ONLY 45% OF

AMERICANS

SATISFIED WITH

THEIR JOBS!

     It’s the worst it’s been in over two decades. The 2010 Conference Board survey underscores that Americans are not making good choices for themselves and their employers are making even worse ones!

     With more than half of the 90% of Americans who are lucky enough to be employed reportedly UNhappy with their employment, we may have an even bigger problem than job creation!

    Fortunately, it’s easier as a business owner or manager to do something about unhappy employees than it is to create and pay for new ones, especially when no realistic job creation incentives exist.

     Sure, a lot of people are unhappy with their jobs because the economy has cut their pay and benefits off at the knees, and maybe you can’t do anything about that right now — but you can provide more opportunities for employee involvement beginning right this minute.

     You can do a better job of engaging and motivating employees beginning right this minute.

     You can do a better job of promoting pride of workmanship (no matter what the job, product, service, industry or profession is). When? You got it: beginning right this minute.

     Is it worth it? Of course, unless you’re ready to just let go of your top performers without a fight. The longer you delay with pulling these “best people” into the boat, the higher the odds go every day that they will certainly get lured into a bigger, better-run boat.

     The longer you wait to throw a tow line to those who are floundering and dog-paddling around or who are trying to stay out of sight by swimming underwater around your boat, the more money you’re wasting everyday paying for what you’re not getting.

     Don’t shoot the messenger, but job creation needs government support that’s not coming. The token talk isn’t any more valuable than a handful of ping-pong balls thrown to someone who’s drowning.

     So, with that reality in your pocket, the only choice is to do whatever has to be done to pump up sales (note: not saving on utilities . . . pumping up sales; saving expenses does not make money). Increased sales generate increased revenues. By containing the greed factor, increased revenues should lead to increased profits. Increased profits allow you to create new jobs! BINGO! Economic turnaround.

     But let’s not forget that the key to all this is for you to initiate an immediate job satisfaction turnaround!

     If you can’t save your best people and get your weakest swimmers into life-vests and keep everyone involved with genuine and transparent leadership activities, with teaching by example, with sincere compliments and back pats, you’re in trouble.

     If you think this is all unnecessary stuff, you are sadly mistaken. You are choosing fantasy over reality. You are not appreciating that while none of this may be important to you, it’s life or death to other people’s job happiness.

     Right now more than half your people are not in the boat. It’s pretty hard to be a leader if you don’t have any followers. Need some help? 302.933.0116. or Hal@BusinessWorks.US — I’m here.      

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Blog via RSS feed or $1/mo Kindle. GRANDPARENT Gift? http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

If your Valentine list

doesn’t include your

business, get some

marriage counseling, 

or get out!

     Why? Because –first of all– if you own or run a business, you’re married to it. Second– nobody else can love your business for you. And if you’re not head-over-heels with it, your options are slim. You stand to bring it and/or yourself and/or your family tumbling into the kind of abyss that one might expect only to see in a Harry Potter movie. So get up or get out before you get whacked!

     Results of a new 2010 survey by the highly esteemed and credible The Conference Board, as reported in the Corporate Communicator (subscribe free to this great newsletter at www.bonmotcomms.com) show that only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their work…the lowest figure in 22 years!

     In other words, small business owners and managers are now facing big business problems. If The Conference Board findings are correct, and there’s never been any reason I know of to doubt their studies, those of you with 100 employees, have 55 unhappy employees; if you have 20 employees, 11 are unhappy! That’s an awful lot of discontent under one roof (especially if you don’t love your business)! 

     Whether little thumpity-thump hearts fly into the air when you think about your business or not, this 45% figure still spells disaster. It still means the odds are that a majority of people in your company are dragging their butts around, collecting paychecks and benefits from you for doing only the amount of work that’s necessary in order to collect paychecks and benefits from you.

     “Yeah,” says you, “but I can’t pay out any more than I am right now!”

     Ah, but –believe it or not, and EVEN in this economy– money is not always what turns frowns to smiles and negative attitudes to positive ones. Of course paychecks and benefits are important, and even more so where cutbacks have been necessary. But here are some proven solutions you can try, or use to prompt your own versions:

• Do everything you can to help employees be more a part of decision making (particularly as it impacts how they interpret their individual job responsibilities) 
• Empower employees to exchange more job-productive ideas with one another
• Promote greater pride in employee workmanship
• Publicly acknowledge all over-the-top efforts (regardless of whether they succeed or fail) with small frequent rewards

     Selecting something to target from the above list should get you off on a better foothold if your business marriage has been faltering and all you’ve been seeing is stars and corkscrews spinning away from the tops of disgruntled heads.

     And if you still truly love your business and can’t stand the thought of divorce or separation, try cherry-picking off the above list anyway. It can help enhance your Valentine’s Day message to your business and will get you a whole lot further than expensive roses or candy. <3 <3 <3 <3 (uh, right: sideways hearts that the blog won’t let me close the spaces on! Cheers!)    

Comment below or direct to Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day!  Get blog emails FREE via RSS feed OR $1 mo Amazon Kindle. Gr8 Gift 4 GRANDPARENTS: http://bit.ly/3nDlGF