Investing In Your Workplace

There's an interesting new article over at HumanResourcesJobs.com that weighs investing in your workplace through employee education versus through perks like an on-site fitness center – and even bonuses.

While this piece concentrates almost entirely on the educational (tuition reimbursement) side, and therefore is not balanced in terms of listing the pros of company perks, I still think the writer makes a strong case.  By paying as much as $75,000 to help an employee earn a college degree, "The organization gets to keep and nurture an existing employee, making them more productive, useful, and loyal, and avoids the need to use recruiters or search firms and then assimilate a new employee."

The payoff of employee engagement and increased competitive advantage factor into the writer's final summation on the value of a company's educational investment in its workforce:

Organizations that are positive, encouraging, and supportive of employees who are trying to better themselves will have lower turnover rates, make more money and have a better public reputation than those who don’t.  The cost of tuition reimbursement programs is small compared to the benefit and a more liberal approach to tuition reimbursement and on-going education, especially when recruiting new college grads, is a powerful recruiting tool.  It’s a way to differentiate your organization from others.

The cost here is indeed small.  The over half of our 2010 Top Small Company Workplace award applicants that offer educational assistance reimburse tuition per employee by an average of just over $2,500 annually.  What they get from this and their other investments to create a productive workplace includes:

• Average annual reveue of $21 million
• Average revenue growth of 151% over the last three years
• Average annual turnover of 14%

(Source)

I think when you consider two of the chief cons of company perks like that fitness center that the article above mentioned – investment to educate that it's there, and more substantially to track its usage/ROI – the benefit of educational assistance makes even more sense.

How does education factor into your people practices spending?  And what impact has it had on retaining top talent?

Today the Entrepreneur & Self-Employed Business Journal ran an article that talks about the need for job seekers to obtain post-secondary education to help meet the need for skilled professionals that is still there, despite the tough economy.

This made me think back to this post I wrote last fall.  The bottom line is that companies can do themselves a favor while using employee engagement to do their workers one.  Far from serving as the impetus for a company defection, our small business honorees consistently tell us that providing tuition reimbursement to help employees better their skills makes them incredibly loyal to their employer.

Gains for the company from this practice include not just increased commitment and productivity, but a much lower likelihood that affected employees will leave.  While companies typically provide an annual, per-employee reimbursement of a few hundred dollars to as much as $5000, for these reasons they all consider it money well spent.

When you think about investing in your workplace, how does tuition reimbursement rank among your priorities?

When you think about both recruiting and employee retention tips to attract and keep top talent next year, who is the most common job candidate you're bound to meet or manage?

Signs point to a female Millennial (or Generation Y – born between the mid 1970s and the late 1990s).

As these two articles note, 2010 is a turning point for both Millennials and women, who are set to become dominant in the workforce.

On a related note, currently women are not the dominant gender among applicants for Winning Workplaces and Inc. Magazine's 2010 Top Small Workplaces competition.  As of today, the firms are 43% female : 57% male employees.  But there's still time for this to shift: the application deadline is January 22, 2010.

We don't ask about employee age range in our application so we don't have any data to share on that.

What are you doing as part of investing in your workplace to cater to young, female employees who will likely be most dominant in the workforce next year?

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

It can be tough to link employee engagement to greater productivity.  Yes, the research is out there – including ours – but investing in your workplace can still be a tough sell for company owners and leaders.  Wally Bock and readers of his Three Star Leadership Blog get into why this is on one of his more popular posts.

Making the case this week that employee satisfaction contributes directly to not only company productivity but macro economic performance (in the current business climate, recovery) is American Express's OPEN Small Business Forum.  Profiling 2009 Top Small Workplace Bailard Inc., a California-based investment management firm, OPEN's VP of Brand Management, Marcy Shinder, shows how Bailard's communications team building practices result in tangible business outcomes including:

• 98% retention rate of clients over the past 5 years
• Average employee tenure of 13 years – "longer than any other company on the Top Small Workplace list"

I'm happy one of our Top Small Workplaces is getting some great additional exposure beyond their profile in the 2009 winners announcement in The Wall Street Journal.  But more exciting to me is that the link between employee activities and economic recovery is getting far greater visibility.  (The OPEN Forum website gets close to 400,000 unique visitors a month according to Compete.)

Related Post: Bailard Inc. Props Up Investment Management's Rep

Most, if not all, small businesses are using this quarter to evaluate what worked well this year and where they can improve to retain customers, continue to remain as profitable, and hold on to their best employees heading into 2010.

With that in mind, I thought I'd share what your peers are finding most insightful among our library of articles on investing in your workplace with the goal of building employee engagement – both on this blog and on our website.  So here's a Top 20 list split by site:

Most popular in Q4 2009: winningworkplaces.org

1. Ask An Expert: Representing a Department or Team to Management
2. Feature: Ways to Engage Employees Using Technology That Deliver ROI
3. Success Story: Integrated Project Management (IPM)
4. Ask An Expert: Employee Opinion Surveys
5. Success Story: The Redwoods Group
6. Feature: How Small Businesses Are Increasing Sales in a Recession
7. Feature: Blue Jeans Day
8. Editorial: The Power of Communication
9. Q&A: LifemeetsWork President Kyra Cavanaugh
10. Feature: Michelle Obama Delivers Address at Best Bosses Conference

Most popular in Q4 2009: blog.winningworkplaces.org

1. Top 10 Influential Small Business Thought Leaders
2. Rackspace's Graham Weston: 'No Voicemail Jail for You!'
3. 10 Company-Building Lessons Learned by a Successful Entrepreneur (Plus 2 Bonus Lessons)
4. 20 Proven Workplace Team Building Strategies
5. The Crisis of Employee Engagement Among Top Performers
6. Three Benefits of Virtual Team Building
7. 10 Ways to Motivate Employees
8. Stanford Prof Reinforces Theory: Poor Employee Engagement Will Lead to Talent Exodus
9. 12 Ways to Save on Your Holiday Party This Year
10. 10 Best Practices: Offering Vacation Days

If you find value in any of these links, I encourage you to share this post with your colleagues and contacts using the button below.

Because of the dubious role a number of Wall Street-based investment management firms played in the financial crisis starting last fall – not to mention lone wolves like Bernie Madoff – the industry's reputation has taken a beating.

However, not all companies in this space are out to bilk investors or the public.  2009 Top Small Workplace Bailard Inc., based in Foster City, CA, has used a smart, long-term strategic approach to continue to deliver for their customers.  In return, their customers stay with them – at an astounding rate of 97% even in a bad year like 2008.

Tom Bailard, the firm's Co-Founder, explains the link between investing in your workplace through employee development strategies, and benchmark-beating customer satisfaction and retention in the following video, which I just added to our Facebook page.

Check it out (if you're viewing this in an RSS reader click here):

Become a fan of Winning Workplaces on Facebook and view our other videos featuring leaders of successful small businesses.

One of the highlights of our ROI of Great Workplaces Conference that took place two weeks ago in Chicago was when Graham Weston, Chairman of Rackspace Hosting, did the following during his opening keynote address:

Showing his company's progress when it comes to their goal of being one of the world's great service companies, Weston asked an attendee to take out his cell phone.  He then asked the man to dial Rackspace's main phone number.  After two rings, an employee answered and said, "This is Rackspace, how many I help you?"

The takeaway here is that while it takes a fair amount of investing in your workplace to hire the staff needed to be able to answer every call and not use a phone tree – or as Weston called it, "voicemail jail" – the payoff of employee engagement in this way includes:

• Building customer trust much more quickly
• Faster, better service that leads to more repeat business
• Differentiation in the marketplace (have you tried reaching a real person at other web hosting companies?)

Related Post: Google Employees Can't Get No Satisfaction?

The Google Map I posted here this summer representing the locations of the 2007 and 2008 Top Small Workplaces got 50% bigger as of September 28, 2009, when The Wall Street Journal announced the 2009 winners.

Here's the expanded Google Map showing our now 45 honoree firms:

You may want to bookmark this page (use the Share button below), as when we write Success Stories on the 2009 winners you'll be able to access them directly from their marker on this map.  These Success Stories provide an in-depth look at the employee engagement ideas of our honorees that illustrate how investing in your workplace can lead to desired outcomes including increased productivity, lower turnover, and repeat business from more satisfied customers.

After past dinner gala keynote speakers at our annual conference that have included Southwest Airlines' Colleen Barrett, SRC Holdings Corp.'s Jack Stack, and CDW's John Edwardson, we're doing something different for the dinner keynote at our ROI of Great Workplaces Conference this Thursday, October 1, in Chicago.

Playing off the theme of today's Top Small Workplaces (see the latest Wall Street Journal Report on Small Business cover story), we're looking into the future to tomorrow's Top Small Workplace.  Assisting us will be:

• Larry Levy – Founder and Chairman of Levy Restraurants, and Chairman and CEO of The Levy Organization
• David Houle – Author, speaker, futurist, and Principal of David Houle & Associates

Here's what Levy and Houle will address, according to our conference program book:

Our panelists, entrepreneurs and business owners in their own right, will share their views of what’s going on in the world of small business and specifically in the small business workplace.  As new generations enter the work force; technology continues to impact how and where we work; and the global economy continues in turmoil, great workplaces will strive to stay ahead of the curve.  Hear what these leading thinkers and doers believe successful small to midsize organizations will need to do to create or maintain the "top small workplace" of tomorrow.

Be ahead of the curve when it comes to investing in your workplace in employee engagement strategies to create the workplace of the future.  To join us for dinner in Chicago this Thursday, call us at 847-328-9798.

I just revamped our website homepage to coincide with the homestretch of online registration to our annual conference at the start of October in Chicago.  In doing so, I pulled together nine articles from our website and this blog that show how investing in your workplace results in improved business outcomes.

Based on both firsthand accounts from companies we've honored over the years for their team building that drives bottom-line results, and our research on a large sample of them as part of our Top Small Workplaces recognition project, the following list represents the tip of the iceberg of metrics that meaningful people practices can help improve:

1. Businesses that last longer
2. Increased sales in a recession
3. Greater customer evangelism
4. Increased trust & commitment from employees
5. Lower turnover & greater revenue
6. Maintain healthcare benefits to recruit & retain top talent
7. Lower likelihood of layoffs
8. Less risk of litigation
9. Innovations that save companies from going under

If you invest to create a Winning Workplace, what outcomes have you seen that are not on this list?

As I've mentioned previously, I am now doing my writing, web content management, and marketing duties for Winning Workplaces in a home office environment in sunny Los Angeles (our headquarters is in the Chicago area).

It's been a somewhat rocky road getting here – or at least not as smooth a transition as I had anticipated.  So I thought I would try to illuminate the way forward so those undertaking this change in work arrangement (or considering it) will be better prepared for it.

Here are 10 best practices from my own experience.  Feel free to add to this list by sharing your own thoughts or experiences below.

1. To have a better chance of getting buy-in from leadership, explain how service levels will be maintained, and/or costs saved.  I do 98% of my work on a computer, so I knew I could be based anywhere.  I was also able to identify cost savings as a result of not needing to take public transportation to work and have that be reimbursed (a company benefit).
2. You can't over-communicate to your coworkers as far as when you're leaving.  Make sure they have ample lead time to be able to wrap up any standing projects before you hit the road, Jack.
3. Whatever amount of time you think you'll need to pack up your workspace, double it.  Trust me, you'll run short on time here if you make a conservative or even middle-of-the-road estimate.
4. Another note on packing: it's a great opportunity for spring cleaning!  Which files do you really need?  (How many are already stored electronically?)  How much space do you envision in your home office?  That will help dictate how many boxes you'll need.  This is another opportunity to demonstrate a cost savings to your employer if, like me, you need to have your files shipped to you: "I thought I would need eight boxes, but I did some consolidating and I only need five."
5. If – again, like me – you're not merely moving your office to where you live now but are relocating to a new city, don't forget to think about how your new 'hood will affect your work environment.  Arrange multiple on-site visits if possible at different times of the day so you can get a sense of anything that might be an external distraction, such as traffic or construction.  On a related note, could your work activity annoy your neighbors?  (Maybe you like to blast music while making sales calls.  I don't know.)
6. Your new home office space shouldn't be an afterthought.  Especially if you have a family, you need to be intentional about the workspace.  Draw up a floorplan (a crude, napkin-quality one is fine) and map out the dimensions of your space.
7. When doing the above step, think about the work environment you've been used to and what you'd like it to be.  Are you the kind of person who works best with a general din going on around you?  You might not need a room all to yourself in this case.  If you're worried about pets or kids disturbing you, though, and feel you need to isolate yourself to do your best work, make your own room – or at least a cordoned-off area with the help of tension rods and curtains – a priority.
8. High-speed Internet is an absolute must.  Shop around for an ISP in your area that can provide both Business Class Internet and a static IP address.  You'll need the latter to set up a virtual private network (VPN) with the help of hardware like this.  (Yet another cost savings opportunity for your employer: if you think you'll use your work PC for both business and home, offer to split the monthly cost of the Internet connection with them.)
9. You will undoubtedly miss that person-to-person contact you had in your regular office environment.  Your phone and a webcam can be vital tools to help you feel as connected as you were before.  When communicating via email, be clear about project expectations and deadlines, and encourage the same from your coworkers.  You'll find that minutes of staff meetings, especially those you may miss while transitioning, are as good as gold.
10. It is even more important when working from home to learn and put to use this time-tested business lesson: know when to say no.  Make it a habit to under-promise and over-deliver.

Working from home can improve your virtual team building skills to enhance employee leadership development.  From a management perspective, because it promotes work/life balance, it can be a great way of investing in your workplace.  If you have questions about how work-from-home arrangements can help your business, give us a call at 847-328-9798.

It's a weird time to be a small business owner or leader – or HR head, for that matter.  On the one hand, a struggling economy means that more employers are looking at what they can cut from their list of employee benefits and still get the same level of productivity from their workforce.  This, of course, includes paid time off (PTO).

But on the other hand, as About.com's HR expert Susan Heathfield pointed out last week,

paid holidays have become an employee entitlement and few people stop to think about their place in a complete employee reward and recognition system.  I think many employees think that their employer has to give them PTO and paid holidays....

As she observes, employers are not lawfully obligated to provide any paid time off.

Why do a good number of them still do so, then?  To remain competitive in the marketplace when it comes to attracting and retaining top talent.

Heathfield cites a 2006 study by LegalWorkplace.com which found that, at that time, companies that offered PTO plans typically offered between 7 and 10 paid holidays a year.

By comparison, of the over 300 applicants for our 2009 Top Small Workplaces recognition project, those that offer PTO (vacation, sick, and personal time) as part of a package provide an average of 18.5 days for one-year or longer-term employees.  On top of this they offer an average of 8 holidays per year, for a total of 26.5 paid days off – over a month's worth when you count the number of typical working days in a month.

Why are the employers in our survey sample so generous when it comes to PTO?  Maybe the better question is, what do they get for their investment in this and whole host of team building and employee engagement best practices?

The answer is:

• Employees who stay longer, and
• Lower turnover

Consider:

• Average employee tenure at 2009 applicant companies with PTO plans is an astounding 25.9 years – compared to 20.1 years at firms without PTO plans.
• Most-recent-year (2008) average voluntary turnover at firms with PTO plans is 17%; average involuntary turnover is 8%.

This is all more proof that investing in your workplace leads to results that are better for people, and better for business.

What are your thoughts on the relevancy and ROI of PTO plans?

Image credit: Women For Hire

Have you heard?  The August 2009 Small Business Success Index, a joint project of Network Solutions and the University of Maryland, is out.

This research summary provides an ongoing, comprehensive look at small businesses in the U.S. – starting with the case for why they matter (for one thing, this sector is responsible for $6 trillion – with a "t" – in annual revenues).

Toward the end of this report is a section that provides a snapshot of what small businesses in America look like.  I noted two of the metrics examined, average age of a small business and average annual revenue, as Winning Workplaces also captures this information each year through our Top Small Workplaces project with The Wall Street Journal.

Based on a comparison of these two metrics from the August 2009 Small Business Success Index to our Finalists for Top Small Workplaces 2009, I conclude that investing in your workplace – in employee development strategies for building trust in the workplace – can have a profound effect on a business' bottom line and longevity.

Just check out this side-by-side comparison of the two metrics I mentioned above:

The Winners of this year's Top Small Workplaces will be announced in the Journal on September 28 and honored at our conference here in Chicago later that week.  Click here for more information.

Image credit: Southern Methodist University Forum

In April I wrote about the small businesses we've honored and covered over the years that allow dogs in the workplace.  Add one more to the list.

I heard via Facebook last week that one of the newest additions to the workforce at Pinnacle Services (a Minnesota-based social service agency whose President & CEO, Nicolas Thomley, we named a Best Boss in 2006) is an English Bulldog the company aptly named Biggie Smalls.

Thomley shared with me the story of how Biggie came to join the firm:

Our COO mentioned one day that we should have an office dog.  It was more of a passing comment but I liked the idea.  I did a little research and while there are certainly issues with having animals at work the benefits seemed to be exactly what we needed at this time.

The impetus for getting her comes from a couple of things.  Our legislature authorized a 2.58% cut in our budget July 1st which is the equivalent of about $260,000 a year to us.  As a result we had to issue a 2% pay cut to some of our employees (we were able to absorb the .58% administratively).  We have never had to reduce wages before.  Additionally, we acquired another company at the beginning of June.  It was a very messy acquisition.  As a result staff members have been putting in extraordinary amounts of hours and unfortunately a couple of people have left the company.  We are better than where we were 6 weeks ago but morale is still below where I want it to be.

Essentially Biggie Smalls was brought in to the Pinnacle family to help reduce stress and boost morale.  It is not the only thing we are doing but it is one strategy to help make our office a better work environment.  She is a 6-month-old English Bulldog.  I did some research on dog breeds as well because I did not want one that was overly active, barked a lot or had other behaviors that would not be best for an office.  Even though Biggie is still a puppy and playful she tires easily and sleeps often.  She wanders around the office to say hi to various people and is incredibly friendly.  She never barks, I'm not sure if she even can?  We came up with "Biggie Smalls" because I said I thought a bulldog should have a gangster name.  The result was Biggie Smalls which is fitting for her stature.

There are firms that are OK with employees bringing their dogs into the workplace, and then there are office dogs like Biggie Smalls.  Which you do – or whether you allow it at all – is up to your leadership team, your employees, and the level of employee engagement you've developed.

This practice is not for every work environment.  But, like Pinnacle Services, your organization could benefit from the enhanced team building that can come from investing in your workplace by recruiting man's best friend.

Related: Thomley shared his thoughts on maintaining a culture of ownership as a business grows at our 2007 annual conference. 

In the July/August issue of Inc., Lorien Gabel, the Founder of Pingg, shares his Twitter strategy.  It's an uncommon one – instead of focusing on volume of followers and flooding them with product or service links, he uses TweetDeck to track what's being said under 10 terms that matter to his business, which provides "free stylish online invites and announcements, worthy of print."

In other words, he's mainly in listen-only mode.  As I've been reading more evidence that on Twitter, quality of audience matters more than quantity, I've focused on this, too. 

This is how I came across many of the following thought leaders who are active on Twitter.  These people have been kind enough to RT (retweet) one or more of my posts on our Twitter account.  So today I return the love and post their IDs so you can check them out and follow them, too, if you wish.

I guarantee that each of these people will help you generate and execute employee engagement ideas as part of a strategy for investing in your workplace:

Kim Fabian (@TeamBuildingMD)
Twitter bio: Take your team to the top with Baltimore-area corporate team-building programs in golf, cooking, yoga, wine tasting, Spinning, scavenger hunts and more

Kevin Kennemer (@ThePeopleGroup)
Twitter bio: Company Culture Expert, Workplace Consultant, Speaker and Writer

Becky Robinson (@LeaderTalk)
Twitter bio: Writer. Blogger for Mountain State University, Leadership Development, Social Media, Mom, Homeschooler

Kelly Spors (@KellySpors)
Twitter bio: Freelance writer & former Wall Street Journal entrepreneurship reporter & blogger
(I've known Kelly since before we got started on Twitter but thought she was a great addition to this list.)

SBDC DaytonaBeach (@DaytonaBchSBDC)
Twitter bio: SBDC helps businesses become more successful. Starting business, buying business, growing business, selling business or looking for financing, we can help

Steve Roesler (@steveroesler)
Twitter bio: Designing success at the intersection of people and work

Ken Gaebler (@gaeblerdotcom)
Twitter bio: All about small business and entrepreneurship!

Pamela Grow (@PamelaGrow)
Twitter bio: The ultimate resource for the harried one-person nonprofit development office - and fundraising newbies.  Author of Five Days to Foundation Grants.

Janet Morris (@JanetATHP)
Twitter bio: HP US Small Medium Business Marketing.  The opinions expressed by me are not intended to be those of HP.

Peg Rowe (@pegrowe)
Twitter bio: I work with leaders and teams to increase their effectiveness and ensure alignment with the organization’s purpose,strategy and goals

Related: Our post on 10 specifically small business people to follow on Twitter.

As I shared in April and May – thanks to the road-tested wisdom of Jim Stoynoff, President of Synthesis Solutions – investing in your workplace and improving your employee engagement strategies can have a real impact when it comes to dealing with your banker to maintain your lines of credit, or get access to new ones.

Since then, understanding what banks are looking for in their small business clients has become more critical, and as a consequence a more popular topic in business education circles.  So it is with pleasure that I am able to pass along to you today an offer for a FREE online seminar on this topic that will take place on August 12.

Blackman Kallick, our source for several articles in recent Winning Workplaces IDEAS newsletters, is offering our blog readers a complimentary seat in the seminar What Are Banks Looking for in Todays Economy?, which is hosted by the American Mold Builders Association (AMBA).  For more info on this seminar, see this flyer.

To register for free, visit this page on AMBA's website.  Under Membership Status, make sure to select "By Blackman Kallick Invitation."

If you attend this seminar, I'd love to read your feedback.  Feel free to drop me a comment below.

Image credit: AMBA

Several of our applicants for Top Small Workplaces 2009 are based in the U.S., and yet have some or most of their workforce in countries such as India and China.  So the question arose in our judges meeting here last week: Does a foreign-based workforce that results in fewer jobs for a struggling, jobs-thirsty American economy – a workforce that's treated the same as the company's U.S. workers are treated – prevent that company from being named as a Top Small Workplace?

You'll have to wait until September 28 to find out the answer our judges gave, which will no doubt be part of the coverage our media partner for TSW, The Wall Street Journal, provides in their Top Small Workplaces 2009 Journal Report that will go out that day.

In the meantime, I want to know what you think about this.  Besides providing your answer to the question above, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the impact a globally diverse workforce has on virtual team building and other measures for investing in your workplace.

Please add a comment below with your thoughts.  Thanks.

Our office is buzzing as we await the arrival here later today of our judging panel that will select the 2009 Top Small Workplaces from the 35 Finalist organizations.  These firms were paired down over the last few months from the hundreds that applied earlier this year based on their exemplary team building activities for the workplace.

While you'll have to wait until September 28 to read about the 2009 Winners in The Wall Street Journal – click here to subscribe to it if you don't already – I will be updating here in the meantime with video interviews of our judges, which we will also shoot today.

Following is a list of this year's judges.  We thank them for their time, talent, and concern for the leading-edge people practices that show that investing in your workplace can lead to stunning business outcomes.
 

Colleen Barrett

• President Emeritus, Southwest Airlines
• Years as a TSW judge: 3
• Other TSW affiliations: Keynote speaker at our 2008 annual conference
• For more information: Read our interview with Barrett on our website

Peter Cappelli

• Director, Center for Human Resources, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
• Years as a TSW judge: 3
• For more information: Watch this interview with Cappelli we shot in 2008
   

Judith Cone

• Vice President of Emerging Strategies, Kauffman Foundation
• Years as a TSW judge: 3
• Other TSW affiliations: Workplace session moderator at our 2007 annual conference
• For more information: Read our interview with Cone on our website

Timothy Feddersen

• Director, Social Enterprise Program, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
• Years as a TSW judge: 1
• For more information: See Feddersen's faculty/research page on the Kellogg School website

Bart Houlahan

• Co-founder, B Lab
• Years as a TSW judge: 1
• For more information: Read Houlahan's bio on Stanford University's Entrepreneurship Corner
   

Nancy Kramer

• Founder and CEO, Resource Interactive
• Years as a TSW judge: 1
• Other TSW affiliations: Resource Interactive is a 2008 Top Small Workplace
• For more information: Get our 2008 TSW DVD containing an interview with Kramer

Ken Lehman

• Founder and Chairman, Winning Workplaces
• Years as a TSW judge: 3
• Other TSW affiliations: Ken participated in a panel entitled "60 Ideas in 60 Minutes" at our 2007 annual conference
• For more information: Watch this video that features Ken on our website

Kevin Trapani

• President and CEO, The Redwoods Group
• Years as a TSW judge: 1
• Other TSW affiliations: The Redwoods Group is a 2008 Top Small Workplace
• For more information: Get our 2008 TSW DVD containing an interview with Trapani

A number of our judges will be at our ROI of Great Workplaces Conference in Chicago on October 1 and 2.  Join them – register to attend today.

The recession has sharpened the lens through which business owners and leaders, not to mention HR directors, view workplace team building.  Increasingly, and understandably, these folks are saying, "What's in it for our firm?" and getting off the fence to line up for or against such practices based on the answer to this question.

I came across two articles this weekend that make up the sides for and against investing in your workplace in this way:

Pro: Area business leaders focus on 'morale' to keep workers happy (Maryland Gazette)

In this article, Elisha Sauers cites several sources to explain that as  the recession produces layoffs and demoralized employees who wonder if they're next, bosses are turning to innovative staff engagement activities to make up the losses.

Key points:

• "Experts have said workers who feel under-appreciated can be just as detrimental to a business' success as job eliminations."
• At Nacon Consulting, implementation of a gas allowance to help employees get to work based on their distance from the office and allowing one hour of leave per month for employees to volunteer for causes they care about have gotten a "great response."
• At Travel Agency Network, trust building activities of the "fun committee" are "clearly a retention tool," says the company's general manager.

Con: Team Building is a Waste of Money (Wealth Method)

In this article, Rune Aresvik argues that "even in the best of times, what passes for 'team building exercises' is a total waste of time and money."

Key points:

• Increasing team satisfaction has negligible effects on the success of the team in reaching its goals.
• The only positive outcome of team building activities is that coworkers know each other a little better.
• "[W]hy spend money [on these activities] temporarily in an artificial setting, when you ... should ... do this in the real setting?"

After reading these two articles, has your position on the ROI of these practices changed?

I am happy to announce that registration is now open to our fall conference on October 1 and 2 in Chicago, "The ROI of Great Workplaces."  Click here to:

• View event summary
• Add event to your calendar
• Watch a short highlights reel from our 2008 conference
• View fees and agenda (note that the agenda is still coming together)
• Learn about the location
• Book your room at the event hotel at the special Winning Workplaces rate

Besides the short video of last year's conference at the above link, you can get a sense of what attendees experienced by checking out my photo recaps here and here.

You can get a great return on investment in your workplace team building and employee engagement activities.  Just look at what Graham Weston has done at his firm, Rackspace Hosting (see my new Q&A with him).  Graham and many other successful small business leaders will be presenting at our event in October.  You won't want to miss it.

Here's more incentive to attend: Be one of the first 100 people to register and get $100 off your registration.  Just click here and enter coupon code FRSTHUND when prompted.

I will be there and wearing many hats – most prominently interviewer of leaders of our to-be-announced 2009 Top Small Workplaces for videos we shoot of them.  Yet, some of my favorite moments happen when I meet new small business people in between sessions.  I hope you'll be one of them.

Register now for this event.