RHONDA ABRAMS:STRATEGIES
Small businesses
can do it better
leave him behind. I negotiated a dog-friendly
lease, and we’ve had up to three resident
of;ce dogs at one time.
* Small businesses often can’t compete with big corporations when it comes to pay scale, but we can be creative with bene;ts. My employees get their birthdays as a paid holiday, and they get “well days.”
* I say “thank you” to my employees every day. When I worked in a big company, management rarely acknowledged employees, fearing they’d have to give raises.
* It’s important to me that I enjoy going to work every day. That means that I want to have some fun projects to keep me engaged, and I also want to have fun with the people I work with. We have lots of celebrations— birthdays, holidays—and some spontaneous group lunches (paid for by me).
The result of these policies? I have great employees who work their heart out, and I’m still in business after 25 years! And I run my business in a way that re;ects my values.
And that’s what’s important—that you run your business in a way that you’re proud of, that you treat your employees the way you’d want to be treated.
If you want to create a better way to run a business, then it’s time to start doing it the small-business way—your way. C
Rhonda Abrams is the president of The Planning Shop, a publisher of books and software for entrepreneurs (www. planningshop.com).
ARE YOU TRYING to run your small business as if it were a Fortune 500 company? Well, cut it out! Small businesses can do things differently—and, hopefully, better. After all, you make up the rules. You have ;exibility in how you run your company, so use it.
Of course, you have to be ;nancially realistic—and you certainly have to obey the law—but it’s time you give yourself permission to run your business in a way that makes you proud, not just that makes you money.
I do a number of things in my business that aren’t exactly what they teach in business school, but they work for me and my business. Here are just a few.
* When my of;ce manager, Rosa, had a baby, I decided she could bring baby Michael to work. It was a good business decision; I didn’t want to lose a valuable employee. But it also meant I could live my values. And it turned out to be great for morale.
* I love my dog, Cosmo, and when I outgrew my home of;ce, I didn’t want to
Feeling valued?
IS THE ECONOMY affecting employees’ sense of being valued?
Are the lack of raises, reduction in bene-
fits and increased workload taking their toll?
Those are questions raised by Costco member
Cindy Ventrice, author of Make Their Day!
Employee Recognition That Works (Berrett-
Koehler, 2009), on her website, maketheirday.
com, in a survey asking, “Do you feel more or
less valued than a year ago?”
“People who don’t feel valued aren’t usu-
ally engaged or motivated, so knowing the
effect of economic changes on sense of value
is important information for companies
struggling to stay productive,” Ventrice says.
FRESHviews
Well-being and work
AFTER A MASSIVE research initiative, including a survey of more than 150 countries, we’ve found that most of what people think of as well-being is wrong. Not merely health and wealth, as is often supposed, well-being is actually composed of five different elements: career, financial, community, social and physical well-being.
Though well-being may seem outside the purview of business, our research indicates that high levels of well-being provide a significant productivity, profit and competitive advantage; for instance, the annual per-person cost of lost productivity due to sick days alone is $28,800 for people with very low levels of well-being and $840 for those with high well-being.
Clearly, employee well-being is vital to organizational well-being. Managers can increase both by paying close attention to a few key things.
Improve employee engagement. The engaged are twice as likely as the actively disengaged to be thriving in their lives overall; they’re 21 percent likelier to participate in workplace wellness programs; and they have substantially higher levels of customer engagement, productivity and profitability.
Mentoring programs, professional development opportunities and corporate-sponsored charitable initiatives create an environment that stimulates community and social well-being. Even idle chitchat in the office improves productivity, we’ve found.
Financial well-being is more dependent on financial security than on actual income. Actively promote 401(k) and similar programs to boost employees’ financial well-being: Only 6 percent of workers strongly agree that their companies help them manage their finances effectively.
Create incentives for healthy behaviors. Employees with high well-being see their annual medical costs grow at half the rate of those who have lower well-being.
Career well-being is foundational. Connect people to their work, focus on their strengths and recognize their accomplishments. C
MEDIA BAKERY
AUGUST 2010 ;e Costco Connection 11
Tom Rath and James K. Harter are the co-authors of Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements (Gallup Press, 2010).
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