Supervisors who freak-out when employees use the Internet at work for non-work reasons should breathe a little easier.  A new study published by the University of Melbourne, Australia, shows employees who engage in WILB (workplace internet leisure browsing) are 9% more productive than their non-surfing counterparts.

The research study’s media release identifies that employees need time to periodically zone-out in order to allow their mind to return to a higher level of concentration.  Leisurely surfing activities, in moderation of course, allows workers to be more productive.  All of us need to get away from our desk, walk around, and take a break.  Evidently, our mind needs time to play as well.

“Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos on YouTube, using social networking sites like Facebook or shopping online under the pretense that it costs millions in lost productivity, however that’s not always the case,” said Dr. Brent Coker, from the University’s Department of Management and Marketing.

According to an article published on Wired.com, the research has turned viral and is spreading across offices worldwide due to employee interest.

If this research proves to be correct (and I have my doubts), it should further motivate leaders to consider becoming more flexible with sites like Facebook and Twitter, restricted web addresses for many corporate employees.

Flexibility with technological usage, telecommuting, and other  workplace productivity issues, need to be revisited in many organizations to encourage a more results-only work environment based on trust and respect.  The technological workplace is changing and a great number of managers need to adapt their leadership skills to promote optimum productivity.  Socializing in moderation, whether it’s in the hallway or the information superhighway, should rule the day.

Maybe all work and no play really does make for a dull employee.

While attending a Great Place to Work Institute annual conference an organizational consultant told the story of a client who prominently displayed posters throughout their offices with the message, “Our valued employees are always treated with trust and respect.”   Yet the consultant noticed employees underwent exhaustive and intrusive security searches when entering and exiting the offices each day.  It was obvious the employer did not really trust their people.  The consultant observed the employees were quite uncomfortable with the invasive nature of the security process.

Considered a highly unusual practice for a civilian organization with very little security concerns, the consultant questioned the leaders about the conflicting message of “trust and respect” while employees were subjected to daily body searches. The organization stopped the security searches.

Avoid Conflicting Messages

In this case, the leaders were oblivious to the conflicting message of building trust and the ongoing practice of their security measures. That’s why business leaders should carefully consider the environment they want to create for their employees.  A well planned and executed people strategy will help you avoid these big, hairy contradictory messages that create barriers between employees and management.

Since corporate culture flows down from the top, determine in advance what message you want your employees to receive through your leadership team’s actions.

People Strategy is Mission Critical

When preparing your business plan, seriously consider the people strategy component of your enterprise.  People strategy is as important as your marketing strategy or finance statements. Many CEO’s will boast in their annual reports, “Our people are our most important asset” because that is what a CEO is expected to say in print or on camera.  But in reality do most CEO’s develop a Great Workplace strategy where employees are treated as whole persons and where leaders are measured on their soft skills? Based on the vast numbers of unhappy, unfulfilled, disengaged and burnt out American workers across this great nation, my educated guess is a resounding “no!”

A business owner should seriously consider their written and unwritten people strategies and make room for this subject in their business plan, whether you have ten or ten-thousand employees.  Even solo-practitioners rely on other people, including business associates, partners, affiliates, vendors, and other professionals, to accomplish their goals.  A well-developed people strategy is critically important to any businesses long-term viability.

Most Successful People Like People

First of all, it helps if you like people. To some leaders, overseeing people is like dealing with the IRS: they avoid them at all cost.  I cannot count the times leaders have told me they hate dealing with people issues.  However, many leaders allow the people component of their business to be formulated by chance.  It is difficult to succeed in business if you don’t like people.  It is not a good idea to outsource your people function to uncaring, unattached outsiders.  Even if you outsource merely the transaction components of human resource management, a leader cannot outsource the employee relations component without disastrous consequences.

If business leaders are not involved in corporate life, the company’s culture becomes a process of evolution, mutation, and happenstance in an uncaring environment.  These are great ingredients for stirring up a prison riot, but not such a great way to develop a great working environment.

Sometimes the temptation is to ignore people problems altogether and hope the problems magically disappear.  However, poor decision-making, or lack of decision-making, can lead to a toxic work environment and a multitude of people issues.

Positive People Practice Questions

When developing or evaluating your business plan, ask and answer the following Positive People Practice (also known as P3) questions when creating a People Strategy section in your business plan:

• Company Culture - Every company has one and no two are alike.  What type company culture do you want for your enterprise?  The culture will typically mirror the personality of a strong leader or CEO. It is good to establish in writing the foundation of the company’s personality.
• Flexibility - How flexible will your company be with employees?  Will you automatically say “no” to reasonable requests or seriously consider and evaluate employee requests for work/life flexibility?  Flexible employers are known to be more productive and profitable.
• Results Only – Are you prepared to base employee performance on results rather than the outdated practices of brown-nosing and face time?
• How Results Happen – How results happen are as important as the results. Will employees and leaders be accountable for their behavior in getting work accomplished?  Make sure results at any cost is not condoned by your leadership.
• Telecommuting – Will employees have the flexibility to work away from the office as long as they get their work done on time and with the quality expected? Today’s technological advances have made telecommuting a practical solution for a number of positions.
• Recruiting by Cultural Fit – Will you carefully screen each new hire to determine if they will live and work according to your company culture? Potential new leaders should also be subjected to a culture fit analysis since this is where many problems crop up.
• Dress Code - How are employees expected to dress for work? Business, business casual, casual, beach attire? Make sure leaders dress like your employees too.  Opportunity seeking leaders will be tempted to dress up in a dress down environment to gain a psychological advantage over other employees.
• Corporate Values - What are the values and guiding principles of your organization?  These guidelines communicate a great message to job applicants and help existing employees and leaders make decisions when faced with difficult circumstances?
• Code of Conduct - How are employees and leaders expected to act during the work week?  What is considered acceptable or unacceptable behavior? Is business ethics taken seriously?
• Jerk-Free Workplace – Will you consider instituting an anti-bullying and jerk-free workplace policy where workplace terrorists are terminated after one official warning? Unfortunately the incivility of our society is creeping into the workplace and business leaders need to stop hiring jerks at work.

Seriously consider these people strategy issues when developing your business plan and your chances of outlasting, outperforming and outmaneuvering the competition will increase exponentially.

When B.B. King, the King of the Blues, wrote these lyrics, “When my heart starts beating like a hammer, and my eyes get full of tears,”  he wasn’t writing about his job but many hard working Americans feel this way on Sunday evening each week.  According to research, getting ready for Monday can be a real bummer.

Have you ever had that feeling of dread come over you on Sunday evening as your mind begins to prepare for the work week ahead? Does your heart start beating like a hammer? Do your eyes fill with tears? Is the thought of Monday – the start of a new work week – so daunting that you begin worrying about work on Sunday?

This type of worry and dread cuts into your weekend.  It feels like Monday starts on Sunday. This phenomenon has been termed the “Sunday Evening Blues.”

It is a real phenomenon. For some people there is much to worry about. In fact, more heart attacks occur on Monday mornings in the workplace than any other day of the week.  When the sun rises on Monday mornings so does the blood pressure of many hard working Americans.  What is the cause of the Sunday Evening Blues?  The cause could be related to your morning commute, sleep deprivation from the weekend, abuse of alcohol, poor family relationships, or the act of returning to a toxic work environment.

When surveying employees regarding their satisfaction with work, I think it is a good idea to ask this question: “Do you experience the Sunday Evening Blues when thinking about returning to work on Monday?”  The results will be a good indicator of the health of your workplace.

As business leaders we should do what we can to make the workplace a welcoming and inviting place.  The environment should help employees perform at their highest levels.  Below are a few ideas on how to create a warm and inviting workplace and beat down the Sunday Evening Blues:

• Drive Out Fear in the Workplace – Fear stifles creativity, productivity and quality. Fear seizes up the organization’s ability to freely produce results because employees are afraid of being reprimanded.  Drive out fear by ridding your organization of supervisors who are overbearing, micromanaging, nitpicking, fire-breathing Neanderthals.
• Model Servant Leadership – The most productive teams are motivated by servant leaders. When leaders realize their job is to help others succeed, work/life begins to make more sense.  When everything and everyone has to accommodate the leader, he/she is not a servant leader but a dictator.
• Throw Out Rigidity and Embrace Flexibility – Our personal and professional lives have never been more complicated.  Many times the competing demands of our family and work intersect and create enormous pressure.  When the company forces employees to choose between work and family, the company will always lose in the end. Even if the employee chooses company over family, the company will eventually lose when the employee’s family falls apart.  It is best to work things out through flexible leadership.  In other words, focus on results not face time.
• Provide Lessons on Etiquette and Civility – Our country severely lacks some basic lessons on etiquette and civility. If a driver does not speed off at a green light within one second, hoards of cars will start honking their horns, shouting obscenities and shoving crude finger gestures at you.  These ruthless, impatient, vulgar people are driving to work too and you likely work with many of them.  It is a good idea to provide mandatory etiquette and civility training to help smooth out the major and minor irritants that cause friction in the workplace. If there is friction in the workplace it is manifesting itself at the customer level as well.
• Leaders Should Be Nice - It is amazing what will happen in an organization if the top leader and his/her executive team are simply nice people.  You do not have to be mean and nasty to get work done. That is myth not reality.  Leaders who are nice, cordial, pleasant, focused, determined, objective and fair will lead their company to greatness.  When nice starts at the top it will cascade down the organization.

Note: Please take a moment and respond to the poll question on our website regarding this subject.  We are very interested in reader responses.