This could be the case with your cloud computing rules.

Turns out that the number of employees who are unaware of their employers’ cloud computing policy – or choose to ignore it – is much larger than it should be.

This is according to a recent survey conducted by Symantec. The security firm surveyed 165 IT managers and end users and found far too many users are leaving IT out of the loop when they start using cloud services for work.

Sixty-nine percent of end users admitted to using cloud-based email and communication services against company policy, and 59% admitted to using cloud-based file-sharing software.

Not everyone owned up to it, though — IT reported the percentage of end users “going rogue” is more like 87%-88%.

Other key findings:

• 63% of the employers covered by the survey have policies pertaining to cloud-based email and communication services, 74% have policies pertaining to file-sharing software, and 77% have policies pertaining to cloud-based storage and backup, productivity apps and contact manager apps.
• 76% of the IT workers surveyed said their company monitors whether or not employees comply with the policies, and 81% said employees face real consequences if they don’t.
• However, 55% of the end users surveyed said they didn’t know about any such policies, and 49% were unaware of any consequences for not following them.

The results of another survey, from cloud backup provider Symform, are similar. The company surveyed nearly 500 companies and found:

• 61% are officially “in the Cloud”
• But of those without officially sanctioned cloud services, 65% allow employees to use cloud services on their own as needed, and
• 35% allow employees to put company data in cloud applications.

So while all of the companies in the Symform survey reported using cloud services in some capacity, only 20% have a formal policy to govern cloud usage.

Only part of the solution

Experts think end users who knowingly choose not to follow their employer’s cloud computing policy either don’t fully understand the security risks or they can’t be bothered to obey the rules.

But the point is not whether end users are circumventing IT on purpose or forging ahead on their own unaware that it’s a big deal. The real issues are:

• Not all companies that have cloud computing policies are making end users sign off on them, and
• Many companies lack a cloud computing policy and allow employees to use cloud services without adequate controls in place.

To minimize the risks of data loss, theft or unauthorized access to network resources when using cloud services for work, it’s necessary for IT to:

• Implement a formal cloud computing policy that all employees must sign off on
• Conduct regular training on the policy to drive home the risks of “going rogue”
• Clearly communicate the consequences for violating the cloud computing policy, and
• Actually enforce the policy when employees violate it.

Enter a new process called “Top Quarterly Engagement” that is set up to guarantee managers are constantly in tune with individual employees’ goals, fears and progress.

According to a Gallup study, companies that implement and follow through on Top Quarterly Engagement report 18% higher productivity and 12% higher profitability.

The system is based on management holding individual meetings with each employee once per quarter. These meetings are used to set (or reset) goals, gauge progress, and either congratulate employees on their performance or adjust based on inadequate progress.

Here’s how the process works:

• First quarter: This is the time to meet with individual employees, gauge their performance from the previous year, and set new goals for the year ahead.
• Second quarter: Assess early progress and adjust goals accordingly, developing a solid plan as well as strict follow-up dates and metrics for gauging progress.
• Third quarter: The beginning of the third quarter represents the mid-year checkpoint. If the employee is on target, maintain a steady course. If the employee is far ahead of annual goals, set the bar slightly higher. If the employee is lagging dangerously below goal, consider what measures need to be taken.
• Fourth quarter: The beginning of the fourth quarter is a perfect time to meet with individual reps and motivate them to make a final
  push toward end-of-year goals. The end of the fourth quarter is about publicly congratulating those who have met or exceeded their goals, and reevaluating those who failed to reach their goals.

Repeat this process on an annual basis, and monitor big-picture metrics as well, to measure the overall impact of your engagement system on the company as a whole.

Source: “Six steps to implementing effective performance management,” by Lisa Gillespie, Employee Benefit News, 9/8/11.

1. Present a call to action. A little over a year ago, the COO at Salesforce.com, a CRM solutions company, challenged her front-line managers to increase the average performance level of every employee in their departments by 10%. While Salesforce didn’t quite hit the 10% mark, it did increase the level of performance across the board by 8% – a feat which represented the equivalent of adding 20-25 more employees!

The success story of Salesforce – rendered all the more poignant given the current economy – began with one C-level exec challenging every manager to raise the bar on his or her own department. Once that gauntlet’s been officially thrown down, here are four ways to ensure your call to action achieves some quantifiable measure of success:

Require each supervisor to submit a plan. It’s unrealistic to assume managers are going to boost results by simply “working harder.” Require each of them to submit a plan complete with action steps. Once you’ve approved each plan, add one or more ways you pledge to help that supervisor achieve his/her goal, then have both parties sign off on it.

Set firm follow-up dates. These should be set in stone, and marked on a calendar, so supervisors know exactly when you plan to follow up, and which metrics that meeting will likely focus on.

Adjust for progress (or lack thereof). During every meeting, you may need to adjust primary goals to properly motivate each manager. If someone is well ahead of the goal, congratulate him and consider whether it’s worth raising the bar. If not, scale back so that department is still shooting for an attainable mark.

Create very specific rewards and consequences. In a situation where you’re trying to boost individual performance, personalized rewards would seem to make the most sense. More importantly, make it clear employees who aren’t willing or able to at least show some initiative will have their feet held to the fire. C-level execs who fail to set or follow through on expressed consequences devalue hard-working supervisors, while sending a message that subpar performance is completely acceptable.

2. Develop ‘multipliers’. A recent Wiseman Group study asked employees across the globe to rate how successful their managers were at developing untapped potential. The majority of world-class leaders were ranked as mining 95% of each employee’s true potential, as opposed to 48% for average leaders. These world-class leaders are often referred to as “multipliers” – so-called because of their ability to get more from existing employees rather than increasing department headcount. How do these “multipliers” do what other managers cannot? Two keys:

• They offer consistent training and development to employees at every rank and level of experience.
• They’re always offering staffers something loftier to shoot for, whether it be a promotion, a senior title, a bigger bonus, or a corner office. The bottom line: Employees who work for these managers always feel a sense of ongoing challenge and fulfillment.

3. Solicit regular feedback. One final trait that separates best-in-class leaders from the rest of the pack is their willingness to solicit and act upon employee feedback. Survey your managers (and your customers) at least once a year to determine what your company’s doing well and how it can be of better service. It won’t only make the company more effective, it’ll empower just about everyone else you’ve come to rely on

More than a third of employees feel their managers are largely ineffective, according to a new study by Development Dimensions International (DDI). What’s more? Thirty-seven percent of employees claim they’re rarely motivated to do their best as a result of this dynamic.

Where are managers falling short? And what are the best managers in the business doing to overcome the most common obstacles? Here are the top three pitfalls, as revealed by DDI’s study, along with key strategies for overcoming each of them to achieve breakthrough success:

1. It’s business, not personal. Seventy percent of employees insist their manager fails to remain calm and/or provide constructive criticism when a performance issue arises. In fact, only 40% of staffers are able to report their bosses never damages their self-esteem. While it may be difficult to keep your emotions in check at all times, here are three constructive strategies to keep in mind when dealing with a performance issue:

• Praise in public, criticize in private. In a lot of cases, it’s not so much what the manager says, but when and where it’s said that makes the difference. Always keep your comments positive on the office floor. If an issue does arise, schedule time to discuss the problem one-on-one, and always leave the meeting on a positive note.
• Always lead with recognition. This lets employees know you’re in their corner, and you appreciate all the hard work they’re doing. Once it’s clear the two of you are on the same page, it’s much easier to discuss any concerns or opportunities for improvement.
• Empower the employee by enlisting his/her help. It’s an age-old tactic, but it still works wonders. If a veteran staffer is setting a poor example, mention that you “really need [his/her] help” with something. This way, the employee feels like a leader in the office rather than a delinquent charge, and the request sounds more like a solemn plea than a blanket indictment.

2. Feedback is a two-way street. More than half of employees felt their managers fell short in terms of understanding their needs, or soliciting feedback about what might help them do their jobs more effectively.

An equal number of respondents felt management made little or no effort to provide consistent feedback about what staffers were doing well and where they saw areas of opportunity. Best-in-class managers avoid this type of disconnect by ensuring they gain actionable feedback via:

• Quarterly email surveys. These gauge the manager’s effectiveness in a variety of skill areas, while encouraging employees to provide pointed, anonymous criticism regarding any and all obstacles distracting from the task at hand.
• Monthly coaching sessions. These should be obligatory meetings, during which management focuses on sharpening one fundamental skill, while allowing employees a venue for discussing any grievances they might have.
• Quarterly reviews. More than 75% of employees agree managers only feel compelled to give or receive feedback during annual reviews. Going through the review process quarterly allows both parties to address key issues before they evolve into major problems.

3. Avoid playing favorites. The third major obstacle cited in DDI’s study was management catering to a few marquee players, while ignoring the rest of the pack. While it’s true 80% of productivity generally comes from the top 20% of employees, management’s constant goal should be to help each staffer increase his or her contribution. Consider it this way: If every employee improves his or her results by as little as 5%, you’ll have a happier, more driven team, and the company’ll see a significant jump in productivity.

Seventy-five percent of working adults say the worst – and most stressful – aspect of their job is their immediate boss. This according to compound research by renowned business psychologist Robert Hogan, who recently presented his findings for the American Psychological Association.

What’s more? The World Health Organization estimates the annual cost of workplace stress due to overbearing management is well over $300 billion nationwide.

The largest contributing factor to this dynamic is the fairly recent push for each manager to achieve greater productivity with fewer resources. From a management perspective, the key is keeping employees from feeling as if there’s no end to their constant, overwhelming workload.

A few proven strategies:

• Reward them by providing a break from that workload. Motivate staffers by allowing them a day off or an opportunity to leave early once they’ve met agreed-upon goals.
• Take something off their plates. Whenever possible, reallocate low-priority tasks to either new recruits, interns or admins. It’ll empower new employees while easing the burden on veterans.
• Recognize hard work. One of the biggest frustrations for hard-working employees is feeling like their increased contribution is being taken for granted.
• Step in and lend a hand. Take an active role in employee projects, engage employees and ask for constant feedback. Focus on good-will gestures that let them know you’re there as a constant advocate, working on their behalf.

Sure, employees want a fair wage and good benefits. But they want more than that to be satisfied and happy at work. And those who are satisfied tend to get higher marks from customers for the quality of service.

Where they want to be and go

According to research by staffing expert and TalentKeepers CEO Christopher Mulligan, employees want:

• Credible leadership. Employees want to work for leaders whom they see as smart, skilled, accessible and compassionate. That’s why everyone isn’t cut out for leadership. Many are smart and skilled, but don’t have the softer skills. Some who are compassionate may be too friendly to lead. Before getting promoted, potential leaders should be assessed for all four criteria.
• Support of co-workers. Studies show that people who have friends and a group of supporters at work are more effective and loyal. Team performance should be a part of individuals’ goals. Then they’ll be compelled to make group dynamics work. Plus, leaders want to give employees time to socialize so they build camaraderie.
• Career satisfaction. As much as employees like their current positions, they still want to know there are other places to go within the company – even if they never take that career path. The best bet is to manage to employees’ strengths: Get them involved in the kind of work they enjoy most. Introduce them to new challenges regularly.
• A position in a high-performing company. Employees want to be part of a winning organization. They’ll raise their performance when they know how it affects the company’s overall success. Regularly update them on the company’s successes and where it’s headed next.

For more, see “Treat Agents Well: Service Thrives On Engaged Employees.”

With all of these tests using distinctive approaches, it’s nearly impossible for the 30% of organizations that use these tests for hiring to be certain they’re actually making the right choices.

Based on the hundreds of companies Cracking the Personality Code co-author Dana Borowka has worked with – helping them improve their hiring process – he suggests these four personality test strategies to zero in on the best possible candidates on the market:

1. Have your existing employees take the test as well. A lot of managers use recruiting tests to determine whether a candidate would be a decent fit for their organization. But it defeats the purpose of doing so, if you don’t know what motivates and engages your existing staffers. Ask your existing people to take the test so you can get a reliable baseline on which candidates share the same values.
2. Analyze career activity interests. Research shows that managers traditionally place more emphasis on personality responses on these tests than they do a candidate’s career goals and interests. These responses might provide a sense of whether the candidate has real ambition, skills and potential.
3. Assess weaknesses. Knowing a candidate’s weaknesses helps a manager gauge whether the recruit’ll be an effective salesperson.
4. Take note of how they respond to tests. Comprehensive personality tests generally include a section where they ask candidates to rate how they respond to tests. This may provide a sense of whether an otherwise great recruit just doesn’t test well.

Source: “4 ways to hire better sales personalities,” by Tom Searcy, The Sales Machine Blog, CBS.com

In his book Profits Aren’t Everything (They’re the Only Thing), business expert George Cloutier reinforces one basic premise time and time again –  the bottom line speaks the loudest.  Cloutier, a consultant who BusinessWeek once dubbed the “Turnaround Ace,” offers these five rules for turning excuses into profits:

1. Live and die by an “official plan”: Have a set of precise goals and a step-by-step plan for achieving each of those goals. Constantly gauge employees’ progress (as well as your own) and adjust to meet each goal on time.
2. Develop a performance-based compensation plan: Update your comp so employees are amply rewarded (or penalized) based on how much value they bring to the organization. Offering generous base salaries based solely on experience or past achievement gives staffers an excuse to rest on their laurels. It also breeds resentment among the ranks. When employees are paid more based on performance, they become highly motivated to achieve their goals.
3. Delegate, delegate, delegate: Make a list of responsibilities you can delegate and pass them on to senior members of your team. Giving employees more responsibility empowers them, and it frees you up to deal with big-picture issues.
4. Measure success by profit margins: Ultimately, managers have one objective – help the company increase its profitability. If you’re not accomplishing that, no other metric really matters.
5. Take full accountability: Whether it’s the economy, price or competition, great leaders pinpoint the problem, develop a solution, and rally their troops onward to victory.

“I would see what I wanted to accomplish. Let’s say I saw from A to F, but I would forget to tell everyone what F was and what the steps were for getting there. I was a bull in a china shop … Fortunately, I had people working on the team who were not shy. And they called a team meeting and sat me down and said: “We know you’re full of energy and passion. But you’re not telling us what you want and you’re not telling us how you think we should get there and why, and you’re doing a bad job and we’re not happy working for you.”

Regarding her reaction to such criticism, Fields recalled: “I was lucky to have had that experience so early on, that someone could say, ‘You have to articulate. You have to tell people what you want. You have to have a reason why, and you can’t operate as an island.’”

Fields further claimed that experience taught her the value of a truth-telling environment where employees are encouraged to share their insights, feedback and feelings. In that spirit, to this day when an employee comes to Fields with a legitimate concern, she gathers the team to discuss it as a group and come up with a viable solution moving forward.

Source: “Valuing Those Who Tell You the Bitter Truth,” by Adam Bryant, New York Times, 10/2/11.

1. Map out an agenda: Over time, it becomes easy to assume you can just walk into a meeting and play it by ear. But the reality is, that’s a surefire way to steer the meeting off-track. Take some time before the meeting to determine what your specific goals are, how you’ll incorporate the central message in a meaningful way, and what — if anything — you expect employees to do differently as a result of the meeting.
2. Set a strict time limit: One of the reasons employees become frustrated with long meetings is that they’re tiresome, and they tend to take them away from what they need to be doing. With that in mind, let it be known meetings will never go past a certain time limit and bring a stop watch or timer with you to ensure the meeting doesn’t exceed that limit.
3. Be sure to begin and end the meeting with praise: It sets a positive tone as they enter and exit the conference room.
4. Make sure everyone has a role to play: It’s not necessary for everyone in the room to make a speech or rise to the pulpit, but it is essential to find a way to engage them, whether that means asking good questions or encouraging them to participate in some other way. The bottom line is that the more engaged staffers are, the more the message tends to resonate.
5. Use incentives to maximize attendance: The most popular incentive is food. A lot of managers give their weekly meetings catchy names like the Monday morning bagel breakfast or lunch-n-learn. The key is to ensure employees show up for the meeting on time by telling them they can only cash in on the free food if they show up for the meeting before a certain time. You can also tease the meeting by telling employees you’ll be making a major announcement, or telling them they can leave a half hour early on Friday provided they’re on time for the weekly/monthly meeting.
6. Use visuals to reinforce the point: PowerPoint is a great resource for departmental meetings, as are charts and graphs that reinforce what you’re saying. If you can incorporate videos as an additional training resource, it’ll provide yet another medium for getting your point across.
7. Rotate moderators/Invite a guest speaker: Employees tire of hearing the same buzzwords and catch phrases from the same department head. Mix things up by having a different exec or employee lead each meeting. You may even want to bring in a loyal customer, or perhaps even a well-known name in the industry to provide a fresh perspective on an age-old topic.
8. Include a call to action: Give employees a mission to accomplish after they leave the meeting. Let them know when and how you plan to follow up. It gives them ample reason to listen to what’s being said and increases the chance they’ll take the central message to heart long after the meeting is over.
9. Have someone take minutes of the meeting and email them to all attendees: This way they have a series of bullet points that break down key takeways, which they can either print out or reference any time they like.
10. Ask for honest feedback after the fact: This is one way to determine whether the meeting was valuable from an employee’s perspective. 

The majority of managers at Fortune 1,000 companies never become effective leaders, according to a ConceptReserve study.

Why not? Well, the largest contributing factor is the fact that 50% of managers who are promoted from within still feel a constant pressure to fulfill the duties of an everyday employee, in addition to their new role – a reality which isn’t only distracting, it also makes them feel overwhelmed and reluctant to delegate tasks to others.

Here are the top five misconceptions that cause managers to think that way:

1. “Being a great player will translate into me being a great coach”: Being a top performer may cause other employees to respect your ability, but successful leaders need to place more emphasis on big-picture initiatives that have a more significant overall impact (e.g., New ways to attract prospects, tap into new markets or increase annual revenue, etc.).
2. “It’s not my problem”: Front-line employees are generally responsible for their own results, and no one else’s. As a leader, you may not create the obstacles, but it’s ultimately up to you to come up with effective strategies for dealing with them.
3. “The people I manage are just like me”: It’s often said that the toughest part of being an effective leader is managing a wide array of personalities. Rather than try to change people, great leaders work to understand what motivates them, using that as a means of inspiring them to do great things.
4. “Great employees don’t need my help.”: In most departments, 80% of productivity is the direct result of 20% of that department’s top staffers. Top managers spend the bulk of their time keeping those employees motivated and on top of their game, rather than focusing all their efforts on chronic low-performers who have very little impact on the bottom line.
5. “Being an expert is the key to winning respect”: There once was a manager who said to his mentor, “Every day I tell employees what they need to do to be successful, but nobody ever listens to a word I say.” The mentor replied, “Instead of telling them, why not ask where they feel they have the most opportunity for improvement and then ask how you can help.”

There are intricacies to every situation, but here are two common ways good managers make the transition into great leaders:

1. Develop and delegate: In most organizations, there’s pressure from upstairs for the manager to take on too much (and/or still perform the duties of a salesperson). Great leaders create new roles that energize employees by making them feel like they’re moving up in the organization. Managers can delegate tasks like training and development to those salespeople, which frees up more time for the manager to focus on big-picture initiatives.
2. Relinquish some control: Most managers are unwilling to trust others to handle what they view as their responsibility. Here’s a great way to overcome that: Choose two responsibilities for veteran employees to handle. Once you see how much more successful you can be by building a management team around you, the more apt (and motivated) you’ll be to getting others involved.

Most business leaders are well aware of how much it costs to keep an IT team going. But slashing the technology budget can have nasty consequences for productivity and competitive edge. What to do?

Figure out how to cut the IT budget without hurting service. And there’s a way to do it.

The only thing that costs more than all that hardware and software your IT group buys are the salaries it takes to keep everything they purchase running right.

Many organization’s are anxious to hold the line on IT pay and, luckily, there’s a no-cost benefit many IT workers want more than money: the ability to telecommute.

In fact, 35% of IT employees said they’d give up a full 10% of their salary for the chance to work from home full-time, according to a recent survey from IT job board Dice.com.

Roughly the same number of people (36%) wouldn’t make the trade. The rest of the folks already telecommute, or were unemployed and said they’d accept any job.

Telecommuting is a rare but valuable benefit for IT pros, according to Dice — less than 1% of the jobs currently posted on the site list working from home as an option.

But offering it to IT workers on a full- or part-time basis can raise morale among current employees, as well as set your company apart from the competition when it comes to hiring new workers.

Research shows that in an eight-hour day, the very most you can expect is about five hours of productivity from computer users.

Now there’s a way to find out exactly how much time with the computer means actual work is being done. But makers of user monitoring software caution against adopting it for “big brother” style oversight or surveillance.

The designers of this kind of tracking software usually got their start in developing applications that helped consultants or contractors keep tabs on their time for billing. It was only later that companies opted to use it to help workers find the black holes their time fell into.

But rather than using one of these products to secretly spy on workers and what they’re doing on their computer throughout the workday, experts recommend implementing the software to help employees understand how best to use their time. Many will be surprised at how little actual work they do in the average day. The software cannot only help workers manage their online time, but it can also show managers how close tasks and projects are to completion without having to interrupt workers.

Using the software, employees can also see feedback from managers as they complete tasks, which has proven popular with companies that have a far-flung workforce, including the growing legions of teleworkers.

Makers of this kind of software plan future integration of its capability with project management applications such as Microsoft Project. Some of these applications have a free trial versions you can sample. For examples of these apps, have your IT team check out RWorks and RWave.

A survey, conducted by the MBA Career Services Council, revealed 81% of business school officials believe MBA internships will increase this summer, based on early indications they’ve seen.

That’s a 20% increase over last year, when only 60% of officials were optimistic about intern opportunities for MBA students.

More importantly, it signals an important shift where companies are once again looking to hire young, reliable employees wh0 won’t break the budget. This may be a great time to either see if your company qualifies for an internship program or start actively pursuing top recruits at college job fairs and recruitment centers.

More than 60% of business schools have already reported an increase in hiring activity at their on-campus job centers.  To put that in perspective, last year at this point, 79% of schools were reporting a considerable decline in job postings and intern possibilities.

Source: “2011 MBA Job Outlook Bright,” by Alison Damast, BusinessWeek, 1/13/11.

“Organizations that create multiple, flexible pathways to success will keep their best people, keep them engaged, and keep them longer.”

So says Harvard Business Review’s Susan David.

As Co-Director for the Harvard Institute of Coaching, David’s gained a great deal of expertise regarding how to train and develop employees into senior positions.

In a recent interview with one of the Harvard Business Review‘s bloggers, David shared these three tips for determining which employees should be promoted into management, and which ones are better left right where they are (we’ve provided our own commentary along with each one):

1. Gather feedback from multiple sources: You may believe a specific employee has true leadership potential. But it’s not you that person will be responsible for leading. That’s why it’s essential to gather honest feedback from key staffers regarding your potential candidate. If it’s clear most employees won’t accept (or respect) that person’s leadership, you may need to reconsider your choice.
2. Seek out candidates who WANT to take on more: Some employees would prefer to simply go about their business without any need for promotions or other distractions. Take note of which employees are constantly volunteering to take on more, as well as who’s least likely to put up a fight whenever it becomes necessary to implement change.
3. Make sure the candidate endorses the company’s mission and values: Seek out employees who not only share the company’s vision, but yours as well. The last thing you want is a subversive manager who’s undermining your authority at every turn. Avoid promoting top perfomers unless they have the ability and desire to move into management. Otherwise, you could wind up losing some of your best employees shortly after you’ve promoted them into management.

Source: “When to Reward Employees with More Responsibility & Money,” by Amy Gallo, Harvard Business Review Blog.

Companies that avoid (or, at the very least, minimize) the risk of viral attacks do so by taking proactive measures before a problem arises. A few simple precautions can help your company save significant amounts of time and money (not to mention any breach of confidential files, etc.)

Three steps you can take right now to significantly decrease your risk of exposure:

1. Back up everything on your system (and make sure employees do the same): No matter how well your servers are protected, there’s really no way to guarantee your system won’t crash, or someone’s personal PC won’t fall into a river, or a major storm won’t knock out the power. The point is, you need to make sure everything is backed up, not only at another location on your internal servers, but also on some type of external hard drive where those files won’t be in danger, should your company’s server go down. For increased protection, equip every one of your employees with a personal thumb drive, and make it a company policy that once a quarter, they need to take a few minutes to upload any new files.
2. Install antivirus software (It’s free): There are tons of antivirus software programs out there, and a lot of them are offered as free downloads (e.g., AVG provides a free download of reliable antivirus software for any system that operates using Windows). A lot of computer viruses operate like cancers, slowly (or in some cases, very quickly) spreading to every nook and cranny until the hard drive is completely unresponsive. Send an email once a month, reminding employees to run a quick scan before they start their week. They’ll catch a lot of viruses that fly under the radar, slowly revealing themselves through slower running systems and other system failures.
3. Bring PCs in for regular check-ups: Partner with IT to ensure every computer in your department receives regularly scheduled tuneups, during which IT pros can update operating systems, flag any problems, and suggest ways for employees to streamline their operating systems so things run more smoothly.

Preventative maintenance is the key. The time you spend taking proactive measures is nothing compared to the hours of lost work (not to mention privileged info) you risk by leaving your operating system open to threats.

Source: “Resolved: How to Keep Your Computer Safe, Clean, and Backed Up in 2011,” by Adam Dachis, Lifehacker, 1/3/11.

The annual study, conducted by the Conference Board for the past 20 years, seeks to measure job satisfaction across all industries in this country.

The bad news: Employee satisfaction levels have continued to drop consistently over the past several years.

In 2009, only 45% of Americans claimed they were satisfied with their jobs. That’s the lowest level in the history of the Conference Board’s annual study. While this years results have yet to be tabulated, anecdotal evidence suggests that percentage could increase even more.

Why do employee engagement continue to drop? Here are five contributing factors:

1. The economic crisis: Most employees have been asked to take on additional responsibility over the past three years, with little or no opportunity for advancement or a salary increase.
2. Management’s failure to acknowledge low morale: On top of mounting responsibilities, many employees feel as if they now have an adversarial relationship with management.
3. The overwhelming rise of big business: As big-name corporations continue to swallow small business owners whole, more and more mid-level employees tend to feel like cattle – slogging away day in and day out for a corporation that continues to profit, despite the fact they have little or no stake in the company’s direction.
4. Fear of being laid off/fired: With unemployment rates so high, most employees have switched gears, settling into a mode where they simply do as they’re told and keep their gripes to themselves. Unfortunately, once the economic clouds begin to part, more than a third of employees have already confirmed they look forward to testing the job market.
5. Lack of new challenges: With the majority of companies still in a holding pattern when it comes to launching new products or diversifying into new markets, most employees have found themselves working on the same projects week in and week out. The lack of any variety or change is enough to make anyone feel run down, burnt out or unmotivated to perform at the same level.

Can you think of any other factors that are contributing to the lack of employee engagement in this country? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Source: “How Leaders Impact Employee Morale – And the Bottom Line,” by Ladan Mikravan, CLO Media, 12/15/10.

Statistically speaking, most people remember:

• 11% of what they hear
• 32% of what they see
• 73% of what they see and hear, and
• 90% of what they see, hear and do (or discuss).

With that in mind, here are four ways to ensure your meetings resonate with employees and the message sticks:

1. Incorporate visual aids: Use PowerPoint, spreadsheets, facts, figures and charts to get your point across. The more visuals you can use to reinforce the point, the more salespeople will respond to it.
2. Get interactive: If at all possible, use email surveys or other online resources to engage employees prior to the meeting. It’ll get them thinking about the topic at hand and get them interested in finding out how other employees responded.
3. Get everyone involved: Consider holding roundtable discussions where one employee is asked to keep the discussion on point, while everyone else is asked to contribute their own ideas, examples, experiences and feedback.
4. Schedule a follow up: Tell employees which areas you’ll be focusing on in the weeks to come, in light of what the meeting was about. Let them know how and when you’ll follow up with each of them, so they’re aware they’ll have to be accountable for their results.

1. Partner with the employee for a day or two: Depending on which department the employee is in, this may be easy and it may not be. But the idea is to select a day and – without notice – either spend a few hours with the employee or have another supervisor do so. If you suspect the employee is drinking before work, do it first thing in the morning. If you suspect it could be throughout the day, schedule some time in the afternoon. Pay close attention to the employee’s speech, smell and eyes. They’re all sound indicators of whether an employee may be tipsy (or recovering from a late night).
2. Monitor expenses very closely: In many cases, employees who have developed a drinking problem will indulge their habit at trade shows and conferences, as well as dinners or other outings with clients. They’ll more than likely try to pass some of the drinks off on the company tab, as an “entertainment” or “meal” expense (depending on the situation). Keep an eye on expense reports, and compare similar charges for meals and entertainment from a year ago to current ones. Are the tabs significantly higher? Where’s that extra expense coming from? Are there any other expenses on there that are suspect?
3. Keep a close eye on attendance: Depending on the severity (or lack thereof) of the potential problem, employees who are drinking on a regular basis may start showing up for work late, calling out sick, leaving early, asking to work from home, and/or disappearing in the middle of the day to sneak in a nap or drink more. If a pattern emerges (e.g., the employee is calling out sick every Monday or coming in an hour late most days), start sending early morning e-mails that require an immediate response, or scheduling impromptu meetings first thing in the morning. It’s a convenient way to shine a light on the employee’s whereabouts without seeming like you’re calling him/her on the carpet.
4. Keep an eye out for small oversights and errors: Generally speaking, employees who drink to excess on a regular basis aren’t nearly as good with details. Because they’re not as sharp as usual, it’s easy to spot constant mistakes in reports, slight oversights and scheduling mishaps, etc. If you suspect there is a problem, keep an eye out for recurring errors in reports and other work the employee’s responsible for. If you start to spot recurring errors, it’s best to have a discussion ASAP, before those errors lead to bigger problems for the company.
5. Look for dips in performance, productivity and morale: Employees who are drinking go from taking pride in their work to collecting a paycheck. In the case of an employee who may have developed a drinking problem over time, it should become apparent the employee’s performance has begun to dip accordingly. If the problem escalates, you may notice resentment from other employees who feel as if they’re suddenly “covering for” the employee in question, handling his/her responsibilities and spotting errors.

****Note: Situations like this are always delicate. Accusing an employee without the proper evidence could land the company in major hot water. The best bet is to build a case slowly, over time. Document every incident that occurs, so you can confront the employee when/if the time is right. Documentation may also help the company avoid a lot of legal pitfalls if the employee’s drinking ever leads to problems with other employees and/or clients. Also, be proactive and approach the situation as a health and wellness issue, rather than an indictment of the employee’s overall work ethic.

For more information about dealing with employees who are drinking on the job, visit:

“Alcohol and Employees: Risks and Responsibilities,” at Entrepreneur.com

“Alcohol and the Workplace” at About.com 

“Chrysler Fires 13 Workers Caught Drinking on the Job” at Jalopnik.com

“Dealing with Problem Drinking on the Job,” at BNET.com

Would you believe the reason for that reaction has a lot to do with an employee’s fear of mortality?

That’s the reality, according to a recent Harvard Business Review article that describes a phenomenon known as “terror management theory” (i.e., the fear someone’s very way of life is being threatened).

The article cites three “existential buffers”that motivate most employees’ fear of change:

1. Consistency: Because work is such a large part of most people’s lives, they view corporate changes as a threat to their very way of being.
   Solution: Spin change in such a way that reps automatically recognize it as something that works in their favor. Make a list of all the potential benefits and use them to explain why you’re implementing the change.
2. Standards of justice: This speaks to an employee’s basic sense of right and wrong. For years a company’s staffers have been taught to do things one way. When management alters that, most employees tend to rebel, assuming perhaps the way they’d originally been taught to do things was wrong.
   Solution: Explain change in terms of why the old system was no longer viable, and how the new system creates a win-win. Avoid the “because -I-said-so” school of management.
3. Culture: The sense employees have contributed in some way to the company’s enduring legacy.
   Solution: Explain change in terms of how employees are going to help the company evolve, building upon its long-standing reputation.

Source: “Employees See Death When You Change Their Routines,” Harvard Business Review, by James R. Bailey and Jonathan Raelin, 11/23/10.