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Truth - or Consequences
In difficult times, the link between employer candor and employee morale is indisputable
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Business New Haven
3/31/2003
By: Mimi Houston
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It's a rare individual these days who doesn't know, directly or indirectly, someone who's been laid off. Even if we feel secure in our own positions, just knowing others who have been let go can have a damaging effect on our psyche. And when this additional stress is added onto our daily dose, the workplace can become a pretty dismal place.
Is there anything employers can do to prop up morale during difficult times?
If there is one word business owners should keep in their minds when dealing with difficult issues in uncertain times, it would be: honesty.
"I think honesty applies to a lot," says Millie Grenough, a New Haven-based award-winning author, motivational speaker, coach, consultant and trainer who specializes in stress management, performance coaching and life-skills management.
Grenough has worked extensively with a diverse client list - from athletes to attorneys to CEOs to clergy. But some things, she says are universal human truths, regardless of the exact nature of our business.
"When we don't have information," she explains, "our imaginations go crazy. We feel we have very little sense of control. This compounds stress."
Grenough acknowledges that even though most heads of businesses are aware that honesty is the best policy in theory, they don't always make themselves do it.
"Giving honest and clear information is difficult," explains Grenough. "After all, who likes [to give] bad news? It's just human nature. However, a sense of trust is very important in these times."
Grenough says especially if your company is facing layoffs in the future, it is vital to keep employees as informed about the outlook ahead as possible.
"If they know what's going on," she begins, "they can make more realistic plans - both within the company and in their personal lives. [Employers] have to remember: There are spouses, kids, mortgages - all of those are affected."
Grenough also advises employers to set an example to their employees in a crucial area of human existence: purpose.
"This is the time to step back and ask: 'What are our core values? What's happening in the world, in the current economic market? What might we change in our operation to address that - or might we rather strike out on a new path?'
"It's a way of clarifying who you really are in relation to what's going on in the world."
While certainly top echelon employees should be involved in determining your company's future when facing difficult times, Grenough says there are roles for lower-level employees to play as well.
"It's all about having the right people on the bus with you," she explains. "When it comes down to deciding who will leave and who will stay - when it's time to regroup - it's about who those people are. It's not always what they are doing. It's also about how well they work together as a team, and how flexible they are. Because things are always changing."
Grenough gives an example of what one company did to face harsh times. A call was put out to all employees, regardless of rank, for suggestions on how they could improve the way they did business. Rewards for ideas came in forms that might surprise some business owners.
"The company included any constructive ideas from anyone," explains Grenough. "A smaller group was chosen to sort through the suggestions and put into practice those ideas that could [for example] save money in production, or provide better service to their clients, even to improve company morale.
"And the reward to those whose ideas were used might be a bonus," Grenough states, "but sometimes it was a day off. You know, what most people wanted was not always monetary. It was recognition."
In fact, Grenough says recognition in the form of a raise in job title alone goes far in improving morale, even if not accompanied by an increase in pay.
"But it has to be honest," she is quick to add. "It cannot be a fake. People can smell right through that."
Grenough notes that while companies are doing some deep soul-searching, employees should be doing the same, on a personal level.
"They too should stop and ask themselves: 'What are my real gifts, my strengths? What's important to me, what do I really care about and what do I want to put my energy into now?'"
But she strongly advises all soul-searchers to do so with a sense of humor and perspective.
"It's really important to find things that give delight at this time," she advises. "And this is not about money. It's not about something that will show up a month later on your credit card."
Grenough says employers can even help their workers with this task. She notes that while very large companies often have the resources to send employees who are about to be laid off to job fairs, training programs and networking events, even small employers can find similar services offered through non-profit organizations and libraries to offer.
And, Grenough says, there are more tools in an employer's arsenal to keep their doors open and their workers happy, The trick is to be creative in forming alternate plans when times call for action.
"Within some companies that are in transition," she says, "there are some people who are looking for ways to work fewer hours. Maybe some will want to work only four days a week - for less money, of course - but the important thing for them is the time. And you may find a four-day work week for some to be just as productive as a five-day week."
The key issue, Grenough says, is that permitting and encouraging employees to aid in determining how to save a struggling business can make the difference between sinking or swimming.
"It's about secrecy," she says, "or trust. When you can let everyone on the ship know what is happening, it's more possible to work together with less sabotage. The more honest and humane people view a situation, the more room there is there for compassion.
"We're all caught up in it," Grenough says, of times that challenge. "It's like right after 9/11, seeing New York people all together, regardless of color, class, socio-economic level. It made no difference."
Grenough says in the end, a career - even a life - can be compared to hiking, an activity close to her own heart.
"In hiking," she explains, "in order to get to the top of anything, you can't go straight up. You have to do a lot of what they call switchbacks. You walk and you walk and it feels like your getting nowhere. Then, you stop and look down and you say, 'Wow, look how far I've come.'
"But it's not blindly walking - you need to be prepared for the long trip, not one that's over in an hour, a week, or even a month. And you need tools in your backpack. You need good food - nourishing sustenance. And you need your map of where you want to go that includes alternate routes. You know, sometimes there's a landslide ahead of you.
"And remember," she concludes. "It's much safer not to hike alone. You have to have people on that bus with you. People you really want to be with. You have to know you can count on yourself and them. And knowing that makes a huge difference - you can even take risky journeys with confidence in yourself and in them.
"Otherwise it would be foolhardy."
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