Melina Murray

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.

My first job in the corporate world was an interesting set up. I worked at the corporate headquarters of an international staffing agency, as a temp. Shortly after I began working, the manager of the branch office was also given the role of managing my department at the HQ office. Interesting situation.

The people I worked with were fantastic and surprisingly, the work was fun. I learned a lot about a variety of topics, which is always important to me. Also, as I worked hard and learned, by manager paid attention and gave me raises (made quicker and easier because of his dual role). As a low paid admin, the raises were significant for me, in addition to the fact someone was paying attention to my contributions. I was energized and worked even harder.

I often think about how to motivate employees and through the years have realized that each individual has to be looked at differently. Some employees are actually motivated by salary increases (although it is a short term motivation). Sometimes it is an extra day off in recognition of hard work or a great idea. For others, public recognition is the thing that fills them with pride, energy and productivity. In short, there is no one way to motivate every employee. Managers should get to know what drives their team members and find a way to reward accordingly. This, of course, entails talking to each person, paying attention to the small things, discussing goals and expectations. It is not hard to do, truly. And in my experience, the managers who do this have teams who are incredibly successful and more important- individuals who want to be there, who want to contribute every day.

This is a comment that makes me grind my teeth- especially since I only hear it when someone is feeling disgruntled, under appreciated or undervalued. (I am taking this scenario from the perspective of a friend who is an HR professional.) I want to say, “oh, yeah, how’s that?”. Instead, I usually ask “what do you mean?”. And the answer I get is something like this, “Well, I know that if I put in hard work, work overtime with no pay and don’t complain, I will benefit when the company is successful.”

And I think…

“Oh really?” Is the company taking care of you now? Have they taken care of you in the past? Have the promises that have been made to you come through? Have you set your expectations and goals with your manager?

Because if the answer to most of those questions is “no”, then the employee will go on feeling under appreciated and disgruntled. The most important one of the questions above is “Have you set your expectations and goals…?”. And the answer is usually “no”. Those who work in limbo, in the grey area where there is nothing to work towards, except some ambiguous “reach profit” goal are often the ones who feel this the most. They don’t know how they contribute to the overall goals of the company and often whatever motivation they had fades and dies out. These are the people who just go to work “for the paycheck”.

So- note to employees:  Talk to your manager.  Discuss your role and your goals.  Let your manager know how you want to grow.  Maybe your growth path isn’t possible now, but it may be down the road. Or maybe there is a role that you would enjoy and don’t know about- and you manager doesn’t know of your interest.  Not all openings are posted or talked about.

Note to managers:  Be aware of your employees.  Talk to them, reward hard work, help them grow.  But most of all - talk to them not at them.