The 3 ‘F’s’ of the Workplace.

As you would imagine, in our business we meet a lot of candidates. Most of them are still employed, but are looking for a new opportunity. One of the questions we ask them is ‘Why are you looking??’ And in the vast majority of responses, it’s not about the money. It’s generally about the workplace balance of the 3 F’s - Fun, Fairness and Fulfilment. So, let’s have a look at these 3 F’s!!

Fun:

“If you’re not in business for fun or profit what the hell are you doing here?” So said Robert Townsend in his book, Up the Organisation. In this weekend’s NZ Herald, there was an article on the benefits of fun in the workplace, about building a community, elevating mood and making people come to work because they want to. Not to forget as well, the fun directly associated with task completion!!

In the Herald article, Joanne Winquist of Talent Technologies commented that the most common form of fun is “organic”, spontaneous and undirected. Organic fun is important for employers who want to boost perceptions of the workplace being fun. Winquist says to create a fun environment, organisations must first provide:

• Meaningful work.
• Fair compensation.
• Mutual respect for employees.
• Competent management

Fairness:

Fairness in the workplace is essential and many companies don’t have it. Everyone must be judged on performance, not looks or manners or personality, who they know or are related too. Rewarding outstanding performances is important. Equally important is the need to make sure underachievers don’t get rewarded. Retaining underachievers is not fair on others in the organisation as they have to make up for the underachiever’s failing.

Very often, it’s hard to know who is reacting to what part of your effort to be fair. Some react to the stick, others to the carrot. As a manager, it’s your role to create a system that’s fair – and that’s not easy!! Whether we accept or not, injustice is now evident in many parts of society. The world seems to be divided into those who produce the results and those who get the credit.

Fulfilment:

In his book, The Human Side of Enterprise, Douglas McGregor espoused his “Theory Y” in which he stated:

·         People don’t hate work. It’s as natural as rest or play.

·         People don’t have to be forced or threatened. If they commit themselves to mutual objectives, they’ll drive themselves more effectively than you can drive them.

·         But people will commit themselves only to the extent they can see ways of satisfying their ego and development needs.

So as a manager, you need to get to know your people. What do they do well, what they enjoy doing, what are their strengths and weaknesses and what they want and need from their job. Remember, you can’t motivate people - that comes from within. As a manager, your role is to create an environment in which people will motivate themselves to help the company to reach its objectives.

In today’s workplace, Fun, Fairness and Fulfilment are inextricably linked. Fight hard for the first two and you will achieve the third. Have a great August – Spring is less than a month away.

Cheers,

Michael.