Melina Murray

Before I delved into the world of blogging, I made a guest post on Mike Murray’ blog Episteme, titled On Employee Morale. I remembered it recently and want to bring it back to the forefront as the topic is still so relevant, and, I hope, always will be.

You can click on the link above for the original post, but I want to get all the messages out again, so I am pasting my part in its entirety here.

On Employee Morale

I was just talking to someone who had a pie competition at work. A real, major pie competition. The whole company either baked a pie or went to the tasting. And they had awards for the winners – First place, 2 tickets to SF (from Oregon).

That was just one of the things that this brilliant company sponsors/puts on throughout the year. They bring in bands during lunch time some days, they encourage different groups getting together (at work, during work hours) to have a drink and get to know each other, when they otherwise would not interact. For competition events, they give away anything from trips to iPods. These are all pieces that make this company a great place to work. Yes, this is a profitable, private company. But that shouldn’t matter.

In order to have a “great place to work”, the people, the employees have to WANT to come to work. They need to see 2 things; 1. that their works matters in the big picture, and 2. that they are valued and appreciated. So many companies do neither. It is honestly pathetic.

It really isn’t about the prizes, although trips and gadgets are nice. It is about fostering an environment that says: “Sure, you’ll have to work your butt off, but let’s have fun together”.

As a leader, do you really want your employees to come to work every day, waiting for the clock to hit 12 and then 5? When asked about their job, do you want your employees to say “it’s OK, it’s a paycheck“?

Or- do you want them to say: “XYZ is a pretty cool place to work. We do these amazing projects and have a fantastic team“? Or do you really want them to say: “I love my job. Working at XYZ is more fun than I ever imagined. Sure, we work hard, but we also have tons of fun“?

Think about the fact that this is marketing. It isn’t media marketing, but grassroots. If you were thinking of going with a product or service, what would you think of a company that has miserable, apathetic employees, versus one with enthusiastic employees? It can make a difference.

The kicker- it isn’t hard to do!! You don’t have to be profitable, you just need to put in a little effort. First and foremost, this mentality has to start with the CEO/President. The leader of the company has to want to espouse the environment. After that it trickles down through the executive management team and HR. If the leader of the company is not on board, any efforts will flop and fail.

Let me get back to HR for a moment. The role of a human resources professional at a company can be difficult. You have to be an advocate for the company and the employee. This can be difficult at times and requires a level head, complete confidentiality and honesty. Just because someone’s title says “HR”, does not mean that employees will feel open to talking. Relationships have to be grown and fostered. Sitting in an office all day, or staying within the same group only seeks to distance any potential relationship between HR and the other employees. Companies are changing from what they were 20 years ago. HR is not just about payroll, worker’s comp and benefits. It is about creating and enhancing the workplace environment to make it a place people want to come to.

And managers are as responsible for their employees happiness as the CEO and HR. A manager who plays favorites, is unavailable or confrontational is doomed to have a miserable team. Managers who promote team work (collaborating), who take steps to grow their people, who put on impromptu events for their team are very likely to succeed in having a motivated and excited team.

Back to my original rant. It is easy to have fun. It doesn’t require plane tickets or iPods, or amazon gift certificates, although those are nice perks. Contests are always a great way to bring people together. Prizes can be anything from a half day, to a full day off, a really cool award/plaque, a special parking space, small gift certificates, or anything else. Potlucks can be a great way to gather everyone. Some people love to cook, and most people love free food!

It requires saying- “Hey, I know you work hard, so let’s have a lunch so I can say ‘thanks’“. It can be as easy as having the CEO/President take one lunch (just one) a quarter that she/he spends at the office, talking with any and all employees. As inexpensive as 10 boxes of pizza in the conference room. A time where anyone from the receptionist to the mail room clerk to the QA manager can come in and chat. This says “I care, I see you, and I hear you“.

Think about how much it costs in time and lost productivity to replace someone, then ask yourself how much these events really cost the company. I’ll bet the answer is “not much”.

How can the New England Patriots be a role model for a successful company culture?

Kris Dunn explained how on Workforce.com in “Why HR Should Love the New England Patriots”. A few points from the article stood out. First of all, they have 30% turnover. Pretty significant. Yet, they are incredibly successful. How?

They have a culture that is team-based from the top down. Successes are attributed to the team, not one player. And while they hire superstars, everyone works to imbue the culture on each team member. They hire “we”s, not “I”s. There is more to it, but this aspect stood out as the strongest.

Can you create a team that takes you to your own version of the Superbowl?

Suzanne Rumsey at Knowledge Infusion discussed Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work.  I agree with her question of what it really means to be a great place to work.

Just looking at a few of the companies on the list, I know they have a good reputation outside of the Fortune list. However, I often wonder about the regional (smaller) surveys that companies use on their career pages. The local “Best Place To Work” awards.
Do the surveys do more than look at benefits and perks? I want to know if people are actually encouraged to use benefits like educational reimbursements and sabbaticals. Are they internally marketed, promoted, supported, and, better yet, used? That, to me, is the marker of a great place to work. As difficult as it may be to gather, I want to see data that shows how much all the great perks are used and how that relates to employee enthusiasm- and the bottom line. Yes, I know, I ask for a lot.

I was reading a post by Mike Murray today about Social Engineering and awareness in business. (full disclosure: Mike is my husband, in addition to being a respected blogger) When I got to the end, I thought, wait! there is more to it!.

The problem with this is simple: an agile, responsive and successful business is built on a lack of boundaries and a healthy set of organizational trust. The kind of mistrust that most infosec people would engender intentionally in their users would cause significant inefficiencies within most organizations.

So, if we’re not teaching our users to not blindly give out information, or to verify everything, what do I think we should be teaching them?

Instinct. Most who are in infosec have developed an instinct for when things “don’t smell right”. When an email just seems a little bit “phishy” (pun intended).

It is not just about trust or mistrust. One of the deeper issues is- what motivation the employees have to act on instinct, or suspicion? Why would they want to protect the company against social engineers? An employee who does doesn’t care much about their job and only comes in for the paycheck probably won’t be putting too much effort into protecting the company’s information. However an employee who is engaged, feels like a valued member of the team (at large) and understands the hows and whys will most likely be the hardest ones to “break”.

The people at the front lines (admins, reception, etc) are often the ones who have the most power to give out information, names, and/or open the door. These are also often the employees who are given the least attention, training and respect. Encourage your employees to ask questions when something doesn’t “smell right”! Congratulate them when they are successful protectors. Above all, remember perceived value goes full circle.

What should the response be to broken promises when starting a new job? I hear this question at times and find there is no easy answer.

Sample scenario: You are hired in a senior marketing role to launch a new product. During the interview period you are told (by all players in upper management) this is a critical position as the new product is redefining the company. The company is 110% committed to the goal and you will have whatever resources you need to get the job done. They want you because your greatest strength is in marketing new products, getting the information out to the masses, eliciting excited responses. Wow, cool.

Then you officially start. Two weeks in, you are told the product isn’t ready yet. Three weeks in, you realize no one even knows if the product will work. There are major technical issues that no one can solve. Still, you believe and start to gather your resources. Oops, the company is cutting back on spending. No tools, team members or other resources. They tell you to make it work with what you have. What you have is no product, no confidence that it will work and no tools to market it. Still, you gather what meager resources you have so you are ready when the time comes. You hope for a change, but all information and conversation point to the reality that there will be no new product. And this goes on for the next few months…

What do you do?

Do you leave, realizing the company isn’t going to launch the new product?

The reason you were hired does not exist anymore- should you stay anyway?

I know there are many variables and each situation is unique, but I would love to hear what you think. Have you been in a similar situation? What did you do and why?