Several years ago, I read of a study (sorry, can't remember details)
showing that small compliments given 3 or 4 times a year were huge morale
boosts. That's all it took for employees to feel good about their jobs,
employers, and themselves. These were much more effective than cake-and-
speech awards in front of the whole staff.
|((| Ellen Chapman, MLS, MA, CA
|))| Archives & Manuscripts Department
|((| University of Hawaii at Manoa Library
|))| (808) 944-7656
On Thu, 13 Jul 2006, D'Avanza, Mia wrote:
> Thanks for some very keen observations, Carole.
> Sometimes your current support staff are working towards their MLIS and will remember the disparity, or lack thereof, when they are themselves an archivist with people to supervise. So you can set a good example by "walking the walk."
>
> Sincerity really IS key. Everyone can tell when you are using rote "compliment sandwich" kinds of techniques, and just throwing out something that sounds like praise but is a backhanded criticism. If more people in every field were to just say "Good job" (when applicable) a little more often I think it would make a world of difference.
>
> Mia D'Avanza
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Carole Prietto
> Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 10:22 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Improving staff morale
>
> > Interesting discussion on improving staff morale
> > I've been reading lately. I think one thing that's
> > important to point out, however, is the fact that
> > any gift/gesture of appreciation that is given
> > to recognize your employees should have some
> > measure of sincereity and genuine sentiment
> > attached to it.
>
> I couldn't agree more. I would add that how you treat the staff on a day
> to day basis makes a ton of difference as well. Little things add up -
> things like "please" and "thank you" and "good work" (all these things
> said, of course, with sincerity). Recognize good work in front of peers
> and researchers. Recognize good work in your reports to the higher-ups.
> You get the picture.
>
> Space and equipment, too, make more of a difference in staff morale than
> we may realize. Are the staff, the ones doing the front line work, forced
> to make do with hand-me-down computers while the supervisor always gets
> the latest and greatest? Are the staff chairs and desks comfortable and
> attractive, or is that reserved for the supervisor? That kind of thing
> will get under the skin of support staff more than they will ever admit
> and they don't have to cost a lot of money to fix. I recently got promoted
> to being the head of the Archives here at the Daughters of Charity, and
> the first thing I addressed was, believe it or not, office chairs. Why?
> Because two people on our staff had been working for years with chairs
> that were practically collapsing under them, they were so beat up. I went
> to my supervisor and asked if there were money available to fix that.
> There was, and so I bought two new chairs from Office Depot - basic,
> attractive, functional, ergomonic, and tons more comfortable. One of these
> staff people had gone months with no printer at her desk. Bought one of
> those, too. Total cost for all this: $300. Improvement in the staff
> morale: Priceless. Just yesterday these two staff people were talking
> about how much they were enjoying their new chairs. At my former
> institution, Washington University, I had the opportunity to design a new
> Archives space, and I made sure that my assistant had the same office
> setup as I did. No relegating the assistant to a cubicle while I gave
> myself a palace, a practice I had seen a lot at the WU Library. Both of us
> had offices with the same square footage (12ft x 10ft) and the the same
> furniture. It's easy to pay lip service to the idea that the support staff
> are an important part of the operation. What they will see, though, is
> what we do to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
>
> Carole Prietto
> Provincial Archivist
> Daughters of Charity West Central Province
> St. Louis
>
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
*or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES
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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>