Want to know what will make employees want to keep working for your organization?
Want to know what will make employees want to keep working for your organization?
Last week, my yoga teacher, Therline, told me she was in a Met Life commercial and asked me if I wanted to see it. When I saw the video, I couldn’t believe how good it was, so I decided to make it the subject of this week’s blog. Met Life was one of our first really BIG customers, and if there is one thing I’ve learned over the 30 years we’ve been helping organizations manage employee stress is that the companies who buy our products, are the companies who need them the least.
This is NOT to say that they don’t need help with managing employee stress. Every company does. But most companies don’t make this a priority. And those that do, aka, our customers, generally treat their employees better than other companies do, on average. Just sayin. Here’s the internal promotion MET LIFE created when they bought 5000 copies of our relaxation CD A DAY AWAY FROM STRESS. They gave the CDs out free to any employees who wanted them. Nowadays companies like The Hartford order our A DAY AWAY FROM STRESS download cards, that allow employees to download the program free right off the internet.
And having this picture of Snoopy listening to one of our products, was a real career highlight for me!
When I watched this new 2 1/2-minute MET LIFE video, I found the data presented about the effects of certain benefit packages not only helpful but striking! By watching it you will see how work-life balance, financial stress, and flexibility affect employees’ attitudes, their loyalty to the company and their ultimate levels of happiness.
There’s an old expression that people don’t leave their jobs, they leave their bosses. And there’s also some research to suggest that people will happily work for less money, if it means having less job-stress.
Besides being a yoga instructor, Therline is also a Delta Airline Flight Attendant. In her segment, you will see her shake her head yes, to the question about the importance of having scheduling flexibility. Therline, apparently has a lot of that, and she is able to create her own schedule. Her company, like many organizations these days offers unlimited vacation days, so she takes them. She’s young and single, and she likes using the additional benefit she has of being able to fly anywhere in the world, to take some pretty amazing vacations. But she wouldn’t be able to take those trips without having flexible scheduling.
I’m always surprised how easy this benefit is to offer in most cases and how few companies offer it. Along with having the option of working from home, flex hours, and other no-cost benefits that simply give employees greater autonomy over how they do their jobs, these benefits are highly valued (working moms and dads of small children being a good example of just one group who values them) and create an extremely loyal workforce. They’re so easy to offer up, I don’t know why more employers don’t do it.
Well if you want a quick primmer on why people STAY in an organization watch this video. You’ll learn a lot in just 2 1/2 minutes and if it piques your interest, there are additional links to even more data.
And if you want a yoga teacher who really knows how to fly contact Therline at: theyogimarque@gmail.com
James Porter
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