Research Reveals That the 12 Worker Beliefs That Play The Biggest Role In Triggering A Profitable, Productive Workplace are Closely Tied to The 10 Essential Elements of a Positive Working Environment™

By Steve Wilson

Copyright 1998

We hate to say, "I told you so", but we can't resist. The growing body of evidence confirms what I have been teaching executives and managers for years: 'putting humor to work at work' will have a terrific payoff, but for you to get the maximum return you really have to 'plus' the idea. Jim Eiting, founder and Chairman of the Board of Midmark, a leader in the manufacture of products for the medical/surgical environment, told me the key to his successful leadership: "If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right". But Jim knows that having fun means that you have many components in place, making an overall positive working environment. And this is truer as we approach the millenium than at any other time in history.

Every dollar that you invest in morale can yield more than two-dollars in productivity. You have to invest in the power of humor and laughter and then some. That's why for our management seminars, we identify 'humor & laughter' as only one of Ten Essential Elements Of A Positive Working Environmenttm. By using good management techniques, all ten elements can readily become your workplace reality. And now, there is research that links specific manager attitudes and worker beliefs to positive working environments, retention of the best employees, and strong financial performance.

The Ten Essential Elements of a Positive Working Environment

Here is the list I cover in our seminars and workshops. Employees and managers know that if these are not in place and working well, work just will not be fun. And, where these elements are clear and present, people are likely to say that work is more fun.

1. Written statements of Mission, Vision, and Principles have been developed by a sound participative process.
2. We operate on the Customer-Supplier Relationship model with regard to both internal and external customers, and shareholders.
3. We have several methods by which we reliably accomplish accurate & timely communications.
4. We promote Creative Dissatisfaction so that 'continuous improvement thinking' --rather than whining-- becomes a natural part of the way everybody works.
5. Everyone has learned the skills for being effective members of project teams, using the tools for systematic problem-solving and decision-making.
6. Managers and workers are encouraged to get to know each other personally, and are encouraged to express interest and bring to bear reasonable flexibility for individual needs.
7. Budgets and resources are allocated, and plans implemented, for personal and professional development so that everyone is getting better every year.
8. There is a full spectrum of rewards for performance from spontaneous praise to individual and group production-bonuses, profit-sharing and gain-saving programs.
9. We have generous amounts of celebration and recognition. We extol and applaud exemplary behavior, and we revel in our victories and accomplishments, with verve and gusto.
10. We value good humor and the right kinds of playfulness at the right time. There are times when the halls of our offices, shops and showrooms ring with laughter, and we know it is good for us and good for business.

Achieving Your Employee Retention and Productivity Goals Takes a Lot More Than Financial Remuneration

How does a company make people want to stay with them? A "striking discovery" reported in Fortune (January 12, 1998), is the extent to which even "the best companies, the most desirable of employers, are desperate to retain their best workers". It takes more than a retention program. And, it definitely takes more than money. To get your best employees to resist being recruited away with enticing offers from competing firms you need to foster a particluar kind of corporate culture.

Clues to the characteristics of that culture are found in the Fortune reports and elsewhere. We were not surprised at how closely those clues correspond to The 10 Essential Elements that we have been advocating for years. You might be interested to know that the orginal suggestion of those elements came from an early 1990's study that attempted to track the stock performance of publicly-traded companies that had been described as belonging to "the high-morale universe". Researchers theorized that companies that created high-morale cultures would show stronger stock performance. They were right.

In the 1998 studies reported by Linda Grant, in Fortune, "Of the 61 firms in the group (of 100) that have been traded publicly for the past five years, 45 yielded higher returns to stakeholders than the Russell 3000, an index of large and small companies that mirrors our 100 Best. The 61 companies averaged annual returns of 27.5%, vs. 17.3% for the Russell 3000. Ten year patterns tell the same story. The Russell 3000 racked up annual returns of 14.8%, while the publicly-traded companies in the 100 Best averaged 23.4%".

Culture, Culture, Culture

From the Fortune report, here are important features that shape the corporate cultures of the 100 Best:

* The 100 Best are coming up with inventive ways to make the employees' lives easier, from massages to personal concierge services.
* Challenging and exciting work; never boring.
* Cutting-edge technology.
* The chance to change careers within the same company.
* Challenging overseas assignments.
* Promotion from within.
* Flexible or reduced work hours that let you balance work with the rest of your life (e.g., family) and still keep you on the fast track.
* Truly terrific benefits.
* A workplace that promotes fun and closer working relationships with colleagues.
* Being able to change careers without leaving the company.
* A place where you have as many friends as colleagues or supervisors.
* A place where you are constantly learning and growing.
* A company run by a powerful, visionary leader who inspires.
* A "knockout" physical environment with an array of impressive amenities (e.g., child care center, on site dry-cleaning, ATMs, fabulous cafeteria food including dinners-to-go, athletic facilities).
* A sense of purpose contained in a mission that turns people on; you can see the connection between the company's financial success and larger goals. (To the na ve observer we are simply laying bricks, but we know that we are actually building a cathedral.)

Attitude, Attitude, Attitude

A report in the September, 1998, Society for Human Resource Management's HR-News, cites an in-depth study by The Gallup Organization that identified "12 worker beliefs that play the biggest role in trgiggering a profitable, productive workplace". Marcus Buckingham, a Gallup consultant who coaches managers, said, "Each of these (beliefs) points to an attitude that front-line supervisors can impact in direct and immediate ways".

Is this consequential to the bottom line? You bet! The report states, "Organizations whose support of the statements ranked in the top 25 percent averaged 24 percent higher profitability, 20 percent higher revenue, and 10 percent lower employee turnover than business units which scored lowest on the statements".

Reporting about Fortune's 100 Best, Linda Grant posed the jackpot question about causation: Do happy employees make companies successful, or do successful companies make employees happy? She cites a Gallup survey of 55,000 workers that found four attitudes, taken together, correlate strongly with higher profits:

1. Workers feel they are given the opportunity to do what they do best every day.
2. They believe their opinions count.
3. They sense that their fellow workers are committed to quality.
4. They've made a direct connection between their work and the company's mission.

The Worker Beliefs That Bring Companies Big Payoffs

Presented here are the 12 statements underlying the most important worker attitudes, showing how they are matched to one or more of the Ten Essential Elements Of A Positive Working Environment (listed earlier):

* I know what is expected of me at work. (Elements 1 & 3.)
* I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right. (Elements 1, 3, 4 & 5.)
* At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day. (Elements 3, 6 & 7.)
* In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work. (Elements 3, 9 & 10.)
* My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person. (Element 6 & 8.)
* There is someone at work who encourages my development. (Elements 6 & 7.)
* In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress. (Elements 3, 6 & 7.)
* At work, my opinions seem to count. (Elements 3 & 4.)
* The mission/purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important. (Elements 1, 8 & 9.)
* My fellow employees are committed to doing quality work. (Elements 2 & 4.)
* I have a best friend at work. (Element 6.)
* This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow. (Element 7.)

Of special interest is that researchers found significant variances between work groups or operating units within the same company, leading a senior vice president at Gallup to say, "What becomes clear from this investigation is that while we tend to celebrate 'great' companies, in reality there are only great managers. In fact, it is on the front line that the hard work of building a stronger workplace gets done".

Recruitment & Retention for The Future

The general employment outlook for the future is that industry will see increasing numbers of talented people who are willing to work hard but they will want plenty of time for family and fun, too. In spite of baggy hip-hugging pants and the occasional pierced tongue or tattoo, you will see college graduates with more superb preparation than any previous generation to handle tough challenges and managerial roles. In fact, the next generation of workers will enter the workforce bringing a combination of capabilities and attitudes rarely seen before.

Here are just a few of the characteristics you can expect to see as your company recruits the necessary employees --especially managers-- to remain competitive in the global marketplace. Tomorrow's college graduates will hail from different cultures and countries, which means a healthy number of minorities, and a more balanced mix of men and women. Though young, many will already have loads of on-the-job experience. Those who have taken courses in business and finance will know how to analyze a financial statement, do a break-even analysis, compute return on investment, and do budget manipulations using spreadsheets; and, they will be able to design their own Web sites with one hand tied behind their back.

They will be seeking satisfactions that go way beyond a paycheck. In order to retain top talent, America's 100 Best are already seeing to it that they have congenial colleagues, exciting and innovative assignments, inspiring leadership, cutting-edge technology, a strong sense of personal purpose that goes way beyond satisfying the shareholders, a host of workplace amenities, flexible work hours, and a real voice in how things run and how they could run better.

Your Bottom-Line?

How does your workplace measure up? Are you part of the high-morale universe? Will you be able to recruit and retain the talent you need to compete? Are you putting humor plus the other nine ingredients to work at work? How many of those ten essential elements are strong and working for you? How many are weak or missing? For fifteen years, it has been our pleasure and great satisfaction to work with executives and companies who want to find out how they measure up and what to do to strengthen values and attitudes in order to get top-performing results and have fun doing it. The Fortune reports focused on both retention and profitability. When you look at the big picture, you see everything working together: culture, manager attitudes, worker beliefs, morale, retention, strength, and profitability. It can work for you, too.

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For more information on how you and your leadership team can benefit from creating positive working environments, contact Steve Wilson and Company, 1-800-NOW-LAFF