Human Resources 101

There are a variety of ways to encourage employee participation. To promote strong employee involvement, follow these steps:

Find out what parts of their jobs people find the most rewarding. Provide them with opportunities to perform these tasks.
Acknowledge work that is done well. We all want to be recognized. Employees—and supervisors—need to know what they are […]

March 7, 2008 is “officially” Employee Appreciation Day. I can’t seem to find any information on what makes this day official, but there are scores of places where you can buy gifts and cards to celebrate the day. I suspect the “day” has been concocted to sell employee recognition merchandise.
Don’t get me wrong, I have […]

David Zinger posted this video clip on employee engagement from McDaniel Partners.
While the stats cited in the video are from American sources, I suspect the numbers for Canadian workplaces are similar.
In a non-profit organization, we’re not worried about customer engagement. The measure of our success is, once a client has used our services or gone through […]

Employee engagement “deficit” costs companies $1.8 million for every 1000 employees
A recent report from the Shepell·fgi Research Group finds most Canadian employees value being engaged in their job more than a pay raise.
The report found that how employees are treated and how they view their managers had almost twice the impact on their satisfaction than pay and […]

This is the slide deck I use when giving my presentation on employee motivation.

Does top management look upon employee morale as important to the institution’s continued success in service to the community?

Do management and supervisors meet periodically to review the overall working environment, working conditions, and personnel policies that need correction or revision prior to their becoming the subject of a complaint?

Have supervisors been trained in basic employee […]

Working in a non-profit organization one appreciates and recognizes the important role volunteers play in the successful delivery of our programs and services. We could not be as effective as we are without the support of volunteers.
Recognizing, thanking and motivating volunteers is a vital part of a good volunteer program. Here is a list of ideas—both big […]

Every supervisor’s goal Is to create and maintain an environment in which employees feel respected, fairly treated and that their needs are being met.
Employee want to:

know their work is appreciated and valued
be included in the decision making process
have fair working conditions
engage in satisfying and challenging work
grow through development and tactful discipline
receive appropriate help with personal problems

Supervisors […]

Towers Perrin press release:
Largest Ever Study of Global Workforce Finds Senior Management Holds Trigger to Unleash Talent Potential
TORONTO, OCTOBER 22, 2007 – A survey of nearly 90,000 workers worldwide, including 5,000 people in Canada, reveals that employees do not believe their organizations or their senior management are doing enough to motivate them to go the […]

Performance reviews are about as much fun as a root canal without any anaesthetic. Employees don’t like getting reviewed and managers resist reviewing. In addition, there is debate within the business community as to whether performance reviews are even effective.
Personally, I’m not convinced of the effectiveness of performance reviews as part of the wage and salary process, […]