Press
R News - Time Warner, Rochester, NY
I don't have the video yet...http://www.rnews.com/Story_2004.cfm?ID=30567&rnews_story_type=18&category=10
This TV news story was on the local Rochester Time Warner station. They showed up out the blue and freaked me out. I was nervous enough with 85 people.
Happy Workers Get Better Result
by Seth Voorhees
Photo by Todd Krupa
Published Sep 21, 2005
It’s just the kind of thing you boss loves to hear.
“Oh, yes, I do love my job!”
Job satisfaction comes easily for mail carrier Antonio Anicette.
“Every job I've done I put myself into it 100 percent,” he said, while collecting mail from downtown Rochester businesses. “I always love my job, no matter what it is.”
Painting light poles on a city contract downtown, Ken Carll has similar feelings.
“I do something different every day, never the same thing,” he said.
According to a recent survey, those two are nearly in the minority. A Gallup poll says 48 percent of employees don't like going to work. There’s a lack of motivation, sometimes caused by workers, but sometimes managers are to blame. The survey concludes the lack of productivity from disengaged workers costs U.S. companies billions.
Aside from the fact that half of us get up in the morning and don't want to go to work, the survey says one in five looks for a new job on a weekly basis, while three in five say they'll have a new job by next year.
“The trend isn't going in the direction we would like it to go,” said Fernan Cepero, President of the Genesee Valley Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management. He believes the current corporate climate plays a role.
“There's so much focus on cutbacks and loss of funding for particular organizations where there's no focus placed on the employees that are staying, your top performers,” he said.
Andrew Harrison's mission is to help local companies help employees keep, or even find -- passion for their job.
“I'm trying to explain to corporate Rochester, there are tools at you disposal to motivate people,” he explained. “The goal is not to get rid of them. The goal is to grow them and have them be excited and then your revenue and profits go up.”
Harrison is a former salesman who quit his six-figure job because he wasn’t passionate about it. Now, he talks to people and companies about motivation. He says bosses have to deal with those just collecting a paycheck, reward those who work hard, and motivate the rest.
“The economy is tough right now and companies are trying to figure out ways to make money,” he said. You make money by having good people, and people who produce more.”
A seemingly simple solution, to corporate America’s growing problem.