What are the characteristics of the "right" people? As a small business leader, what ideas do you need to understand and embrace in order to get the right people into your organization?

Having the "the right people on the bus" is one of the business concepts discussed by Jim Collins in his book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap..and Others Don’t. Collins researched over 1400 companies and discovered a set of ideas that, when embraced and implemented, differentiated great companies from their "good" counterparts.

The Basic Principles

  1. The first step your small business should take is to hire the right people, even before establishing a strategic direction. The idea: getting the right people working together will help your organization manage change. For example, if your small business attracts people because of your products, service offering or strategy, you might have issues if you have to change the direction of your business. On the other hand, if people join your organization because of reasons such as values, working with like minded people, etc. you will likely be able to "change the direction of the bus" without too much difficulty.
  2. The right people eliminate the need for your small business to focus on the motivation and management of your team. The right people are driven, self-motivated and responsible.
  3. Your small business will never maximize its potential with the right strategic direction but the wrong people. To quote Jim Collins: " Great vision without great people is irrelevant."   

Characteristics of the "Right" People

The concept of having the right people on the bus is rooted in the belief that it’s critical to hire the right people first, then establish a strategic direction for your small business. An interview with the author (www.jimcollins.com) inspires the following list of things that your small business should consider when looking for the right people:   

  • The right people must share the same core values as you and your small business. An important thing to understand about core values is that they can’t be taught – you can’t force someone to change their behaviour to correspond to the values of your organization – it’s critical to find people that are the right fit.
  • The right people do not need to be managed – they may need coaching or mentoring to ignite the fire and tap their full potential, but they do not need to be "baby sat". Trust can be a good indicator when assessing whether or not a hiring may have been a mistake. Do you trust an employee to manage a critical situation or speak with an important client without feeling the need to look over their shoulder?
  • The right people possess the ability to be the best of breed in their positions. Do your people have what it takes to be the best client service managers, salespeople, administrators, etc?
  • The right people understand the difference between "having a job and holding a responsibility." Jim Collins refers to this trait as being "productively neurotic".
  • Knowing what you know about people after they have worked in your small business, would you re-hire them? If the answer is no, they they are likely not right for your organization. 

The right people are critical to a small company. In larger organizations, wrong people can make it difficult to succeed – in more intimate cultures the wrong people will suck the life out of your small business. Hiring the right people and letting go of the wrong people is not an easy task…it requires discipline and courageous leadership. Is it worth the commitment? Mediocre companies are a dime a dozen..good organizations are slightly harder to find…but great companies are few and far between – they stand out in the marketplace.   

Filed Under: HR, Leadership, Strategy

Employee Retention Ideas

February 18, 2008 By Leave a Comment

By Mark Smiciklas

What can your small business do to help build a positive culture and create a workplace that attracts and retains employees?  Here are a few cool ideas from a company I work with…

  • Health Days – in addition to regular time off, employees get 3 extra paid days off to unwind. Half of the staff takes a Friday and the other half a Monday – that way the office stays open and there is no service interruption
  • Volunteer Days – 1 paid day per quarter per employee to volunteer at a non-profit of their choice
  • Employees that want to commute (and help the company reach their 15% annual GHG emission reduction goal) receive a complimentary transit pass every month
  • Paid fitness centre membership
  • Organic food delivery to the office
  • Subsidized (50%) organic home food delivery for each employee
  • Flex hours and a casual work environment
  • Social Fridays – the office shuts down an hour early; employees hang out and play foozball; Sony Wii; etc.

In a competitive labour market where employees have a lot of choice, your small business needs to excel in the "culture" department. As demographics change and the baby boomers exit the job market, Gen X’ers and the new Facebook Generation are demanding more from their work environments. If your small business embraces work/life balance as part of your culture, you will have a better chance of attracting and retaining great employees.

Filed Under: HR, Organizational Culture