So last night I was playing "Loaded Questions" with some friends and one of the questions was: If you could be your boss, what incentives/perks, aside from money, would you offer your employees?
My first thought was...can I make a list?
Well that didn't really work for the game, but mentally I was thinking of a list.
How about no penalty sick days? I mean, as long as you have a doctor's note or a supervisor's permission to go home early because of sickness, should you really be penalized for that?
Especially when I'm working in health care! I mean, you would think my boss would assume that since I spend all day working around infected bodily fluids, garbage, and sick people who are sneezing, have open wounds or sound like they are hacking up a lung...just maybe...every once in a while I might actually get sick. Maybe I'm crazy to think the odds of me getting sick over someone who say, works in a cubicle, are pretty high.
But no, if I call out sick or am unable to complete my shift due to illness, I'm in trouble. Doesn't matter if I had my supervisor's permission, doesn't matter if I have a doctor's note.
Idea #2 - Would it kill them to provide us with more uniforms? They give us shirts to wear and we select our own pants. No big deal, but this one housekeeper only has ONE top! Can you imagine working a full week like that?
Idea #3 - Some sort of annual award, recognizing hard workers, great team players, ect.
I have had lots of people in the hospital say I clean very well or that I am a hard worker, but besides that nice feeling of being complimented, I don't really have anything to show for it. And honestly, it starts feeling like my supervisors really don't appreciate it. Then you can start thinking if it isn't appreciated, why bother? So I think it would be encouraging for everyone on the team to get some sort of prize and recognition for their hard work. Besides, it would motivate people do always do their best.
So anyway, that was some of my ideas. Apparently, my bosses had other ideas because one of them brought breakfast in for us this morning. *sigh* Gotta take what you can get, I guess. Oh well, my cinnamon bun tasted awesome! :D
Breakfast sounds nice but unfortunately its not something you can look at from time to time to remind yourself that you do matter so I think your #3 idea has great merit. I know personally that it is discouraging to go for long periods of time without positive reinforcement.
ReplyDeleteYour other two ideas are ones you would think would be "common sense" - at least to someone out there(especially the issue of sick days).
How about the idea of a merit raise - where you get something extra from time to time when you have proven yourself a good employee. We only have a yearly review, it would be nice to get called in to HR and told "for you fine work we are giving you a small raise" - thats something I would have on my list.
Yeah, I agree. That would be awesome. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah funny how people have lose common sense when they make supervisor, manager, ect. Work around sick people = Get sick. Odd how that works. Also 99% of people would not enjoy washing clothes every day so yeah more then one shirt would be nice. *sigh* At least your co-workers notice what you do. That's better then nothing. I think. :-)
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