Tuesday, July 28, 2009

What are your employees saying about you?

Business owners, managers, bosses. Just a quick observation.

Last night I was at a local business that I love. Great customer service. Friendly people. Clean environment. They go the extra mile to take care of you even though you are not spending a LOT of money with them. I asked one of the guys working there, "These people pretty good to work for?" His response was, without even turning to look at me, "No. Terrible place to work. Boss is a jerk. He just fakes being friendly with the customers but he's terrible to all of us. We're afraid of him and need the job so we fake smile at all of you (customers) too. You didn't here that from me."

Wow. What are your employees saying about your company when you are not around? I'm in the business of telling people how great my company is, as a matter of fact. I'm in sales. I don't always feel like my boss is great or the pay is great or that everything is where it should be. But....I don't slam my boss in front of customers. To me it's just not right. But, for somebody to do that, when they have really nothing to gain, only the potential of losing their job, that's pretty discouraging.

I wonder what your employees are saying about your company. Oh sure, there will always be "those ones" that have bad stuff to say regardless of how you treat them. However, keep in mind that impression your employees give of you with customers is very, very important to your business. I lost some respect for my "local favorite place" last night.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Stay Positive Even In A Bad Economy

I started doing some searches online for ways to stay positive in this economic down-turn. It's tough, admittedly. I have so much to be grateful for yet I obsess on how to do better at work and worry constantly about losing my job. My faith has helped but it's tough even on a good day to stay positive. Here are some articles that I have found and enjoy: