There are certain undeniable truths for all who have pandered their wares to industry analysts:

1) Bring your corporate checkbook, because you are always on the clock;
2) Briefings start at 8am, following a long night of dinner, drinks, parties and schmoozing;
3) The intent of your words will filter through a childlike game of telephone before landing out of context in an industry report; and
4) You will never be rated as highly as you think you deserve.

Despite all of this, executives will hoist charts, graphs and questionable third-party sources into the air like Simba if by some chance an analyst crowns you king of your particular jungle. My disdain is not for the analysts themselves, but instead sits with the entire ecosystem, which pretends that pay-to-play doesn’t occur, and lets customers assume that unbiased information is being conveyed.

Imagine my chagrin when a friend turned me on to Greg the Architect, a tongue-in-cheek attempt by TIBCO Software to educate through sarcasm. And the coup de gras? An episode entitled “Off the Grid”, described as:

When a snag in a supply application irks the boss of Techrotech’s distribution center, Greg must journey beyond the mystic grid to seek the truth behind the industry analyst’s recommendation. Will Greg be left hanging?

I wonder how TIBCO’s analysts have enjoyed this video. Take a look for yourself and you will laugh at the not so subtle unearthing of the truth about analysts. Enjoy!

Let’s keep the conversation going.

When most employees initially enter into flexibile work arrangements with their employers, both parties express concerns about communication, connectivity, trust, and loyalty. A recent study by the Kenexa Research Institute (KRI) shows that perhaps some of these concerns are unfounded.

Over 10,000 employees were surveyed to compile these findings, which dispel many barriers to employer adoption of telework. Namely:

KRI examined the impact of an employee’s office location on their pride in the organization, confidence in its future, willingness to recommend their organization as a place to work and overall satisfaction. Employees who work remotely or from their homes outscored those who work within the bricks and mortar on each of these key indicators. In addition, employees who work remotely or from home are more likely to say they intend to stay with their organization.

KRI found that men are more likely to work from home than women, with the typical teleworker between 36 and 45 years of age. It appears that morale, fair treatment, a sense of trust and well-being all contribute to this increase in loyalty. Said Jack Wiley, Executive Director of KRI, about the findings:

“”It is clear that with the increase in available technology, a noteworthy number of U.S. workers are telecommuting. Not only are those who telecommute more engaged than those who work in an office, they are much more likely to rate both their senior managers and their immediate managers more favorably. Managers who allow and support telecommuting enjoy a boost in employee appreciation and are seen as notably more employee-centric and competent. This represents yet another weapon in the war for talent.”

And with competition for talent increasing, employers will need to add telework to their arsenal. A recent Inflexion client expressed how telework will allow them to seek the best and brightest in their area of expertise, anywhere in the world. However, telework is not for everyone and employers and employees alike need to properly equip themselves for all considerations to ensure that the loyalty described above is, in fact, achieved.

Let’s keep the conversation going.

A new study to be released this weekend by the Academy of Management shows that spiteful leaders tend to suffer no ill consequences for their actions. In fact, they tend to get promoted. Said the study’s authors:

“The fact that 64.2 percent of the respondents indicated that either nothing at all or something positive happened to the bad leader is rather remarkable — remarkably disturbing.”

Disturbing indeed, but perhaps not completely surprising to those of us who have worked with and for a litany of “interesting” executives. What was great about the study is that it points out the consequences of this type of malaise in the workplace, including insomnia, depression, exhaustion and even nightmares for the employees and subordinates of these lovely bosses.

So who’s to blame? Senior management, say the study’s authors:

“The leaders above them who did nothing, who rewarded and promoted bad leaders … represent an additional problem.”

The study will be presented at this weekend’s Academy of Management Annual Conference, entitled “Doing Well by Doing Good”. I won’t be in attendance and I’ll be doing well by doing nothing on vacation. We’ll keep the conversation going upon my return on August the 13th.

In the meantime, keep your head down and watch out for bad seeds in the workplace.

According to the results of the latest Salary.com 2007 Wasting Time Survey, you probably are. In fact, employees waste approximately 20% of a typical 8.5 hour work day. And guess what - younger employees (ages 20-29) waste anywhere between 10-25% more time than their older colleagues.

So what exactly are employees doing?
* Using the internet for personal needs (34.7%)
* Socializing with coworkers (20.3%)
* Conducting “personal business” (17%)

And why do they do it?
* They don’t have enough work to do (17.7%)
* Their hours are too long (13.9%)
* They are underpaid (11.8%)
* Their work isn’t challenging (11.1%)

Since employee productivity and work environments are such hot issues right now, I’d love to see comparable data for those who telework or leverage flex-time. Moreover, my concern about this data is that it’s purely focused on the quantity of work, not the quality of work. An employee could put in 15 hour days without the “distractions” itemized above, yet a more efficient and highly productive colleague could perhaps produce the same work product in 3 hours time. Are we focused more on attendance than results?

Let’s keep the conversation going.

A compelling new survey released by Deloitte & Touche and Harris Interactive finds a direct correlation between work-life balance and ethical behavior at the office.

According to the press announcement:

Ninety-one percent of all employed adults agreed that workers are more likely to behave ethically at work when they have a good work-life balance. A combined 44 percent of workers cite high levels of stress (28 percent), long hours (25 percent) and inflexible schedule (13 percent) as the causes of conflict between their work responsibilities and personal priorities, hence contributors to work-life imbalance.

Sixty percent of employed adults surveyed think that job dissatisfaction is a leading reason why people make unethical decisions at work, and more than half of workers (55 percent) ranked a flexible work schedule among the top three factors leading to job satisfaction, second only to compensation (63 percent).

Commenting on the study, Sharon Allen (Chairman of the Board, Deloitte) said, “When you think about it, if someone invests all their time and energy into their jobs, it may have the unintended consequence of making them dependent on their jobs for everything – including their sense of personal worth. This makes it even harder to make a good choice when faced with an ethical dilemma if they believe it will impact their professional success.”

The study also found that ethics training and the threat of criminal penalties do not serve to deter unethical behavior. The study did not draw a correlation between management/leadership behavior and increased ethics among employees. However, Allen added that, “management and leadership have a huge responsibility in setting examples for their organizations and living the values they preach if they want to sustain a culture of ethics.”

Let’s keep the conversation going.

Annie Fisher, senior writer for Fortune, recently authored an article entitled “Loyalty isn’t dead; employers have to earn it”.  Annie points to the recent survey results from Fortune’s annual 100 Best Companies to Work For, as compiled by the Great Places to Work Institute, which postulates that loyalty has a direct correlation to employee perks.  Annie adds that:

“…even if you treat people as well as you know how (or as well as you can afford to), they won’t hesitate to jump ship - while still considering themselves loyal to you, at least for as long as you’ve got them.”

A quick look at the Loyalty Research Center provides an interesting definition of Employee Loyalty:

“Employee loyalty can be defined as employees being committed to the success of the organization and believing that working for the organization is their best option.  Further, they do not actively search for alternative employment and are not responsive to offers that are relatively small in difference.”

Which begs the question of why those simple perks (which incur relatively low “switching costs” on behalf of the employer) allegedly cause such drastic shifts in employee behavior and relative loyality?  Not to “dis” the good people at Fortune, but a more fundamental shift - beyond perks - must be driving the roughly 70%+ of individuals that have professed a desire to shape shift employers in the coming year. 

Let’s keep the conversation going.