Subscribe
Follow Us
Archive for December, 2009
Are You Willing to Lose Your Best and Brightest Over a Bag of Pretzels?
Dec 28The Multi-Million Dollar Soda Venturebeat gives us something to think about today.
“Do you know how much our company is spending on free sodas and snacks?” And to answer her own question she presented the spreadsheet totaling it all up. There were some experienced VC’s in the room and I was waiting for them to educate her about startup culture. But my jaw dropped when the board agreed that the “free stuff” had to go. “We’re too big for that now” was the shared opinion. But we’ll sell them soda “cheap.” Uh oh I had lived through this same conversation four times in my career, and each time it ended as an example of unintended consequences.
No one on the board or the executive staff was trying to be stupid. But to save $10,000 or so, they unintentionally launched an exodus of their best engineers. This company had grown from the founders, who hired an early team of superstars, many now managing their own teams. All these engineers were still heads-down, working their tails off, just as they had been doing since the first few months of the company. Too busy working, most were oblivious to the changes that success and growth had brought to the company.
One day the engineering team was clustered in the snack room looking at the soda machine. The sign said “Soda now 50 cents.” The uproar began. Engineers started complaining about the price of the soda. Someone noticed that instead of the informal reimbursement system for dinners when they were working late, there was now a formal expense report system. Some had already been irritated when “professional” managers had been hired over their teams with reportedly more stock than the early engineers had. Lots of email was exchanged about “how things were changing for the worse.” A few engineers went to the see the CEO. But the damage had been done.
The most talented and senior engineers looked up from their desks and noticed the company was no longer the one they loved. It had changed. And not in a way they were happy with.
There’s an important lesson to be learned here, and it isn’t that you should just give everything away forever and ever. The lesson is that if you want to keep your best and brightest, you sometimes have to continue to provide the intangibles. In the example, those intangibles were simple: free sodas and a liberal dinner reimbursement policy made the company a nice place to work. The atmosphere wasn’t overly corporate or controlling, and employees happily provided the labor needed to keep the company moving. When the company stopped realizing that the relationship between doing extra work and a few extra perks were directly intertwined, things moved downhill and eventually ruined the company.
While the person crowing to the executive staff about how they had “discovered” an additional $10,000 that they couldn’t afford, they were ignoring how much that $10,000 meant to the people who drove the company: the engineers. While you could make the case that employees, paid well enough, could afford to buy a soda or a snack, that isn’t really the point. Part of what makes a company pleasant to work for is the atmosphere, and part of what makes the atmosphere acceptable is a tacit understanding that there is a give and take. In this example, the engineers worked extremely hard and put in the time necessary to grow the company. The “free” snacks and sodas made those people feel as if their efforts were appreciated. Engineers surely understood it was a cost for the company, but they (correctly in the real world; incorrectly in this case) understood that the provision of these “goodies” was the company going above and beyond to reciprocate for them going above and beyond. When that stopped, they left because it was no longer a two-way street.
This goes very much toward my video from two weeks ago about employment being a two-way street. It’s fine to look at the bottom line, but not every relationship you have with your employees can be quantified on a spreadsheet. It isn’t always about money, either. Sometimes it really is about principle. Before you yank a perk away from the people who work for you day in and day out, weigh the cost of that perk against losing employees and damaging company morale. If the numbers jive for you, or if you can justify it, then by all means go for it, but don’t be surprised if there is a backlash and you lose some of your best and brightest over a bag of pretzels in the break room.
*******************
Today’s article is from KnowHR contributor Vincent Ferrari. Vinnie’s not in HR. He’s a regular working guy. Smart, tech-savvy, straight shooter (he lives in the Bronx — the nice part — but it’s the Bronx, and they call people on BS), and a friend of ours. We’re delighted to have Vinnie’s thoughts here at KnowHR. He’s going to start writing as a regular contributor to this site. You can also follow him on Twitter @vincenzof and at his blog Insignificant Thoughts. Don’t say I didn’t warn you about the straight shooter part! — Frank
If You're Not Fired With Enthusiasm, You'll Be Fired With Enthusiasm
Dec 23I first heard that line from my friend, John H. Play around with the emphasis for a bit to get the real import of that phrase.
I thought of John and his quote when the internet meme was makings its rounds this week saying that a Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had fired an employee because he wouldn’t say Bing! with enough enthusiasm. (Bing is Microsoft’s search product.) It’s since been shown to be a clever hoax. But I’m always in the mood for a laugh. Here’s that video.
Ex-Microsoft employee remembers the last sound he heard at Microsoft: Bing!
For those of you who wonder how a meme like this gets legs, Steve Ballmer has a history of being…enthusiastic.
Developers, Developers, Developers
And here’s my friend Loren Feldman’s puppet theatre take on Steve Ballmer firing of an employee with enthusiasm.
When Good Communication is Ill Timed
Dec 21“Have fun shoveling the snow. You need to get out here and burn off some energy,” I said to my 16-year-old son.
“You need to do more than burn off energy,” he said.
“We had all better be careful with the next words we say,” I said.
With that, my 16-year-old thundered off, came back downstairs with a comical mix of winter wear, and headed outside into the Blizzard of 2009.
How Did We Get Here?
It started innocently enough. We often goof around at dinner, even though it’s just the 16-y-o, my wife and me. Something silly usually happens. It’s when we all sit together and talk for a bit.
On Saturday night we all had a bit of cabin fever after sitting inside for the Blizzard of the Century (or whatever they were calling it). My wife made a great meal of a slow-roasted pork, mashed potatoes, and peas. I was ready for a good meal and some happy conversation.
At some point I asked the 16-y-o about school and the work he had to do over the weekend. Right away we went back to a script about his AP Language and Composition class. He says his AP class has tons more work than the other one at the high school. Bigtime. Like he has to spend hours per day doing projects that the other AP Lang & Comp teacher doesn’t assign.
Here’s Your Economics Lesson
“I guess next year you’ll listen to your mother when you select your classes,” I said. My wife works at the high school as a math tutor.
Silence.
I didn’t read the signs very well.
“How much extra time do you spend every day on that class compared to the students in the other AP class?” I said. “What did you trade for that class?”
“It’s Period 6,” my 16-y-o said. “It’s at lunchtime, so I get an hour-and-a-half. The one period is 43 minutes.”
“So, if your extra work by taking that teacher is costing you more than 43 extra minutes a day, you’re behind,” I said. “There’s your economics lesson.” (I must admit to feeling pretty smug at that point.)
Here’s Where My Wife Calmly Enters the “Discussion”
“He wants his social time,” she said.
Kaboom.
“You don’t know, Mom,” said the 16-year-old. “Why are you mocking me?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said. “Your mother has nothing to do with this.”
“Have fun shoveling the snow. You need to get out here and burn off some energy,” I said to my 16-year-old son.
“You need to do more than burn off energy,” he said.
“We had all better be careful with the next words we say,” I said.
Remember that Part About the Slow-Roasted Pork and Mashed Potatoes?
Gosh, the meal was so good. And we all had plenty of time to think about it, because my wife and I sat there in silence while our 16-y-o went upstairs to get dressed to shovel.
When Good Communication Is Ill Timed
I missed the signs. I must admit that I’m pretty good at dishing it out. I could do better at paying attention to the dynamics of communicating with a teenager. (Self esteem and respect are huge deals with 16-year-olds, in case you didn’t know.) So, I went for the kill on “Listen to your parents, we might actually know something.” My 16-y-o felt under siege.
I’m sorry about handling that poorly. I got a communication lesson out of it.
And I got a lot of my driveway shoveled in the blizzard.
Don't Be This Guy at Your Office Christmas Party
Dec 19It’s never as funny the next day as it is at the time. We’ve all been to the office Christmas party where this has happened. Don’t be that guy in the video.
It's Moving Day
Dec 18We’re relocating our office from Rittenhouse Square to Old City in Philadelphia. And with all plans, there’s a wrinkle. We reserved 4 parking spots in front of the office for a moving truck. Guess where the only car is that didn’t respect the parking zone? Right in the middle.
Here’s my HR lesson for the day: People who don’t pay attention shouldn’t be working in your organization. There’s a bright red DO NOT PARK sign right in front of the car of the person who chose to ignore it. Wonder how they’ll like the impound lot in North Philly.
Featured Product
Social Media
Flickr
