Finding the Recipe for Business Success at Breakfast

By Sarah Larson

French toast casserole with apples, walnuts and maple syrup. Quiche. Bacon. Fresh berries. Scones. Sparkling apple cider.

That is how we kicked off a recent workday at Furia Rubel. It was the third breakfast celebration we’ve had in recent months to mark the birthdays of our team members, and each one has been more fun than the last.

But these breaks from the workday aren’t just a luxury, which many companies believe they can ill afford. For the rest of the day after our breakfasts, I noticed our team members smiling more, coordinating efforts better, and just generally being more productive.

That’s no accident.

Fun time at work is an investment in the people and the culture of your company, and that investment pays more dividends in the long run than can easily be quantified.

People are pretty smart – or, at least, pretty attuned to self-preservation. Employees who are treated like interchangeable cogs on a wheel know that they are easily replaced – and they function accordingly.

On the other hand, creating a true team atmosphere, with people who actually like and respect each other, is more likely to foster happy employees who believe in the company’s mission and see themselves as important ingredients to its success.

You don't have to be Google, with free meals, a Lego play station and Broadway-themed conference rooms, to make your workplace into a place your employees want to be. A few creative ideas, some genuine interest in your employees' lives, and, yes, some food, can go a long way to creating an enjoyable workplace.

Plus, any excuse to start a work day with bacon is just a good day, all around.

Holiday Gifting at Work

Posted by Rose Strong

It’s that time of year again, when we begin to think about holiday celebrations at the office. We’ve all been there, right? You drive into work and hear the holiday music on the radio and see the festive light decorations on the way home and start wondering about gifts for co-workers and the boss.

I come from a large corporate culture where buying gifts for an entire unit or office section could leave you broke; it was usually the Secret Santa path I often had to travel this time of year. I liked that there was a monetary value limit to the gift exchange and we typically went in as a group, each person contributing a set amount to purchase a nice gift for our manager. This was a somewhat generic solution to a sticky situation, but, easy overall.

As this is my first holiday season here at Furia Rubel, the idea of the season’s celebration in the office had been on my mind for a few weeks. I asked one of my co-workers what the gift-giving culture is at our office. She explained that up until a couple years ago, they used to give gifts to one another, but a few folks felt the obligatory giving was too stressful. It was decided there would no longer be gift-giving at the holidays and the staff have opted for a scaled-down celebration. We’ll have a pot-luck lunch (with emails going around indicating some great food to come) and ‘no obligation’ on gifts, but homemade food gifts are always welcome. That’s nice considering Furia Rubel has some top notch cooks and bakers.
  
As an aside, the staff at Furia Rubel will be fortunate enough to receive some additional time off over the holidays as an extra gift. The office will be closed from Christmas Eve through New Years. An extra week of vacation at this time of year is a present we’re all grateful to have.

However, your gift-giving may not be so easy.

This is the time of year when we want to thank folks who have been helpful in our day-to-day jobs, supportive of our careers and those who have mentored us, so it’s worth taking time to plan what to do.

Unless you want to be perceived as the office brownnoser, gifting-up is one of those actions you need to proceed with caution. An article in Ladies Home Journal points the way toward a manager’s hobbies or donating to a charity in their name as being rather safe for gift-giving.
 
If you don’t do a Secret Santa or even if you do, but want to give to someone who has done something special over the past year, the inter-cubicle gifts should be given as discreetly as possible, so as not to ruffle other co-workers’ feathers.

Here are a few of the many suggestions out there regarding the office Secret Santa gifts:

1.    Decide on a spending cap and stick to it. Setting a limit and sticking to it eliminates others thinking you are playing favorites, especially if you happen to pick out the name of someone you socialize with in and out of work.

2.    If a co-worker is unable to participate, be considerate. Some people, either due to finances, religious or cultural differences, prefer not to partake in holiday giving and their wishes should be respected.

3.    Avoid personal items such as jewelry, cologne or clothes. Some things are just too personal for the office friendships unless you truly know the person or are longtime colleagues.

4.    Write your own gift ideas on the Secret Santa gift slip. Everyone who participates may write on the slip of paper they’ll put into the collective hat that’s passed around with co-workers names in it and may list up to three things they would appreciate that would stick within the allotted budget, i.e., candles, gift card to a book store or movie tickets, to name a few.

Giving to the boss? A few tips to make you look less like the office brownnoser and more like you truly appreciated them through the past year:

1.    Don’t gift-up on your own. It’s important to recognize that the boss can see that you may be trying to ingratiate yourself to them. Some like it, but most do not and neither do your fellow employees. Decide on a dollar amount you will give for a collective gift.

2.    Make a charitable donation in their name. What manager needs another tchotchke to collect dust on their desk or shelf at home? Making a gift in their name to a reputable charity or the charity of their choice makes a difference in someone’s life.

3.    Tickets to a show or sporting event. Be sure to purchase at the very least, a pair of tickets.

4.    If someone is unable to participate – Understand regardless of their reason and have them sign their name to the card out of courtesy, if they’d like. Holiday gifting to the boss doesn’t need to be stressful, and for those who don’t participate, it can be worrisome as to how givers and non-givers are perceived in management’s eyes.

Remember, the season is about giving. If you get a gift from someone and didn’t get them one, a simple thank you is all they need. Reciprocating simply because you’ve been given a gift isn’t what the holiday season is about.

Virtually Working or Working Virtually – The Pitfalls of Not Working in the Office

Posted by Rose Strong

My sister-in-law Jackie works for a major insurance company and has been what they term a Work-At-Home (WAH) employee for more than a decade. It came about when her mother had a stroke and needed someone around just to keep an eye on her in case she fell or needed help with her medication.

Today, 1 in 10 people work virtually, otherwise known as working from home.  With the technology drive in this country, it’s only natural that corporations and small businesses alike, take advantage of employees working virtually. It’s a savings on work space, increases productivity, cuts down on absenteeism and according to one study, the WAH employee works an average of one hour a day more than someone who works in the office.

For the employee, there are some great perks. Not having to commute to and from a job is the first advantage that comes to mind and I’ve always been jealous that my sister-in-law doesn’t have a dress code to follow and works in her pajamas for the first few hours of her work day. She also gets to start work and end her day earlier than most. She’s in her office at her computer at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m., but shuts that baby down at one in the afternoon. Sweet, huh?

Now for the nitty-gritty:

What is it really like to work at home, day in and day out? Although there are great benefits to working at home, there are some downsides to being able to sit at your computer and work in your bedroom slippers.

One of the biggest obstacles that Jackie had difficulty with was the lack of social systems. Although she lived with an elderly parent those first few years, that didn’t fit the bill for the regular social skills that come with working in an office. I mean, how do you hang out at the water bowl with your cat and talk about the Monday night football game? Having others around is often essential for creativity and motivation. Without that, telecommuting can be both difficult and isolating.

Communication is also a factor when you work virtually. Only using emails and instant messaging for discussing work-related issues with your colleagues, leaves out the cues one might interpret from body language and tone of voice that we pick up in a face-to-face conversation. Also, not being in the office tends to lead to that out of sight, out of mind truism and can cause a feeling of isolation.

I admire my sister-in-law in her discipline over the years as she’s quite devoted to her routine, but for some people, maintaining a routine can be a challenge. We all have a routine when we are working outside the home: stopping for a cup of java from the local coffee shop, checking email and phone messages, chatting with co-workers about current events and office news, then, suddenly that’s all gone when you work from home.  Getting into a routine at home to keep you in sync with the office is essential.

One factor I’ve seen Jackie struggle with is that she’s home during business hours, which makes her easy prey for those pesky, yet necessary home maintenance and repair items, such as furnace cleaning, A/C maintenance, tree work, electrical and plumbing repairs. She is often at odds with her husband to get him to be present when people come to the house. Considerable interruptions and demands from children, visitors and others who impose upon someone working at home may cause getting work tasks completed to be a challenge.

Of course, these aren’t the only things that can be tricky for those working virtually, but they are some of the most common pitfalls to be aware of if you’re thinking of bringing the office home with you. Oh, and that’s another one: difficulty separating work-life and home-life. That takes some discipline and practice to balance the two, but it can be done.

Many of these difficulties can be overcome and this article by Lea Green on the PGI blog runs down a list of work-at-home snags and how to overcome them. Telework Research Network at Undress for Success.com is a group that studies the trend of working from home and has excellent resources for anyone considering working virtually or those that are already working from home.