Creating a Work-Friendly Environment
In terms of the P-O-L-C the SAS’s art of employee management can be translated as follows. For planning, the company invests heavily in Research and development such as in 2009 when the company invested 23% of its revenue into research and development (SAS, 2010). In organization, the company organises its workforce to enjoy their work. It does this by allowing employees to work on challenging and interesting projects. Furthermore, the company works to remove all obstacles that may impede the smooth working of employees.
In leading, the company has gone against the norm by treating its employees well even in bad economic times. In 2010 for instance, when the economic times were bad, rather than the company laying off its employees, it rewarded them (SAS, 2010). Moreover, the company offers its employees good perks. In controlling, the management conducts regular employee satisfaction surveys. These surveys enable the company to decide on what perks to pay their employees. The company also creates a conducive working environment for them by eliminating stressors as well as other work place related issues that may dissatisfy employees.
A company might create positive work attitudes by creating an open door policy. This is the case whereby employees can consult and give feedback freely to their bosses without barriers. Secondly, social welfares can create positive attitudes. A good social welfare means that the needs of the employees are handled through the right channels. Thirdly, training workshops can motivate employees to acquire the right attitude towards work. Such trainings enable employees to hone their skills at work and outside the work environment. Hence they are able to handle such tasks with the professionalism that they deserve and hence take away the stress related with handling unfamiliar tasks.
Work place surveys have associated risks. One such risk is whereby it fails to uncover the underlying issues. Therefore the company may end up relying on information that does not solve the problems in the first place (SAS, 2010). Furthermore, it may cover certain issues while at the same time leaving out others. Hence, at the end of the day not all employee issues are handled effectively.
Secondly, the information may be offered under duress and hence might not portray the true stand of the employees. For instance, the supervisors may influence employees to respond to an issue in a certain manner due to their own selfish needs. Also a work place survey may be subjective in nature. Consequently, it may not cover all the contentious issues. Leaving out such issues may be a recipe for disaster. This is because these issues are bound to crop up in the future.
Maintaining a balanced work and home life is important for any employee. Strategies that can be adopted to maintain this balance include having work goals. It is based on these goals that the employee works. These goals maybe short term and long term. Furthermore, the company creates timelines for work and hence employees are not overburdened with stressful schedules. At SAS for example, employees are only allowed to work for 8 hours a day and later allowed to go home to be with their families.
Secondly, the company can introduce social amenities that maintain a balanced life for employees. In the case of SAS, they introduced athletic fields, a gym, a swimming pool and other social amenities (SAS, 2010). These amenities take away the stress from stressful work-related tasks.
In conclusion, it would be more effective to introduce these strategies to employees who are kicking off their careers. This is because implementation of these ideas at an early stage means that employees are able to adapt and blend in with the needs of their jobs.
