HR Pointers

This November 11^th we will officially observe Veteran’s Day, a time set aside to honor and thank the men and women who have served in our military. Observing Veteran’s Day and thanking them for their service is the least that we can do for these individuals who sacrifice so much for our freedom and protection. There is more especially, that we as business owners, hiring managers and HR professionals can do to return the favor – hire them.

This week, October 5-9 has been National Customer Service Week,  established in 1984 and proclaimed a national event in 1992. This week was created to recognize customer service professionals and to emphasize that exceptional customer service is critical to running a successful business. You don’t always hear a lot about Customer Service Week so I wanted to devote the blog this week to the heroes of Customer Service.

We are weeks away from the next presidential election and I’m pretty sure that I’ve been sent enough giant postcards in the mail to construct a small village. Not only that, I’m getting texts, phone calls and ads in my social media feeds that I don’t want and that don’t make sense for me politically. It gets on my nerves and I hate the waste of resources on those postcards – they go directly into recycling, but what a waste of money and materials that could be better spent! That, my friends, is as political as I’m going to get here. I know, like me, you’ve been inundated and will continue to be until the election and probably afterwards for a while as well.

What comes to your mind when you hear the words workplace culture? Do you imagine foosball tables and beanbag chairs in the breakroom? Do you think of the movie “Office Space”? How would you describe that culture?!! If you’ve seen the movie, you know where I’m going with this. 

Webster’s Dictionary defines culture with relation to business as this: “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization.” The transitive verb of culture is “cultivate”, which by definition is “to grow.” So far, we’ve established what workplace culture is and what it’s for. It makes sense that defining your workplace culture is an important step if you want your business to grow and thrive. Why then does culture, in so many organizations, seem to be something so fragile?