"...After leaving the NBA he searched for a job. (NBA players didn't make as much money as they do now). Every company he approached had an issue with the communication barrier and consequently they didn't hire Mr. Love. Finally he settled for a dishwashing job at a Nordstrom Café. After working for the company for a few months, one of the executives eating lunch in the café recognized Mr. Love and struck up a conversation with him. The executive realized that the stuttering was a barrier for Mr. Love to move forward in business as Mr. Love wanted to. A few weeks later Mr. Love's manager asked if he wanted to take speech classes to assist him with the stuttering. Mr. Love said he would but he didn't have the money to afford it. That's when it happened. Nordstrom offered to pay for the classes with nothing expected in return. For the first time Mr. Love felt that someone really cared about him. Mr. Love went through the classes, continued working at Nordstrom and was promoted eventually to Vice President of Restaurants. Mr. Love was at the conference as a national speaker. He got over the stuttering. He also shares with audiences all across the country how Nordstrom created value in his life."This is what I mean by taking care your employees so that they take care of your customers. So, what are the different ways that you can take care of your employees? Here are five ideas that I came up with:
1. Give them a membership to the local gym. I've always believed that health comes first. Exercise releases those "feel-good" endorphins and increases overall energy in a person - and the more energetic and happy a person is, the more productive they will be at work.
2. Surprise your employees with a gift that will improve their way of life. In the story above, Nordstrom gave Mr. Love speech classes. Maybe you have an employee who needs glasses but can't afford it. One of my boyfriend's employees collects basketball jerseys, so my boyfriend gave him a jersey as a surprise gift.
3. Have an "emergency" pool of money wherein employees can take out a loan when they need it.
4. Offer a child daycare service for your employees. I know a company that has daycare services at the office so that employees can visit their kids during a break or even have lunch with them.
5. Some people have to take the bus to work, so how about offering a cash incentive to those employees with cars to pick up bus riders who live close to them.
Photo Credit: Mayr
Some great ideas!
The article reminds me of a book I recently read, The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly.
n "The Dream Manager," author Matthew Kelly has written a book which is 'a must read for anyone who desires to help others achieve their dreams'.
Whether you are a manager, leader, mentor or coach this book will help transform the way you relate to others.
Individuals have dreams. The book teaches you to understand the dreams of individuals and then help to fulfil them. The book is a fictional story and I found it very easy to relate my life and experience to the story.
I’ve been a manager for 25 years and this book provided me with many new powerful and inspiring methods when working with individuals. A brilliant book.
Andrew
Posted by: GreatManagement | December 18, 2007 2:35 AM | Permalink to Comment