People Pulse :: September 2005

Dear HR Managers and Business Owners,

Beware the Workplace Blahs.

With summer over, the Blahs are out there, waiting for those gloomy days when we arrive at work before sunrise and leave after sunset. Left unprotected, your employees will find their motivation sapped, their productivity diminished. Sufficiently Blah-ed, some of your best people may consider jumping ship to another employer just for a change of scenery.

What can be done to guard against the Blahs? It's helpful to give some thought to an important but often overlooked aspect of employee retention: fun. Yes, the workplace is for work, but a lot more of that will get done if your staff looks to your business as a refuge from the Blahs, rather than the place where they prevail. And with increasing attention being paid to the issue of life/work balance, it's probably not a good idea to be caught with all the fun lumped on one side of the equation.

For some more thoughts on this subject, check out the article "What Happened to Fun?" And let us know where the Blahs stand in your workplace by participating in this month's People Poll.

Cheers,

Paul Gibbons
Partner, People First Solutions

Poll Question: On a scale from 1-6, with 1 being absolutely no fun at all, and 6 being so much fun that you hate to leave at the end of the day, how much fun do you have at your workplace?

Article: When is "Good Enough" Good Enough?

Article: What Happened to Fun?

Success Stories:
Edward Smith, P.Eng.
LEED® Accredited Professional, Managing Partner
Cobalt Engineering

Demotivations: Hazards

Are businesses as productive as they should be?

Half of both CEOs (53%) and working Canadians (52%) agree that their organizations are not as productive as they should be.

- Source: Ipsos-Reid Poll June 8, 2005

Once you vote, you will see current poll results.
Final poll results will be posted in next month's issue.


	Recruiting When is "Good Enough" Good Enough? There is no such thing as a "best test." The only real question facing an organization or hiring manager is, "When is 'good enough' good enough?" Everyone is an HR expert these days. It's easy, right? No one ever hires a dud. So how do all the "experts" explain why managers continue to be promoted based on their ability to perform and not manage, why 20% of the salespeople produce 80% of the sales, or why about half of all new hires fail?			Retaining What Happened to Fun? We're no longer allowed to have fun at work. So just shelve those plans you had for your business that included camaraderie and laughter in the office. The Internet bust made one thing clear: Fun belongs at home, and work belongs in the office. Trying to mix the two is what caused the disaster in the first place. So, remember…no fun. Ever. Or so you've been told. But did the dotcom fallout 5 years ago really put an end to all fun?

"Cobalt Engineering is a group of dynamic, visionary mechanical engineers providing innovative system designs that deliver value over and above our clients' expectations. Working to such a high standard, we obviously expect a lot from our providers, and People First Solutions has delivered."

Edward Smith, P.Eng.
LEED® Accredited Professional, Managing Partner
Cobalt Engineering


	© Copyright 2005, Despair Inc.


	People First Solutions Inc. #220 - 1075 West Georgia St. Vancouver, BC CANADA V6E 3C9 Telephone: 604.684.2288 Facsimile: 604.684.2265 info@peoplefirstsolutions.com		People Pulse :: Subscription Information Click Here to forward this issue to a friend. Not currently a subscriber? Register now to receive future issues. We respect your privacy. © Copyright 2005, People First Solutions Inc. All logos, and names are the copyrights of the respective owners.