ACQNET v3n027 (March 17, 1993) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/serials/stacks/acqnet/acq-v3n027 ISSN: 1057-5308 *************** ACQNET, Vol. 3, No. 27, March 17, 1993 ====================================== (1) FROM: Christian SUBJECT: Who's new on ACQNET today (14 lines) (2) FROM: Joe Barker SUBJECT: Employee recognition, staff morale (147 lines) (1)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: March 17, 1993 From: Christian Subject: Who's new on ACQNET today Jack Gilbert Montgomery Acquisitions Librarian University of Cincinnati Library E-mail: JACK.MONTGOMERY@UC.EDU Laurie Musgrove Acquisitions Librarian University of Natal Library E-mail: MUSGROVE@LIB.UND.AC.ZA (2)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 15:05:12 PST From: Joe Barker (Univ. of California) Subject: Employee recognition, staff morale Rewarding the Hard-Working in GRIM times Here are a few ideas about how to deliver reward to the staff. At UC (or at least at Berkeley), we haven't had salary increases in years and earned merit increases have been deferred or denied for budgetary reasons. Monetary reward programs have been cut to almost nothing. Next year, on top of this, many of us will probably be forced to take a salary CUT of 5%! Meanwhile, we've reduced staffing by 25% and are cutting another 10% next year (and it ain't over). Collections budgets are sheltered, and so there is still almost as much work to do as several years ago. Public service demands are increasing, enrollment is increasing, and the complexity of reference and many tech processing tasks are augmented by multiple electronic formats and networks. The good side is that we have almost zero turnover, because there are no jobs in the Bay Area (California?) to go to. Morale varies widely within the Library at Berkeley. It is left largely up to department heads. But there are possibilities, I think, if we use our imaginations, support or staff, and project a vision. I'd like to share some of my departments more off-the-wall ways of keeping morale off the floor. I hope some of you will volunteer some of your trade secrets, too. And I hope you'll get some fun out of reading some of what follows. I realize the following rewards are not specifically task-oriented. In addition to the ideas below, we also name and openly congratulate people for good ideas, high productivity, and other signs of good work. These ideas address the need for everyone to be cheered up: that's the secret to morale. In my department, we try to have FUN. I encourage birthday celebrations and all similar non-work reasons to celebrate to be enjoyed with reasonable use of staff time. I let people socialize providing the overall productivity goals are met (and they are always at least met). And then there are special FUN events: We had a wonderful Halloween costume party that took most of a day and was worth it. I brought in a huge pumpkin and staff decorated it collectively with pins and everything from freeze-dried chick-peas to rubber bumpers torn off old book trucks. We held a costume contest in the department: staff came dressed as gypsies, trolls, skeletons, Mr. Recycled paper, indigenous Americans, monsters, pumpkins, Hamlet, and one gay guy who appeared un-costumed said he was masquerading as straight. I was a giant veiled monster with a huge animal bone on my head, very scary and completely incognito. Some other people were also totally unrecognizable and stayed so until lunchtime. We graced the Administration with an impromptu costume parade, and got a lot praise for having fun. It was fun, and everyone who dressed up at all got a great prize. We also had a contest one time where the staff who wanted to participate would earn a prize for guessing what a certain photo was of: it was a set of grayish steps upside down. (I'd inadvertently bumped my camera while visiting the Widener Library and got a random picture of the front steps.) The staff had great fun guessing, and, believe it or not, one person (my best pre-order verification sleuth) got it right. One corner of my department has a highly camp Shrine to Elvis, another to Barbie and Ken, and another to Liberace. At our Christmas party the last two years, the festivities were unleashed by a radio visitation from Elvis himself, the lighting of the Elvis tree (decorated by anonymous contributions from all over the department--mostly quite suggestive and tasteless), and procession of the entire department and guests down the corridor to the pot-luck banquet. Voluntary gift exchange where you try to figure out who got you that gift. We maintain a large tropical fish tank at minimal staff cost, because the guy who does it is a pro, donates the stuff, and keeps it in perfect balance almost effortlessly. People come from all over the Library to relax gazing at our tank. The most fun was when a group of staff members got the idea of a contest of their own. They asked other staff "If you had the opportunity to throw your underwear on the stage, with your phone number in them, to any living celebrity in the world, what celebrity would you pick?" Wild answers!! One person received the most tasteless award for naming an entire reggae band. Then they presented me with a test: Names of participating staff on the left, names of celebrities on the right--I was asked to match them up. Knowing I'd fail, I managed to use underground sources and get a mole to give me the correct answers, and then I turned the contest back to the staff: They all can match them up and get a great prize if they can beat my score. Fun redoubled! Great that it was a little tasteless, too! No one beat my perfect score, and so everyone who participated in any part of the game at all got a prize. I cannot tell everyone what the prizes are, but you can use your imagination. The point is to inject an atmosphere that we are, above all, fun-loving, creative, unique people with real lives and personalities, and we can enjoy each other and lighten up. I believe that people work more productively when are allowed to be themselves at work. Along the lines of supporting our staff, I keep them informed of all goings-on Library-wide, keep their jobs current, and keep them classified as highly as I can in recognition of how much we need them all. In return, I reduce the total number of jobs (higher pay for more decision- making and responsibility and delegation) to stay in budget. I get them good PC's, software, networks, learning opportunities, job rotations, and other tools for growth and creativity. We have tiers of career staff who run the joint (45 such people report to me through their unit managers), and they have about 50 students to whom they delegate. Lots of cross training, because a job for which there is no back-up is felt to be an insignificant or unimportant job. Minimal specialization and maximum generalization because broad spans of authority make work interesting and permit staff to deliver more services, more satisfactions -- and that makes them feel useful and good about work. They really do run the place, and I merely make it possible for them to succeed. The vision is one of acquisitions, service, self-management, and grasp of purpose. Everyone in the department knows and can articulate his/her job's contribution to the overall acquisitions/collection development mission of the Berkeley library. They are all aware they rely on others for services delivered to them and that they deliver services. Server/served relations are explicitly defined. Staff are assigned to selectors in every unit, for example. They are all rewarded for identifying any task that doesn't seem to fit into the overall acquisitions/service picture and helping us eliminate it. They are all listened to as we plan our future. They have a high degree of control over their work place and their jobs. They know why they bother to get up in the morning and come to work, and work is mostly a kind and fun place to be. I can't say that morale in my department is exactly "high." Times are very tough. But morale is, I think my staff would almost all agree, about as good as it can get in a depressed state, and better than in most other departments if the Library (and even the University). Money and time off are the best rewards. But if you can't give these things away, try recognizing people's spirits, creativity, desire to do well, and achievements toward a well focussed and meaningful set of purposes. The panty-fling contest folks dubbed themselves "CRAZED" for Committee for Romantic Aspiration and Zany Emotional Derangement. They are anything but crazed, however. With 25% less people, we are less backlogged, more productive, and more service oriented than we've ever been. This place is called "Bezerkely" for a reason, perhaps. Our challenge is make the craziness work FOR us and our institutions. Have fun, everyone! ****** END OF FILE ****** ACQNET, Vol. 3, No. 27 ****** END OF FILE ******