Yahoo – Telecommuting Culture Gone Wrong?

Posted on March 5, 2013 by peopleink

By Ann Rhoades

What’s wrong at Yahoo? Canceling work at home arrangements.

Recently Yahoo announced that it was canceling employee work from home arrangements for all employees. The resulting criticism has been varied but certainly loudest from employees. Critics point out the downside to employees such as productivity losses, commuting headaches, child care costs, and other increased employee costs as reasons for their dismay. From an employee relations point of view this policy change has been a viewed negatively and comes during a time when tech companies like Google are bending over backwards to keep a happy workforce.

Yahoo’s Jackie Reed (VP of HR) apparently said in the memo to employees that to become the best place to work collaboration and communication will be important so there is a need to work side by side and that working side by side improves work “speed and quality,” I can tell you from experience working with JetBlue Airways that collaboration and productivity are not mutually exclusive for those working at home. JetBlue has some 1,750 reservation agents working from home and was one of the first companies to start doing this. The results have been very good for us such as having lower turnover, higher productivity, and decreased cost per call. It’s hard to make comparisons not knowing much about the types of jobs Yahoo is moving back but if collaboration is an important aspect of any of Yahoo’s positions, then it should have been built into the process from day one and managed accordingly.

We may never know what the real issue is for Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer (former exec for Google) or what steps have been taken already to address the issue but what comes across is that there’s been no mention of employee involvement in the decision. I have found that when you include employees in the decision process that the outcomes are usually much better. We have proven this time and again for companies I have worked for and with.

The real issue at hand for Yahoo is

What is the issue with people working from home?

Is the issue concerning collaboration, productivity, quality, metrics, or something else? Many times an issue may look like something that it’s not and there can be easy solutions other than ones that turn everyone off immediately. Once you assess the issue and are correct about it, then you can involve your people in finding a solution. I am a big believer of focus groups and getting these groups to solve the problem rather than forcing them to accept new policies. For one when people have input into the solution they can share ownership of it, second your corner office solution might not be the best as one that comes from those closest to the problem. Even if you ultimately conclude that working back at the office IS the best solution to the issue, at least you have involved your people in the process and you can communicate this to everyone later stating the options that were considered.

Let me next talk about the heart of collaboration. If we accept that Yahoo’s change is indeed to increase collaboration and perhaps innovation, then there are other things to be looking at for why this is not happening. For example if you don’t have a team environment, are not rewarding people for collaboration, and not rewarding people for their input then it won’t make any difference if people are sitting right next to each other. Unhappy people at the office are not going to have suddenly great ideas that get shared as compared to people working from home.

If the best solution for Yahoo is indeed having people do more back at the office, then I think a better path might have been to find alternative solutions first or going some middle of the road solution like coming into work once or twice per week. In the end Yahoo may get so much negative feedback that they revert to a middle of the road solution anyway.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about Yahoo in the coming months, many of us who work in the people side of organizations are surprised by Yahoo’s move and without knowing the details we can really only speculate. If building a great organizational culture is part of Mayer’s plan then she’s doing so with every decision that gets made and is demonstrating the values that Yahoo will continue to live by under her reign. Interestingly although collaboration was mentioned as a primary reason for bringing people back to the office, there are no signs that collaboration with the employees was used in making the decision.

Yahoo is trying to reinvigorate itself and compete against the likes of Google and other tech companies yet Google is moving in the direction of happier employees and is highly tuned into the needs of its workforce, it recently increased its maternity leave benefits from three months to five. Awesome new policies Google’s revenue per employee is about three times higher than Yahoo’s. I think Google’s happiness machine has momentum on its side.

Posted in Corporate Culture, Management, Organizational Culture | 2 Comments

Company Focus: The Company that Culture Built-Infusionsoft

Posted on January 30, 2013 by peopleink

Companies who are living their values and exemplifying the concept of a high performing people-centric culture deserve recognition. They serve as an example to model, learn from, and even envy. Today’s company focus in on technology company Infusionsoft “The company that culture built”

At Peopleink, we are pleased to see Infusionsoft’s focus, from day one, on building an exemplary culture through lived values and even more excited for their success. Infusionsoft is winning awards in categories of Best Places to Work, Fastest Growing Companies, and Technology Innovation, plus impressive financial performance to top things off. There are definitely some smart people here, sounds like they’ve been hiring A players.

“Infusionsoft’s unique culture is built around our core values, cultivating a place that cares as much about our employees as it does about customer success.”

The newly opened facility in Arizona is a warehouse-style building complete with mini football field. Despite its size, their space invites collaboration and serves to inspire their team to work together. The moment you walk through the front doors you feel the energy and passion in the people and in the room.

Here is a good video intro from foxnews in Phoenix. (after the Foxnews 30 second advertisement)

Ann Rhoades recently visited Infusionsoft’s new office to meet with the CEO Clate Mask and meet with the HR group. Here are some photos of that visit. Thanks to Mark Christensen for the photos and for keeping us updated on the progress of Infusionsoft.

Ann Rhoades with Mark Christensen

The Culture Door

Installing the football field

Ann Rhoades w Clate Mask CEO

Watch the Infusionsoft Culture Video with employees talking about culture and why they like the company. click here if this video is not opening for you.

Posted in Best Companies, Corporate Culture | Tagged Corporate Culture Awards, organizational values | Leave a comment

The Value of a Chief Culture Officer in Your Company

Posted on December 6, 2012 by peopleink

By Kyle Lagunas, guest writer.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)/Globoforce Winter 2012 employee recognition survey reported that 90% of the 770 HR leaders surveyed identified culture management as an important or very important challenge for their organization. To help address this challenge, more companies are hiring culture leaders or adding responsibilities to existing roles within the company. But should this role fall on one person or or does it reside with everyone in an organization?

Culture at the Executive Level

Tim Delbrugge started as the chief financial officer at Welocalize before transitioning to chief administrative officer. He quickly picked up on some of the unhealthier aspects of the organization like company politics and the lack of transparency. He eventually added culture to his long list of HR responsibilities.

“I started pushing executives to accept and practice the culture they wanted,” Delbrugge said. “It’s one thing to have a culture chief for window dressing, but you have to have buy-in from everyone, and the key to that is the CEO. Our CEO has made culture one of our key objectives as an organization.”

As the company’s first culture chief, Delbrugge is tasked with incorporating the organization’s values into every aspect of on-boarding, talent development, and employment branding. But how does one measure the success of such broad challenges?

One metric that remains consistent–and is measurable–is employee turnover. Impact Advisors hired Michael Nutter in 2010 as its Director of Firm Culture and Associate Satisfaction to help sustain the company’s unique culture and 2% turnover rate. Metrics such as periodic anonymous employee surveys and customer surveys are other way of getting feed back on culture.

“Our founders knew that if they wanted to continue to be successful and meet their growth goals, they’d need someone to help sustain the culture they’d already created and inspire new thoughts to grow it,” says Nutter.

To help gauge his success as culture chief, he also tracks happiness ratings based on one-on-one interviews he conducts with new employees.

Do you need a Chief Culture Officer?

Bad habits can arise over time without someone taking an active role in making culture visible. In addition, creating a Culture Chief position not only elevates the importance of culture within the organization but at a minimum creates someone to track it and report on it officially. This role can even reside with a culture committee. Note, there is a difference between having a culture chief and having company leaders all take part in the building of culture. Just as no one person can build a culture, no culture can succeed if everyone is not on board with it. All it takes is one leader or a department that acts independently of culture building goals to derail the process.

“As you get bigger, you have to be more proactive about defending your culture because there are more people and outside influences,” adds Delbrugge.

If this sounds like your company, you may want to consider hiring a culture chief, or adding culture management responsibilities to an existing role. Here are some traits you might look for in a culture chief:

1. Organizational design and management skills. As a company grows, organizations often need to restructure teams, budgets and responsibilities. A culture chief who understands how a company’s structure influences its culture could be instrumental in managing culture shifts during growth or transitions.

2. Employment branding experience. How prospective applicants and employees perceive your company is critical to instilling your culture internally and communicating it externally as part of your recruiting strategy. Your culture chief should be able to help shape the messaging of your company’s values to build a strong employment brand.

3. Emotional intelligence. For many companies, the culture chief serves as the eyes and ears of the organization and is a trusted person who employees can consult regarding workplace issues. He or she should be able to connect with employees on an emotional level, and then bring up tough conversations with management or leadership as needed.

Kyle Lagunas is a Software Analyst at Software Advice—an online resource for reviewing and comparing talent management software. He’s a tech enthusiast and forward-thinking HR guy focused on keeping his audience in touch with important trends and conversations in the industry.

Posted in Organizational Culture, Values-based leadership | Tagged chief culture officer, culture chief, measuring culture | 5 Comments

Five techniques to vastly improve your interviewing and hiring results

Posted on November 26, 2012 by peopleink

We’ve talked in prior articles about the importance of consistently living company values through clearly defined behaviors and why this is important. Today’s article is HOW TO select people who fit the values you have defined for your company.

Later in this article we have a product recommendation for you that makes the hiring process simpler and more effective. This product is directed towards the hospital and healthcare industries yet the principles discussed next can be applied to any company.

Are you still using ineffective interview techniques that don’t deliver the best results?

Hiring A players is one of the most critical aspects of building an intentional culture yet many companies still use ineffective interview techniques that don’t deliver the best results. Hiring by gut feel might work some of the time but not consistently enough to risk your customer and patient satisfaction on. If you’re going to find A players for your organization, you will have to dig deeper than what a candidate might want to tell you in order to find the information you need to make the best hiring decisions. We have found five techniques that when used together vastly improve your interviewing and hiring results as proven by changes in our clients patient satisfaction scores.

Behavioral Based Interviewing.

This technique is not new it was created and effectively used during world war ll. This method of interviewing seeks to find actual examples in a candidates past of behavior that models what we’re looking for. The axiom “Past behavior predicts future behavior” is true and by asking detailed questions how a candidate behaved in the past we can predict how they will act in the future. Compare these two interview questions.

1. Are you able to handle very busy periods of high customer demand?

2. Tell me about a time you had a very busy period of high customer demand. What did you do and what was the outcome?

See the difference? One requires only a yes answer and if you’re lucky the candidate might provide some theoretical situational examples. Question two looks for actual demonstrated behavior. Behavioral based questions are a key component to successful hiring.

Values based interviewing.

Yes you can find qualified candidates who match your company culture but only if you ask questions geared towards revealing those traits. Are you looking for someone who has integrity, then ask questions that reveal this as a past behavior. Example question “Tell me about a time when you did what you know to be right regardless of the consequence”. This question looks for both past behavior and values in the response.

Validated Interview Questions.

Are you wasting time asking questions that are unrelated to the job at hand? Do you know which job attributes are most important? A validated interview question simply means you’ve taken the time to ask current job incumbents what skills and qualities matter most in performing their job. For example, analytical reasoning skills may not be as important to a waiter/waitress as they are to a lab technician. When you have a consistent list of candidate desired attributes for each position then you can structure questions around that list. This also allows multiple interviewers to ask related questions from different points of view and to compare notes after the interview is completed.

Peer Interviewing.

Peer interviewing consists of hiring teams such as a manager, a peer, and a representative from HR. Peers are not only involved in the interview process but also participate in making the hiring decision. When all members of this team are using structured questions designed to find not only technical competency but match to company values and focused on the key attributes of the position you will experience much better hiring results. Precaution; avoid legal issues by making sure your peers are familiar with which questions they can and can’t ask. Important, only use A players on the peer interviewing team, they are the ones who are living the company values whereas C players tend to hire other C players.

Using prepared interview guides.

An interview guide is a printed multipage document with interviewer tips, prepared questions, and space for writing notes. Not only does an interview guide help the flow and timing of an interview, but it also helps to organize one’s thoughts afterwards and aids in candidate comparison as well as the overall perceived fairness of the process.

In Summary: The recipe for a powerful change to your candidate selection results is:

Using Behavioral Based Interviewing Questions.
Using peers who are also A players.
Including values based questions.
Using validated attributes for each position.
Using prepared interview guides

Wouldn’t it be nice if a company saved you time by providing the above ready-made resources to help you?

Well here it is endorsed by Dr. Charles Denham and Ann Rhoades, eCAREPix is a new online company providing a values-based, behavioral based, validated attribute interview product directed towards hospitals and the health care industry. Of course many of the positions will have overlap in other industries. Their end product is a well prepared interview guide along with online training and video. They have done the work of validating hospital positions key attributes through extensive work with real hospitals, and they include an online training course to get any member of your team up to speed fast. The training covers the what, why, and how of behavioral interviewing and teaches interview skills that even pros can learn from. It also covers legal compliance for peers new to interviewing. Online testing is included which contributes to understanding of concepts along the way. eCAREPix is an affordable and easy tool for making a difference in your hiring outcomes.

Posted in Interview techniques, product recommendations | Tagged Hire A players | 2 Comments

Psychology At Work-Happy Employees Give Better Customer Service

Posted on November 1, 2012 by peopleink

By Alexa Thompson. (Alexa writes for an online psychology resource providing prospective students and professionals with useful information about the study of psychology.)

Employees give what they receive.

Businesses understand what good customer service is but are sometimes disappointed when delivery of a product or service is combined with poor employee attitudes. Clearly customer service training and expertise is important in delivering a positive customer experience but how does the environment employees work in affect customer service? Is it reasonable to expect employees to provide a great customer experience when their managers are disgruntled or working conditions are tough? Businesses who want more than just a warm body to provide customer service might look at how internal company management affects employee attitudes and end customer outcomes.

One theory proposed by Alexander Kjerulf is, “Happy employees make the customers happy”. Alexander is a lecturer and consultant on happiness at work and author of Happy Hour is 9 to 5. He told Executive Travel magazine. “Studies show very clearly that when employees like their jobs, customers get better service and are more satisfied.” The correlation makes sense when considering that employees are usually seen as the face of the company. A worker who is happy and engaged projects positivity, which customers can usually detect. Someone who is negative, or even just disaffected, can just as easily turn customers away.

According to The Business Research Lab website “The link between employee attitude and customer satisfaction can be seen both in quantitative studies and in everyday life”. In their article exploring the connection between customer service quality and overall company success, “Think back to the last sour experience you had with a person who was servicing you,” … “At the very least, you probably will not recommend an organization whose employees have mistreated you.” The flip-side is also true. Extraordinary customer service, or even just the age-old “service with a smile,” can lift shoppers’ moods. This can encourage them to spend, as well as come back, usually telling their friends and praising their experiences in social circles.

Actually putting numbers behind the correlation is challenging. A 2011 University of Missouri is one of the most recent large-scale efforts to attempt quantification, and it turned up a number of encouraging findings. The study focused on a European franchise spanning 300 stores, nearly 1,000 employees, and over 20,000 regular customers. Their findings?

Stores that invested in employee happiness saw a marked improvement in repeat customers and reports of brand satisfaction over stores that focused primarily on the bottom line.

“The link between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is almost twice as strong when you have high employee satisfaction compared to when they are not satisfied with their jobs,” Christopher Groening, one of the study’s authors, told Psych Central. “This double-positive finding stands in contrast to the idea that a firm can neglect to satisfy their employees as long as they pursue customer satisfaction,” he said.

Satisfying employees can be harder than it looks. Promoting teamwork, establishing a positive atmosphere of open communication, and ensuring that all employees feel valued is part of the calculus. In most cases, though, executives must focus on more than simply the sales staff. Yes, customer service personnel are usually in the best position to influence customer choices—but they, in turn, are often most influenced by corporate culture higher up the ladder. Instilling a spirit of positivity in managers and top leaders is often one of the best ways to boost the well-being of sales staff. Investing in staff usually translates to an investment in customers, which is almost always worth the cost.

Posted in Customer Loyalty | Tagged customer satisfaction | 1 Comment

5 Steps to Creating a Values-Rich Organizational Culture

Posted on October 10, 2012 by peopleink

by Ann Rhoades

Instilling values requires more than writing on the wall.

Just by looking at the behavior of leaders, you can tell what the values of a company really are. And all too often, those lived values bear almost no resemblance to the stated values — those lofty statements painted on the walls or sanctified in a mission statement. Many leaders want to believe that all they need to do is proclaim a set of values, and culture will magically change, but that does nothing to retool the actual values that inspire the day-to-day actions of employees on the front line.

The key is identifying your best employees – your “A Players” – and spread their values throughout the organization by hiring people who share those values and motivating all employees to live those values every day. We call this the “Values Blueprint” method of changing culture. Single departments and work groups can also use this to create islands of excellence, even if top leaders are not ready to buy in.

Image courtesy of supakitmod / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I have found that five fundamental principles inform every successful values-based organizational culture change:

You can’t force culture. You can only create environment. A culture is the culmination of the leadership, values, language, people processes, rules and other conditions, good or bad, within the organization. However, leaders cannot “create culture change,” even if it is badly needed; they can only create the right conditions for it to arise.

You are on the outside what you are on the inside. What many leaders don’t understand, except perhaps intellectually, is that you cannot create a great customer service organization if you treat employees badly. You can’t force people to smile and treat customers well, especially when they feel ill-used themselves. Not surprisingly, those organizations that do customer service best also treat their employees best.

Success is doing the right things the right way. One of the best reasons for redefining corporate values is that well-defined values can help you — and your employees — make better decisions. In values-rich companies, most decisions about customer service can be made by front-line employees. A win there is a happy customer who did not have to speak to a supervisor. By defining your values and the behaviors based on them, you also simplify the task of day-to-day decision-making: “Does that make sense in light of our values?” is all you or your employees have to ask yourselves.

People do exactly what they are incented to do. Your values will be perceived as hollow and meaningless unless you base compensation and rewards on expressions of the behaviors that go along with the values. Hiring methods, too, must be revised to select people who already possess the values important to you. You must be courageous enough to fire those who don’t. Even long-time employees. Even executives. Otherwise, they will render your ideal culture impossible.

Input = Output. Organizations will only get out of something what they are willing to put into it. Values maintenance — what we call continuous improvement — is as important as values creation. In other words, you are never fully “done” with culture change; you must be vigilant that no one backslides into old ways.

The results you want can be built on shared, strategic values and financial responsibility. Companies can do worse than emulate JetBlue and Southwest. Both companies have achieved strong financial results because we created values-rich cultures that encouraged all employees to contribute to their financial success — and have fun.

Posted in Corporate Culture, Organizational Culture, Values-centric culture, Values-centric leadership | Tagged culture change, organizational values, principles | 1 Comment

A Customer Service Culture-Congratulations to JetBlue Airways Award

Posted on June 14, 2012 by peopleink

Congratulations jet Blue on another customer service award.

Below is a June 13th letter from David Barger of JetBlue Airways informing crew members of the eighth consecutive J.D. Powers award for highest customer satisfaction.

JetBlue continues to astound.

If your looking for an example of how organizational culture can drive performance & customer satisfaction, look at JetBlue Airways. Continue reading →

Posted in Best Companies, JetBlue | 1 Comment

Built On Values-Candidate for 2011 Book Award

Posted on December 29, 2011 by peopleink

Ann Rhoades’ Book on Organizational Culture becomes an Award Candidate

Thanks to everyone who has purchased the book Built On Values-Creating an enviable culture that outperforms the competition by Ann Rhoades. People Ink has received positive feedback from business leaders, companies, and clients about the value and usefulness of the book. It is now a candidate for the 2011 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards. Nominees for the the 2011 awards are posted here

The winning books, authors, and publishers from the categories of Marketing and Sales, General Business, Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Finance and Economics, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Management, and Personal Development will be announced in January 2012. Continue reading →

Posted in Ann Rhoades, Book Reviews, Organizational Culture | Tagged announcements, Book, built on values | 1 Comment

Values-Based Culture The New Hot Topic in Business Management?

Posted on October 7, 2011 by peopleink

Values Based Leadership and Cultures Based Upon Values is now apparently Hot.

A recent online article by The Economist Magazine reports that Walmart is trying to instill a “Values-Based” organizational culture. Congratulations. If you need help please call us

“AS WALMART grew into the world’s largest retailer, its staff were subjected to a long list of dos and don’ts covering every aspect of their work. Now the firm has decided that its rules-based culture is too inflexible to cope with the challenges of globalisation and technological change, and is trying to instil a “values-based” culture, in which employees can be trusted to do the right thing because they know what the firm stands for.” source The Economist Magazine Continue reading →

Posted in Organizational Culture, Values-based leadership, Values-centric culture | Tagged organizational values, Values-based leadership | 3 Comments

Employee Engagement Starts by Hiring “A” Players.

Posted on August 4, 2011 by peopleink

Gayle Watson, V.P. Of People Ink answers questions about employee engagement and organizational culture.

Employee Engagement and Management Practices.

Question: Lately I’ve been reading about employee engagement at work and strategies to help promote employee engagement. To me some employees seem more motivated about doing a good job and it’s not really a management issue. Do you think an engaged workforce is up to management or is it that some people are just more engaged because of the innate personal qualities they have such as integrity?

“Fundamentally, you have to have the right people working for you”

Gayle: Well, it’s both, but most importantly employee engagement comes down to hiring the right people, the people that reflect the Values of your organization. Of course you can do things to reinforce employee engagement, but fundamentally you have to have the right people and if you don’t have the right people, then you won’t be able to engage them. There is a saying, that you can teach a squirrel to fly, but it’s easier to hire the eagle. Continue reading →

Posted in Employee Engagement, Hiring Model, Organizational Culture | Tagged Behavioral interviewing, Hire A players, Hiring Model, Interviewing | Leave a comment

Defining Your Organization’s Values-A Step towards Intentional Workplace Culture

Posted on May 6, 2011 by peopleink

We recently received this question from a reader:

“I have a quick question…. I am working with a client to define “values.” Bought your book and discovered that the Values Team is doing much of what you suggest, which is nice to learn! However, we are getting very hung up on what is a value, vs. a strategy. I don’t find any distinguishing definitions in the book. Any help?”

What are Organizational Values?

This is a great question and one we get asked frequently when we are facilitating Values Blueprint® Workshops. Organizational Values are those beliefs held so strongly that they drive people’s behavior and dictate how people interact with and treat each other. Values, together with their defined Behaviors, set the minimum expectation of behavior for everyone in your organization, and help to lay the ground work for your company’s culture. We call this set of Values and Behaviors a Values Blueprint®. If your organization has been working on its culture for some time, then all employees should be able to state your organization’s Values and describe the Behavior that is expected of them.

Continue reading →

Posted in Corporate Values | Tagged Define Your Values, organizational values | 2 Comments