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| Management Tools |
| Worklife Programs For Your Employees: Can a softball league improve productivity? |
Part of a pleasant corporate culture for most employees includes the opportunity to feel connected somehow to the people you work with. A much-touted work by Robert Putnam, a Harvard Professor, (Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital) helped focus attention on the fact that Americans are losing interest in civic involvement and other types of “connecting” activities, partly because they are spending so much time at work.
On the face of it, that seems good for business. But Putnam asserts that this decline in “neighborliness” has left all of us without the sense of well-being people usually find in good friendships, since very few people have intimate friendships with business colleagues. That lack of workplace intimacy in turn affects employee loyalty.
So here’s the dilemma. Are employers, who are already faced with the responsibility of providing health insurance, retirement programs, and Sam’s Club memberships for their employees also expected to sponsor a company bowling league? Only if you want to “recruit and retain a high-quality, loyal workforce,” writes Putnam.
If you currently lack any “worklife” programs for your employees, there are some simple ways to start. Your best resource for ideas is your employees themselves. You may begin with something as simple as a lunchtime volleyball tournament and end up with opportunities as comprehensive as corporate sponsorship for a charitable foundation. Hopefully, you’ll discover a worklife mix that’s good for business and all of society too.
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