When it comes to company culture I think author of Fit In! The Unofficial Guide to Corporate Culture, Mark Williams, says it best, “not everything that happens in a business is based on visible, objective, and formal rules”.  Something I’m sure we’ve all experienced are those unwritten rules that lie between the lines of your company handbook. They cover those little things from where you sit in a meeting to how you should address your manager. It’s these things that help define the environment of a company. Gaining a good understand of a company’s polices and “unwritten rules” can be tough enough on its own but add another location and these challenges become amplified. But all hope is not lost, there are ways to make your employees feel more aligned with your company’s vision.  After all, it’s a strong company culture that will keep turnover rates low, productivity high, and employee morale up whether it be in your corporate headquarters or half way around the world.

The Challenge

Opening multiple offices can be a logical step when facing company growth and it can also be a tremendous opportunity. One loss however in separating employees is the loss of personal interaction. A lot of company culture is built up through those conversations by the water cooler, friendly chit-chat in the hallways, or in office humor through games played among co-workers. These are all little pieces that make up what type of culture is present within your company.

These personal interactions also help set a strong foundation of good relationships and trust on which to collaborate to find solutions to work-related problems. So with multiple locations, finding ways for your employees to stay in touch can be one of your biggest challenges.

The Solution

Companies that have unified cultures, no matter how many office locations they may have, have one common trait; they are effective communicators. They value their employees’ opinions and therefore work hard to keep lines of communication constantly open. They also put effort into recognizing individual accomplishments. While the traditional company barbeque or office party may not work for those multi-location companies, there are many other methods to integrate other lines of communication and togetherness. A company blog for instance is a great way to reach your customers, but it’s also a great way to keep all of your employees in the loop about what is going on in different locations. Company reports, newsletters, or daily emails are other great ways to inform all company employees about featured company customers, a funny company story, or shine some light on what your company truly values.

At Questar, we can speak first hand on this topic having remote employees in our UK office. We work hard to make sure all of our employee feel like they’re part of a clear company mission and goal. We have found the greatest way to combat any downfalls of geographic distance is communication, communication, communication. We hold monthly, weekly, and even daily, depending on department, meetings through Skype with our satellite co-workers. This ensures that no matter what project is being worked on, everyone is aware of what has happened, what is currently being worked on, and what needs to still be accomplished in the future. Through this practice, a Questar client can call any one of our employees within that project team to get their questions answered. These meetings also help foster friendly camaraderie amongst groups. Although many of us have never met our UK colleagues in person, they are included in long-running jokes and have become close friends to employees in the US office.

Another connection between offices we make here at Questar is our company quarterly newsletter. Within this form of communication, we always showcase activities and progress made by teams in both locations. When we have companywide meetings in our US office our UK co-workers are present through our online meeting center so they are able to see and hear in real time what is being covered by our company executives.

These are just a few examples of the ways Questar is working to bridge the gap so global business doesn’t feel quite so global. We would love to hear what your company does to enhance its company culture either within one office or one hundred.

Stephanie Peterson  |  Strategic Communications and Marketing Coordinator

To learn more about the SIOP conference please visit http://www.siop.org/conferences/

It turns out the online promotion was not being honored at the kiosks.  Before I could even finish the sentence, “No problem, I’ll just…” the likely “on-commission” salesperson told me he could pull some strings and get me the same deal there.  I took it home, plugged it in, and it worked great.  I was a happy customer.  That is until the bill came.  I noticed I was being charged to lease my free device and that there was no credit for my free month of service.  What happened next was what got me thinking about growing pains companies – and their customers – experience when they aren’t prepared for rapid expansion.  I called customer service.

The support specialist was nice enough, but after explaining the situation several times she could find only one solution.  I needed to take the device back to the kiosk, return it, and cancel my contract.  I would then need to go online, sign up for the deal and wait for exactly the same device to be mailed to me.  No way.  What a colossal waste of time and money for everyone involved.

I wanted to figure out how things were set up on the other end of the line, so I asked.  She expressed frustration with the sales guy – I pried and it turns out he was not the first to try to go around the system.  She was frustrated with the software she had – it physically wouldn’t let her apply the promotion to my account.  She was frustrated that she had never heard of the online deal offered in my area.  I sympathized with her and explained how I see, in the work that I do, how poor planning and communication, and not having the tools and autonomy needed can be stressful.

There are a few things I see here that are symptomatic of a company that has a widening gap between infrastructure and growth:

»     Poor communication.  When companies grow quickly they undergo many changes in a short period of time.  Information becomes siloed and lines of communication between groups break down.

»     Poor planning.  Strategic planning is a must in any change initiative and especially when dealing with plans for expansion.  It’s important to take a systematic approach and consider all of the aspect of the change (including customer experience) not just technical and financial considerations.

»     Lack of clear job roles.  As roles expand or are created, the situation turns to one in which people do what they want to do and say that the remaining tasks are “not my job.”  This was very evident in my encounter.  The support person said a number of times that “this is a sales person issue” or “I can’t help with online problems.”  To me, the customer, the company has one face.  Internally that didn’t appear to be the case.

»     Lack of resources.  Employees need to have the tools that will be required to support growth.  In this case the support person felt her “hands were tied.”

I wonder if senior leadership of this company are aware of the issues their employees and customers are facing.  In a press release, they describe their growth last year as “phenomenal,” reporting subscriptions doubled in Q3.  They anticipated by the end of 2010 they would see double what they expected in terms of a customer base.  Surely, they have a lot on their plates.  How much better would the situation be if they were armed with feedback from their employees?

If I had to make one recommendation to this company, it would be to pay attention to what is happening on the front lines.  It’s so important to give employees a voice and support them in supporting your customers.  Employees have an understanding what is and is not working in day-to-day activities.  They want to know their opinions count and can shed light on things leaders can’t see.  In order to truly leverage employees’ experiences, leaders must listen, let employees know what they are hearing, and show employees how their feedback has created real and meaningful change.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, I did get the support person to find a work-around to remove the lease fee and she simply reversed the charges for the month instead of billing me for a promotional rate.

Michael Durando | Associate Consultant

Many employers are making New Year’s resolutions of their own – hoping to avert this impending mass exodus of employees.  If you’re doing the same, there are some things you can do to help retain your employees in 2011.  Based on research that Questar has done on drivers of employee loyalty, here are some steps you can take to retain your best employees.

Communicate about compensation.  Employees who feel they are compensated fairly are four times more likely to stay when compared with employees who feel they are underpaid.  Conducting a comprehensive compensation market study is an important first step to ensuring your employees are fairly paid.  Then make sure your employees know how their pay compares to market value of similar jobs.

Let employees know they are valued.  Employees who say they feel valued are eleven times more likely to say they’ll stay when compared with those who don’t feel valued.  While most employees work for pay, it’s not just the money that determines whether they feel their contributions are valued.  On the contrary, our research shows that employees are most likely to feel valued when

• They are recognized when they do good work.
• Their opinions and ideas are sought out and valued.
• They feel comfortable bringing concerns to the attention of their supervisor.
• They receive frequent recognition for their contributions.

Define career paths.  Employees are much more likely to stay if they feel good about their future career with their employer.  For example, among employees who feel good about their career opportunities, 80% say they would stay with their current employer even if offered a comparable job someplace else.  Only 15% of those who are unsure about their career opportunities say that they would stay.  Regular discussion about career goals, stretch assignments, and developmental opportunities are critical to retaining your best employees.  Keep in mind that the next step for an individual employee need not necessarily be a step upward – but should provide learning for an employee’s long term career goals.

Increase exposure to senior leadership.  Trust in senior leadership is critical to employee retention, engagement, and loyalty.  (See also Dear John: A New Look at Why Employees Leave)  Employees may put up with a bad boss or uncooperative coworkers in the short term – but only if they believe in the company’s long term future.  I know, I know  – you’ve heard it before.  Transformational leadership.  Authentic leadership.  Humility.  But this stuff really does make a difference.  Make sure channels between employees and senior leadership are wide open for honest, two-way communication.

Happy New Year from the whole Questar team.  We hope that 2011 brings success and prosperity to you and your business.  And we hope your best talent decides to stick around for years to come.

Anna Erickson, Ph.D. | Director, Consulting Services

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about a few of the things that employees are most thankful for. But not all is rosy in the world of employee opinions. While employees are thankful for many aspects of their work, there are some things employees would like to see changed.

Once again, we sifted through thousands of comments across companies and industries. This time to identify what employees are most likely to say when asked “What one thing, if changed, would make your company a better place to work?” Here are the themes we saw most often:

• Show me the money. Yes, compensation is often at the top of the list, with up to a quarter of employees mentioning pay and/or benefits as being the one thing they’d like to see changed. Many employees feel that their pay does not measure up to their contributions or workload, making them feel less than valued by their employers. Over the past couple of years employees in many organizations have seen pay freezes yet continue to see their expenses rising. And when times are good, employees often complain that they do not see their share of the company’s profits.

• Help me grow. Many a great thinker has written about the basic human need for growth. Guess what: Employees write about it too. Most employees are eager to learn – wanting additional training, support from supervisors, coaching and mentoring within the company. They also want to know how to find out about additional opportunities and/or career paths within their company. More guidance from supervisors regarding development opportunities, career paths, and advancement opportunities are a common request from employees.

• Understand I have a life outside of work. Employees report that their workloads are just too high. There’s a continual emphasis on doing more with less and additional priorities are set without scaling others back. This high workload impacts stress levels at work as well as outside of work. Employees crave additional flexibility and better control over their schedules to better balance their lives. Many also contend that working from home more frequently would increase their productivity as well as improve their work life balance.

• Show me a little respect. Employees often complain about favoritism and issues around fairness. Whether it’s a supervisor with different standards for different employees or specific groups getting better treatment than others, perceptions of unfair treatment can be a huge demotivator. Employees are most engaged to perform when they feel they have been treated fairly and their individual strengths have been recognized.

• Just Listen to Me. Employees often report that management doesn’t listen to them. Their opinions and ideas are not taken seriously and/or they are not involved in decisions that impact them. This is especially true when implementing change initiatives. When ideas are solicited, any action taken as a result may not be apparent to employees. Employees want a greater opportunity to have an impact and to be recognized for their contributions.

Do you know what your employees want most? Now would be a great time to ask. And once you’ve asked, don’t forget the follow up: Thank employees for their input, let them know what you heard, and identify concrete steps you’ll be taking to follow up on their feedback.

Anna Erickson, Ph.D. | Director Consulting Services

While waiting in the airport recently, I noticed that the guy sitting next to me had taped paper over the webcam at the top of his laptop. I chuckled to myself at first at his apparent paranoia. Then I thought about that kid in Philadelphia who sued his school for taking photos of him on his laptop without his knowledge. So who could blame this young professional at the airport for being cautious? It is more than a little creepy thinking that your boss might be watching you in your hotel room on a business trip. Which got me thinking about trust.

Trust is lacking in many workplaces today. Employers don’t trust employees. Employees don’t trust employers. We see it in the survey business all the time. Clients hire my firm to conduct their employee surveys in part to ensure anonymity of respondents and confidentiality of results. And yet no matter how it’s communicated some employees will never believe their survey responses are anonymous. And so, with the fear of big brother looking over their shoulders, many employees miss the opportunity to provide honest feedback that might improve their workplace….(more)

“Can I help you find anything, sir?” a young employee asks me as I enter the store.

“Nope.  I’m good.  Thanks.”

“Can I help you find anything?” another employee asks me twenty seconds later.

“Nope.  I’m good.  Thanks.”

“Can I help you find anything?”  Another employee.

“Nope.  I’m good.  Thanks.”

It was at that moment—thirty seconds before another “Can I help you find anything?”— that I asked myself “can there really be too much of a good thing when it comes to customer service?”  I think, the managers at this retailer and this particular location must take a lot of pride in servicing customers well.  They definitely understand the importance of the customer experience and employee accessibility and attentiveness.  They’ve trained the staff well…and the staff is following through.  I should be proud.  This validates the work we do every day at Questar.

And yet my answer to that question “can there really be too much of a good thing when it comes to customer service?”  A resounding yes!

Because if another employee asks me that question…well, I don’t know what I’m going to do but I’m not happy about it.

All too often, I think we get so caught up in creating best practices and turning those best practices into standard operating procedures at the store level—it’s how you turn data into action—that we forget to actually listen to what the customers are saying.  Typically, most customer satisfaction surveys will ask some variation of “were the employees attentive?”  My answer to that question based on my experience above is yes, they were every attentive.  But if given the opportunity to provide open-ended feedback at the end of the survey I would probably say something like “Employees were friendly and attentive, but I don’t need every employee in the store to ask me if I need help, especially when I’m in a hurry and already know what I want.”

So when you’re turning data into action, be sure to listen to all sources of customer feedback.  Try to ease out the underlying sentiment in order truly understand not just the behaviors that make for a positive customer experience, but the intricacies that make every customer experience a great one.

I leave you with this cliché: silence is golden.  Got it, young lady about to approach me in the aisle?  You can’t help me with anything, okay?  I already know what I want.

– Joseph Stanton | Vice President

One of my stories related to this is from a client I worked with years ago.  The main character in this story is an up and coming young executive – we’ll call her Sarah (not her real name).  Sarah was a go getter, recognized by corporate leadership for her achievements, her performance and her potential.  She was just 33 years old when she got her first chance to truly lead.  She was named president of a small division within the large global corporation for which she worked.  And boy was she ready – this was her chance to really prove herself.

This part of the business was new to her.  But Sarah was a quick study and knew just what to do.  She wasted no time evaluating the competitive landscape and identified some “quick hits” to gain market share.  She worked hard developing plans, securing resources, contacting clients, and informing key stakeholders.  She found places to cut costs, introduced efficiencies, and pushed ahead with some innovative product development.

There was just one problem.  Morale on her team was very low.  Sarah could sense it, but she couldn’t name it.  Something was amiss in the work environment.  Silos were strong.  Conflict was high.  She had lost one of her most experienced managers.  She knew she had to get people working as a team or all her hard work was for naught.

The news – and the solution – was not at all what Sarah expected.  You see Sarah had forgotten to lead.  She worked hard – early in the morning, late into the evening, weekends – she was always at work.  Her strategies were sound.  Her solutions were practical.  But she wasn’t leveraging her team.  Her team could see how hard she worked – alone – which left them feeling less than valued.

It was then that Sarah learned to let go.  She had been promoted for being a doer, but that wasn’t going to cut it anymore.  She had to learn to trust, to delegate, to empower.  Were her team’s ideas as good as hers?  Often no.  But Sarah learned to take some risks.  At times there were failures.  There’s learning in that as well.  And now her leadership team was learning together.  They would dust themselves off.  They would try again.  And they would accomplish much more as a team than Sarah ever could have imagined.

Today Sarah is a much better leader.  She’s still a brilliant, innovative, and hard working.  But she’s learned to forget how smart she is, let go, and let her team carry the torch.  As every good leader does, she learned the story was never really about her.

Anna Erickson, Ph.D. | Director, Consulting Services

Gallup does not provide a historical comparison in the article posted on their website.  But I have to believe this has increased – if not in the past few years, certainly when taking a longer term perspective.  And on the eve of SIOP’s 25^th anniversary, I like to believe that the contributions of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists have played a key part in this improvement in person-job fit.

• Accessibility of career decision tools and processes increase the chances that individuals have carefully chosen the their career path based on values, interests and abilities.
• Effective employee selection processes that include job analysis, valid testing and structured interviews increase the likelihood an employee will have the skills needed to be successful.
• Widespread implementation of employee engagement programs have helped employers remove common barriers to success on the job.
• Recognition of the negative impact of stress, incivility, and discrimination on organizational performance has led to a focus on eliminating these from the workforce.
• Research on the importance of performance feedback has improved the ways in which managers provide feedback to their employees.
• Better processes for talent identification and leadership development have helped organizations better recognize individual potential and support employee growth in the workplace.

There’s still work to be done.  The differences that Gallup found between ethnic groups, income, and education levels make it clear that not all employees are benefiting equally from advances in the workplace.  Yet we’ve come a long way since the days of Taylorism and Scientific Management.  What will we accomplish in the next 25 years?

Anna Erickson Ph. D. | Director, Consulting Services

The Psychologically Healthy Workplace Conference is taking place this weekend in Washington D.C. (if you are interested in attending there is still time to register).  The conference will be a great place to network, learn and celebrate healthy, high-performing organizations.

Some of the key note speakers include:

• Nico Pronk, PhD, FACSM – Vice-President and Health Science Officer, JourneyWell, HealthPartners, an expert on worksite health promotion and multi-component interventions
• Benjamin Schneider, PhD – Senior Research Fellow, VALTERA, an expert on employee engagement
• Cali Williams Yost – CEO and Founder of Work+Life Fit, Inc. and author of Work+Life: Finding the Fit That’s Right for You, an expert in work flexibility and work-life issues
• Rich Cober, PhD – Senior Director of Talent Management Analytics & Solutions, Marriott International, an expert on employee assessment and selection, performance management and hiring effectiveness
• Fran Melmed – Owner, context communication consulting llc, an HR communication consultant and blogger at free-range communication and Fistful of Talent.
• Roy Saunderson, MA, CRP – President, Recognition Management Institute, an authority on employee recognition
• Judy Martin – Emmy-award winning broadcast journalist, speaker and founder of WorkLifeNation.com
• Howard Ross – Founder and Chief Learning Officer, Cook Ross, Inc., an internationally recognized speaker on diversity, leadership and organizational change
• Tonya Vyhlidal, M.Ed., CHPD – Director of Wellness, Safety, and Life Enhancement, Lincoln Industries, an experienced health and wellness professional with a track record of success
• David C. Munz, PhD – Professor of Psychology, Saint Louis University, a recognized expert on organizationally-based stress management training
• Michelle James, MBA – Health Communication Manager, Intel Corporation, an experienced communications professional with expertise in wellness program development and health promotion
• Matthew J. Grawitch, PhD – Chair of the Organizational Studies Program in the School for Professional Studies at Saint Louis University, an expert on healthy workplace practices

For more information please visit: http://www.phwa.org/conference