Employers Are Providing Necessary Changes in Routine

Listening to employees’ needs

In talking with colleagues and scrolling through LinkedIn and other social media, I noticed a surprising number of companies that either shut down for a week this summer or instituted “quiet week”.  Quiet week is time dedicated to minimal meetings and is meant to be used to think strategically about work or catch up on projects that require focused or heads-down time.

In the past, many leaders looked at breaks from the rigorous day-to-day routine as a loss for the company.  Employees desperately needed a break from everyday schedules to re-energize and focus on their work or personal lives to feel successful at work and home.

Breaking from routine

Finally, there’s recognition that shifts in routine are benefiting both companies and employees.  What’s at play?  Employees are being heard when they say they are struggling in their personal and professional lives because there just isn’t enough quality time for either aspect of their lives to feel they’ve successfully met expectations.  The pace can be too hectic on a daily basis and leaves employees feeling inadequate in all aspects of their lives.

Employers are finding they see more engagement and better results when they have a culture that acknowledges the employees’ whole life.  This became obvious when employees proved they could work productively from home during the pandemic. Organizations realized that they get their best work and creative ideas from employees when employees are feeling a break is coming or have just refreshed after one.  In my corporate life working for a European company, I experienced the benefits of companywide breaks.

Many companies in Europe traditionally slow down for summer and winter holidays and employees are strongly encouraged to use their generously allotted personal time off to refuel.  While here in the US, vacation allotments tend to be more restricted and it’s difficult to take more than a week or two at a time. Many employees end up either carrying time over to the next year or forfeiting it altogether.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), after one year of service the average vacation time is 11-13 days per year and after 10 years of service, the average increases to about 18-19 days per year.

Making room to meet employees’ needs

The trend in the US to offer company shutdowns or quiet weeks helps bridge a gap in personal time off while allowing employers the flexibility of determining each year if their company can sustain the time off.

Ultimately, we’re talking about the culture of a company, what it values, and the flexibility to break from tradition to ensure employees’ needs are being met. Most importantly, these companies are listening because it’s important that their employees are healthy, productive, and feeling successful in all aspects of their lives.

One might argue that not all companies can shut down or have week-long heads-down time. Finding the balance between employees’ and the company’s needs is what’s important.

Comment below how you have benefited from a company-sanctioned shutdown or quiet time.

Susan O’Connor is an internal communications expert and executive coach with experience working in various global industries including pharmaceuticals, technology, consulting, specialty chemicals, and manufacturing. She currently leads Paradise Workplace Solutions where she helps businesses create or improve their communications to employees.

Business leaders: Are you aware how fragile your employees are right now?

I’ve been talking with family and colleagues and am alarmed at the number of people working for mid to large organizations who are working harder, longer and with more distractions than ever. What is so concerning to me is that many of the organizations they work for are acknowledging the difficulties being faced and providing some additional time “off” or have lessened their work expectations. However, employees are still trying to work at peak performance while dealing with the havoc wreaked in their personal lives by the pandemic.

The stress of potential failure (whether real or perceived) is taking its toll on employee mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health. Our bodies aren’t built to sustain long periods of excessive stress without breaking down. These high performers, overachievers, workhorses are at risk for major fatigue in the coming months when a new normal emerges and they are expected to swing into the groove.

My question for business leaders is what more can you do to help your workers slow down, pause, take the time they need without worry or additional stress? Helping your employees take this respite now will allow them to come back stronger than ever when you get back to the new normal. They will engage, commit and be your biggest advocates if you take care of them now.

What will you do today, tomorrow and next week for your people?

Stop Controlling Your Employees If You Want To Increase Engagement

Employee engagement is a popular topic.  The money and attention companies give to engagement may be a superficial band aid that ends up backfiring if they aren’t spending their efforts on employees’ engagement with the work.  Keep in mind, 85% of employees are disengaged according to a Gallup Poll.1

What are leaders trying to accomplish with a focus on employee engagement?  In brutal truth, at the core, business leaders want to improve productivity, so that their businesses are successful.  Yes, most aspire to have a workplace their employees like coming to but ultimately, they’re in business to make money, solve problems or serve people.  They shouldn’t be shamed into acting otherwise.

 

Are you killing productivity?

Many leaders are trying to balance “engagement” with getting the job done.  You can have employees who like each other, celebrate successes and are given rewards but what happens when they get back to their desks?  Do they eagerly engage in their work?  Many disengage as soon as they sit down.  Why?  Because their WORK is not engaging them.

Many company’s cultures have been set up to control when and how a job gets done.  Flex time permits employees some leeway on when to arrive and leave but it’s still controlled.  American businesses are headed in the right direction but how motivating is it to be controlled, held within specific parameters?  What happens to creativity?

 

What can leaders do to improve engagement?

Get a picture in your mind.  Think about the most highly motivating time in your career or business.  What was it about that time that made you want to get up every morning and accomplish your goals?  Who was telling you what to do and how to do it?  How were you rewarded?

I experienced my most engaging times when I worked at companies that were growing and I’ve experienced that same in my own business.  Why?  Because no one had predetermined rules in how to accomplish what needed to be done. I was eager to learn, prove to myself that I could do whatever I set my mind to.  I was able to use my creativity.  My work was acknowledged by others and I was rewarded intrinsically by feeling good about my accomplishments.  None of my engagement had anything to do with receiving monetary rewards or parties in the hallways.

Let’s acknowledge that systems and rules need to be in place for very routine tasks, like expense reports and assembly line work.  However, allowing employees the autonomy to complete their work in a way that allows them to tap into their creativity and self-motivation can be more engaging.

 

Autonomy is motivating

Daniel Pink talks about the four essentials of autonomy in his book Drive published 10 years ago and still holding true today.2  Time, task, technique and team are ways in which autonomy can exist.  Not all people are motivated by each one equally.  The goal is to find out which motivators work best for each employee.

Time—getting results instead of focusing on the time it takes to get work done.  Many companies are now looking at getting results by allowing employees more freedom in when they have to produce results.  Obviously, some jobs are based on time-determined outputs and don’t allow employees freedom from time constraints.

Questions to ask yourself:  What jobs do we have that we can remove time obligations?  What could the benefits be if we tapped into our employees’ creativity in getting results?

 

Task—selecting certain aspects of what we do.  For example, employees see many opportunities for improvement in your business all the time.  Allowing them the independence to work on these opportunities for a portion of their time can be rewarding because there is no roadmap.  They can use their creativity and solve problems on their own.

Questions to ask yourself: How often do my employees see ways to make improvements or come up with new ideas that are getting left behind because we’re controlling the work they do?  What would happen if we experimented with allowing some employees to work on projects they create?

 

Technique—allowing employees to figure out how they will get their work done.  There are some organizations that permit customer service employees to work from home, for example.  They choose how they want to set up their home office and how they will accomplish their goals.  Technically, there is no reason they need to be in a physical call center, all together following rote scripts.  That’s a controlled environment that stifles their creativity.

Questions to ask yourself:  Are we losing by not allowing employees to come up with how to accomplish their tasks?  Can we gain efficiencies and produce more or better products?

 

Team—choosing who you work with on certain projects.  Self-directed improvement projects are a good example in which a person can choose who he/she wants to work with.  Allowing a team to come together by choice can produce great results.

Questions to ask yourself:  Who can I ask in my business to select a project and team to test out this theory?  Am I willing to give up control to see if there is a better, more motivating way to get work done?

 

What can you do today?

If you truly want to engage your employees, start looking at ways in which you can reduce control and compliance and increase autonomy and creativity.  There are many published examples of autonomous workplaces and theories.  Do some reading on motivation and use your business to do some experimenting.  Keep what works and refine what doesn’t.  Be ahead of the curve.  Your high performers will appreciate it.  And your bottom line may see a bump up.

 

1 Building a High-Development Culture Through Your Employee Engagement Strategy, Gallup, Inc. Washington, DC, 2019.

2 Daniel H. Pink, Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,  Riverhead Books, New York, 2009.

 

Paradise Workplace Solutions, LLC works with business owners to improve productivity and profitable growth by aligning people strategies to the company’s business plan.