HR Solutions: Make workplace fun to retain quality employees

Workers who leave typically cite a lack of fun at work and temperamental bosses

As a small business owner, the prospect of replacing quality staff is ominous. You realize the unemployment rate is low and you are unable to compete with larger companies in terms of salaries and benefits. But you still have a business to run, and you need to make sure your good employees stay and help you do it.

The major complaints from workers who leave small businesses are a lack of any type of fun, and supervisors who have tempers and who do not appreciate their workers.

You may feel comfortable in an environment that is not fun, thinking, after all, it is your business. You may also believe your stress justifies your temper, and your employees should simply be thankful they have jobs. However, these doctrines will, at a minimum, produce high turnover, and, at worst, close your business.

So, how do you inject fun into your organization? Several options are available, with nothing but your imagination and that of your staff to hold you back.

Implement a paid time-off policy during slow work periods. Plan group outings to movies, bowling alleys, skating rinks and sports games. Or, allow staff to be free to do whatever they wish.

Permit occasional game-playing during work hours. Bowl in the hallways with beach balls and empty boxes. Put up basketball hoops and dart boards, and hold tournaments.

Make every holiday and employee birthday or special anniversary an event. Wear reindeer antlers and a blinking red nose as you pick each other's names for gift giving at Christmas. Tie balloons to chairs for birthdays. Decorate an office for a luau and provide exotic nonalcoholic drinks the day before a coworker leaves for a vacation to Hawaii.

Share hilarious Internet sites, such as

despair.com.

Spoofs are provided from the famous Successories posters regarding traditional team building and motivational thoughts. For example, one poster shows a baseball player that has lost the game and says, "Losing: If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style." Another features a cobweb covered telephone and reads: "Apathy: If we don't take care of the customer, maybe they'll stop bugging us."

The second key to low turnover in a small business is your behavior. How do you maintain a calm, positive attitude, as well as gratitude for your associates? Control your thoughts, life and tongue, and seek professional help with stress and anger management.

Choose to think positive thoughts. What you think will be how you behave. View your cup as half full instead of half empty. Don't deny the reality of a problem, but seek to find the silver lining in the cloud.

Create an "I'm Personally Thankful For" list. Think of every little thing you are thankful for, and when you are down, review the items. Make it a point to continually locate additional information to add to your list. If you think you have it rough, look around you; you will be able to find many other people who have it much, much worse.

Create an "I'm Thankful For My Employees" list. Review one team member at a time. Write every advantageous personality characteristic and behavior that comes to mind. Focus on what the person does right as opposed to the mistakes.

Catch each staff member doing something right. Compliment her. Be real and sincere. Overlook the minor human errors.

One of the two basic human needs is to be appreciated. No one wants to be with someone full of anger. Few people enjoy, and therefore stay, at a workplace devoid of occasional fun. Sales opportunities abound to grow your small business. Meet the needs of your current associates to ensure your organization captures and retains all the business possible.

(Lynne Haggerman is president/owner of Haggerman & Associates, an employment, management training, human resources consulting, and outplacement firm.)