Blogging. What a way to interact. My posts yesterday set off quite the firestorm. It gave me insight into Zayo that, hmmm, was enlightening. Let’s Recap.
- The genesis of yesterday’s post was me setting Zayo’s 2009 priorities. #2 on the list was for Zayo to become a “Best Place to Work in Telecom”
- My first post about priority #2 was that a “Best Place to Work” starts with delivering great service to our customers. This not only generates pride with employees, but it also eliminates a lot of the most unpleasant type of work.
- Next, I stressed the importance of job security and fair compensation, including giving employees an opportunity to participate in the upside of the business.
- Following this, I clarified the difference between BEING a “Best Place to Work” and ASPIRING to be one. Zayo is in the aspiring phase, not the being phase. In 2008, we relied too heavily on the heroic efforts of our very capable employees. Quoting from this post, I bullet pointed that Zayo needs to modify its work environment as follows: Less hectic work environment for our employees; Getting work done through efficient processes, underpinned by reliable data (as opposed to brute force); remaining focused, by de-prioritizing less essential initiatives and projects. In short, Zayo needs to find a better balance on the spectrum of work and life in 2009 than it had in 2008.
- In yesterday’s post, I attempted to clarify my prior post. Though Zayo needs to achieve better work/life balance in 2009 (relative to 2008), the reality of our situation is that we are a company that has set out to be a high performer. As such, Zayo will be more right for some people and not so right for others. A cultural fit needs to exist between what an individual is looking for and what their company has to offer.
Zayo has a lot to offer ambitious and hard working people. It is particularly well suited for people who want to make some money and accelerate their career paths. However, there is a trade off. Work/life will not be ideally balanced. Do we need to get a lot better in 2009 than we were in 2008? YES. Are there much better places to work if your priority is achieving perfect work/life balance? Depending on your definition of “perfect”, the answer is YOU BETCHA.
I have the easy job. I get to set the objectives. I made our #2 objective to to make Zayo a Best Place to Work because this is important to me. I will sacrifice other things to help us achieve this goal. But at the end of the day, achieving this is the responsibility of our entire team. Leaders from up and down the company need to step forward. Let’s challenge one another. Let’s communicate. Let’s debate. Let’s talk about how we achieve this goal. Let’s hold one another accountable for achieving this goal. We have the opportunity to shape our culture. Let’s take advantage of this opportunity and make the most of it.
Can we accomplish incredible things while also achieving better work life balance? Borrowing an expression from our new President, “Yes we can!”.
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Nice post Dan. Love the positive energy to close it out. Recognizing the challenge is half the battle. In the spirit of keeping this response positive and constructive how about a few suggestions from the peanut gallery? I think you could extend a significant olive branch to many of your employees by doing one or more of the following:
– Designate one weekend a month – for the entire year – as a “no work weekend”. It can differ from month to month. Starts 5pm Friday and ends 6am Monday morning. No emails. No voicemails. No calls….period… for an entire weekend. Hold yourself and your senior staff accountable by posting for all to see if they violated this in any way. We’ll quickly see if this is a lip service gesture or if you are really trying to make an effort to recognize the need for some semblance of balance while you are working thru the hectic growth period of Zayo. Doesn’t cost the company a dime and your are giving them something they should have anyway. if people choose to work over the weekend, fine. But dont expect email returns or phone call returns from those folks who are trying to adhere to this and insert a little non-work activity in their life.
– When things are tough at home it spills over to the work area whether we like it or not. Work/life balance is never perfect but recognizing that it IS important and actually supporting your employees goes a long way. With the tough financial times that many are experiencing how about Zayo sponsoring personal finance course in all of your offices one evening a week? There are many courses out there that really do not cost much (eg. Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University, Crown Financial, etc.) to choose from. Imagine the productivity gains by helping families figure out how to live within their means? Think of the gratitude and loyalty this would breed. What if Zayo covered the first $100 for these courses? I will even put myself out there by donating my time to lead how ever many of these courses are needed in the Louisville office for the simple cost of materials (which is ~$80-$100 per person per class).
– how about granting employees 4hrs a month (to be arranged with manager discretion of course) to donate their time to their favorite charity, school, church? No cash donation from Zayo (we’ll get to that topic later
), just allowing them to take the time to help their community. Think of the impact that would have. People are already working 60hrs+ in many cases so allowing them a whopping 4hrs per month is a bit equivalent to giving someone “the sleeves off your vest”.
Just some ideas for you and your team to ponder. Good luck.
Hey John, On #2 – Zayo’s Employee Assistance Program at 800-756-5792 offers free programs to employees and their families for anything that may be stressing them out. This could include financial counseling, trying to quit smoking, or finding help for a child who is failing math. The EAP is there to help in any stressful situation. I hope more Zayo employees take advantage of this service.
Awesome. Was not aware of this (since I don’t work at Zayo). My offer still stands though. I will volunteer my time to lead a personal finance class (or two or three) if you guys determine there is a need for it. Thanks.
*Disclaimer* I do not work for Zayo or any other of your business’.
Dan,
I perfectly understand where you were coming from on this entire topic, and I agree with where I think you are trying to go and say about this.
I have to say though what keep coming across as I read this topic was ” My motivation, not your’s and if mine does not fit with you or the objectives I have laid out for overall success of Zayo, then see ya and do not let the door hit you!”
simply put it came across to me as something I heard for years at another telecom company we had time with: “If you don”t like it, then leave”
Now to be fair, I know that is not what you are trying to say. I may be alone, but that is certainly the first impression I had until I read a little deeper and came back and re-read.
In addition to, and I am quoting you “Less hectic work environment for our employees; Getting work done through efficient processes, underpinned by reliable data (as opposed to brute force); remaining focused, by de-prioritizing less essential initiatives and projects…. Companies that have superior culture and awesome work/life balance know what motivates their employee’s better than probably the employee themselves.
BThe gys that have the “easy job” of setting objectives need to also know what exactly empowers and motivates their employee base. You are small enough to start this right now. The desire for fame and wealth may motivate some, while being a part of directly growing a company motivates others.
In short owners and upper level execs should know what motivates and empowers each and every employee, whether it is the COO, a provisoner/circuit designer or even the receiptionist.
Knowing what empowers and motivates your employee base to help bring success to the company may give you additonal insight and invaluable infromation you never knew about.
This goes far more than I am motivated because the economy sucks right now and I need the job, check and benefits.
far too many times I have witnessed the guys/gals do the “easy job” and set expectations, etc w/o ever knowing what truly motivates someone. Maybe a very good “keeper” of an employee is motivated to share in success, but not at the expense of someone that is fueld by desire for wealth, presitge and fame.
I learned this lesson about 10 years ago. I had a superstar that seemed to be motivated to be on the team for a variety of reasons. They worked like mad 5 days a week, 12 hour to 13 hour days Mon-Fri, but she never worked the weekends and always took extended days off during holidays, including 2 weeks at the end of the year. She never showed up to company happy hour’s, etc, My boss was agitated by this, because he thought she was all show and too “snobby” for office get togethers and he strongly felt she was not an overall success to the company because of this, and yes this was at a telecom. She produced though and I had the proof.
During a one on one I learned that the employee hated her job and our culture(high octane, brute force culture at the time), and could not stand the long hours, etc but she excelled in it and she was considered our service delivery guru.
I thought to myself how could this person who hated her job and our culture, never miss a due date, be so great w/Customers, etc…
I found out her true motivation.
She told me point blank she gives 60hrs a week to the company and that should be enough, because her motivation for putting in 60hr weeks, enduring our culture and doing a job she hated more than anything to INSURE that time spent with her 8 year daughter who had cancer since 6 was readily available and w/o question approved.
COMPLETE SHOCKER!
Our HR group did not even know this about her and her family, neither did I. I also learned that she was a recovering alcoholic that did considered happy hour a trigger for her and provided too much temptation to her at that stage in her recovery. She did not balme the company, etc, she just knew, for her, going to happy hours were not a wise thing to even consider.
We all learned what motivated her and there was never a question as to why she never produced more than she did.
Her motivating factor was her daughter’s well being and was smart enough to handle work/life beautifully, not to mention making us very successful.
finding out what motivates and empowers is jsut as critical as deciding which process enhancements will be to reduce workload.
Disclaimers:
I am retired. Retired at 59 when Onvoy was acquired by Zayo, and I realized it was not a fit for me.
My father was one to say “any job worth doing is worth doing well” “with every privilege there is a responsibility” “what you want and what you get are two different things” (Should have said those things to my kids more often.)
Thoughts:
The worst part of any job I had was rightfully unhappy customers. The focus on doing a good job for customers is a great employee satisfier.
The second worst part was a boss who couldn’t set priorities. One woman I reported to included the words “key” “critical” “urgent” etc. in every memo she sent to me.
Then there was me. Anytime I wasn’t clear with myself about what I wanted and what I was willing to do to get/keep it I started to grouse. Most often in my head, sometimes to co-workers.
I gradually came to terms with myself. E.G. I would miss promotion opportunities because I wasn’t willing to leave my home town. I wouldn’t have time to do volunteer work, but I could write a check. I knew that I could volunteer when i retired and had more time than money.
My husband and I have two children. My husband left his job when they were 5 and 3, and never went back. He was there to help out on field trips, attend every game and concert, coach, work with their teachers when there were issues. It cost us some material things. And I recommend that any who are concerned about not being available to parent their children consider this option. One parent at home. The other parent being satisfied with attending conferences, games, etc. when you can. I would have loved to see them all. But, I worked hard to make sure that they were never in day care. Always had a parent at home after school. Not all bad for me. My husband is an excellent cook and homemaker.
RE A-Rod, rockstars, etc. I am hopeful that current times lead to an adjustment in our collective thinking about what is valuable. When I was thirteen, I was mad that my male counterparts could make more mowing a lawn for an hour than I made babysitting for 10 hours. Walking back and forth with a mower was worth more than feeding and bathing children and keeping them out of harm’s way.
Scott, your story will be the focus of a blog post next week. As for your reading of my posts as saying “my way or the highway”, I’d like to clarify. I want Zayo to be viewed by its employees as “A Best Place to Work in Telecom”. I’m not asking those who share have a different expectation to leave the company. I am simply being clear on what I mean–and don’t mean–by better work/life balance. I don’t want to set the wrong expectation and I believe individuals are at their best when they have a clear understanding of the facts.
Mary, thanks for the comment. I will feature it in a post next week to make sure more people see it.
Thanks for the clarification Dan. I thought I missed something somewhere, until I re-read the point you weemaking a few times