Are your employees experiencing Groundhog Day?

Full disclosure: Groundhog Day is one of my all-time favorite movies.  If you have not seen it or it's been a while, the summary is Bill Murray plays an obnoxious weatherman named Phil Connors who is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual rite of Groundhog Day.  Due to some unexplained circumstances, his character keeps waking up on the morning of February 2nd.  It’s geared to be something of a slapstick comedy as his character comes to grips with the situation.  The main theme is a man taking an arduous journey to find his true self, no matter how long it takes (one estimate is Phil is stuck in February 2nd for 10,000 years).   

 Metaphysical themes aside, I think many employees can relate to Phil in the sense that each day has a Déjà vu feeling: clock in, pour a cup of coffee, check email, join conference call, have meeting, check email, have another meeting and on, and on, and on.  In my work as a recruiter, I talk to professionals every day who feel trapped living the same day over and over again.  The same meetings, the same crises, day in, day out, year after year.  Some are simply bored.  They have mastered their job and are no longer challenged in what they do.  Others feel trapped under a “Grey Ceiling” where their career will have no forward progression until their boss retires in the next ten years.  Many feel, and rightfully so, that like the longer they stay in their current role they will be too much of a specialist to step into another role. 

 There are some people who are perfectly comfortable in Groundhog Day mode.  Clock in, work, clock out, repeat, for 30 years.  Most employees are not happy with the status quo year after year.  This can have very expensive consequences to an organization.  An unengaged workforce stemming from a stagnant org chart can see reduced innovation, lost revenue, and excessive turnover. 

 It is called work for a reason, and routine can be part of some jobs. So what can you do as an employer or manager to keep your employees engaged? Here are ten steps you can do to prevent Groundhog Day in your workplace:

 1.     Have an employee review process that involves asking your employees what their career goals are.  You cannot help them get there if you don’t know where they want to go.

2.     Offer formal and informal training.  The broader your employees’ skill set, the better the organization will function.  Give them time to train and put it on the calendar and stick to it.  If you leave it to “when we have time” you will never have time.  There are many cheap and free resources you can pull from. 

3.     Cross-training and shadowing.  Have Finance or Operations go in the field with Sales to meet your customers.  Have HR pull a shift in the warehouse. 

4.     Keep promises.  If your receptionist expresses interest in moving into customer service and has the ability to learn the job, set them on a path that makes that happen.  If your Director of Logistics is chomping at the bit for a new role has no room to move up, consider a lateral into another area where they can continue to grow like sales or operations.  Whatever you agree to, set a plan and make it happen.

5.     Get creative with job roles or titles.  I once had a client that had an extremely talented engineer who was not willing or able to be an engineering manager.  They created a role of a “super engineer” who dove into only the most complicated projects and gave him mentorship roles over junior engineers.    

6.      Offer extracurricular activities.  Volunteer opportunities, sports teams, mentorships, trade shows, fitness classes, or other activities to flex different muscles and parts of the brain than the work day offers.

7.     Reward and celebrate success.  Ship more units in one day than ever before?  Close a big account?  Get a great review by a customer?  Celebrate your wins on a company, team, or individual basis.  I talk to many candidates whose companies who focus only on the losses and ignore the wins.  Why do you think they are looking for a new job?

8.     Allow creativity.  The best suggestions never come from the corner office.  Give your employees a mechanism to suggest improvements, try new ways of doing things, or running with projects that might be outside their job title. 

9.     Have fun.  There is not rule that says work has to be awful.  Your employees devote over half of their waking hours to you.  Make it fun.  Even if the job is difficult or unpleasant, you can find ways to have fun. 

10. Set them free.  If at the end of the day your great employee wants what you cannot provide, it’s ok to let them go.  Thank them for their service to your organization.  Don’t take it personally (unless you are the reason they are leaving).  Better yet, send them to a customer, not a competitor.  What kind of customer do you think you’ll have if you send them an up-and-comer with a glowing recommendation? 

 Keeping great employees should be a priority for every company.  It will make your job easier and your company more profitable.