Google will lose awesome talent because not everyone will want to stay and work with a large company. The bigger they get the harder it will be for them to stay agile. A lot of employees don’t mind working in that type of environment, but many of them dislike it and they will end up leaving.

Wayne Rosing, an early vice president for engineering, has left to pursue his love of astronomy. Paul Buchheit, the celebrated engineer who dreamed up Gmail, “retired” recently. (He’s 30.) Evan Williams, the highly regarded founder of Blogger, a Google acquisition, has left to launch another startup. 
- Great Place to Work 

No company can retain every employee. People’s desires change. What made them happy three years ago is different than today. Google understands this and does their best to retain as many employees as possible. They retain about 95% of their employees and that’s way above the standard for a technology company.

Google hired the human resources pro Laszlo Bock because they are losing some of their best talent. They are starting their own companies (Friendfeed), or leaving for other companies that offer them a different environment (Facebook), or to pursue their passions such as their old VP Wayne Rosing who left to pursue astronomy. Whatever it is that forces them or entices them to leave, Google is taking an active role in minimizing these loses.

You need to do everything you can to keep the superstars with your company, but as long as you recognize that you will lose some of them then it makes it easier. You don’t have to be perfect. You can only try your best, measure results, and keep on improving.

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I created an ebook to share some of Google’s secrets on how you can grow your company and be happy at work. You’ve just read a chapter from the ebook. It contains enlightening and practical information that businesses and employees can all use.

I will be publishing a new chapter during the middle of every week. If you don’t want to wait that long for this glorious information then just sign up for my RSS or email and receive the Free eBook “Work Happy the Google Way.”

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Google understands that an employee who can focus on their work will do a better job.

“The goal is to strip away everything that gets in our employees way. We provide a standard package of fringe benefits, but on top of that are first-class dining facilities, gyms, laundry rooms, massage rooms, haircuts, carwashes, dry cleaning, commuting buses – just about anything a hardworking employee engineer might want. Let’s face it: programmers want to program, they don’t want to do their laundry. So we make it easy for them to do both.”

- Eric Schmidt, CEO Google

You can remove obstacles from your employees’ paths too. Maybe they are fed up with having to ask for permission. Give them the freedom to purchase something they need as long as it’s under $50 and they hand in a receipt and the reason that they needed it. If you can eliminate some of the red tape that frustrates them you’ll be removing pain and creating a happier employee.

The easier you make it for your employees to be productive, the more that they will get done.

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I created an ebook to share some of Google’s secrets on how you can grow your company and be happy at work. You’ve just read a chapter from the ebook. It contains enlightening and practical information that businesses and employees can all use.

I will be publishing a new chapter during the middle of every week. If you don’t want to wait that long for this glorious information then just sign up for my RSS or email and receive the Free eBook “Work Happy the Google Way.”

Download the Free eBook Work Happy the Google Way * Post from: Work Happy Now!

We’ve all been teenagers, but as we age we forget how to connect with young people. We think that we can just tell them what to do and they’ll do it. Wouldn’t that be great?

As a manager you also need to play to teenager’s Superpowers, so they feel powerful and enjoy what they do. When you help them discover what they are good at they will be more willing to give you their full effort.

Most teenagers are a different kind of human until they get a few years of work experience or college under their belts. They think differently and feel differently than adults do. Try to remember when you were young and you had hormones pushing through you and all you could do was think about sex. That’s the first trick.

1. Put Yourself in Their Shoes

When you can put yourself in their position you can learn how to motivate teenagers. Teenagers may be weird, but they have emotions just like you and me. They’re just a little more intense. When dealing with a teenager make sure you are sympathetic to their needs. Make sure you see #4 Don’t Be a Push-over because they will take advantage of you if you let them.

2. Show Them Their Mistakes and How to Improve Them

Teenagers don’t pick up on adult concepts as quickly as adults. Well, duh. You will be surprised by how many business owners don’t understand this concept. Teenagers may be geniuses on the computer or multi-tasking, but they learned these things like everything else. When they make a mistake, explain what they did wrong and how they can improve it. This may need to be done a few times before they catch on.

3. Give Them the Respect They Seek

Giving a teenager the respect that he or she deserves will go a long way in earning their trust. Most adults treat teenagers like teenagers when all they want is to be treated like the man or woman that they are trying to be. Talk to them like an adult and they will raise their level of work.

4. Don’t Be a Push-over

A teenager will take two feet when given a foot, so make sure you set boundaries and if they cross them then document it and let them know. If they continue to cross the line then don’t be afraid to let them go if they you need to.

5. Enjoy a Good Laugh

There is nothing a teenager likes doing more than enjoying a good laugh. Yes they may be moody, but when a teenager is in a good mood it can be down right infectious to the rest of the staff, so allow them to get excited and have a good time.

6. Listen to Them

Teenagers want to help. They may be selfish, but they aren’t stupid. They can see things that you can’t. Listen to their suggestions. If they give you an idea that won’t work then let them know why and show appreciation for their efforts. If they have a good idea, tell them that you want to hear more and ask them to come up with a plan on how to implement it.

7. Have Patience with Their Learning Curve

Their learning curve is a little steeper than most adults, but their potential is greater too. Once a teenager catches on to a concept they make it their own.

8. Reward Them

The Gen Y generation and younger grew up being rewarded for blowing their nose. They don’t take well to harsh discipline, so when they do something good even without your approval, reward them. Give them an extra hour for lunch or a $20 bonus. Their idea might have saved you hundreds of dollars, so disperse the wealth.

9. Don’t Yell at Them

Teenagers hate to be yelled at. They get enough of that from their parents, teachers, and friends, so speak with an even toned voice when you’re upset. Make sure they understand that you never want to see such behavior, but don’t make a scene out of it.

10. Train Your Staff to be Patient

Many retailers employ young people because they are cheap labor and as a result, they are treated as “second class” employees by the rest of the staff. Big mistake. Train your staff to treat them as equals. When the rest of the staff gives them respect they will be more respectful to the customer.

Managing Teenagers Review

Teenagers want to do good work if they are given the right atmosphere in which to do it. They will need a little more attention, but you will find a few gems that make it all worth the effort. Who knows, that one little gem of a teenager might one day help you run your company.

If you are a small business owner you should check out my marketing blog that spawned from Work Happy Now. Super Power Coach has a free 7 lesson e-course called Supercharge Your Marketing that you may want to sign up for to improve your social media marketing.

Related Articles:

• Positive Belief
• Why Your Company Should Budget for a Fun Work Environment
• 5 Smurf-tastic Tips to Work Like a Great Team

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Photo courtesy  Cavier

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Accenture refused to layoff their employees when they hit a rough period because they didn’t want to go through a whole new batch of hiring and training. So they decided to pay the staff that they would have laid off 20% of their pay with benefits while they waited for the economy to bounce back. The catch was, they couldn’t work for a competitor. When the economy came back around they rehired the employees they couldn’t afford to keep.

“Accenture has a great solution for a temporary downturn,” said Bill Coleman, senior vice president of compensation at Salary.com. “You don’t lose the people you worked so hard to recruit and train, you’re not doing what everybody else does, you look terrific to those large alumni communities, and in some ways it’s really a loyalty-builder.”

This kept their employees happy and it also gave some of them a mini sabbatical. This made me think about the company I work for and the various incentives they offer to keep me happy. They don’t do enough, but what company really does?

I would like to take a sabbatical, and wouldn’t it be great if my company provided such a program as an incentive to stay with them. I believe all companies should offer mini sabbaticals to help with employee retention. I’m not talking about the normal time off that each company provides, but an additional incentive to keeping employees happy and motivated. So here is my idea…

5 Years

If you’ve been with a company for five years then you are eligible for a two week sabbatical. During that two week sabbatical the employee will be paid 20% of her/his salary. If the employee can show that the reason for their leave was work related and how it will improve the company then the company will pay 40% of the employee’s salary during those two weeks.

10 Years

If you’ve been with a company for ten years then you are eligible for a one month sabbatical. During that one month sabbatical the employee will be paid 40% of her/his salary. If the employee can show that the reason for their leave was work related and how it will improve the company then the company will pay 60% of the employee’s salary during that one month.

15 Years

If you’ve been with a company for fifteen years then you are eligible for a six week sabbatical. During that six week sabbatical the employee will be paid 60% of her/his salary. If the employee can show that the reason for their leave was work related and how it will improve the company then the company will pay 80% of the employee’s salary during those six weeks.

20 Years

If you’ve been with a company for twenty years then you are eligible for a two month sabbatical. During that two month sabbatical the employee will be paid 80% of her/his salary. If the employee can show that the reason for their leave was work related and how it will improve the company then the company will pay 100% of the employee’s salary during those two months.

Good Example

Ok, so lets say you’ve been with the marketing department of a grocery store chain for 15 years. You decide to use your sabbatical to travel the country to see the various marketing campaigns and advertising other grocery chains do to reach their customers. You come back with 15 good ideas. You write a plan on implementing 3 of them and present it to your manager. They are all quality ideas and for your effort you are rewarded 80% of your pay.

If that was me and I was given this flexibility to make my company better my loyalty would increase exponentially.

Why Mini Sabbaticals Should Be Implemented Today

Wouldn’t you take advantage of such a program? If you would break down your company’s cost of hiring and training employees each year this program would probably pay for itself in less than a few years. Your company would be sending the message to its employees that they want to help them to become successful, both at work and away from it.

Would you be more likely to stay with your company if they offered a mini sabbatical program?

Related Articles:

• “Woo” Your Employees
• Create 12 Parties a Year Instead of 1 Boring Holiday Party
• Opening Social Networks Within a Company

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Is high turnover frustrating you? Then start marketing to the employees. Companies have whole marketing departments to “woo” customers to buy and keep coming back, but we forget to “woo” our employees on a regular basis. Of course we “woo” new hires, but after that many companies seem to give up and hope that the employees stick around. You may expect them to be there until one day they are handing you their resignation letter.

The best way to find out why you are losing employees is to ask the staff. This may seem like a simple solution, but many owners/managers are afraid to ask. It’s the old “I’d rather ignore it than deal with it” mentality.

Below this paragraph is a list of questions you can ask your employees about how to improve your turn-over problem. You should conduct these interviews in a “one on one” format. Too many managers or too many employees muddle the answers. You’ll get emotion involved instead of quality answers. As these interviews are conducted you’ll have to place your ego in a little lockbox, so you don’t take any answers personally. This exercise is meant to be an exploration in improvement, not to rag on the company.

Top five questions to ask your employees:

1. Why do you think [insert co-worker here] left?

2. What do you think we could have done to keep them?

3. What can I do to make your job better?

4. What do you want to accomplish here over the next two years?

5. What education do you think will help you do your job better?

Once you have your answers you must review the information and see if there are any common themes. Is there one manager that needs sensitivity training, or maybe a group of employees that don’t feel challenged? You will see changes that should be made.

Many of your answers will not be used. People get carried away when they feel empowered by the company to make changes. That’s where a good interviewer must make wise decisions and filter through the crap. If there is a theme of changing the dress code and you know your clients won’t appreciate a more relaxed look then don’t make the change just because the crowd wants it. You’ll have to stick to what you know will help the company, not just what the employees want.

Make a list of the all the quality ideas that will help you retain employees. When you have everything written down you must whittle this list down to five. This is the point when I like to sleep on ideas. I like everything to settle down and wake up in the morning to a fresh perspective.

Look at your top five ideas and pick the three best ones. Don’t shy away from the ideas that are difficult to implement because this is where you’ll see the most progress.

1. Dedication to employee happiness

2. Share direction of company with all employees.

3. Flexibility of schedule

This is where the “wooing” will begin. Share this top three list of company changes with everyone. If you don’t let everyone know about your renewed interest in retaining employees they won’t believe your commitment.

Earn Employees Trust

Now that they know that you aim to improve the company-employee relationship you will have to earn their trust. Create a monthly raffle to win a $50 gift certificate to a local restaurant. Make a schedule to share the company’s direction with the staff on a bi-annual or annual interval. Give the employees one extra day extra off per year to do whatever they want; if you throw in a $20 gas card or public transportation card it will reinforce your commitment.

Whatever the top three changes are, you must commit to the ideas or company turnover will only get worse. You may want to implement a better retirement program or a continual education program. You will have to make the decisions that your company feels best fits the employees.

Everyone needs to be “woo’d” on a regular basis, otherwise the passion dies out. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t want to work for an exciting company. That’s why your favorite restaurant is still packing the house and it’s why solid marriages continue to thrive. They fight for the love every single day.

You must remember you won’t keep every employee; some are just meant to spread their wings. But you should track the changes after implementing your “wooing your employees” plan to see how successful it is after six months, a year, and two years. Hopefully you’ll see that dedicating to your employees’ happiness pays off by reducing costs and encouraging a more productive work environment.

If you are successful your employees will stick around to see what new direction your company is heading in because they know that you are trying to improve the company. When they see positive change they won’t have any trouble adapting to this improved direction, even if they have to work a little harder.

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