The Leadership e-News
June 2010   
This Month's Features

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A Letter From Ron Magnus, Managing Director

The recent passing of legendary basketball coach John Wooden provides an opportunity to remember a man who created an unmatched culture of winning. From 1967 to 1973, the UCLA men’s basketball team won an unprecedented seven national titles in a row. During this streak UCLA won 88 straight games with four perfect 30-0 seasons. Coach Wooden meticulously crafted a culture through acute focus on detail, constant motivation and personal embodiment of the traits he sought to bring out in others. He also used a framework, known as his "pyramid of success,” to teach and embed a shared set of beliefs in generations of players.

The hardship of our Great Recession has proven just how difficult it is to build a culture of lasting, high performance. In addition, as leaders adjust to the reality of a business environment of permanent volatility and uncertainty, the best leaders know that one of their most important roles is carefully and intentionally building an enduring culture that drives results.

This issue of the Leadership e-Newsletter looks at the culture and organizational development that drives employee performance.

Ron Magnus
Ron Magnus

The Work/Life Balancing Act

“Our people are the reason we can do work, and we have to offer and provide for them as best we can while recognizing that we are still a business.”
—Steve Hoech, Zachry Holdings.

In recent years, the job market provided an environment in which employers had to fight to keep talented, happy employees. However, the current economic climate has changed this. With more and more cuts to employee benefits and workers being asked to do more with less, employees may begin to feel the company cares less about them and more about profit. An unappreciated employee will be more likely to go in search of something better once the economy rebounds.

Companies have started to realize how important work/life balance is in terms of productivity and creativity of their employees. Most work/life balance programs represent a small cost to the company, but can provide a huge benefit to the employee and ultimately to the organization. Small cost items can range from things as simple as business casual dress codes to flexible schedules to telecommuting opportunities. Because the full effects of a healthy work/life balance are hard to quantify, many contractors hesitate to implement these programs. However, there is a definite positive correlation between an employee’s healthy work/life balance, job satisfaction and productivity. Happy employees are usually sick less, tend to show up to work on time, have fewer errors and try to achieve more than those who are unhappy with their work/life balance.

Read on to learn how Zachry Holdings is creating a balanced work/life environment and the benefits of an employee-centered workplace.

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Retaining Employees Now and Beyond

Today’s economic downturn, now called the Great Recession by the media, has contractors focusing on survival. Against this backdrop, many contractors have or are considering ways to reduce labor expense, including layoffs, wage freezes or cuts, and reduced or eliminated incentive payouts. The last thing most employers are concerned about right now is employee retention.

However, employee retention, at least for key employees, is always important. Regardless of current sentiment, this recession will end, and when it does, contractors will rely on their key employees to power the recovery. Several recent surveys have focused on employer actions during the recession and the impact these actions have had on employee attitudes and behaviors.

Read on to learn what steps you as a contractor can take to improve employee retention.

  Read More: Download the Article

 
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