The High Performance Workplace

The best way is to show those employees how much you value thier work and time. As a supervisor I once had a CEO come in and give a speech to get the employees where he said "We don't want you to think of this as a place where you going to retire from", "We want you to enjoy your time here develope skills and move on in your career". Career ? Production employees don't think of this as a career it is a job they can become good at or not. Needless to say when slapped in the face with we want you to leave from the CEO quality and production dropped off quickly. It took nearly 18 months to recover from one dumb speech. Of course the CEO has moved on to several better paying jobs since then. He never seems to stay long. Just long enough to make simple changes that give short term boost to the bottom line before the bill come due for his changes then he is gone.

People with Degrees have careers is what production employees think.

I suggest you take the fear out of the job, if possible. Corporations have been pressing wages downward and that makes people fearful of losing their job. Fear will make them be quiet because they don't want attention and are not going to volunteer any help or advice about training new people who could replace them.

There are a million ways you could help your current employees. You an Accountant so put him to work helping your employees find ways to save thier money and build a nest egg. 1 or 2 employees a week. Setting up a budget is only of the hardest things even for highly educated professional. Have sessions where the bankers, CPA's and other professional come in and give advice. Show you dedicated to your employees if you want thier dedication it is that simple. When they walk thru your doors everyday they are showing their dedication. The depth of the dedication is what you need to incease.

Above all else do not lie to the employees. Lies come back and ruin everything. That same CEO from above told the employees we had come up shirt and their would not even be a Christmas Turkey that same year. All managment got excellent bonus checks that year. One production employees wife worked at a bank where a manager went to cash his the same day they were told not even a turkey.

Bravo.... well said.. (I expect some idiot will now brand you as a lefty!)

I especially agree with the bit about telling lies.

Being honest is the surest way to get loyalty....

Del

I too applaud you. Having worked on both sides of the doors between the front office and the plant floor, in many different manufacturing environments, I can attest to the truth of what you're saying, having seen it for myself. A sad fact that I have witnessed many times, is that companies run with the least amount of conscience (and the disposition toward production workers is usually the most obvious indicator) have the greatest short term success. Way too many sociopaths with mediocre entrepreneurial skills (other than being ruthless) becoming rich. But as you yourself have witnessed, I have also seen this mentality backfire on them, or at least deprive them of their long-term potential. Not to mention the miserable environment.

Pardon me i forgot spell check but this is one area of business that really makes me mad.

Today business are afraid of building a large cash balance on the books in fear of being bought out. The managers take stock options as bonuses and thern wornder why the employees dont work as hard. Why not share those stock options with the employees too?