Workplace Complaints

I'm glad to finally see some articles, albeit very few, talking about how important employees are to companies and ways to attract and motivate them, such as the recent article on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/02/02/cb.not.motivate.employees/index.html  When the current unemployment or underemployment situation ends, all those employees who were treated like dung on the bottom of a CEO's shoe will jump ship faster than you can say, "Where do I send your last paycheck?" Here are some additions to theirs or some suggestions of my own:

1. With regard to the halo effect: Managers and supervisors need to be objective and introspective.  If they've put someone in a position in which they are either performing poorly or are not qualified for, take them out of that position.  I've seen way too many people either hired into or promoted into positions they are not qualified for, and their managers refuse to take them out of that position for what seems like fear of admitting they were wrong. There's nothing more annoying than watching an incompetent employee, such as a six-figure income Vice President, who does nothing but regurgitate nonsensical cliches like, "Manage their expectations!" until you're ready to grind them up in a garbage disposal.

2. Don't practice nepotism. There's hardly anything more frustrating or morale-stomping than to have to deal with your cronies, especially when they are promoted more quickly and see more and higher pay raises based solely on their relationship with the boss. It also makes it impossible to discipline said family or friend  because you don't want to "rock the boat."

3. "Sandwiching" feedback is a manipulative and passive-aggressive form of praise and reprimand. It causes friction and distrust, especially if this kind of praise-reprimand is doled out on a regular basis.  In that same vein, don't email your employees page-long diatribes bellyaching about a mistake or your frustrations. It makes you look like a petty sniveling fussbudget, and after the first tirade from you, you will lose their loyalty and they will never take you seriously as a leader.

4. Outsourcing.  I'd really like to throttle the person or persons who came up with the concept of outsourcing.  Have you ever spoken with a Customer Service agent from another country?  Normally you cannot understand them because they don't speak English well and they have very thick accents, and they normally don't understand what you're trying to communicate to them.  Working with outsourced agents is just as bad.  They don't seem to want to do a good job - normally outsourced agents are paid whether they do a good job or not, so what is their incentive for doing a good job?  So guess who gets stuck making sure the customer is happy?

5. If you don't know something, admit it!  Tell the person you will research and get back with them.  Not everyone has the answer to everything, and it makes you look like an idiot to pretend that you do.

6. If you make a mistake, admit it!  If your employee(s) makes a mistake, let them admit it!  Who the Hell ever set the expectation that no one can ever make a mistake?  It's ridiculous and unreasonable to think that humans never make mistakes and puts people on the defensive if they feel they are going to be crucified for doing so.

7.  For the love of God, can we please do away with the wretched "Annual (or worse: Monthly) Performance Review" which is as useless as lipstick on a pig?  If your boss likes you, you will get a good review.  If your boss doesn't like you, possibly because you offended their overblown opinion of themselves by insulting their spelling abilities after they misspelled "potatoe," you will get a lousy review.