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Camaraderie in the workplace
While achieving optimal productivity in the workplace is crucial, sometimes letting loose on your rules will give your employees enough room to be happy and work effectively at the same time. Making your workplace a pleasant destination to visit will make your employees happier about waking up in the morning, and happy employees make productive employees.
We've taken this approach from day one with Pizza Fusion. At our first location, we gave our delivery drivers who worked at least 25 hours a week health insurance. We took them out for hang-out time together at little events like bowling, movies or dinner...little things to show that we appreciate their hard work.
Today, almost two years since the opening of our first restaurant, our corporate headquarters embraces this same philosophy, and productivity is the last thing we're lacking. We refer to our team as "family," and everyone associates with one another as friends, not colleagues. We hang out regularly on the weekends and plan special quarterly events like concerts, camping, rock climbing, etc. We also encourage family members to get involved in extracurricular activities like the local adult kickball league or philanthropic events. My partner, Michael, and I just returned with eight of our colleagues from San Diego, where we all ran the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll marathon in an effort to raise $40,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which we did, by the way!
It's things like this that make your employees feel like they're part of something more than just another business. Make your workplace fun. Trust your employees. Don't micro-manage. Promote independent productivity. At the end of the day, you'll be happier, your employees will be happier, productivity will increase and turnover will diminish. After all, life was meant to be enjoyed and work should be part of that enjoyment.
I've had the opportunity to speak with several top level CEOs and executives from other franchise systems that I admire, and every single one of them has said one thing that resonates with me and that is simply to "enjoy the ride!"
I think I will... how about you?
Camaraderie in the workplace
June 16, 2008
I speak from personal experience when I stress the importance of having a good quality of life in the workplace. FACT OF LIFE: Unless you've won the lottery, we all must spend eight hours a day, five days a week, 52 weeks a year, and, on average, about 40 years of our lives earning our residency on this planet. That makes for an awful lot of time spent burning the grindstone.
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| The Pizza Fusion gang recently ran a marathon in San Diego, where they helped raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. |
We've taken this approach from day one with Pizza Fusion. At our first location, we gave our delivery drivers who worked at least 25 hours a week health insurance. We took them out for hang-out time together at little events like bowling, movies or dinner...little things to show that we appreciate their hard work.
Today, almost two years since the opening of our first restaurant, our corporate headquarters embraces this same philosophy, and productivity is the last thing we're lacking. We refer to our team as "family," and everyone associates with one another as friends, not colleagues. We hang out regularly on the weekends and plan special quarterly events like concerts, camping, rock climbing, etc. We also encourage family members to get involved in extracurricular activities like the local adult kickball league or philanthropic events. My partner, Michael, and I just returned with eight of our colleagues from San Diego, where we all ran the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll marathon in an effort to raise $40,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which we did, by the way!
It's things like this that make your employees feel like they're part of something more than just another business. Make your workplace fun. Trust your employees. Don't micro-manage. Promote independent productivity. At the end of the day, you'll be happier, your employees will be happier, productivity will increase and turnover will diminish. After all, life was meant to be enjoyed and work should be part of that enjoyment.
I've had the opportunity to speak with several top level CEOs and executives from other franchise systems that I admire, and every single one of them has said one thing that resonates with me and that is simply to "enjoy the ride!"
I think I will... how about you?
Posted by Vaughan Lazar on June 16, 2008 | Comments (0)
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