Tagged : compensation

in Culture, Customer Service, Development, Management, Reviews

Making Work Great Doesn’t Cost a Lot

Making Work Great Doesn’t Cost a Lot. And it’s completely worth it.

My number 1 rule for work is MAKE WORK AWESOME. Making work great doesn’t have to cost a lot. If you’re ever by our offices, stop on by. You’ll find many of these things there. I love it, and the team LOVES it. It makes our workplace great, creates a relaxed atmosphere where we can break away from the stressful daily work, and doesn’t cost us a lot of money.

(Photos by Brandon Flint - http://www.brandonflint.com/

Before getting to how to make work great without spending a lot of money. Some ground rules to facilitate getting these activities going.

  • Not everyone needs to participate, but have enough of activities that everyone participates in at least a few things throughout the year.
  • Management does NOT have to plan everything. Ask for volunteers to head up activities. Start an activities committee.
  • Encourage people to bring things in. The company doesn’t need to provide EVERYTHING. Team members also feel a vested interest in the activity.

That’s it. Those are the ground rules to keep managers from becoming overwhelmed and frustrated with implementing these awesome ideas to make work great without spending a lot of money.

Cool things that make work great that don’t cost a lot of money:

Host a video game night (provide space for people to bring XBoxes and projectors to play games all night)

Host a book club meeting (bring in pizza and drinks, and suggest a book that may help employees be more engaged at work)

Taco Grab-Bag / Bag-O-Burgers (buy a bag of tacos, or $1 hamburgers for your staff [but be sure to buy more than one per person])

Mini basketball hoop (shoot hoops, play a game of “HORSE”, hold a tournament for most consecutive shots made)

Nerf guns (for epic battles between members and raids on the sales guys)

Nerf footballs (play catch, have long-distance toss into garbage can competition)

Ping Pong Table (I was school champion in the 5th grade so I’m biased)

Sponsor a city softball or basketball team for your company (it’s not that expensive)

Create a FANTASY FOOTBALL/FANTASY BASKETBALL league for your company staff

These are just some thoughts on cool stuff that you can do to develop your team, get people working with each other on a personal level and help them feel more at ease at work, and make work great. This stuff works. People relax, they get to know each other and they work better. It doesn’t cost your company a bunch. It’s easy, cheap, and the return is so much more than just giving out raises and bonuses. Don’t get me wrong, you need to compensate your people. But even with good compensation, if your workplace is laking the items and activities that makes people LIKE coming to work, and make work great, you’ll quickly begin to see less engaged employees.

Start making work great today. Stop by at the store and pick up that basketball hoop, or a nerf football tomorrow and get started. Each little thing makes a difference to your team and helps to get people engaged and happy at work.

in Culture, Hiring, Leadership, Management

Managing and Connecting with the Facebook Generation

In an era where smart phones, tablet computers, and cloud computing have already made an impact in the lives of individuals, and as technological advances continue to spread within the general population, the needs of individuals will continue to change.

Organizations will also need to evolve in order to meet the wants and needs of  “The Millenials,” a digitally experienced, technologically savvy workforce of consumers. This new consumer and workforce will have grown up with the high speed Internet, Facebook, Twitter, and communicating through chat and text messaging. They are individuals who prefer group work environments, flat organization hierarchies. For Millenials, teams, environment, and  flexibility are greater motivators than simply salary.

IT companies have traditionally led the way in creating and fostering the type of environments that attracts this younger generation. With things like flexible work schedules, emphasis on team projects, and creative amenities available to employees on-site, companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, and Adobe, are highly sought out for recent grads looking for a great company environment while being immersed in the latest technologies.