Yesterday I posted my thoughts on leaders being careful about the “just be happy you have a job” attitude towards employees. What goes around comes goes around is what I said. And when the economy gets back on track, those employees treated poorly might be out the door quicker than you can say “where are you going?”
A reader (thanks Ashlee Erwin) sent me a nifty little article that appeared on NPR back in September. Click here to read the full article. As companies continue to lay off thousands of people, this company found an innovative way to keep the people they care about (all of their employees) in jobs and prevent families and lives from undo adversity and possible poverty. How did they do it? By setting up what they call “alternative work.” Work that was contracted out is now done by employees. They even have a corporate garden that employees work in and sell.
Of course this is a small town and a small business (only 68 workers), but I am sure if companies were thoughtful they could come up with innovative ways to retain a lot more workers and help prevent the type of stress and downright depression that occurs when someone in the family loses their job (I speak from personal experience).
What innovative things have you seen companies do to retain their employees instead of laying them off?
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Mike Rogers
