Why Good Company Values Make Happy Employees

Why Good Company Values Make Happy EmployeesWhy Good Company Values Make Happy EmployeesHow would your employees rate their level of job satisfaction? Learn how your company values can make all the difference in keeping your workforce motivated and successful.We often think of organizational values as lofty concepts that apply to the company at a high level, acting as a moral compass and guiding your business strategy. And while thats true, they also play another equally important role boosting the happiness of your individual employees.Every member of your team, from top to bottom, should be on board with your values. Heres why.Its All in the ScienceFirst, lets take a look at the reward ordnungsprinzip in the brain. According to research by Stanford neuroscientist Jamil Zaki, we respond positively when we share values with the rest of our social group. In one experiment, people who were told that their opinions were the saatkorn as the rest of their assigned group experienced a rewa rd response in their brains.And those who disagreed with the group? They showed negative activity in the brain region for reward - and later, they made an effort to be more like the group and to establish a social connection.It doesnt matter what the opinion is what matters is knowing that yours agrees with the one held by the rest of your group. For example, we usually consider money a reward, right? But in one experiment, people were put in a situation where getting money would hurt their social connections. What happened? Their brains reward response to money went down.When we start thinking about the workforce, the connection is clear. Employees can spend more than half of their waking hours at work, so their colleagues make up an important social group - maybe the fruchtwein important one outside of family. Being in agreement with that group feeds the brains reward response. And one of the most important ways they can agree is over workplace values.When Values Are in HarmonyL ets take a look at real-life examples. In our Industry Ranking Report, we asked employees to rate their workplace happiness. The industry that averaged the highest happiness scores was Construction Facilities Services, beating out industries like Technology Software and Media Entertainment.Heres what employees in the Construction Facilities Services industry said about their companys valuesOne of the most satisfying things about working here is the close alignment of the company values to my own. That my peers overwhelmingly share the same values is icing on the cake.I share the values of the company in my personal life. That is one of the things that makes it very easy to love working here.While many factors contribute to employee happiness, theres a clear message in these responses sharing individual and company values makes everything even better. It boosts workers satisfaction with both the company and their colleagues.Out of Tune With the CompanyIn contrast, if an employee is already feeling dissatisfied at work, a clash of values can make things worse. Lets take a look at some responses from employees in the industries that averaged the lowest happiness scoresI value quality and work ethic, where it seems all that matters here is the hours.The values of the organization are aligned with complacency. Id like this place to stand for something more than average day-to-day busy work.I think that the companys values are, at times, confused. The practice doesnt always match what is preached. A lot is said about integrity, decency and professionalism, but this is not always visible in day-to-day working practice.These employees clearly wish their companies values matched their own (or at least didnt contradict them). For example, in the first quote, the problem isnt just the fact that the company demands a lot of hours its how this undermines the employees values.Companies cant ignore the impact that values have on workplace happiness. A business move that is a small problem for an employee can get much bigger if the employee and company fundamentally disagree on what their guiding motivations should be.If you want a happy workforce, then make the company values part of the equation. Recruit and hire employees who embody the same values in their work. This is just as vital as making sure a candidate has the right skills listed on their resume. Being aligned with the companys higher goals will mean that theyre more than a cog in the machine, and its that kind of investment that will get them engaged and ready to go the extra mile at work.What role do workplace values play in motivating your team?Dora Wang is a content marketing specialist at TINYpulse who writes and researches about ways to make employees happier. Having grown up in Texas, she is now firmly settled in Seattle, where she spends her free time reading comic books, wrangling her three cats and (of course) rooting for the Seahawks.Related ArticlesSure-Fire Ways to Boost Emp loyee Job SatisfactionWhy You Should Worry About Employee Motivation

Best Jobs If You Want A Flexible Schedule

Best Jobs If You Want A Flexible ScheduleBest Jobs If You Want A Flexible ScheduleAccepting a contract position can be the perfect solution when you need flexibility or immediate income. Working on a contract basis can also be a helpful option when you are not koranvers which route you want to take professionally and you want to try a couple options to see what suits you. Contract jobs frequently offer competitive pay rates, but unless you are in the medical field you will find that few offer benefits. Contract or consulting work is a great way to take on side or seasonal jobs, to ease your way into a new locality or to create a more flexible schedule to juggle the needs of child or family care. Telecommuting has made contract work an even more available and attractive option because for some jobs, contractors dont even need to be in the same regions as their organizations.Contractors need to be aware of their tax status because there are a variety of ways that contract workers get p aid. You need to know whether your employer is deducting funds to cover what you owe for state and federal taxes (through a W-2 form) or whether the onus is on you to do that bookkeeping and pay your taxes at the end of the year (on a 1099 form). Whatever setup your employer uses, know your responsibility going into it so that you dont get blindsided by an unexpected bill at the end of the year. The IRS offers guidelines to clarify your obligations.Registered NursesOne core benefit of a nursing degree is that nurses are in demand across the country. Its no surprise that there is also a widespread need for contract nurses. Traveling nursing are contractors who visit patients in a wide sortiment of settings. They may spend some of their time at a particular hospital and also pick up some hours at patients homes or perhaps at a facility such as a nursing home or even a prison. There are also contract nurses who may take on assignments such as a three-month stint as a hospital or a nine -month gig as a school nurse. Unlike other contract jobs, contract nursing positions frequently come with attractive medical benefits packages, 401K plans, and they may even include housing benefits, and signing bonuses. Number of Jobs 337,000 Average Salary $66,000Registered Nurse jobsSoftware Developer, Applications There are an array of opportunities for professionals with the experience and credentials to work as software developers. Professionals open to filling these roles on a contract basis get the chance to enjoy a hands-on position in a thriving industry without being tied down to a particular company or location. There are scores of opportunities for those interested in working remotely, as well as on-site positions. Most have very competitive salaries, but few offer medical or other benefits. Many postings indicate that the length of the contract is likely to be expanded and some note the possibility that the contract position may lead to a permanent job. Number of Jobs 106,000Average Salary $93,000Software developer jobsBusiness Intelligence AnalystUse your analytical skills and business acumen to help companies create and advance their systems. There are plenty of opportunities to join teams that are doing exciting work in a variety of different fields around the U.S. There are a wide sortiment of contract positions available, including stints as brief as three months and positions that are available for five years or longer. Although few positions have benefits, many have opportunities for eventual long-term positions. Number of Jobs 61,000Average Salary $85,000Business intelligence analyst jobsInformation Technology Project ManagerUse your IT management skills to refine and finalize organizations technological infrastructure. Your efforts will have a tremendous impact, and the experience will refine your expertise in this vital field. In addition to consulting positions, there are also contract-to-hire opportunities that may include benefits. Number of Jobs 57,000Average Salary $81,000IT jobsMedical and Health Services ManagerThere are a wide range of responsibilities that come with this role, and all require a seasoned leader who knows the industry and who can quickly engender the trust and support of his or her team. This is one of the few contract positions that is likely to include medical benefits and may also include lodging and bonus pay. Number of Jobs 33,000Average Salary $91,000Healthcare jobsContract work can be liberating and resume-building. It offers consultants an insiders perspective on various companies and builds an interpersonal and professional savvy that is valuable and easily transferable. If you are ready to try your hand as a contractor, there are plenty of opportunities waiting for you.

Corporate Culture

Corporate CultureCorporate CultureOverviewThe phrase corporate cultureis shorthand for the body of formal rules and informal customs that characterize how a given company organizes itself, conducts business and treats its staff. It is perhaps more precise to talk instead about organizational culture, since the same issues pertain to organizations of all sorts, such as nonprofits, governmental agencies, partnerships and sole proprietorships, and leid just to for-profit enterprises that are legally constituted as corporations. See ur article that offers tips for choosing employers, which addresses some of the following aspects of corporate culture from slightly different angles. BureaucracyCompanies that are characterized as bureaucratic tend to have extensive written work rules and procedures, many layers of management, and/or slow decision-making processes, with multiple approvals and sign-offs required to move ahead on a typical business initiative. The presence of robust legal, com pliance, internal audit and/or risk management departments and systems is often an indication of a bureaucratic corporate culture. Chain of CommandIn corporate cultures that enforce military-style chains of command, employees typically only have direct dealings with peers, immediate superiors, and immediate subordinates. In large organizations that also have many layers of management, the flow of directives from above and information from below can be very slow, as the chain of command protocol requires multiple hand-offs along the way. This also is bound to result in sluggish reaction times to changing business conditions. Reward StructuresThe correlation between performance and reward in some corporate cultures is rather weak, either because of the problems of measuring employee performance scientifically or because the company does not see an imperative to do so. For instance, in nonprofits, government agencies and regulated utilities, the linkages between employee competence and the organizations financial health often are blurry at best. See our article on designing incentive systems. SenioritySome organizations make seniority, or years of experience, a key factor in determining an employees eligibility for promotion or pay increase. Where such a corporate mindset exists, it normally is not found in formal written rules, but rather in customary practices in dealing with staff. Union contracts typically tie compensation and eligibility for promotion explicitly to seniority. In heavily unionized companies, such a culture also tends to carry over to the treatment of non-union management employees. PaternalismSome corporate cultures take a nurturing approach to employees, seeking to foster long-term employment and stable workforces through generous pay and benefits packages, as well as through a serious commitment to what has come to be called work-life balance issues. Companies with this sort of culture are becoming increasingly rare. More common are compani es that expect their employees to be footloose, and which are comfortable with high employee turnover. Some companies even encourage high turnover, in order to keep wages down and squeeze maximum effort out of eager new recruits, then dispose of them once they are burned out physically and/or emotionally. See our discussion of up or out policies. NepotismStrictly speaking, nepotism consists of favoritism towards relatives. In a looser sense, it also can include favoritism towards friends, friends of relatives and friends of friends. Nepotism can manifest itself in hiring, promotion, pay, work assignments and recognition. That is, the beneficiaries of nepotism may be hired or promoted into positions that they otherwise would not merit had they not possessed the relationship in question. They may receive higher pay and more favorable work assignments than their peers, or be given awards and recognitions that they technically do not deserve. See our articles on entrenched problem emp loyeesand, in a related vein,a political use of an employee survey. To some extent, the existence of nepotism is in the eye of the beholder. The presence of high numbers of related individuals in a given firm or organization is taken as de facto evidence of nepotism by some people. Meanwhile, some companies see no problem with hiring related people, while others view this as a matter of concern. In cases where a work colleague or subordinate is a close relative of a senior executive, working with or managing that person can become a highly sensitive matter. At its worst, nepotism produces incompetence in key positions, and not just in managerial or executive slots. Office Politics Also called organizational politics, corporate politics or workplace politics. Broadly speaking, office politics encompasses the ways in which people wield power and influence in an organization. The phrase typically has negative connotations. When a firm is said to have a highly political culture, that us ually is shorthand for saying that the officially stated goals of the organization actually have become subordinated to personality clashes and private agendas. Among the hallmarks of highly political organizational cultures are Nepotism (see section above)Weak linkages between performance and reward (also see section on reward structures above) Project approvaldependent more on the position and influence of the proponent than on the object merits of the project itselfRampant personal empire building (see section below) Personal Empire BuildingIncreasing the size (as measured by a number of employees, budget, revenues, etc.) of an organization normally results in greater prestige and compensation for the manager or executive who heads it. Accordingly, there often is a political imperative for managers and executives to grow their organizations even if the result actually is harmful to the overall profitability of the firm. Among the means for achieving such growth are through new pr oject proposals and by the lobbying for the takeover of existing departments and functions. See our article that discusses personal empire building in more detail.