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Spring, 2007
"Caught in the Devils
Bargain"
Apologies, Joni Mitchell and Woodstock
Last time I talked about Bad Bosses. They are
just one side of the story. Here are some
examples from the other side.
"My staff seem to think they are doing us
a great big favor just by showing up, they
don’t seem to realize they are here to work,
not to socialize and surf the net."
"My staff seems to think I am an idiot. They
tell me the most ridiculous and outrageous
things. If I attempt to call them on it,
they become abusive. Recently, I had a staff
member tell me he had to have a week off to
go to his mother’s funeral. On his return I
asked him how he was doing. He said he was
fine and his mother was recovering nicely.
When I said I understood he was off for his
mother’s funeral, he started yelling at me
and told me I was inconsiderate. Another
manager had overhead the initial
conversation regarding his mother having
died and when I asked her if he had indeed
said his mother had died, she said I had
heard him correctly."
"I provide every new staff member with a job
description, a copy of our performance
evaluation, go through the job, map out a
training program, provide on-the-job
training and ongoing support, set
expectations and follow up meetings based on
the job and, I follow up with people and
still I have staff who say they don’t know
what is expected of them. I simply don’t
know what else I can do to get people to
take responsibility for their jobs."
"I recently had a staff member tell me that
she needed to have her job changed because
there was too much work for her to do. While
discussing the job tasks and work load she
explained that the reason she couldn’t get
her work done was because of the time she
needed to spend on phone talking to her
family and friends every day."
"A staff member told me the other day that I
had better be nice to him and give him two
extra days off or he would quit and get all
his friends to quit too."
And the two biggest complaints of all:
- staff members who are obnoxious,
inconsiderate and just plain mean to their
co-workers and disrespectful to their bosses
- staff members who do as little as
possible every day.
While I am tempted to wander into a
discussion on the systemic organizational
problems that might be at the root of these
complaints, this time I will limit myself to
providing a short list of characteristics of
great employees. In my summer newsletter I will
pursue the discussion about creating workplaces
where people (employees and their bosses) do not
feel “caught in the devil’s bargain”.
Great Employees:
- Understand that the employment
relationship is a contract for an exchange
of effort for reward and they provide a fair
exchange of their effort (knowledge, skills
and abilities) every day they are at work,
for the whole day.
- Do their best work, not just what it
takes to get by
- Are polite and respectful to their
co-workers, bosses and customers whether or
not they like them.
- Help others whenever they have the
chance
- Look for ways to improve the things that
aren’t perfect rather than just complaining
about them
- Say they are sorry when they mess up
(and mean it)
- Look for ways to improve their own
knowledge, skill and abilities every day so
that if the time comes when this job doesn’t
fit well anymore they will have the
confidence and abilities to go to a new and
better fitting job.
If you are an employee (and most bosses are
also employees) Robert Fulghum’s All I Really
Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten
provides sage advice “ . . . Play fair. . . .
Clean up your own mess. . . . . Say you’re sorry
when you hurt somebody . . . . . ”.
Looking for more information or need some help
with these or other HR issues? Please
get in touch.
News
Workforce
By 2005 the contingent workforce had grown
to nearly 11% of the total workforce in the US.
(US Bureau of Labor Statistics). In November
that year A Calgary Herald article “Contingent
Workforce Set to Rise Rapidly” Derek Sankey
(Nov. 10) said that 25% of workers would be
contingent workers by 2010. Key factors
contributing to the growth of people choosing to
be temporary workers: first is a desire to have
more control over working with bad bosses and/or
bad work assignments and the second is the
desire for greater flexibility.
Workforce Wellness
Each year the flu season seems to remind
people of the importance of attending to
employee wellness. It is certainly worthwhile,
especially with concerns about pandemics, to
take preventative measures to limit the spread
of the flu and all the other wintertime viruses.
There are other health related issues that also
significantly affect employee wellness and
organization productivity. Two major factors
that are not seasonal and that have a
significant impact on productivity and health
care costs are smoking and obesity.
Smoking
Just under 17% of Canadians smoke, the good news
is that only 10% of 15 – 19 years olds are
smoking. The majority (60%) of smokers is also
the majority of the workforce with the largest
proportion of that 60% (2/3) between the ages of
20 and 44. (Statistics Canada. 2005. Cansim
Table 105-0427.)
In 1997 the Conference Board of Canada
said it cost employers about $2,565 more per
year to employ a smoker than to employ a
non-smoker.
In Alberta in 2007, a smoker who smokes a
pack a day spends almost $3,650 each year on
cigarettes, based on an average price of $10 a
pack. (AADAC)
In 2002, tobacco use cost Canadians about $17
billion, including $4.4 billion in direct
health-care costs. Smoking is responsible for
30% of all cancer deaths (Canadian Cancer
Society) and contributes to heart disease, a
variety of pulmonary diseases and numerous other
diseases.
Obesity
Obesity is a leading workplace health issue. In
1996, 37.5% of Albertans over age 20 were
classified as overweight, 10.3% as obese
(Overweight = body mass index of 25. Obesity =
body mass index of 27 or greater. Morbid Obesity
= body mass index of 30 +), and
1.6% as morbidly obese. In 2003, these had risen
to 39.7% overweight, 14.3% obese, and 3.2%
morbidly obese (www.health.gov.ab.ca/public/NT_ObesityV6.pdf) . The World Health Organization
is projecting a 40% increase globally in the
number of overweight and a 60% increase in obese
adults between 2005 and 2015.
(www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/)
The estimated direct costs of obesity in Canada
in 1997 were $1.8 Billion. (CMAJ • FEB. 23,
1999; 160 (4) 487.
www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/160/4/483.pdf) Employer costs of
poor personal health are alarming. Employer
premiums for Health Benefits more than doubled
in the 10 years from 1990 to 2000. Canadian
Council on Integrated Health Care Report 2002.
(
www.chamber.ca/cmslib/general/S0510.pdf) Indirect
costs such as reduced productivity resulting
from absenteeism due to casual sickness, short
and long-term disability is also increasing at a
rapid rate.
By encouraging and actively supporting workplace
wellness programs, employers can improve
productivity and health coverage costs.
"For over a decade, research has been
showing the effectiveness of Employee
Wellness Programs. For every dollar spent on
a Corporate Wellness Program, the returns
have been cost savings of between $2.30 and
$10.10 in the areas of decreased
absenteeism, fewer sick days, reduced WSIB
claims, lowered health and insurance costs,
and improvements to employee performance and
productivity." (naturalhealthcare.ca/benefits_of_a_wellness_program.phtml)
More information on Workplace Wellness is
available from a variety of sources. Following
are some websites worth taking a look at.
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