If there’s one thing every business manager knows, it’s that an engaged, proactive employee is a happy employee. Being proactive in the workplace requires a high level of enthusiasm and engagement, and that kind of attitude always affects productivity in a positive way. It also brings on feelings of satisfaction in the employee, and that in turn leads to success and stability in the office. 

Sounds like a win-win proposition, doesn’t it? How can a company help to inspire employees to greater involvement and productivity though? Let’s take a look at a few employee involvement techniques that may greatly inspire employees to become more involved and engaged at the workplace, and thus become happier and more productive workers.

Since its first major implementation in the mid-1980s, Six Sigma has become synonymous with quality improvement.  Its roots, however, stretch back more than one hundred years to the early and mid-nineteenth century when Carl Friedrich Gauss showed how probability could be represented by a bell-shaped or “normal” curve that peaks around the mean or expected value and quickly falls off towards infinity. 

In the 1920s, the concept that would become Six Sigma took another step forward when Walter Shewhart showed that three sigma from the mean is the point where a process requires correction.   Another sixty years would go by before engineer Bill Smith presented the concept of Six Sigma to Motorola Chairman Bob Galvin who then incorporated the metrics into the company’s processes.  Six Sigma Black Belts arrived, things got ‘lean’ and we then arrive at to our first definition of Six Sigma provided by its developers and summed up nicely by Wikipedia....

Numerous studies have proven that happy staff are more productive and perform better in the workplace than staff who are not happy with their jobs. Salary increases may not always be an option, but there are other ways to boost the morale in the office. Many staff would benefit from some fun office activities to boost morale.

Over the past 2 years, we've been working hard to add features and improve the overall usability of Vetter. We've made it mobile friendly, enabled Users to upload images, strengthened the Analytics/Design features. This investment (and the further investment we have planned) of course, costs money and in the meantime our infrastructure costs have risen. So....

If there’s one good thing about the digital age, it’s that the internet brings everything to you. Gone are the days of attending conference after conference to learn better management procedures. Now, you can read about it in the comfort of your own home or office. To help you get started in your education, we’ve listed (in no particular order) ten articles on leadership from the greats that came before you.

Suggestion boxes are a great way to open lines of communication with your staff. Not only will they allow employees the chance to share their ideas and report any workplace failures, but they'll also provide management, with on-the-ground feedback about everyday business operations. But what if you aren't sure what the policy should look like? What rules and regulations should you put into place to make sure everyone uses the box to its fullest potential? Here are just a few suggestions for creating your employee suggestion box policy. 

Imagine that you’re seated at a table with several other people, all dressed in their very best. Suits and ties are just the beginning as bow ties, top hats, dresses and high heels are among the fashions, too. It’s a very upscale place. However, you’re not at a fancy restaurant or a gala event. You’re at work, having lunch in the cafeteria. Welcome to Formal Fridays. Remember when everyday business attire was serious and formal? Almost like an official uniform for men, suits and ties were expected, and women wore the requisite dresses or suits. We’re not talking about ancient times here; this was the 90s, when being dressed up was simply part of daily life.

If you look at the numbers, every ten to twenty years (we’ll split the difference and call it fifteen), a major corporation decides to “restructure” its operation which, in laymen’s terms, means terminating the services of a ginormous number of workers. Rumors abound lately that IBM is set to fire over 100,000 employees (that’s dismiss, discharge, lay off, let go, give notice to, get rid of, ax, or sack depending on where you are at the moment) in what could turn out to be the largest layoff in history. While IBM may be the first to tread into the six-figure domain, the business world is certainly no stranger to mass layoffs in the five-figure range. Let’s take a look at the top sixteen mass layoffs.

Every company seeks the best employees, those who are reliable, innovative, team-oriented yet able to work well independently. The difficulty can be in locating them. That’s why, once such stellar employees are recruited, retaining them becomes paramount. Fortunately, this is an arena in which a sharp Human Resources Department (HR) can be invaluable. Assisting in supporting and retaining your best employees, HR helps to ensure that employees are content within your company, bolstering morale and guarding against early departures. Here are seven key ways HR can help to retain your best employees: 

Periodically playing games with your employees (no, we’re not talking mind games) is a great way to build camaraderie and provide a much-needed break from the stresses of a workday (or workweek). For some easy and fun employee engagement ideas, see our post here or make up your own team-building game. As good as these (and your) ideas are, sometimes you don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to team-building and stress release. Never fear! Save the longer games for once a week (or every other week), and try these one-minute game ideas for a quick bit of fun that everyone is sure to enjoy.