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Productivity / Performance

Empower bosses to recognize employee contributions

09/23/2019
Every day at work ought to be Thanksgiving Day, according to Karl Ahlrichs, senior consultant for employee benefits at Gregory & Appel Insurance in Indianapolis. He offers these suggestions for inexpensively thanking employees for their efforts.

Keep a log of ‘critical incidents’

09/23/2019
Managers are always making judgments about their employees. On a day-to-day level, these judgments are usually informal and even unconscious. The problem is that many of those thoughts are forgotten when it comes time to prepare a formal appraisal. Try keeping a “critical incidents” log.

Almost all managers agree: Staff are burning out

09/18/2019
According to the World Health Organization, burnout now warrants classification as an official medical condition resulting from workplace stress.

Cite poor performance to justify termination

09/13/2019
Smart employers always document poor performance with specific examples. That way, you have a ready defense for just about any surprise discrimination lawsuit.

Objective measures are most persuasive, so focus on performance criteria

09/02/2019
Remind supervisors to always focus on performance—not intangibles like “attitude”—using as many objective measures as possible. If an employee later alleges some form of discrimination, you’ll be able to demonstrate that you kept things professional by focusing on what really matters: doing the job.

Fantasy football could cost employers $9 billion

08/29/2019
An estimated 12.5 million adults will play fantasy football this year, according to 2018 data from Nielsen Scarborough. With an estimated total of nearly two-thirds of those adults employed, that means over 7.5 million workers will be researching their teams during work hours.

Dropping ratings doesn’t mean better feedback

08/22/2019
While the number of companies that don’t use performance ratings and rankings has doubled in the past six years, only 15% of companies globally have eliminated them, says a new Mercer report.

4 ways managers can cultivate intrinsic motivation

08/14/2019
Intrinsically motivated employees want to succeed because of the internal benefit they experience—like pride or perhaps the internal satisfaction of simply feeling they’ve been productive.

Heck yes it’s Monday! Let’s get to work!

08/06/2019
Some workers go to bed Sunday nights dreading the workweek to come, but Mondays and Tuesdays—especially in the morning—are when employees are most productive, suggests new research from staffing firm Accountemps.

Out of the doldrums: How to reignite your employees’ passion

07/29/2019
Just as partners benefit from checking with one another to gauge fulfillment levels and figure out how to grow together, managers who take an interest in maintaining a passionate staff reap great rewards.