Bad Day at Work

It doesn't really have to be this way :)

Employee Blogs - Your New Tool for Improving Productivity

That social media is the modern medium of communication needs no endorsement. Twitter and Facebook rule the internet. This map, illustrated in Feb 2011, shows how Facebook has come to dominate the globe. And the micro-blogging site Twitter has celebrities and politicians addressing the world in 140 characters or less. Companies use Twitter and Facebook to reach out to their target audience. "Broadband" is the new name for Oxygen for today's Netizens!

So, where does your company stand in this burgeoning and still evolving virtual landscape? Obviously, the savvy would have already had their social media strategy in place. That is not the scope of this post, in a blog that has dedicated itself towards promoting the cause of Human Resource Management towards organisational success. Rather, the idea, in this era of "Micro-blogging", is to highlight the power of Web-logs or "Blogs" as a means of "Empowering" employees. Is your organisation being carried away by the power of social media to reach consumers and customers, that it has overlooked its own internal customers, its employees? Has your organisation come up with its "Employee Blog" yet?

There are many more organisations that would have embraced the concept of electronic, one-way communication, when compared with those that would have come to realise the power of Blogs as an effective two-way communication medium - and dialogue - with employees. People familiar with Human Resource Management concepts would have been acquainted with the idea of 'Employee Voice'. In simple terms, when you give 'Voice' to your employees, you democratise your workplace, yielding some of your bargaining power to employees. In an era where formal unions are going into retreat, it is essential that organisations reach out to employees and listen to what they have to say regarding their perceptions of business practices and working conditions, if you want to unleash your employees' potential. And these days, technology is so much more user-friendly than the days of yore, that it takes a mere access to a computer with an internet connection, to sermonise the world. 

Irrespective of whether you, as an organisation, have channelised your employees' 'voice' or not, the truth is that your employees are already out there, casting their votes about the way the organisation functions and the way employees are being managed. Employees have their own on-line social networking groups and blogs, where they express their ideas and opinions about their employers anyway, perhaps, covertly. Rather than going about sniffing what your employees are up to on the internet, how about recognising this fact of work-life and legitimising employee blogs? Some of the best known global brands encourage their employees to blog, uncensored, and in the process, cash in on the opportunity to have their ears to the ground and have a feel of the pulse of the organisation and morale of employees. And employees do express opinions about things that matter through blogs, which organisations, otherwise, may never get to hear at all. The onus is on the employer to create a sense of security in the employees' minds so that they feel free to blog about their place of work. And when you give your employees 'Voice', not only do you have more scope to know your employees better through employee blogs, but you also make them have a sense of 'fairness' in their now 'officially recognised' freedom of expression. 

So, go ahead, create some space, give them freedom, legitimise your employee blogs and give them 'Voice'. You only have so much to gain out of delivering satisfaction to your internal customers and see your productivity grow!  

The Travails of Capitalism - Mervyn King Raps on Banks' Knuckles

What happens when business is driven by shares? Some may not find it strange at all that businesses exist for the sole purpose of making sure their shareholders reap the returns and remain a gratified lot. Profit Maximisation and Shareholder Value Maximisation - are they not the Mantras that are supposed to keep businesses going?

Historically, Capitalism has shown the way forward, with shareholder value maximisation being adhered to with utmost earnestness. However, while shares have made millionaires out of the erstwhile working classes, what we have seen through the Great Depression and the economic recessions is the speed at which the flow could be reversed and how the mighty structures could collapse to rubble. The financial meltdown had its last laugh in the latest episode of businesses' tryst with their destinies; but the spirit of Capitalism would never say die! The phoenix has risen, again, from its ashes, aiming to reach new heights.

The problem, however, is with the basics. Shareholders are interested in returns - and businesses driven by shareholder orientation tend to have two types of goals - short-term and the long-term. And it is this dilemma that exerts enormous pressure on the Human Resources. When consumers are neglected in the pursuit of profits, one can imagine what the status of the "employee" would be, in business that is pressed for short-term success.

As if to reinforce the importance of remembering the basics, without being carried away by fancies to glorify the shareholder, Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, has warned that banks have not learned their lessons right, and that the crisis has not yet led to regulations being put in place to make sure the recession doesn't raise its ugly head again. Do other industries treat their consumers better than the banking sector does? Is banking more prone to opportunistic behaviour with a short-term orientation? Well, the Governor has given more than just a hint at the state of affairs in the industry. It is up to the watch dogs, and the players themselves, to decide where they stand, and where their competitive advantages lie - with the shareholders with short-term orientation, or with consumers and their human resources, with a long-term strategy. After all, all that the economy can do, is to teach a few lessons - it's the businesses and the regulators that have to learn their parts.