Employee Wellness on a Shoestring.

Top companies realize the affects of employee wellness on their bottom line. This is evident by the billions of dollars spent on wellness initiatives by larger corporations every year.

Think you can’t start a wellness program for your small business? Think again. There are literally hundreds of ways to work on wellness at any budget. Here are just a few ideas to help you get started.

Spark People – SparkPeople’s mission is to SPARK millions of PEOPLE to reach their goals and lead healthier lives. They offer nutrition, health, and fitness tools, support, and resources that are 100% free! On their site a company can start a “Spark Team” where employees become members. They earn points by reading articles and meeting the health goals that they define for themselves. A small business could easily create some excitement about a program such as this by offering a small prize to employees who earn a certain number of points. Check them out at www.sparkpeople.com.

Purchase health and wellness magazines to leave in the break room.

WELCOA.org is another great place to start. They offer numerous resources to get a wellness program started. My favorite is an eight-page monthly publication that costs as little as .29 per issue.

Walk or Build for Charity – This will not only improve your employee’s health but can also be a great team-builder, marketing event, and will boost employee morale. There are numerous opportunities in every city. Habitat for Humanity is just one. Don’t forget to involve your employee’s family and friends for added work/life balance!!!

United Way 2-1-1 – I have mentioned this before, but what a great resource! You can now offer your employees assistance in all sorts of areas for free by using this resource. In the Kansas City area check out their site at http://www.unitedwaygkc.org.

Are your Employees Engaged?

Five years ago, The Gallup Organization began creating a feedback system for employers that would identify and measure elements of worker engagement most tied to the bottom line--things such as sales growth, productivity and customer loyalty.

After hundreds of focus groups and thousands of interviews with employees in a variety of industries, Gallup came up with the Q12, a 12-question survey that identifies strong feelings of employee engagement. Results from the survey show a strong correlation between high scores and superior job performance. Here are those 12 questions:

1. Do you know what is expected of you at work?
2. Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right?
3. At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5. Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages your development?
7. At work, do your opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important?
9. Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?
10. Do you have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?
12. In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

Reprinted with permission. Copyright 1992-1999 The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ. All rights reserved. Gallup and Q12 are registered trademarks of The Gallup Organization.

As a small business owner or manager, you may be asking yourself how to find the time to keep your employees engaged. It is not as difficult as you might think and may be the most important step to improving your bottom-line.

Here are some easy steps to take.
1. Develop job descriptions for each job. Be sure to work with your employees in development.
2. Use these job descriptions as the basis of a performance evaluation system. By scheduling these every six months you will be sure that your employees continue to focus on their top priorities.
3. Hold weekly staff meetings. They do not need to be long, but this is a great way to ensure that everyone stays up-beat and gets regular praise and direction.

Remember, People Wise is here to help. Check out our site at www.pwhrm.com.

U.S. Workers Underpaid??

According to a Gallup Poll, 51% of workers in the U.S. feel that they are underpaid!

The poll found that 51 percent of workers claimed they are underpaid for the work they do, compared with 46 percent of workers who say they are paid about the right amount for the work they do.

Three percent of workers admitted that they think they are overpaid for the work they do.

Among those who earn less than $75,000, 62 percent of respondents said they are underpaid, compared with 38 percent of workers who earn $75,000 or more.

Women (55 percent) were more likely than men (47 percent) to say they are underpaid for the work they do.

Gallup conducted the poll via telephone with 557 full-time and part-time workers.
Source: Gallup Poll.

How is your workforce doing??

If your workforce is less than fully engaged, People Wise (http://www.pwhrm/) can help. It has been shown time and time again that "salary" is not the biggest motivator for most employees. Some of the biggest pushers for employee engagment are clear expectations and goals, an environment of continuous learning, and individual recognition. Many programs that foster these, can be put in place with very little investment.

Solutions such as Online Employee Training, Development of Employee Recognition Programs, Employee Assessments, and Compensation Structure Analysis can be found today on http://www.pwhrm.com/ or by calling 816-858-7300!

What 8 things do employees want?

Hint, money is not on the list...

This article was origianally printed in BLR's weekly newsletter.

Is money the key to retention and productivity? It helps, says the Christian Science Monitor's Marilyn Gardner, but it's not enough. Beyond pay and benefits lie eight key factors that influence "happiness" at work-factors that motivate workers and keep them at your organization. Here's our distillation of Gardner's eight factors, as found on the website, communityinvestmentnetwork.org.

1. Appreciation
Praise heads the list for many workers, and it doesn't cost the employer anything to provide it, says Gardner. A sincere thank you or a short note can mean a great deal.

2. Respect
Again there is no cost and a big payback. Respect plays out in letting people know that their work is appreciated, in treating them like adults, and in being fair in your dealings with them.

3. Trust
Trust is the action side of respect. People need guidance, but they need to know that their boss trusts them to be able to get a job done on their own.

4. Individual Growth
Today's workers-especially the Gen Y group-want training, want to take on new challenges, and want to advance based on their new abilities. Giving a raise without increasing responsibilities could actually backfire, notes Gardner. As one expert says, if you give more money to an unhappy employee, you end up with a wealthier unhappy employee.

5. Good Boss
It's the old saw: People don't leave companies, they leave bosses. In a recent Robert Half survey, Gardner notes that 1,000 Gen Y workers ranked "working with a manager I can respect and learn from" as the most important aspect of their work environment.

6. Compatible Co-workers
Working with people you enjoy is also very important, says Gardner. Spending the day-every day-with people you don't like does not make for a productive workplace.

7. Compatible Culture
Employees want a work environment that fits their needs. That could mean hard-driving, high paying, or it could mean high flexibility and significant attention to work/life balance.

8. A Sense of Purpose
People want to know that they are contributing to something worthwhile. They need to know what the organization's core purpose is and what it is trying to achieve. And then they need to know how their particular job fits into the whole.

One of the interesting things that Gardner discovered about employee "happiness" is that there is a disconnect between what managers think and what employees think about happiness at work.

Managers tend to think that salary and benefits are the main motivators, while workers consistently respond that factors such as those mentioned above are what's important. Successful organizations will find a good balance to retain their best people.

Employee Training, Employee Assessments, and Team Building Activities are all great tools to use to improve employee engagement.