Want to help aspiring entrepreneurs in impoverished regions? Buy socks. Not just any accessories; Cole + Parker accessories. Proceeds from each sale fund microloans for people who cannot access traditional credit. Small amounts, sometimes as little as $25, make a huge difference for the startups and their communities – and for companies and their employees. Organizations like Cole + Parker demonstrate that pulling together for a common purpose – a purpose beyond ourselves – isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s the smart thing to do.

Why Do People Buy? Same Reason They’ll Work

You’re a thrifty, savvy, smart person. When you make a decision to purchase a product or service, what’re you looking for? The price or quality of that product or service? Sure, to a certain extent. To a larger extent, though, you are swayed by your perception of the company providing the product or service. Sixty percent of our “willingness to buy, recommend, work for, or invest in companies” is based on how we feel about the business.

When we feel good about a company, we want to be involved, to work there. We’re engaged and motivated to help them succeed. This is partly (and a big part!) why corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming much more of a priority in today’s organizations. Former Deloitte & Touche CEO Jim Copeland, Jr., says, “The best professionals in the world want to work in organizations in which they can thrive, and they want to work for companies that exhibit good corporate citizenship.”

Those motivated professionals are part of the reason values-based companies consistently outperform their competitors. This will only become more pronounced as Millennials and Gen Z enter the workforce en masse. They, perhaps more strongly than any other generation, believe work should integrate with their personal beliefs and values. It should be more than “work.”

Strong Values, Strong Company

When do people – whether in business, life, or society – pull together most? Well, it tends to be during crises. Ice storms, hurricanes, Tsunamis. They share a common purpose, a common belief, and they rise to the occasion.

Shortly after Katrina, Maritz made the decision to hold our global sales meeting in New Orleans. It was a conscious choice; a statement: “New Orleans is open for business. It’s ready for meetings and incentives again.” The meeting was a tremendous success – but it was really secondary to the overall experience. We had a two hour bus tour of the devastation, escorted by a police motorcade. It was like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. “Horrible” doesn’t begin to describe it. I literally cried on the bus.

But how does that turn into motivation?

The next day, all 300 of us worked together to rebuild a children’s park, painting fences, planting trees, putting down mulch. We had a purpose, and we pulled together. You never forget experiences like that.

If you’re wondering how to motivate employees, this is how. Give them purpose. Or rather, let them come together with a common purpose. It doesn’t end with planting shrubs or serving meals to the homeless or extending microloans or whatever cause your people are passionate about. It stays with them and impacts their interactions, their productivity, and their engagement.

Purpose at Work

People can pull together as effectively through their work. At Atlantis Creative Group, we were in the middle of one of the most important pieces of business we’d ever done, an integration meeting for a major corporation. Two months to pull off a massive, and critical, 500-person meeting. No sweat. Actually, a lot of sweat. And blood and tears. Then along comes another major client who decided that they wanted to do a huge car launch. Now.

I went to the team and said, “Guys, I hate turning down business, but we’re already stretched. If we take this on, we’re going to have to really, really bust our butts for the next few months.” Then I told them about the upside: profit-sharing, bonuses – the extrinsic rewards of doing the launch – as well as the intrinsic motivators: the prestige and quality creative associated with this high-end project.

The team decided to go for it. We came together around this common goal. And our shared need for caffeine IVs. It was a tough few months, but there was also a sense of exhilaration. This turned out to be two of the most rewarding projects most of us had ever worked on, and it wasn’t because of the bonuses or other financial considerations. It was because of the shared experience. (And because both projects came off brilliantly!)

In this case, our purpose was business-related. But that’s not really what brought people together. It was the need and desire to work together; to contribute so that, collectively, we were more than the sum of our parts. Being part of a “community” effort, whether world-wide or office-wide, provides endless opportunities to invite these types of transformative experiences into your company. You may sense an ulterior motive here – and you’re absolutely right. When you create an environment in which people can pull together to achieve a common goal, whether it’s completing a tough project or reaching out into a local or global community, you get back so much more in return: loyal customers, engaged employees, warm, stylish feet. Work becomes more than work – and that’s how everyone wins.

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Lessening the Blow

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The Value of Values

If necessity’s the mother of invention, the mother of innovation is…boredom. You want to see creativity take off and breakthrough thinking flourish? Give your people the time and opportunity to be bored. Your high-performing employees won’t stay that way for long.

Boredom and Leisureology? An Oxymoronic Driver of Results!

Tedium can drive innovation. At Atlantis, it was driving yawns so we knew something had to change. The task: reconciling large client projects. Horrendous– until we allocated some time to play with Excel and discovered an innovative way to show our clients exactly where we went over and under. As long as we didn’t exceed the total budget, clients were fine with that. And they were more than fine with the smoother, more interesting approval meetings.

Utilizing Excel more effectively turned the reconciliation process into an enjoyable experience, instead of a snooze fest. It was like a game of over and under. The net outcome? Clients almost always signed off on the final bill right there at the meeting. Happy clients – and great for our cash flow.

See, that’s how forward-thinking I am: I provided my people with boring tasks just so they could innovate new solutions and find more effective ways to accomplish them. The truth is every business, no matter how creative, has its share of arduous tasks. A leisureology mindset, though, turns them into opportunities.

Catalyst for Creativity

Composer Mark Applebaum (aka the “Mad Scientist of Music”), said, “I used boredom as a catalyst for creativity and invention.” He talks about a Beethoven piece he had to practice over and over. It bores him – so he uses creativity and improvisation to make it new and interesting to him. Eventually, he gets bored of the piano. So that pushes him to invent his own instruments.

Boredom doesn’t stunt or stultify us. Applebaum is not an anomaly. Well, he is, but not because his innovation is fuelled by boredom! In fact, research shows that boredom increases our ability to form new ideas and to make connections.

2 Plastic Cups

Researchers from the University of Central Lancashire split participants into two groups. One had to copy numbers out of a phonebook. The other, I don’t know, drank lattes or something. After, they had to think of as many uses for two plastic cups as possible. Guess who performed better?

The researchers posit that boredom led to a state in which the phonebook-copying participants were better equipped to engage in “divergent thinking,” or think of several outcomes for one single problem. Huh, that’d be useful in the workplace, no?

In another study, Penn State professors showed participants video clips that would elicit feelings of boredom, elation, distress, or relaxation. After, they were given three related words and asked to supply a fourth. For example: sore, shoulder, sweat. Cold might be a reasonable answer here. I only know that because I was copying numbers out of the phonebook a minute ago.

The participants had to make connections between different ideas – and once again, the bored people did better. (So did the elated folks. Happy employees make critically-thinking employees!) They also had more activation of the creative area of their brains, the right hemisphere.

Provide Opportunities for Boredom

So, how do you allow for boredom – and reap the benefits to employee motivation, productivity, and performance? One method is to simply allow employees to innovate new ways to approach boring tasks. At Atlantis, we felt like we were inventing and re-inventing the wheel, year after year, as we hired new staff or brought on new clients.

To solve this tedious problem, we created a file of Best Practices. Every time we did something great, we wrote a mini case study outlining the steps we’d take to achieve success and added it to our Account Executive “A Advantage” binder.

It made life easier and work more fun. Not only were we able to stop explaining and re-explaining our practices, we increased our employees’ chances of success by providing them with a useful, usable guide. Not to mention, employees were rewarded and recognized for their contributions to this binder!

20% Time

Other companies, notably Google, offer “20% time” or some version thereof. This time is to be spent following passions, ideas, and self-initiated projects, and has led to innovations like Gmail and Google Docs. LinkedIn recently adopted the practice and has seen several “InCubator” projects bear fruit (such as a toolkit to point out new features to LinkedIn users as they browse the site).

Yes, it’s about giving people ample time to play and explore. And it’s also about giving them time to be bored. Unstructured time. You don’t think anyone, any high-level engineers, coders, or developers, ever thought, “Wow, I’m bored! What the heck do I do with this 20%?!”?

Of course they did. And they sat around, checked Twitter, caught up on their sports scores or celebrity gossip – and then found as many uses for those two plastic cups as possible. Their boredom spurred activity, ideas, and invention.

There is no job, no workplace that can completely avoid boredom. When you give your people a chance, they’ll transform dull into daring and boredom into breakthrough thinking and products. Those are the people you want to keep, engage, and…give the chance to be bored.

The post Boring Isn’t So Boring In a Leisure Culture: Using Boredom to Boost Productivity & Employee Motivation appeared first on Employee Motivation.

Ask not what your employees can do for you…. That happy employees make engaged, productive employees is not news. It’s quantifiable: they’re just better for the bottom line. But let’s focus on what matters. To them. Happy employees make happy families. Making work/life integration a priority in your organization is good for them. (On a cynical note, whatever’s good for them tends to be good for you because happy employees…). Family Day offers a perfect opportunity to show them that you value the “life” part of work/life integration.

Family Day

First, a little background on Family Day. According to the Ontario Department of Labour, “Ontarians work very hard and deserve more time to spend with the people they love.” So, they created a statutory holiday on the third Monday of February intended to allow us to do just that.

While not a federal holiday, Family Day is celebrated in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, PEI, and Nova Scotia (same day) and British Columbia (second Monday in February).

Regardless of where you live, when you celebrate, what you call it, or whether it’s even a recognized holiday for you (only two US states, for instance, have versions of Family Day), you can still seize the opportunity to show employees you care. And you can help them take full advantage of the day.

But Why Should You?

A study published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology found that when employees are happy at work, it creates “positive spillover” at home. Researchers looked at 234 dual-earning couples and made a few interesting discoveries:

• Employees who receive support from their supervisors and felt they had autonomy and control in their jobs brought those benefits home from work.
• When employees were satisfied at work, it reduced their partners’ level of depression!

By supporting them, incorporating leisure, and honoring and facilitating work/life integration at work, you’re helping create happier, stronger families.

Ok, so the researchers also found that people who are happy at home “transfer those good experiences to their work by increasing their job effort and reaping more satisfaction.” Increased employee motivation is a side effect. Positive spillover’s good for everyone.

Apples to Apples, Anyone?

How can you act as a catalyst for great family interactions? Do something with no strings attached because you’re genuinely interested in their happiness and that of their families. Like what? Well, nothing says positive spillover like board games.

Why not give everyone a game, such as Apples to Apples? This one particularly seems to transcend all generations. It’s hilarious, regardless of your age, and in fact, it helps bridge generation gaps.

The gameplay involves making interesting, unusual, or just absurd comparisons. The best part – in addition to the fun – is that it’s appropriate for families with children, adult children who care for their parents, groups of friends. Whatever “family” is to your employees, they can use this as a starting point for great conversation and interaction.

Provide Value: They’ll Return the Favor

It can be as simple as that. Leisureology isn’t about spending ungodly sums of money or creating complicated programs. It’s about thinking creatively and implementing small, easy practices that resonate with your people. What’s important is that you provide something of value to them, something which helps them focus on the “life” side of work/life integration.

And yes, there’s a flip side: it makes up for the fact that, at points, they do extra work and put in additional effort. It compensates them for that and reminds them that you do appreciate it. You’re helping them feel balanced! And if not “balanced,” at least nicely integrated!

The secret of any leisure-oriented initiative, whether Family Day games, Valentine’s cards, or chili cook-offs, is to ensure it exemplifies your company brand. Apples to Apples worked well for us, for example, because we were all about creativity. It fit with our culture and our brand.

What will work for your company and its people? Maybe it’s as simple as giving them Friday afternoon off so they can get a jump on their Family Day activities. Whatever it is, give them something of value – something they can take home and enjoy with their families.

Ask not what your employees can do for you… They’re already doing it. Now do something for them. Help them integrate work and life more seamlessly. For them. For their families. They win. (And yes, when they win, you win!).

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Ok, before we start, let’s make this clear: transparency, good. Oversharing, bad. Transparency may make for happier, more productive employees, but no one needs to know that the tacos from dinner are coming back with a vengeance or that you finally know what that rash was all about. Save it for Facebook, people. This is work! (Fun work, but still…boundaries!) All in all, though, companies need to make a concerted effort to communicate more openly and honestly with employees and other stakeholders. Transparency breeds trust, and trust breeds results.

“Likeonomics”

Just one in ten people trust businesses a “great deal,” according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. A bit more gloom for companies: a lot of their employees don’t trust them either. Twenty-five percent report that they don’t trust their employers, and half say that their employers are neither open nor honest.

In Likeonomics, Rohit Bhargava, writes, “The first and most basic reason for distrust is because there are so many companies and people who choose to lie to us either by making misleading claims or simply by hiding the truth.”

Whether that, in itself, is completely true or not (and it is certainly not the case in many organizations), the point remains: people – employees and consumers both – lose trust when they feel companies are hiding information.

Fries with That?

That’s exactly where once-mighty McDonalds finds itself. Just where do those Nuggets come from? How are the beef and produce sourced? How exactly do they make McRibs? Now, I don’t like McDonald’s; I don’t go there. Even my kids snubbed the Happy Meal at an early age. But I do admire, and salute, the chain’s effort to become more transparent in recent years.

Their “Your Questions, Our Food” feature allows consumers to ask about their food. While some are a bit on the self-serving side (e.g. “How do you make the Coca-Cola taste so darn good?”), others are much uglier: “Do you use pink slime in Nuggets?” Yes, that’s the same ingredient that goes into those tasty yoga mats.

Turns out McDonald’s was as unhappy with some of the answers as their customers were, and they’ve made changes and improvements in their food quality. At least they’re going in the right direction. That’s the value of transparency: stakeholders’ concerns are heard and they have access to information to help them make better choices. This, in turn, encourages – or forces – companies to shape up.

Transparency: Regaining Employee Trust

Employers would do well to start their own “Your Questions, Our Company” campaign. GlaxoSmithKline did this beautifully. They held town halls three times a year, and the CEO and executives shared what was going on in the organization. They also took turns on the “Hot Seat.” Anyone could ask a question, whether they were right in the live audience or across the country calling in. The leadership answered every question, tough as they might be. This level of transparency builds tremendous employee trust.

And this has tremendous benefits for the company. A recent study found that transparency is the number one factorin employee happiness. And a happy employee is a productive, engaged, motivated employee – who sticks around. Good ethics are good for the bottom line.

Don’t Go Too Far!

There is a line, of course. There is only so much information that leadership can share with employees or with stakeholders. To do so could violate confidentiality or put their “secret sauce” into the hands of the competition. This is the real oversharing you have to worry about!

Total transparency isn’t feasible. Being as transparent as you can be – that’s the ideal. That’s what will help you build, or rebuild, trust with the people who power your organization.

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Don’t Work Harder

To do that, we have to stay mentally fit. What can we plan in December to set ourselves up for success in January, for the entire year, and beyond?

A Personal Plan For Mental Fitness

Like what? An example from my list: read six books – really solid books that will make a difference in my life. I’m more of an article/short story/tweet guy, so for me, this was something to reach for! The Alchemist was one of these, and it changed the way I look at life for the better.

Another: I am back on a yoga spree. Anytime you have a great instructor, it’s as rewarding mentally as it is physically. By the time you leave, you feel completely renewed–and there is something to be said for a rejuvenated spirit.

Actually, there’s a lot to be said about it. Practicing gratitude, for instance, not only renews the mind – it benefits the body. Drs. Robert A. Emmons and Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, for example, conducted a study in which they asked participants to write a few sentences each week:
• Group 1 wrote about things they were grateful for.
• Group 2 wrote about things that had irritated or displeased them.
• Group 3 wrote about events, with no negative or positive spin.

The results: after 10 weeks, those who “had” to write about gratitude felt more optimistic and happier about their lives. They also exercised more and went to the doctor less than those who focused on irritations.

Another study uncovered a link between manager gratitude and employee performance. While not everyone finds the idea of practicing gratitude palatable, certainly they would find enhanced productivity and profitability worth a (sincere) “Thank you” here and there!

Get A Second Set Of Eyes On Your Plan

This is just one reason why it’s a great idea to share and review your goals, whether it’s a friend, coworker, spouse, or coach. They can add their own perspective and help you become accountable to someone else – which can help on those days when you’re feeling too lazy/uninspired to put your plan into action!

How Can You Help Your Employees?

Remember, success is holistic: Be sure they integrate their physical, mental, spiritual, recreational, and family fitness!

Another avenue that you could pursue is your office environment. What could you do so that when people show up on January 2, they feel invigorated and excited to start the year? How can you make it fresh and new? It could be as simple as an office clean up, ensuring everything is less cluttered. Maybe you add a poster of 2015’s inspiring mantra to the wall or put a small inspirational gift on their desks to surprise and welcome them.

It doesn’t have to be huge or earth-shattering, but it can set the tone and fuel a sense of renewal – like a new cup of freshly-sharpened pencils on the first day of school. What better time for that boost than January?

I jest and take a jovial tone, but the need to support your own mental fitness and help your people do the same is pressing. We can’t do more with less or work any harder. We have to put something back in. If it takes a drill instructor to give us the kick we need, well, no. I won’t go that far! But a sound plan and some support implementing it will prepare you for a stellar year of work and life.

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Before You Hand Out the Invites or the Cash

You have to be conscious of what’s going on in the business currently, as well as what goes on culturally. Are parties a component of your company tradition? Do you normally give bonuses? If you’re breaking new ground, which is going to be the better option? It’s a tough call.

A Case for the Office Party

According to a survey of over 1500 event planners, 67% of companies reported improved team dynamics, and 75% reported improved office friendships, both courtesy of the holiday party. When employees form positive friendships within the company, productivity and engagement increase.

Depending on the climate of the company and its economic situation, you’ll want to adjust the expenditure. But spending less doesn’t mean the event has to have less impact. You just have to be more creative. (Just between us, sometimes lower budgets drive higher creativity.)

In fact, that’s exactly what’s on trend. According to Brett Galley, director of special events with Hollywood Pop Gallery (New York and London), “Companies are still trying to get the most bang for their buck while at the same time staying away from the typical ‘cookie-cutter’ holiday party.”

What about Bonuses?

I’m going to further muddy the waters here though: if you can’t do a cash bonus, consider a noncash incentive (incentive trip, spa days, merchandise). These can be more effective than a big wad of cash at a fraction of the cost. Something to consider!

Whatever You Do, Budget for It

If it’s financially feasible to have a party or give a bonus, one thing is certain: you’ll probably not make everyone happy! If you opt to skip the party, some people will complain there’s no free shrimp appetizers and karaoke this year. If you do the party in favor of the bonus, others will gripe that if you can afford free shrimp and karaoke, you should be able to pay them more.

A simple way to resolve this is to ask. Put it to them and give them the logistics of the situation: would you rather have a party or a bonus? See which they value more.

It’s impossible to make general statements about holiday office traditions. What you do is so dependent on what’s going on in the organization and what would benefit it and your people most. What I will make a definitive statement about is this: the holiday season presents an opportunity to engage people and leverage the festive atmosphere. Seize it. Whether it’s with a party, a bonus, or simply a kind note of appreciation.

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Need to rewrite this classic tale in your business? Along with the temperature, employee engagement can take a dip in November and December. To heat things back up (in a completely office-appropriate manner), try holidays the Leisureology Way.

Tis the Season to Incent

When wondering how to motivate employees through the holidays, always keep your objectives in mind. Performance matters. Quality work matters. Delighted clients matter. But it’s Christmas – lighten up a little! (Says the guy who writes a strategy to develop creative for his kids’ birthday parties.) Incentives have to incent good work; at the same time, this is a perfect opportunity to leverage the holiday spirit to boost engagement and productivity. How?

Cash? The Gift that Doesn’t Keep Giving

At first glance, cash seems to be the ideal gift for even the impossible-to-please. It’s worth taking a second look though. Yes, money is welcome, especially during the holiday season, and it does indicate appreciation for employees’ efforts and contributions. But bonuses can be problematic in that once the cash is gone, it’s gone – along with its power to incent.

The larger problem is, of course, that money isn’t all that motivating to begin with. Research shows that extrinsic motivations, like money, decrease intrinsic motivations, like curiosity, enjoyment, and personal challenges. In other words, cash flow can impede flow experiences and people’s inclination to motivate themselves.

People think they want cash. When given the choice, most employees say they prefer money as an incentive – unless they are given the option to select a specific noncash reward. Not only do they typically enjoy it more, noncash items create a greater measurable boost in productivity – and give you much more bang for your buck.

Noncash Incentives for Holiday Cheer

I’m not saying don’t give bonuses. I am saying, however, that employees connect with noncash rewards; they associate them with your company; and engagement increases long after any cash would’ve been spent. It’s often referred to as the “trophy” value of the prize.

We used to give all our people an afternoon off sometime during the holiday season to shop, wrap gifts, and belt out “Feliz Navidad” in the car. Just me? It gave everyone a chance to do some less hectic weekday shopping with a relaxed mindset. It wasn’t a trip to the shops that they had to squeeze into their schedule; it was “free” time. They could turn off the Blackberry, sip a gingerbread latte, enjoy the decorations, and associate all of that good cheer with their employer.

Gift cards can be another effective avenue. To maximize the impact, they should be as personalized as possible. Your yoga-loving account exec? She’d loved some new Lululemon gear, and every time she strikes a warrior pose, she’ll think of the thought behind the gift. How about your creative guy? Give him a trip to Golf Town, on you. Their purchases are tangible items that they will continue to connect to you.

There’s also nothing wrong with giving gifts that are related to your business – if it makes your people’s lives easier. We once gave our people new luggage. In our industry, everyone needed good bags, especially carry-ons. You don’t want it to be too “businessy” but something like this sends the message that you appreciate them and their work. I highly recommend Lug…designed by fellow Leisureologist Ami Richter!

Every season brings its distractions – and every season brings an equally big sleigh-full of opportunities. When you embrace leisureology in the workplace, you can leverage the joy of the holidays to maintain – or increase – productivity and engagement. But the best part is that it doesn’t end on December 26th, especially when you offer incentives that continue the spirit of goodwill and motivation throughout the year. Happy Christmas to all, and to all a productive, and profitable end to the fourth quarter! May not be poetic, but it definitely sounds good!

The post Unwrapping the Gift of Engagement: How to Motivate Employees through the Holidays appeared first on Employee Motivation.

The 9-5 is going the way of the Commodore 64. In a few years, the young folk will wonder how we ever dealt with these big, clunky, inefficient workdays when new, shiny, streamlined ones work so much better. With freelancing, telecommuting, and flextime becoming more common fixtures in today’s work world, adherence to this rigid schedule makes less and less sense. Finally! How can you take advantage of these loosening restrictions and stay productive? Don’t worry. There’s an app, or a thousand, for that.

Tech Tools for Productivity – In and Out of the Office

Technology can be a double-edged sword: smartphones, tablets, the cloud, and other technological advances mean most employees are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s easy to become a slave to it.

But there’s always a bright side, and, in this case, it can outshine the risks of constant availability. Say you get a call from your child’s school: she’s sick and needs to go home. You can leave work, give her some OJ and chicken noodle soup, and still complete your objectives because you have remote access to your files, documents, clients, and coworkers.

That’s just one example: there’s myriad others, one for everyone who has reason to eschew a “typical” workday. People who are more productive at night; those who want to stay at the cottage but still connect with the office; those who need to telecommute part- or full-time – for all of these people, technology provides the tools to more seamlessly integrate work and life.

Here are a few examples of tools that can help:

• Webex, Join.me, or Gotomeeting. I don’t have a skin in this game, so whichever of these virtual meeting platforms you choose is fine with me! These programs, though, go beyond the capability of Skype (which is still a handy tool) and allow you to share documents, share your screen, run conferences and trainings, and complete any number of other activities from the comfort of your home office or favorite café.


• Google Anything. Gmail, Google Talk, Google Docs, and other tools in the Google family help you stay on track with your work and your life. You can do anything from sharing files to setting up schedule alerts to finding driving directions to a remote meeting location.


• Egnyte. Share files; back up important documents; manage business and personal files from one account; send links rather than attachments –and control how long they’re active; control permissions; and more. Your IT people will like it too, because it’s secure and makes BYOD easier to manage. You could also try Dropbox or Box.net.



Employees Lacking Motivation?

Paul Marchildon, an experienced Leisureologist, can work with you and your team to increase productivity by incorporating a leisure mindset into the workplace.

Learn More Here

• Productivity apps. Take your pick: track to-dos and goals with Any.do. Get organized with Evernote. Automate your digital life and send yourself reminders with ifttt. Sign documents digitally and instantly with SignNow. There are countless apps designed to help you boost productivity. Ironically, you can waste a lot of time browsing the app store for them! Pick a few that address your specific needs and will help streamline your day.


• Cut the Rope. Yes, it’s a game with a character named Om Nom, and the goal is to feed him candy. But hear me out: researchers found that playing this puzzle game improves executive functions. It fires up the area of the brain associated with handling new and challenging situations (like when your video conference tool cuts out during your presentation), multitasking, organization, reasoning, working memory, and problem-solving. Taking some time out to play can yield serious returns.

If Om Nom’s not your style, take breaks for other recreational pursuits: working out, meditating, socializing, and enjoying a hobby. These, too, will get your brain engaged and help you stay more productive and motivated.

A conventional workday is an artificial construct. Rather than boosting productivity and engagement, this structure impedes it for many people. If our kids grow up and ask, “What’s a 9-5?” I’ll consider it a sign of progress! Technological gadgets and apps can help, but the biggest asset is a mindset that values work life integration and recognizes that it’s not only possible, but attainable. Just not from 9-5. When we get rid of those restrictions, we can start to make real progress in work – and in life.

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Breaking up is hard to do. Sometimes getting together isn’t any great shakes either. Dealing with any change in the workplace is difficult: I’ve had employees who were absolutely distraught when we switched to French Roast in the break room. But mergers present incredible challenges: clashing cultures, shifts in titles or responsibilities, loss of security, and, potentially, jobs. How can you help your employees make transitions more effectively – and, hopefully, with less stress and anxiety?

There’s No Such Thing as Too Much Communication

Not to be confused with “too much information.” Some things don’t need to make it to the office or take up anyone else’s time (I’m talking to you, Weird Rash Guy and you, I Like to Take Pictures of All My Food Lady). But you can’t overdo communication – discussing vision, values, changes, projections, and realities clearly, honestly, and frequently.

This is true for any change, whether you’re joining two companies or implementing a new policy. Mergers, again, though are a special case. During this time of transition, people don’t know if they’re going to have a job, or if their buddy next to them is going to be there next week. They’re uneasy; some are outright scared.

“Pay No Attention to Those Pink Slips”

As a leader, job number 1 is honesty and open communication. All day, every day. Is it as easy as moving your mouth? No. It is one of the biggest challenges you’ll face in your role, and, perhaps, in your career. Too often, the message is that everything is business as usual: “We’re going through this massive change, but forget that. You still have your targets. Don’t worry about the fact that we might be canning you in a month.”

The reality is that their minds will be on everything but their targets. Instead, you want to communicate this message to them: “We know things are uncertain. The best thing you can do is to give your A-game. It’s rewarding for you, and it shows that you’re of great value to the organization and colleagues. When the situation is out of your control, focus on what is within your control. Do your best.”

It won’t allay all their fears, but it will reinforce that they do have some control, that they do have the power to put in great performances and achieve real results.

Regardless of whether the change is major, (e.g. merger) or relatively minor (e.g. implementing a new software program for invoicing or lead generation), communication is the key. Without it, your initiative doesn’t stand a fighting change.

Resistance to Change

There’re always a few holdouts, no matter what the change. A few ways to handle resistance:

• Share Successes. Celebrate those who have adopted the change and have seen great results – and share it. You’ve been saying all along, “This change is beneficial. It’ll really help you.” Now is your chance to prove it with real, live success stories.

• Meet with individuals. People are digging their heels in? Find out why. Are they resisting change just for the sake of it? Are they uncomfortable because they don’t feel as though they have sufficient training? Is there one aspect of the new initiative that doesn’t work for them? Hear them out. Maybe you can offer additional training and support or tweak a program so it works more optimally for them – without detracting from your goals and objectives.

• Assess roles and fit. Sometimes people are no longer suited for their roles or can’t fulfill objectives because of a given change. Maybe they’re just not a good fit anymore. Talk to them to find out what’s going on. If they’re not suitable to work in that environment, could you move them to a different area of the company? Or is it time for them to move on completely? Either way, the situation is not going to get better by itself. It’ll fester, so it’s better to address it sooner rather than later.

People fear change because they don’t want to lose control; they don’t want to feel uncertain; they’re worried about workloads or their own competence; they don’t like French Roast. Sometimes, they have good reason to be scared: the threat is real. Your job isn’t to wipe these feelings away. You can’t. You can communicate with them and let them know what’s going on throughout every step. Change is the only constant in life, but that doesn’t mean people are good at coping with it; they need support and guidance to get through it – and come out better on the other side.

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How does Take Your Child to Work Day shake down at your office? Ten minutes of watching you work, followed by the realization that your job is incredibly boring, then followed by 7.5 hours of playing Minecraft? (Him, not you. Well, maybe you, too.) Why not take the opportunity to make this not only a productive day, but one that engages and motivates you, the organization, and the kids? Craft yourself a cubicle, and let’s get to work.

Setting Kids and Parents up for Success

Like any program you implement at the office, you have to create very clear objectives. What are you trying to accomplish with Take Your Child to Work Day? Why are you doing it? (Hint: the wrong answer is, “Because other companies do it.”)

Let’s say Joe brings his daughter to work. One objective might be that he becomes more engaged in his work. He has an opportunity to educate his child about what he does in a way that can’t be communicated over the dinner table. The outcome is that she has a better understanding of what her father does every day and how he makes a contribution.

Creating Brand Ambassadors

Another objective could be to foster brand ambassadors. What company doesn’t want that? Let’s say you’re a pharmaceutical company—with lots of bad “big pharma” press. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone in an influential age bracket walk away as a supporter, as someone who tells others, “These companies do a lot of research to develop these medicines and save lives.”

While it’s a stretch to say you can create potential new employees—but who knows?—you can certainly create brand ambassadors who constantly share things via social media.

Achieving Objectives

The question for employers is, “What are we doing so we don’t leave parents on their own to create an experience that is fruitful for their children?” Whatever your specific objectives, you need to put careful thought into how you will achieve them and make this day a success. A few avenues to consider:

• Put the kids to work. What can they do to help out? This could be a great time to have them help with philanthropic efforts. On that day, parent and child could work on stuffing envelopes or creating food bags for homeless shelters. Engage them in an activity that occupies a few hours and furthers your community initiatives. Remember, Millennials coming to work with their parents are incredibly socially aware. They want to help, and they support companies that do, too.
• Go one step further. Maybe the parent-child duo fills bags in the morning. Why not give them the afternoon to deliver them or to spend a few hours handing them out? Whatever your specific philanthropic efforts, you can include the kids, motivate employees, engage the community, and renew your social license to operate. Win-win-win-win.
• Be prepared. Every company should be prepared for visitors, whether it is a reporter, an interviewee, or a 12-year-old child. Prepare orientation material that introduces guests to your organization. For kids, it could be a video or a tour. Give them something tangible to look at so they have a great feel for the place—and a great feeling about the place.
• Ask schools to provide clear objectives for the day. This would be terrific. If the school mandates that its students participate in this day, ask teachers what they hope to accomplish. What are their objectives? These could be sent in advance with the parent so you can plan how to create a successful day that hits everyone’s targets.

You want all the kids who participate in Take Your Child to Work Day to go home thinking, “My mom/dad has the coolest job! It’s a great place to work, and he/she does a lot.” Instead of, “My butt’s numb because I sat on it all day but at least the creepers didn’t get me.” The difference is in the planning and in the objectives you identify.

The post Take Your Child to Work Day – How to Make It a Productive One appeared first on Employee Motivation.

There’s a subtle shift: days a little shorter, nights a little cooler, thoughts a little sharper. While few are happy to see summer—and its laid back atmosphere—go, autumn carries in a sense of renewal. Nothing like fresh pencils and a new pair of cords to get us back into our routines. We tend to apply ourselves with more rigour than we did in the summer. Employers should seize this “back to school” opportunity. Fall is fleeting, but you can embrace and leverage it for increased employee engagement.

The 3 R’s

Now is a great time to leverage the back-to-school mentality in the workplace. Whether or not employees have children, everyone has been a child, perhaps waiting for the bus, feeling a sense of anticipation, of a fresh start. There is a sense of Renewal, Routine, and Rigour that comes with September.

The question is, how do you capitalize on that? How do you make “back to work” fun and exciting after months of vacations, summer hours, and languid attitudes? A few ideas:

• Launch new programs or processes. It’s a terrific time to implement new initiatives. Think about what you want to accomplish and how you can create a more efficient, productive, and profitable workplace. Maybe it’s implementing a new leisureology program (hint, hint). How do you package and theme it in such a way that it is palatable to your people?

• Get some stuff. One of the best parts about going back to school is getting new supplies. Think about your work environment and the tools people use on a regular basis. Maybe it’s new binders for folks who like to handle paper now and then; maybe it’s a new app for those who like to keep it digital.

• Get some more stuff. It doesn’t have to be all about work. How about some value-added items for fun? What if you bought everyone a new lunch bag, maybe a trendy LugLife? You could add suggestions and recipes for healthy lunches. (After all, you’re going to get a lot more out of someone who eats a turkey on wheat with veggies on the side than someone who scarfs a fast food meal.) Give them a mason jar and instructions to make one of those shaky salad mixers. People love that stuff. And it doesn’t cost a lot.

• Do a little decorating. You don’t want to mess with the functional spaces your team needs, but what about some fun, temporary decorations? Go with the back-to-school theme with a bulletin board, or try fall-themed accents to get people in the mood.

• Hold sign-ups for teams. Another back-to-school ritual is joining teams. In school, you can sign up for sports, photography, yearbook club, whatever. At the office, why not invite people to join activities that help build teamwork? It could be volunteer days, health or fitness contests, or committees to plan other leisureology initiatives and events.

As with any action you take in the workplace, you need to research and understand your audience. What’s going to appeal to them—and how can you implement it successfully? You still have some time to engage your employees with a back-to-school mentality and get them excited about the 3 R’s. Don’t miss the opportunity. In the meantime, summer ain’t over yet! There’s still some patio time to enjoy and iced teas to be savoured!

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Trips take us away from our normal environments, from our everyday routines. They take us away from stress and the minutia of cramped schedules and to relaxation, recreation, and rejuvenation. Incentive travel is not only a killer way to reward and motivate employees, it’s a great way to make sure they’re fresh, energized, and ready to give work their all when they return. Little bonus for the company there, courtesy of leisureology. But how do you make sure your incentive travel programs hit the mark?

What Motivates Employees?

Cash. Money, moolah, scratch. If you were to ask employees if they prefer cash or a trip, most would choose the money in the abstract. That’s not surprising, but this may be: say you asked instead, “Would you rather have a cash bonus or a trip for two to Tuscany?” Research shows that the answer flips: when given a specific noncash option, employees will most often forgo the money and opt for the prize behind door number 2.

What’s this mean for incentive travel? It works. Ninety-six percent of employees say they are motivated by these incentives, and nearly three-quarters who earn them say they feel more loyal to their companies. Studies have also shown that noncash incentives, primarily travel, “capture an employee’s imagination better than cash – thereby motivating them to increase performance.”

But, let’s just make sure that it does.

• Set realistic goals – that are a stretch. What are the criteria to win the prize? You need realistic goals; if they are out of reach, no one will participate. Say your people have a sales target of $1million. Telling them they can win an all-inclusive trip to the moon if they hit $2.5million is, frankly, ridiculous. Without reasonable and achievable goals, the program won’t work; no matter what fabulous carrot you’re dangling in front of them.

  At the same time, the goal is to encourage employees to go above and beyond. You’d never implement an incentive program if it did not create incremental sales. That $1million target: that’s what they were hired to achieve. That’s the basis for their current compensation. That’s what the business needs.

  The reward is for what they do after that: if they dig in, work smarter, stretch, and get to $1.25, then they deserve that beautiful trip for two to Tuscany with cooking lessons from Italy’s best chef. A trip like that could cost $10,000 – $20,000, but it’s more than paid for by the combined, incremental margin for which all the employees worked so hard.

• Kick off the new program as soon as the old one ends. One of the dangers of incentive travel is that those who won will come back and life will resume as usual, that motivation and engagement will be fleeting. Don’t let it. In well-designed programs, as one contest ends, another begins.

  When people come back from their trips, a few things happen: they talk about it (complete with smartphone slideshow) and tell everyone how fantastic it was. They’re incredibly motivated to win again and will stop at nothing to achieve their numbers. At the same time, they’re stoking the fire in others and encouraging them to meet and exceed the new prize criteria.

  Sometimes the biggest motivator isn’t going; it’s not not going. These trips typically involve the president, CEO, and top executives, and winners have the chance to hobnob with the high-ups. Again, winners are motivated to strike gold again, and they motivate others to try to earn that same opportunity so they’re not not there.

• Seed it. What happens in Vegas (or Miami, Hawaii, Tuscany, etc.) does not stay in Vegas. Generate excitement for the next program by leveraging the success of the previous. We used to take photos and video during trips. If we’re having cocktails with Clint Eastwood at Pebble Beach, we’d make sure to capture the moment. When we launched the new program, people could see just what was at stake, what they could earn.

  Even better, put a slideshow or video on a memory stick and send it home. That way, the employees’ spouses can say, “We have to go! Hit those numbers!” Nothing like some spousal pressure, I mean, support, to motivate people!

You don’t want an incentive travel initiative that simply allows your people to take trips. You want a well-designed program with trips that take them to increased motivation and engagement, to boosted performance and satisfaction. Money’s quickly and easily spent; its power to motivate disappears. Travel, though, creates memories that last a lifetime – and that continues to incent employees.

The post Fly Away With Incentive Travel: Motivating Employees One Trip at a Time appeared first on Employee Motivation.

“Today, it’s not simply who you know or even what you know. It’s what you know and who knows you know it.”

More prescient words were never spoken, given today’s fiercely competitive employment landscape. Who said it: Socrates, Einstein, Peter Drucker? Good guesses. It was actually Paul Marchildon, circa 1984. In the 1950s and 1960s, nepotism and cronyism ensured you could snag a job with your brother-in-law or ride the coattails of whomever you sucked up to enough. Today, that behaviour is largely limited to Mad Men episodes, while you’re stuck with your merit, personality, and networking skills. How can you use them to rise above the competition?

Forget the Rules: Why Should Employers Hire You?

If you’re in the job market today, you’re probably not getting great intel. Institutions love to tell candidates the “rules” of job searches: one-page resumes, please. No photos. Bullet points. Lose the personality. For my part, I don’t care if your resume is 30 pages long as long as it is 30 pages of great content. Show employers what you know in a way that appeals to them.

I coached a young woman recently who wanted to enter the PR business. Just out of university, she was having a hard time breaking through the clutter. I asked her, “Have you ever considered writing a press release about yourself?” A resume is fine; it’s completely standard. Which means it sits in a pile with a thousand other variations on standard. The press release was brilliant, irreverent and engaging; it demonstrated her ability, as well as her creativity. She broke through and got the job.

Sometimes, you have to stray from the norm – because you aren’t the norm, right? There’s a reason prospective employers should choose you. So, show them what it is. Identify your “USP,” or unique selling proposition: How do you stand out? You never sell a product by showing that it’s just like every other product. Today, you’re the “product.” You’re the brand, and you need to sell “you”, and how you’re different.

Living Your Personal Brand

You have to know what your personal brand is, and live it consistently throughout the whole hiring ordeal … uh, I mean, experience. In other words, be yourself, and be your best self. Taking it one step further, ask: “How will my brand interact with, and contribute to, the company brand?”

Early in my career, I was a marketing manager for Club Med. There was a young woman who wanted – badly – to work there. We didn’t have a job opening, but she didn’t let that stop her. She’d send her resume, follow up, and make calls for months. She never let go. If she were this motivated to score the job, imagine how engaged she’d be if she got it!

When I was given a budget to hire an assistant, guess who I called? The way she approached the situation – wanting a job where none existed and remaining completely undeterred – made up my mind. I was convinced her personal brand, which exuded passion, persistence, creativity, fearlessness, and an inability to take “No” personally, would add value to Club Med. And it did.

Be “On” Throughout the Process

Employers evaluate you at every step of the process. You did a great job with your resume? Fine – but do you fall down with a lack of follow-up? If I’m hiring a salesperson, for instance, does this indicate that you’re good at the lead-up, but can’t close the deal? ABC, right? Always Be Closing – as important tip for job candidates as it is for salespeople.

As a marketing agency, whenever we were bidding on business, it wasn’t just the proposal and the live presentation in the boardroom that won the day. It was the three weeks leading up to it. Who asked the most intelligent questions? Who was the most fun on the phone with the client? Who kept promises and met deadlines?

Likewise, as a candidate, everything you do and say is an indication of what you’ll be like to work with. So, if you were late to an interview, if you were curt with the receptionist, if you let your competitors ask all the good questions, that all stands out with prospective employers. You need to be great, and you need to be consistent with your personal brand, from beginning to end.

It’s what you know, and who knows you know it. It’s getting potential employers to know you know that’s the trick. Living your brand throughout the process, highlighting your USP, and, if necessary, doggedly pursuing an opportunity you know is right for you when mere mortals would’ve given up – that’s how you stand out. Brothers-in-law and brown-nosers need not apply.

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JerkFest. A few August days packed full of flavor, hot & spicy chicken-eating contests, demos, frog legs, and alligator. Not to be missed: the “So You Think You Can Jerk” competition. It’s going to be epic; only problem is everyone’s is going to vie for vacation at the same time so they don’t miss a bite (and so they have several days after to recover). Completely understandable. As a leader, how do you gently let them know that you will be taking off, and they’re stuck in the office? Or, if you’re willing to take one for the team, how do you resolve situations in which two or more employees want the same vacation time?

Where There’s a Will, and Jerk Chicken, There’s a Way

This one’s easy: Give it to the person who put in her vacation request on January 2. She’s a go-getter. That’s the route businesses typically take: first-come, first-served – that, or seniority. In both cases, you’re penalizing people for failing to firm up vacation plans six months in advance, or simply for being a newbie. Is there a better way to tackle dueling vacationers?

You bet; the leisureology way. You’re about results, not taking up physical space in the office, right? So pose this to the employees: “How about the two of you figure this out? Tell me how you can both take the week off and still ensure your clients are delighted.”

Maybe it’s making sure their work is done so well, and so far in advance, that their clients don’t need them. Maybe it’s an opportunity for that Account Coordinator to step up and earn her stripes while her mentor is away. Or for the Account Director to get a refresher on the AC’s duties while she’s away. There is always a solution.

Figure It Out

What if it’s just not feasible for them to take the same block of time? Tell them to work it out. You’ve got other things to do. Say they want the same two weeks. What if one takes the first week of preferred time while the other takes the second? What if one goes to JerkFest and the other goes to AwesTRUCK, Canada’s largest food truck festival? That’s good.

In any event, there is always a way – it’s just not always up to the manager or leader to figure it out. Often, the employees can come up with viable solutions or compromises (whether through intelligent discussion or rock-paper-scissors) if they’re given the flexibility and freedom to do so.

As Mike Southern, vice-president of human resources at software company PatientKeeper, says, “You just treat people like professionals and like adults and 99% of the time they’ll act that way.” (1)

Embracing a Leisureology Culture

Now, there are times when you have to throw a big bucket of cold water on people’s plans and say “No” to everyone. Your team, for instance, shouldn’t take time off when you’re in the crunch of a major client project. During other times, though, particularly summer, vacation should be actively encouraged.

Remember, it’s not the time your people clock that’s important; it’s the performances they put in. When they can get away, engage in fun, relaxing activities, and clear their minds, they come back with their batteries fully charged. Leisureology isn’t just about the leisure pursuits; it’s the mindset that people bring back with them.

When employees are allowed, and encouraged, to come up with their own solutions, it only reinforces a leisureology culture. Your company is not run on rigid, and ineffective time clocks, but on results and productivity. Let your people figure out how they can best achieve them. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a competition to train for.

1. http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/08/20/need-vacation-more-companies-you-can-take-all-you-want/iMcCrOt5fUSLLXTO8TemZL/story.html

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But if I offer free gym memberships or flex time, people are going to take advantage of them! It’s absolutely true. With any incentive program, there is the possibility that employees will take advantage. If you offer free lunch, some of them will actually eat it; if you implement a “Cut Outta Here Early on Friday” summer policy, some of them will actually excuse themselves after that free lunch. To which I say, “Great! Give them promotions. I, and Leisureologists the world over, salute them!” You want employees to take advantage of incentives. If you’re having an issue with subpar performance, look at the performer, not the perk.

Incentives Improve Performance

Study after study confirms that leisure – from exercise to meditation to vacation time – improves productivity, increases engagement, and boosts performance. Taking advantage of these types of incentives helps people do their work more efficiently, more effectively, and at a higher level.

So, when someone hits the gym every day for three hours and produces sloppy, second-rate work, what’s the problem? Hint: it’s not the treadmill or kettle bells. The real issue is that he’s just not performing well.

Why? Maybe he’s not in the right job. Maybe he doesn’t have the right skill set. Maybe he’s not interested in his work or motivated to do it to the best of his ability. There are a lot of maybes, and none of them have to do with how much he can bench press or how fast he can run a mile.

The only way to find out, and to resolve the situation, is to sit down and talk with him. You want him to continue taking advantage of the gym, of flextime, or other benefits you offer. At the same time, you need him to up his game.

Blaming the problem on incentives is essentially saying, “You’re flexing your flex time a little too much, and we know we gave you this gym membership, but we don’t really want you to use it.” Offering the incentives didn’t cause the problem; revoking them is not going to solve it.

A Culture of Trust

The key is to create culture in which results are never measured by time spent at work. Instead, they should be measured against business objectives. I’ve never cared where my people did their work or at what hours, as long as it was done when and at the level I needed. If it took them 30 hours at the office to complete a project, fine. If it took them 10 hours, most of which were spent in a coffee shop, great. In either case, they met the objectives.

In cultures like this, people can’t hide. They’re accountable to each other, and if they’re not pulling their weight, it’s readily apparent. In some large organizations, people can fly under the radar; they might exploit incentives simply because they can get away with it. When that happens, the perks aren’t to blame. I’d suggest that the organization lacks clear, measurable business objectives – or the ability to hold their people accountable for them.

It sounds dull, which is completely out of character for me, but you need to have measurable objectives, both in your personal life and your work. What are you trying to accomplish? What are your goals? As a leader, your job is to help your people stay in touch with their objectives and remain accountable for their work.

If that’s not happening, it doesn’t matter if someone’s spending three hours at the gym or three minutes. You might as well blame poor performance on the color of his tie or on his choice of soft drink.

The employees who really take advantage of incentives? Those are the ones you want to point out to others, to say, “Hey guys, look; these things are beneficial, and they’re going to help you like they’ve helped them.” They’re your proof that a leisureology culture delivers results. With incentives, the risk isn’t that people will take advantage – it’s that they won’t.

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Meet the dullest people in the world – and it’s not your management team discussing financials. No, the dullest folks, according to anthropologists, are the Bainings of Papua New Guinea. They have no myths or festivals; they discourage exploration and punish play. They work. When they talk, they talk about work. When they reminisce, they reminisce about work. When they dream…. A culture built entirely on an “all work, no play” philosophy. Does this sound less like anthropology and more like your 9-5 (or 8-4, 6-3)? 

All Work and No Fun?

That can be a tough one. You can’t take a 5-minute meditation break or work from home when you’re on an assembly line. Back in my well-spent youth, I worked one summer at a Labatt’s brewery: 6:35am to 2:35pm, 3 -15 minute breaks. Forget flextime; we didn’t even have lunchtime! For these types of jobs, employees need to be at their stations at prescribed times. That’s just the way it is.

At the same time, any company, regardless of industry, can offer leisure incentives. In fact, there’s all the more reason (and all the more benefit) when you have fixed work times and spaces. I think my Labatt’s brethren would agree.

There’s the obvious: company funded after-work softball league, reimbursement for gym memberships or lunchtime wellness programs. If money is tight, perks don’t have to cost a dime. What about allowing employees to bring their dogs to work or create a coffee shop environment in your office so people can mix up their java and mingle with their coworkers?

Whatever the initiative, employees and companies alike benefit. And not just from the leisure activities themselves, but from the mindset. The after-effects of this cultural shift include increased productivity, better focus and concentration, higher morale and employee satisfaction.

Work is Work

What if the problem, though, is the company itself? The old school mentality – You’re at work to work. Leisure is for later – is going to die hard. You have to convince the powers that be that there are real, measurable advantages to incorporating a leisure culture. The studies are out there – and the proof will be in their future applicants.

If I’m a potential employee, I wouldn’t apply to companies that did not value leisure. That’s me: I’m a leisureologist. But a whole new generation is descending on the workforce, and they want “work-life integration.” Not “work-life balance,” because they recognize that work and life are not separate entities. That means, yes, they’ll answer emails or take work home with them – but they also expect that they can bring “life” to work with them. If companies want top talent and committed employees, they have no choice but to get in the game.

Making Culture a Line Item

In his blog, Go To Marketing Guy, Craig Morantz, writes: “Culture is king…spending time on creating, building and supporting a strong culture is as important as your marketing plan. Culture needs a line item in your budget.”

Companies need to realize the value of a leisure culture, and then budget for it. When considering overall employee compensation, it is critically important to reserve funds for employee motivators and incentives. How you do that is up to you – and to the employees you hope to attract and retain.

Progressive companies, for instance, are beginning to offer flexible benefits. They might say, “You can have a full dental plan or an extra week of vacation.” A millennial might brush, floss, and take the extra week. Or he may not, and that’s his prerogative under a “pick and choose” type of system. Flexible or customizable packages allow employees to choose the benefits they want and which will motivate them. At the same time, they allow employers to meet the demands of an increasingly diverse workforce.

Benefits can go beyond extra vacation days or flextime. Schools Financial Credit Union in Sacramento, for instance, one-upped the “bring your dog to work” idea and encourages parents to bring their newborns to work.

They’ve found the babies cause few distractions, and parents can carry about 75% of their normal workload. Cheaper and more efficient than hiring a temp. How much more seamlessly can you integrate work and life? The key is for companies to ensure they cater to their employees and recognize that not every one of them has the same needs.

When employees do nothing but work, talk about work, think about work, go home and dread work, there’s no way companies can build a strong, sustainable culture. Instead, they create the dullest of workplaces and put themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

The Bainings have managed to survive without relaxing, taking time to recharge, or incorporating leisure into their days. But at what expense to their culture and heritage? At what cost do companies encourage, or enforce, “all work, no play” atmosphere? Today, fewer and fewer people will stand for a work “ethic” that devalues leisure and work/life integration. Are you a Baining? Now’s the time to speak up and start a leisureology revolution.

The post The Millennials Have Arrived! Why You Can’t Hold Off On Leisure Culture Any Longer appeared first on Employee Motivation.

It’s not you; it’s me. Well, mostly it’s you. Ending a relationship with a client who is no longer a good fit for your business is as difficult as severing ties with anyone else in your life – with the added concern of loss of revenue, impact to your reputation, and possible damage to your credibility. So, texting, “See ya – or better yet, not,” to your future ex-client isn’t going to cut it. How do you part ways amicably, and even create a mutually beneficial situation?

What Happened? When Client Relationships Go South

Client relationships shouldn’t be accidental. From start, and if necessary, to finish, they need to be carefully considered and respectfully negotiated. I’ve always taken a proactive approach, vetting potential clients just as thoroughly as they evaluated me to ensure that we “fit.”

One would hope that originally, your client was a good match and you took them on with the hope, and belief, that they would grow into a great client. Another scenario is that it has been a good relationship but the players have changed on the client side, or their budget has. Any number of factors can impact the fit. So here you are now, and you’re forced to have that conversation.

I Hope We Can Be Friends

Prepare yourself for a candid, honest conversation that encompasses why you believe this client is no longer right for your business. You’re not assigning blame; just relating why you think the relationship is no longer mutually beneficial.

There’s a few ways this can go: one, your client might have an “Aha” moment. Maybe they didn’t realize they were underpaying you, for instance, or that they were placing too many demands on your time in relation to the budget. They might say, “I want to continue to work with you. We’ll find more money. If you’re on the brink of leaving, we need to do something differently.”

Admittedly, that’s best case. But there is no need to have a worst case. If you’re honest and forthright, they might simply say, “You’re right. We’re not a good fit.” You’ll part ways with mutual respect. Remember, you want these clients to continue to act as ambassadors of your services, to speak highly of you. Don’t “break up” with them via email, a curt phone call, or a “Dear John” letter. They deserve better, and so does your reputation.

Help Them Out

When the outcome of this conversation is a mutual decision to move on, why not try to find them a new supplier? Maybe this client, for instance, just wants someone inexpensive, someone who can do the down and dirty and keep it cheap. You don’t work that way, but there are plenty of suppliers who do. Maybe one of these “competitors” would be a better fit. No blame, no judgment. Simply a matter of a square peg finding a square hole and everyone being happy.

This can come around to benefit you in the long-run. The executive of a client with whom we parted ways, for instance, moved to another company. We were his first call because of the way we handled the situation with his former firm, and he became a great client. You have to handle these conversations delicately because, really, what goes around comes around.

What it comes down to is, knowing what’s best for your company. Too many people think that a client is a client, and you keep them at all costs. But what’s the opportunity cost? You’ll have good employees working on low margin business; you’ll have your best creative minds working on mindless projects. No one wins. I’ve seen companies go under because they continue to keep on clients who don’t fit. As one of my mentors once told me, “Those are the clients you want your competitors to have.”

It doesn’t matter if it’s you, or if it’s them. The bottom line is that parting ways with clients who don’t fit is the right step for both of you. Breaking up isn’t that hard to do; staying together, though – that’s tough.

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When is a door not a door? When it’s ajar. When is work not work? When it’s leisure. The concept of leisureology extends beyond the simple – though powerful – benefits of health and fitness. It’s a state of mind, rather than an activity. So, when is a gym not a gym or flextime not flextime? When they’re tools for employee motivation; when they nurture a culture of leisureology that doesn’t just blur the line between work and leisure, but erases it.

Far from a distraction, employee incentives – from gyms and flextime to healthy food and a culture-wide acceptance of leisureology – are prime motivators and catalysts for greater productivity, morale, and all ‘round good business.

Beyond the Gym

It’s not feasible for every company to host an onsite gym or cater gourmet meals. That’s fine. If you’re close to a gym and your employees can walk over, why not give them paid time to work out? Or subsidize their membership?

If you’re working with a tighter budget, why not provide them the space and time to prepare healthy snacks? Instead of buying a 400-calorie, energy sapping, sugar latte, they could grab their cold dip and veggies. Fostering a healthy culture doesn’t necessarily have to cost a lot.

But consider “cost” beyond initial expense. I worked for a company that had a great gym, a beautiful sun-filled cafeteria, but horrendous food. Nightmare-inducing. The CFO had the opportunity to bring on a new catering company and ended up going with the lowest price. We were in the boonies…going out for lunch required a car.

This approach doesn’t save you much in the long run. If you have terrific amenities, including healthy food or fitness facilities, onsite, people don’t need to leave. They don’t need to take an hour and a half lunch break to get the experience they want. They can have it onsite, with more people around. And they’ll be all the more productive, engaged, and connected to their coworkers for it.

A study in the Population Health Management journal shows that exercising infrequently lowered productivity by 50 percent. Unhealthy eating decreased productivity by 66 percent. If you wonder how much people can get done in the afternoon after they scarfed down a fast food lunch, the evidence-supported answer is “not much.”

A Ripple Effect

The thing about the benefits of health initiatives at work is that they don’t stay at work. British researchers studied 200 workers at different sites (a university, life insurance firm, and computer company), who engaged in 30-60 minutes of exercise during their lunch breaks.

They found – not surprisingly – that people reported boosts in their time management skills, mental ability, mood, ability to meet deadlines, stress tolerance, and overall performance. What’s more, they went home feeling more satisfied with their day. I’ll make the leap and say they were probably more satisfied coming into work the next morning as well.

This is leisureology. It’s not the workout in the middle of the day or a meal of organic vegetables plucked just minutes ago from an onsite garden. It’s how you feel when you come back to your work. It’s feeling like, maybe, you’re not going back to “work” at all, but extending your productive leisure time.

A focus on health and wellbeing creates a ripple effect. Employees are less stressed, happier, more productive, and more loyal. They have the opportunity to connect and network with coworkers they otherwise wouldn’t, which can increase collaboration and breakout thinking – or just create good friendships, which have their own benefits. Employees talk up the company to their talented friends, who want to come experience the culture for themselves. The advantages, both for the individual and for the company, do not end.

Too often, employees have to make exercise a “secret.” They rely on “deskercise,” which doesn’t get the heart pumping or muscles firing. They feel guilty about taking an extra 15 minutes at lunch to do a workout or rushed because they want to exercise and eat a healthy meal.

The real distraction is not the gym, or the cafeteria, or the wellness programs; it’s the absence of them. It’s worrying about missing another workout or replacing another meal with crap. A culture of leisureology replaces these distractions with healthy motivators: it replaces “post-lunch dips” with greater productivity and dissatisfaction with renewed engagement and happiness. When is work not really work? For some companies, every day.

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