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????親愛的安妮：我很喜歡你之前的文章《度假讓工作走開》，但現(xiàn)在有件事讓我很煩：有些家伙人在辦公室里，心卻已經(jīng)放了假，我該拿他們怎么辦？我們現(xiàn)在采用“夏日作息”：星期五中午就下班，有的人甚至周一都休息，但有兩個員工還不知足，給自己放更多的假。其中一人全副精力都用在放假在家的孩子身上，另一個遲到早退，說是要為參加鐵人三項賽加強(qiáng)訓(xùn)練。其實都是很聰明的人，其它時候也都盡職盡責(zé)，我也不想掃大家的興，拉下臉來處罰他們，但我們有任務(wù)要趕期限，不管發(fā)生了什么，工作總得做吧。雖然只是暫時的問題（謝天謝地，學(xué)校馬上要開學(xué)了），但我到底該等等看，讓時間解決一切，還是要采取點什么行動？我很想知道其他老板是怎么應(yīng)付過來的。— 來自海岸的問候 ????親愛的“海岸問候”：糟糕的是你的辦公室就在海邊度假小鎮(zhèn)，那只會雪上加霜。不過，出工不出力，或者照人力資源部門的說法“磨洋工”的現(xiàn)象在夏天確實隨處可見?？纯催@個：根據(jù)數(shù)字媒體公司Captivate Network的最新調(diào)查顯示，約20%的白領(lǐng)工人說公司的工作效率在暖和的月份大跌，19%的人聲稱連出勤率也下降了。完成項目的時間拖長了13%，而45%的人承認(rèn)“更容易走神”。 ????調(diào)查還發(fā)現(xiàn)，“采用夏日作息只會讓問題更嚴(yán)重。比如，在周五早走的員工中53%的人工作效率降低；有的人為了彌補周五縮短的工作時間，只好在周一到周四加班，其中23%的人聲稱壓力增大，”Captivate Network的總裁麥克?迪佛蘭薩說。“表面看來，夏日作息是個很好的想法，大家都喜歡。但不幸的是，它實際上的影響幾乎都是負(fù)面的?！?/p> ????蘭迪?哈林頓是咨詢公司Extreme Arts & Sciences的首席執(zhí)行官，也是新書《進(jìn)化的力量：變革性的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)方式》（Evolutionaries: Transformational Leadership）的聯(lián)合作者。他的公司幫助客戶提升工作效率，與其合作的公司包括微軟（Microsoft）、軟件公司Adobe和雅虎（Yahoo）。他說：“如果你到辦公室到處轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn)，發(fā)現(xiàn)大家都神游物外，滿腦子都想著‘釣魚’或者‘海灘’，你就該好好整頓一下公司的夏日職場文化了，得想辦法讓大家振作起來。”下面就是他的5條建議： ????1、主動適應(yīng)外界變化。“學(xué)校放假的時候，有小孩的家長就很容易脫離‘工作模式’，逼著他們在工作和孩子之間做選擇肯定對誰都沒好處，”哈林頓說。“有時候做一點簡單的調(diào)整就能讓你大受裨益。”他的某個客戶是大型的零售商，這家公司讓有小孩的員工上更多的晚班，而那時他們的伴侶或者其他大人就能在家照看小孩。他說：“你也可以試試高科技的解決方案，比如讓大家用Skype來隨時查看小孩的狀況?！?/p> ????2、以身作則。“如果高管們也遲到早退，一心只想著打高爾夫，這樣的文化暗示就很難克服了，”哈林頓強(qiáng)調(diào)?！跋嘈盼遥罕姷难劬κ茄┝恋?。” ????3、確定合適的項目。“換種思路，不要去和時節(jié)做斗爭，可以在‘散漫的季節(jié)’做一些你想做但平時卻難以安排的事情，”哈林頓建議。“想些法子，讓大家在完成有實質(zhì)作用的任務(wù)時還能找點樂子?！?/p> ????佛羅里達(dá)的一家信用社也是他的客戶，該公司在夏天專門留出四周時間給一個跨部門的團(tuán)隊，他們的任務(wù)就是編制一本“文化書”：一種公司年鑒，專門用來坦誠地向新員工介紹公司方方面面的情況?！酒渲凶钪氖莵碜跃W(wǎng)店Zappos的文化書，它們廣受歡迎，讀者都可以在亞馬遜（Amazon）購買。】“有的公司每年都制作一本，”哈林頓說?！叭巳藚⑴c，這就是員工之間聯(lián)系感情的絕佳機(jī)會。” ????4、“人造樂趣”不可取。哈林頓注意到，有人會專門設(shè)計一些活動，希望能驅(qū)除夏日的倦怠情緒，結(jié)果往往適得其反?！按蠖鄶?shù)員工都認(rèn)為這種強(qiáng)制性的聚會只是浪費公司資源，”他指出?！拔艺娴脑谀臣夜究吹竭^一張備忘錄，上面寫著‘夏威夷午餐宴會：必須參加’。好玩是關(guān)鍵，但得是真正的樂趣。想一些法子讓工作更有趣，‘好玩’的感覺自然就有了?！?/p> ????5、潛心于職業(yè)發(fā)展。“你總是要不斷開發(fā)員工的才智，夏天的緩慢工作節(jié)奏也帶來了好機(jī)會，”哈林頓說?！澳憧梢灶A(yù)期有人會去外面聽課，有人參加網(wǎng)上培訓(xùn)，有人加入閱讀小組或者開始接受正式指導(dǎo)。如果你鼓勵員工在夏天做一些職業(yè)生涯方面的打算，他們在春天就會開始準(zhǔn)備?！?/p> ????講到春天：毫無疑問，你會注意到，上面的大多數(shù)建議的實施都需要提前計劃。“你在3、4月就該開始考慮如何讓員工在夏天保持工作狀態(tài)，”哈林頓指出?！澳菚r候你就該和助手們討論夏天的目標(biāo)和策略了。”今年夏天當(dāng)然已經(jīng)晚了，記得在2013年的日歷上做好記號吧。 ????反饋：你們公司夏天的工作節(jié)奏在減慢了嗎？這種情況一定是壞事嗎？歡迎留言評論。 |
????Dear Annie: I liked your piece about taking work-free vacations, but the issue I'm struggling with right now is, what can I do about people who seem to be on vacation without leaving? We are on "summer hours" -- everyone can leave at noon on Fridays, and some people also take Mondays off -- but I have two employees in particular who take even more unofficial time off than that. One is preoccupied with children at home, and the other is always coming in late and leaving early to train for an Iron Man competition.These are talented people, super-conscientious throughout the rest of the year, and I really hesitate to be Mr. Killjoy and start cracking the whip, but we do have deadlines to meet and things that need to get done regardless of what else is going on. It's a temporary problem (for one thing, school starts up again soon, luckily), so should I just wait it out, or what? I'd be interested to hear how other bosses deal with this. — Greetings from Ocean City ????Dear G.O.C.: It probably doesn't help that your office is located in a beach resort town, but being at work while hardly working, sometimes referred to by human resources folks as "presenteeism," is endemic everywhere in the summertime. Consider: About 20% of white-collar workers say their productivity takes a dive in the warm months, and 19% say attendance drops off, according to a recent survey by digital media company Captivate Network. Longer project turnaround times were reported by 13% of those polled, and 45% said they are "more distracted." ????The survey also found that "the addition of summer hours only exacerbates these problems. For example, 53% of employees who leave early on Fridays report a drop in their own productivity, and 23% of those who make up for fewer Friday hours by working longer from Monday to Thursday report that their stress levels increase." Says Mike DiFranza, Captivate's president, "On the face of it, summer hours probably seem like a terrific idea and are welcomed by all, but unfortunately, the impact is almost uniformly negative." ????Randy Harrington, CEO of consultants Extreme Arts & Sciences and co-author of a new book,Evolutionaries: Transformational Leadership, has worked with companies like Microsoft (MSFT), Adobe (ADBE), and Yahoo (YHOO) on boosting productivity. "If you look around your office and see that your employees have 'gone fishing' or 'at the beach' written on their foreheads, it's time to overhaul your summertime workplace culture and find new ways to energize people," he says. He offers these five suggestions: ????1. Recognize greater outside demands. "People with young kids are drawn out of 'work mode' more easily when school is out, and it's a lose-lose proposition to make them choose between their jobs and their children," Harrington says. "Sometimes a few simple adjustments can help a lot." One of his clients, a major retailer, moved people's shifts so that employees with kids could work more evenings, when a spouse or other adult was on duty at home. "You could also try a technological solution, like setting people up with Skype, so they can see for themselves what the children are up to," he says. ????2. Set the tone from the top. "If your senior leaders are wandering in late off the golf course and leaving early, that sends a cultural message that is hard to overcome," Harrington notes. "And believe me, people are watching." ????3. Identify special projects. "Instead of fighting it, why not use 'slacker season' as a time to tackle some things you need, or want, to do that aren't part of the regular workload?" Harrington suggests. "You can create ways for people to have some fun while producing something of substance." ????One of his clients, a Florida credit union, earmarked four weeks in the summer for a cross-departmental team to put together a "culture book" -- a corporate yearbook, made famous by online retailer Zappos -- designed to give new hires a candid view of what it's like to work there. "Some companies do a new one every year," Harrington says. (Zappos' culture books are so popular that they're available on Amazon (AMZN).) "It's a great bonding experience for employees, since everyone has a hand in it." ????4. Don't bother with "fake fun." Special events intended to beat the summertime blahs rarely achieve anything, Harrington says. "Employees most often see these forced parties as a waste of company resources," he oberves. "I actually saw a memo at one company that said 'Lunchtime Luau: Attendance Mandatory.' Fun is key, but it has to be authentic. Find ways to make work more interesting, and 'fun' will take care of itself." ????5. Establish commitments for people to work on professional development. "You need to continually develop your talent anyway, and the summer slowdown is a great chance to get it done," says Harrington. "This may mean setting expectations that people will take outside courses, pursue online training courses, participate in reading groups, or start doing formal mentoring. If you encourage people to do some big-picture thinking during the summer, they start looking forward to it in the spring." ????And speaking of spring: As you've no doubt noticed, most of these tactics require some advance planning. "The time to start thinking about keeping employees engaged in the summertime is really in March or April," Harrington points out. "That's when you need to have conversations with your people about goals and strategies for the dog days." Too late for this summer, of course, but it might be smart to make a note on your 2013 calendar. ????Talkback:Does the pace of work slow down in the summer at your company? Is that necessarily a bad thing? Leave a comment below. |
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