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star-trekkin-across-theuniverse · 4 years

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Red Light, pt 1

Hockey AU - Featuring Star Trek AOS, first person OFC.

XXX

There was something about the smell of freshly cleaned ice that instantly transported me back to my childhood, and every time I came in to work, that reminder of happier times made the stress of this job worth it. It wasn’t that I disliked my job - in fact, I loved it. But it was stressful managing publicity and media for a hockey team.

The San Fransisco Enterprise has been the best team in the United Federation of Hockey for the past four years. After the retirement of General Manager Christopher Pike, however, the team had been struggling. There were new players, and the team just wasn’t gelling under team captain Jim Kirk. The starting line-up was a hot mess. Kirk was at centre, and a new trade, Spock, had traded in at season start with a personal record for goals from his team on New Vulcan. Spock was a precision player, head always in the game, brain always four passes ahead. Kirk, on the other hand, was a cowboy. He played tight in the corners, and was a hard hitter, but his strategy was better summed up as flying by the seat of his pants. The men had nearly come to blows in practice, and barely tolerated one another on the ice. That conflict made for an uneasy team all around.

Team morale was worsened when ‘Doc’ Puri, the journeyman goaltender who seemed to be able to stop anything, blew out his knee on a road trip. It was a career-ending injury, despite the advances to medicine that had come in the three-hundred plus years since the game had been invented. The new GM had to find another goalie, and quick.

Which is what had been the biggest thing on my plate for the past week. Geoff M’Benga, the second string goalie, was in his first year in the pros. He was competent, but lacked the confidence to truly take the reins as the lead goalie. Talks had been heated, but finally, a trade was made with the Proxima Bees. The Enterprise’s draft pick for star goalie Leonard McCoy. McCoy was considered the best in the league, although his year had been off to a rough start. The man could stop almost anything, but the Proxima defense lines were weak and when they allow fifty plus shots on goal per night, there’s only so much one goaltender can do. McCoy was happy to be traded; the Enterprise had a solid defensive corp led by Montgomery Scott and Pavel Chekov, and the rumour was his marriage had just fallen apart and he was longing to get away from the drama.

I cleared my head of my musings, and filled my coffee cup at the pot in the corner of the office. The rich aroma of the coffee, countered with the cool tang of cleaned ice focused my thoughts on the day’s tasks. The press conference to announce the acquisition of McCoy was scheduled for 10. I needed a tight media release and some smiling players to welcome the new goalie. I pressed the button on my communicator to connect with the changeroom.

“Kirk, Spock, please come to the administrative offices when you’re done showering,” I announced. The loudspeaker in the changeroom would be amplifying my voice over the din created by the showers, and I knew I could expect the men to arrive shortly. I logged into my PADD and pulled up McCoy’s current stats to begin the media release.

“I’m afraid Kirk is outside signing autographs and flirting,” Spock announced as he walked into the office. “I let him know you wanted to see us, and he said he would be up shortly.”

“How are you settling in, Spock?” I asked. The team was ten games into the season, and I’d been hoping to see a more cohesive group by now.

“I’m starting to understand Kirk’s playing style,” he admitted. “It’s not to my liking, but his recklessness does have some advantages.”

“You guys need a team-building retreat,” I laughed. “Strand you on an island so you have to cooperate to survive.”

Spock looked horrified at the suggestion. “Every practice is an opportunity to build our team,” he protested.

“Yeah, but part of what makes a team work is when you like each other. You have to be able to see your strengths and weaknesses and figure out how they complement each other. That’s easier to do when you are not only teammates, but friends,” I offered. He shrugged.

“I’m not sure that Kirk and I are destined to be friends,” he replied, without a hint of malice. “I fear we are too different.”

“More alike than you realize,” I countered. “But I have faith it’ll come.”

“We will see. As interesting as your perspective is, I hardly think you called us in here for a pep-talk,” he changed the subject quickly. The doors behind me opened and Kirk strolled in. Spock must have seen his approach.

“Leonard McCoy should land at nine this morning, and we have a press conference scheduled for ten. Marcus wants a couple of players at the scrum to welcome him. As top scorer and team captain, I felt you two were the obvious choices.” I directed my comments to both men. Kirk smiled his lazy, handsome smile and sat on the edge of my desk.

“Is that the only reason you picked me?” He asked. I raised my eyebrow in question and then realized he was trying to flirt. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

“I’m not one of your puck bunnies, Jim,” I reminded him. “I’m immune to the charms of hockey players.”

“I keep telling you that if you just give me one chance, I can change your mind,” he teased. I laughed in response.

“And I keep telling you, I am a professional, and cannot compromise my integrity by carrying on with someone at work.”

“That’s kindest way I’ve ever heard someone say that I’m not their type,” he winked.

“I appreciate that you recognize it as that,” I laughed.

“I appreciate that you allow me to continue to flirt with you,” he shrugged. “Keeps my skills up.”

“As if you need practice, Jim Kirk!” I shook my head again, but couldn’t help but smile. Of all the hockey players I’d ever interacted with, Jim Kirk was the safest. He loved to flirt, he loved to play the romance card, but he always respected the women he flirted with, and never went too far, never made anyone uncomfortable. “Now, scoot, both of you. I have work to do.”

XXX

I checked over everything that was needed for the press conference. Media release was ready, the new jersey for McCoy had just come up from having his name and number sewn on, scrum room was clean, chairs out, mics working. I placed the script for the GM on the prompter, and made sure it was running at his speed, and then double checked it. Marcus was not the kind of leader to make friends, and he ran a tight ship. He made me uncomfortable, and as a result, I actively sought to minimize our interactions. Being called on the floor because I’d screwed up something simple was not on the agenda.

I was waiting at the zamboni bay doors for the arrival of the new goalie, to bring him to the press conference. The shuttle arrived from the airport just moments after I’d stepped outside. Leonard McCoy stepped out, ballcap pulled low on his brow. He swung his equipment bag over one shoulder and grabbed his stick bag with his free hand. He scowled at me as he approached. I reached for the stick bag and he pulled back.

“I can manage my equipment just fine, sweetheart. Just tell me where it goes,” he growled. I cocked my head to one side and gave him a hard look.

“My name is Samantha Nelsen, not sweetheart. You are welcome to call me Sam, or Ms. Nelsen,” I corrected sharply.

“Where do I stow my equipment, Sunshine?” he snapped.

“I was under the impression this move was a happy one,” I countered, my tone equally sharp and I gestured to a dolly sitting just inside the doors. “Perhaps you can put on your big boy pants before the press conference? You have five minutes.”

He dropped his bags with a heavy sigh and turned to face me. He looked exhausted. His jaw was covered in a three day growth of stubble, and there were bags under his eyes that appeared to be packing their own bags. Aside from that, he was as undeniably gorgeous as all his headshots had made him out to be.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry. I’m running on empty,” he apologized, pulling his ballcap off and rubbing a hand across his forehead. “Lawyer met me at the airport this morning to give me all the paperwork on my divorce. She took everything, the house, the car. She may as well have taken the goddamn team and the whole damn planet. All I’ve got left is my bones.”

“And a shiny new contract with the Enterprise,” I reminded him. “So let’s go counter some bad press with some good, shall we?” I offered a smile, hoping he realized I was effectively erasing his bad first impression. I headed toward the elevator, my heels clicking smartly on the hard cement.

“So you’re the media gal?” He asked, catching up with a quick skip. I pursed my lips and nodded.

“I prefer Manager of Broadcasting, Communications and Public Relations, media gal is kind of old fashioned,” I corrected with a wink, wondering exactly how many times I was going to have to straighten up this man’s language and bring it into the 23rd century.

“Of course, ma’am,” he nodded and bit his lip. I wasn’t sure if he was trying not to smile, or trying to bite back a smart comment. I suspected it might be both. I stepped on the elevator and held the door for him. As the doors closed, I turned and looked him over.

“We need to stop in the office and grab you an Enterprise hat. Get rid of that ratty old Bees one. You glad to be back on Earth, at least?” I asked. He pulled his hat off again, and scrubbed his hand through his short, messy hair. I led him from the elevator to the office and pulled a hat out a closet full of swag.

“I’ll let you know after I’ve had some actual sleep.” He pulled the hat on and checked his reflection in the mirror by my desk, slapping his cheeks a little to wake himself up. “This old face has a few more miles in it, anyhow.”

“Yeah, doesn’t look like you’ve stopped many pucks with it,” I teased, tipping my head toward the doors leading to the media room. He smirked.

“Why, Ms. Nelsen, I’d hazard you just told me you find me handsome,” he teased, meeting my eyes. With his temperament improved, and warmth in his eyes, it was undeniable, the man was stupidly hot.

“Focus on the press conference, pretty boy,” I laughed, opening the door for him. He walked in to the press conference, and I headed to the back of the room to manage the media.

#star trek fanfic with OC #star trek hockey AU

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mint-yooxgi · 5 years

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I’ll Be There - Namjoon X Reader

Genre: Fluff, (A tiny bit of) Angst

Pairing: Namjoon X Reader

Word Count: 2,929

A/n: This is heavily inspired by a dream I just recently had, especially the ending. The reader is mentioned to be a foreigner in this, just so you know! I do hope you all like it, I thought it was very cute when I was dreaming it. Dream Namjoon is so soft and squishy omg. Anyways, as always, feedback is greatly appreciated, I hope you enjoy!

You’ve been preparing for this moment for weeks now. The countless hours spent sitting in the practice room, watching them rehearse for the upcoming award show makes your head spin. You know it will all pay off in the end, though.

Now, standing in the aisle way of the music hall, you converse with the boys of Bangtan, letting them know how excited you are for the show to start. They all smile as they listen to you talk, but none as wide as Namjoon, your boyfriend of three months.

You’ve known each other for far longer, but it wasn’t until recently Namjoon had asked you out on a date. Granted, given the boy’s rise in popularity recently, you couldn’t really be seen in public with only just one of them. The media outlets would have had a field day if they found out one of the boys is dating you, their best friend since before they debuted.

The fans all know you as (Y/n), Bangtan’s best friend. Despite this fact, many fans choose to ship you with some of the boys, whereas others are not so supportive. You can’t count the amount of hate you get in a day, but with the love and support form the boys, you manage to not let it get to you.

Namjoon, on the other hand, doesn’t like any of this. He does get jealous at times, especially when he sees the fans shipping you with one of his group mates. At those times, he wants nothing more than to just tell everyone about your relationship, but he can’t. It’s too risky for you and him both, but he’s willing to risk it all for you. To him, you’re worth it.

“Anyways, the show’s about to start, I should go and take my seat,” you smile at them. “Good luck on your performance tonight boys, I know you’ll do great!”

“Why can’t you just take our offer and sit with us tonight?” Jimin practically whines, grabbing onto your right arm and pleading you to stay.

“I wouldn’t want to be a bother,” you wave him off, watching as he, Jungkook, Taehyung, Hoseok, and Jin all pout.

“You could never bother us like that,” Yoongi says, sharing a look with Namjoon who catches himself before he wraps an arm around your waist in comfort.

“I’ll be up top still, don’t worry,” you wink at them. “I’ll make sure to cheer the loudest.”

You give them each a firm hug before you’re heading off to the balcony of the theatre to sit with the rest of the fans that came in support of their favourite artists tonight.

Namjoon watches your figure disappear behind the doors, a longing look in his eyes. So badly he wanted to give you a kiss on the cheek before you left, but he can’t. Not with all the fans watching, and the cameras poised all around them.

Whatever, soon, he won’t have to worry about any of them. Not after tonight, at least.

Taking his seat with the others, he smiles to himself. Soon, everyone will know you’re his, just as he is yours.

Namjoon remembers the first time he met you, back when he was first starting out as a trainee at BigHit. A smile tugs at his lips as he recalls how nervous you were to start your internship with the company, being a foreigner and all. You were worried about your Korean skills, and he found you in one of the old offices late at night, working on your pronunciation. He remembers so clearly how you broke down under the stress of it all, how you told him that other people were looking down on you for not being able to do as much work as some of the others, despite your work being of the utmost quality. Well, in his opinion at least.

That night changed so many things between the two of you, and he promised to help you with your Korean as long as you would help him with his English. From that night on, the two of you had a special bond between each other, and so started him pining after his soon to be best friend.

“You okay there, Namjoon?” Yoongi is the first to notice Namjoon’s dazed look as the lights dim for the first act to come on stage.

“I will be,” he smiles back at Yoongi as the other look at him questioningly, soon shrugging off his strange behaviour.

Meanwhile, you take your seat at the top of the balcony, furthest to the left. There are at least two rows of seats behind you, and all the seats are filled with people. However, for some reason, the four seats on either side of you are completely empty. You don’t mind though, it gives you extra room to breathe.

Looking up to your right, just slightly over your shoulder, you see a group of girls sitting in the very last row of the middle section of seats giggling and whispering to each other as they look at you. They hold an Army Bomb in each of their hands, a few of them wearing face masks as they continue to stare down at you.

You feel yourself shrink under their judgmental stares, hearing them scoff at you, and saying rude things about you behind your back. You do your best to ignore them, shaking your head to rid the voice inside your head that’s agreeing with them in saying you don’t deserve to be friends with the boys, and that you are insignificant.

Focusing your attention on the stage, you see the first announcers come out onto the stage after the first performers have finished their set. You bite your lip in anticipation as the award for best producer is announced.

A loud cheer escapes your lips as Yoongi is announced as the winner, screams of ‘that’s my best friend’ leaving your lips as fans take videos of you cheering him on.

Once again, you shrink back in your seat, embarrassed at your outburst. Luckily, you overhear some fans talking in front of you, saying how sweet it is how supportive you are of the boys. You smile shyly at that, despite them not being able to see you.

The next half of the award show goes by quicker than you’d like to admit, and soon enough, it’s nearing time for the boys to perform. So far, they’ve won two awards. One award for song of the year, and the other for album of the year, and you couldn’t be prouder.

You also can’t get over how handsome your boyfriend looks, dressed up in a black tux with a matching bowtie. You sigh dreamily as you watch him walk offstage to get ready for their performance.

Soon enough, the next performers are being announced, and the crowd erupts into screams and cheers as the intro for their set plays over the speakers. Your brow furrows as you see a lone figure standing on the stage in darkness. This isn’t what you remember them practicing.

As soon as the lights raise, a gasp escapes your lips as you see Namjoon standing centre stage. Bringing the mic to his lips, he starts to rap softly, and you immediately recognize the song to be the song he showed you a few weeks ago. A song which he wrote for you.

A hand comes up to cover your mouth as tears dot your vision. Your heart is beating erratically in your chest as he starts to walk forward, looking out into the crowd, and you know he’s searching for you.

Immediately, once his solo stage ends, the rest of them appear from beneath the stage, going right into Spring Day.

You remember when they told you their setlist for the award show, and they mentioned how Spring Day was going to be one of the first numbers, you freaked. They know how much you love that song. He knows how much you love that song.

Before you know it, their set is over, and you can see them all panting onstage in their final poses as the cameras capture their images and project them to the big screens. Needless to say, you think you cheer the loudest.

They move offstage to change before the final award of the night is announced.

The next ten minutes feel agonizingly slow to you as they drag out the last award. You find yourself leaning forward in your seat as soon as you see the announcers walk onstage with the envelope in their hands, waiting to announce artist of the year.

You notice that the boys have returned to their seats now, wearing what looks like more casual clothing, but still looking as dashing as ever.

You bite your lip in anticipation as the announcers take a dramatic pause before they reveal artist of the year.

A shriek of joy escapes your lips as you hear the group they announce. A huge smile is on your face as you watch them rush up to the stage, smiles of their own littering their faces as Namjoon accepts the award, bowing to the presenter.

They all surround the mic, and you’re surprised to see Hoseok step up to the mic first. They each take their turns thanking their fans, and everyone who made this possible.

Finally, Namjoon is the last to the mic, and you can see the smile he has on his face as his image is shown on the screens around him. Thanks to that, you’re also able to see the slightly nervous tremor in his hands as he goes to grip the mic, anchoring himself to something for what he’s about to do.

“Army!” He starts off like some of the others did, screaming the name into the mic. “Thank you so much for giving us your support, and loving us through the years. You’ve allowed us to do what we love, and have given us a reason to perform. We will continue to make music for you all in the future, so please continue to support us! Thank you to our production team, and everyone at BigHit that have helped to make our dreams come true.”

At his words, you find yourself smiling and nodding along, but then his expression changes slightly, and your brow is furrowing in worry. It’s one of those subtle things that you wouldn’t notice unless you knew Namjoon as well as you do. You can tell he’s about to take a major risk, and you’re not quite sure what he’s about to say.

“I have a small confession to make to all of you now,” he begins, and you can hear your blood rushing through your ears. The boys all wear knowing, supportive looks on their faces behind him, and now you’re even more confused. “Over the past three months, there has been someone very close to me that has helped me through so much. I’ve know this person for many years now, but only recently have they come to mean so much more. I want to thank her for everything she’s done for not only me, but for all of us. You know her as our best friend, (Y/n), the one who’s always been there for us, and supported us since the beginning. I know her as my loving girlfriend, and I hope you can all come to support us throughout our relationship. I think I speak for all of the members when I say this, we could not be where we are without her, and we most certainly would not be who we are today without her in our lives.” You can see the others nodding their heads behind him, Jin coming up to rest a hand on his shoulder for support. “(Y/n), this is for us as much as it is for you. We love you. I love you. Love yourself, love myself, thank you so much.”

You watch as a single tear escapes his eye, and in the next moment, all seven of them are bowing to the audience in thanks. Screams and cheers erupt from around you, but you can hardly hear them over your own racing heart.

A tear of your own escapes your eye, and you bring your hand up to cover the smile that wants to spread across your face. A few people in the seats around you who know who you are turn to you and offer you their congratulations.

Thanking them softly, you manage to reel in your emotions and stop your crying. You could not be happier, or more full of love for one man, at this very moment.

Hearing movement at your side, you turn to look to see the girls from before now swarming you with phones in their hands.

“I can’t believe you would steal Namjoon from us like this,” one of them sneers.

“Yeah, you’re not even that pretty anyways,” another one adds.

“What would anyone want with you, you’re probably only using them for they fame,” another rolls her eyes.

“Who do you think you are?” The fourth one huffs, crossing her arms over her chest.

Their petty jealousy initially stings, but you find yourself shrugging off their comments. You won’t let them have the satisfaction of knowing how their words have affected you.

You barely have time to blink at them before their attention is being drawn to the now open door at the top of the balcony. There, in all his glory, stands Namjoon, scanning over the crowd until he spots you. Immediately, a smile takes over his face. However, before he can take a step, he finds himself being surrounded by the four girls that had been previously surrounding you.

“Namjoon!” One cries, their phones raised for photos as he attempts to move past them.

A slight frown takes over his features as they continue to move closer to him, backing him up into the row behind you. You look up at him in worry, but he only smiles at you reassuringly.

“Girls, please, I came here to be with my girlfriend, and I would greatly appreciate some privacy,” he says, and you can see three of them deflate before reluctantly moving back to their seats.

The last one tries to take another step towards him, but he sends her a pleading look, and soon, she’s backing off, leaving the two of you alone.

You let out a soft chuckle as you offer him your hand to climb over the seats in front of him to join you. Immediately, he takes it, a smile on both of your faces as he comes to sit in the open seat beside you on your right.

“You continue to surprise me every day,” you say, wrapping your arms around his arm and leaning into his side.

“Good surprises, I hope,” he smiles, placing a soft kiss to your forehead as you rest your head on his shoulder.

“Always,” you smile back at him.

“I was so nervous,” he admits, tilting his head so it’s now resting on top of yours.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, the boys had to calm me down before going onstage today,” he says. “I meant every word of what I said up there. I really don’t know what I’d do without you, I just love you so much. You mean so much to me, more than you’ll ever know.”

“I love you, too, Namjoon,” you tell him, sitting up slightly so you’re now looking into his eyes. Your heart skips a beat as you see him looking at you with so much tender love and fondness, both of which you know are reflected in your eyes. “And I love the song.”

“You do?” The words escape his lips before he can stop them, his expression giving away his excitement.

“Yes, it meant so much to me,” you lean up to kiss him on the cheek, and even after all this time, you can tell he’s blushing.

“I’m glad,” he hums as you curl up back into his side.

By now, the award show has come to an end, and many of the fans are starting to make their way to the exits. You notice a few of them stare at you and Namjoon as they walk past, but you couldn’t care less in this moment. From the looks of it, neither can Namjoon, the two of you content with just being in each others company, and him being able to do what he’s always wanted to. To show everybody that you’re with him.

“We should probably get going, too,” you say, about to start getting up from your position.

“Let’s stay, just for a little while longer,” he says with a hum. “Let me enjoy this, at least until everyone else has gone. Let me enjoy you.”

You only smile at him in response, uttering a soft ‘okay’ as you squeeze your arms tighter around him, burrowing deeper into his side, to which he finds himself smiling at.

He couldn’t be happier in this moment, right here, right now, with you. You’re in his arms, and nothing else matters. Now, everyone knows about your relationship, and he no longer has to hide how he feels about you. Now, he can show the world that he’s yours, and you’re his. He would do anything for you, as long as it meant you being happy, and right now, he’ll start with this.

#namjoon fluff #namjoon scenario #bts scenario #bts #kim namjoon #bangtan au #bangtan #bangtan scenarios #rapmon scenario #RM #RM scenario #bts au #bts one shot #namjoon one shot #rm one shot

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tak4hir0 · 3 years

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Empuls also offers heat maps, key drivers and KPI linkage analytics that help you turn employee feedback into actionable insights. The built-in survey features of Empuls help you capture the effectiveness of your employee engagement program and plan future activities on an easy-to-use dashboard. 5. Show employees how their job advances the company’s vision Your company has undoubtedly recorded its vision and goals for the year. Why not show employees exactly how their jobs advance the vision? This will boost each employee’s investment in the success of the company instead of just feeling like a cog in the wheel. Here are some ideas for showing employees how they contribute to the company vision: Sit down with a list of a specific employee’s responsibilities. Create a flowchart that demonstrates how those duties ultimately lead to fulfilling the company vision. For example, if the responsibility is “managing Instagram” and your company vision is “changing the way the world purchases homes,” then highlight how Instagram engagement creates long-term brand recognition and has the potential to influence the way a younger generation purchases homes, especially when they’re ready to take the plunge in a few years. Ask your CEO for a quote that explains how the particular employee’s role contributes to the company vision. Have the quote printed in a postcard format. The employee can pin the postcard on the wall as a constant reminder and motivator. 6. Emphasize work-life balance Work-life balance often seems like an impossible struggle. It’s difficult to find that right balance between work and personal life to feel good that both areas are receiving enough attention. Blake McCammon of Blogging4Jobs, a popular blog focused on HR and the workplace, had this to say about work-life balance’s role in employee engagement: “Work-life balance is one of the most important things employers can do to help employees not only stay healthy and fit, but keep them engaged day by day. Provide a work from home scenario and flexible hours where employees with children or adults with hobbies are allowed the freedom to enjoy life to the fullest, but still get their work done.” Work-life balance is going to mean something different for each employee, so speak with your team to see what you can be doing better as an organization to enhance it. Often times you’ll find that a flexible work schedule will be the easiest way to help people feel more balanced between work and leisure. Employee Engagement Tip: Emphasize work-life balance Click To Tweet 7. Send gifts that show you care with Caroo Engage your employees with tangible tokens of your appreciation using the Caroo employee care platform. Caroo’s expertly curated items are more than just cool gifts; they’re symbols of your regard, items that help employees, including those in the growing remote workforce, feel more connected to their teams and their missions. Get your employees inspired and connected with a Mindfulness Box, nourish their productive spirits with a Snacks + Coffee Box, or even talk to a gift expert to get recommendations that cater to your team’s unique interests and needs. 8. Allow employees to move laterally within the organization There are times when employees (especially the younger ones) are still figuring out their career paths. If a member of your team finds something else at your company that they’re passionate about and want to pursue, create a roadmap to get them there. This will help you retain some of your young talent when they might have otherwise abandoned ship. 9. Give your employees more responsibility, not just more tasks to do Working at a company that highly values morale has given me some interesting insight on how to engage employees. I’ve noticed that the times my coworkers are incredibly devoted to our work, where states of “flow” seem to be abundant, are when they are given real responsibility. This shouldn’t be confused with giving your team more things or tasks to do. I’m talking about giving them important projects and initiatives to take ownership of and knock out of the park. Humans are inherently goal-oriented, so when you give them something worth achieving, I believe you’ll be amazed at how much purpose and drive it gives them. If you’re a manager, give one of your direct reports an important project to be the lead on. On the flip side, ask your manager to take on a project that you think will help you grow and learn something new. Even if it’s something you have no experience doing – when you see your goal as being important to the success of the company you’ll find a way to get it done. And I promise you’ll feel more purpose from your work than ever. Employee Engagement Tip: Give your employees more responsibility, not just more tasks to do Click To Tweet 10. Get your health and wellness program in order Kevin Sheridan, New York Times best-selling Author of Building a Magnetic Culture, has helped some of the world’s largest corporations improve their culture and foster productive engagement. When we asked him what companies should be doing better to improve workplace engagement, he offered us this wisdom: “The bottom line is that anyone who knows about employee engagement is also a firm believer in instituting health and wellness programs. There have been multiple scientific studies proving that health and wellness efforts not only yield higher productivity and engagement in the workplace but will also help reduce turnover as job stress is the #1 reason people quit (along with a lack of work-life balance which is related to wellness as well).” Make it your own: Pick and choose from wellness program ideas that suit your team. If your office is full of natural foodies, then you might consider regular market excursions. If fitness is your team’s thing, then you can hold a fitness challenge. If your employees want to create custom challenges with topics and incentives that are relevant/meaningful to them, we recommend checking out a wellness initiative platform like Bonusly. 11. Give your people “inside” information Want to know some great team engagement ideas to get your staff more involved and committed? Keep them up to date with “inside” information. These are things like the direction of the company and the challenges that the Leadership Team is facing. Tim Sackett, HR Pro and President at HRU Technical Resources, explains this important part of your employee engagement strategy: “The one true fact in all workplaces is your people want to be in the know, they want to be in the circle of trust. HR and leadership, in general, do a crappy job at this, and it has a huge impact to engagement. Find ways to make this happen and let your people know that it’s “inside” information. Trusting your employees can handle it raises engagement.” Employee Engagement Tip: Give your people inside information Click To Tweet 12. Bring in an in-office motivational speaker To shake up the workday, or start Monday off with some inspiration, Cooleaf recommends hiring a motivational speaker to come into the office. Maybe your team would benefit from a creativity workshop or team-building seminar to improve in-office relationships. Employees will be grateful for the opportunity to grow and learn from experts and will come out of these experiences more energized and focused. 13. Stand for something your team can be proud of Irene Becker, voted as one of the Top 100 Employee Engagement Experts Online, answers the questions of how companies can drive and sustain staff engagement activities at a time when engagement is at an all time low: “By showing our employees that we care, that we stand for something they can be proud of, and that we offer them meaningful, purposeful work and an opportunity to grow, learn, contribute and succeed because we know that success is a me to WE equation that starts with: 1. Personal, professional development and a structure for growth, recognition and are alive in the organization. 2. Managers, mentors and trainers that are equipped to coach, inspire and bring out the best in their people. 3. Communities of purpose; groups that are centered around a purpose driven business, CSR or community activity are alive, aligning shared values and mission with collaboration. 4. Transparency of communication and the integrity of the organizations commitment to growth, recognition and the optimization of individual and collective potential is mirrored in new ways of developing team spirit and vertical/horizontal collaboration. 5. Human interaction, social activities that engage our people as human beings in the human side of being part of a vibrant, growing, thriving culture.” Employee Engagement Idea: Stand for something your team can be proud of Click To Tweet 14. Prevent the “Sunday Scaries” with Monday trivia It’s no secret that the Sunday scaries strike many employees before they head back to work on Monday morning. The best way to prevent them? Give employees an engaging activity on Monday mornings. The automated weekly trivia contests from Water Cooler Trivia can be scheduled for Monday mornings. Participants submit their responses at any point during the day and then the results are delivered right to the inbox the next morning. “70% of HR leaders recently reported employee morale as their top challenge and we’ve heard this directly from folks managing teams while they transition to remote work. Our goal at Water Cooler Trivia is to build culture with a simple, low-stakes weekly trivia contest . They spark conversation around the proverbial water cooler in a low-stakes, low-cost way. As the CEO of a major consulting firm told us recently… ‘this is always something I look forward to during the week, and as many work from home an important source of diversion for a mental health break!’ –Collin Waldoch, Co-Founder at Water Cooler Trivia The trivia is super-customizable so you can choose the categories and difficulty that work for your team. You can even choose a “personalized” category like Coffee, NYC, or Tech that their professional question-writers will write just for you. It’s like all the fun of pub trivia but without the logistics of coming up with questions or getting everyone together in the same room at the same time. Plus the first four weeks are totally free and easy to get started. 15. Find out what your team members are passionate about Are they into mountain biking? Do they write a personal blog? Do they want to backpack around Southeast Asia next summer? Know what your team is passionate about. It’ll help you connect with them and show them that you actually care about their interests. Frequently ask teammates about their passions and even try to find ways to integrate their interests into the workplace. For example, if someone does the job of an accountant by day but harbors a passion for art by night, then suggest that he or she shadows someone in the Art Department for a day. If an employee loves to play badminton and complains that she never has anyone to play with, consider forming a casual company league. 16. Promote perks that boost mental and physical wellbeing Perks can help make your office a more fun place to work. JellyVision Interactive Marketing offers these awesome unique perks to their employees: Unlimited vacation days (with the assumption this privilege won’t be abused) The ability to work from home whenever necessary or work out an unconventional schedule On-site yoga and a free healthy catered lunches every week (Pro Tip: Check out ezCater for your office catering needs. Like their name implies, they making ordering food for your team super simple!) Refrigerators and cupboards stocked with fruit and healthy snacks for the entire office A yearly Wellness Day featuring free 15-minute back massages for every employee and a taste test of unusual, healthy juices Mustache Day (a sort of mustache-themed Halloween that culminates in a fancy lunch out) Frequent company-wide involvement in charity fun runs Beyond all these employee benefits, JellyVision also told us that they reduce work anxiety for their employees by 1) hiring nice, funny, talented people who become the sort of colleagues who make the day more enjoyable and 2) by nurturing a culture of transparency, humor and kindness—a way of being that is modeled by their founder, Harry, and CEO, Amanda. Check out our list of corporate wellness ideas to give your wellness program some new life. Employee Engagement Idea: Promote perks that boost mental and physical wellbeing Click To Tweet 17. Hand out limited edition swag Try celebrating work anniversaries, performance achievements, and company events by offering limited edition swag. (The scarcity could make your giveaways more desirable and enhance employees’ motivation to reach goals and benchmarks.) Swag.com offers customizable products in tons of categories, making it easy for you to create “limited edition” items by simply swapping out designs on apparel, electronics, fitness gear, and more. Here are some ideas: Get hoodies with a “new employees of 2021” design Order duffels printed with a design reflective of your annual retreat theme Make yoga mats featuring your favorite motivational quote for the upcoming business quarter If you have employees that work remotely, send them a customizable Work From Home Swag Kit for them to rock their limited edition swag around town. Make it your own: Focus your limited edition swag on events and achievements unique to your company. You’ll love watching employees gawk enviously at a veteran employee’s 2010 crepe-and-karaoke night hat or share an inside joke when they accidentally wear the same 2020 annual sock-puppet freestyle T-shirt. 18. Provide ongoing coaching and employee training Coaching and mentoring shouldn’t stop after an employee’s initial on-boarding process. A study done by Deloitte in 2012 found that retention is 25% higher for employees who have engaged in company-sponsored mentorship. Some people in your organization will proactively seek mentors and training, while others will need it to come directly from their manager. Offer an optional weekly coaching session to discuss strategies and tactics that can help each member of the department improve in their role, and make them fun! For more tactics for creating a world-class Employee Experience, listen to culture expert Kelly Keegan on the Brand Builder podcast: 19. Open consistent lines of communication Ask the managers of your organization to setup a weekly meeting to see where their direct reports need resources, any new ideas they have, and how things are going in their role. You’ll find that both managers and direct reports will look forward to these meetings and use them like a strategy session to improve their department on a weekly basis. Engaged companies rely on open internal communications and remote work softwares to drive performance within teams. If you’re looking for growth ideas for employees then a DR meeting would be at the top of the list. Make it your own: There are plenty of ways to communicate in the workplace. Check out these strategies to find a method that excites you. 20. Capture the magic of your team’s “I’s” “To improve employee engagement, capture the magic of the I’s in team: integrity, initiative, individual talents, and invaluable diversity. Highlight each individual’s talents and how they contribute to the whole.” –Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™ Employee Engagement Idea: Capture the magic of your team's I's Click To Tweet 21. Make sure new hires get to know the whole team An employee who feels cared for and is surrounded by people who bond with them is much more likely to feel happy and engaged at work. We all get to know our bosses and direct reports pretty well, but it’s also important for new team members to build relationships with the rest of the staff. UserVoice demonstrates this point well – they invite the whole staff to a game night whenever someone new joins the company. The company offers free beer, a game (think board games or pool/ping-pond/darts) and a “ridiculous sort of quiz” they invented. 22. Praise your co-workers It shouldn’t only be left to managers to praise good work. When you hear about someone’s achievement, go over and personally congratulate them. It’ll mean a lot to that person and they’ll likely do the same for you when your big wins come through. If part of your team is remote, activating an employee recognition software can drastically improve virtual employee engagement and make praising your co-workers a breeze to do when you can’t physically congratulate them at their desk! Make it your own: Find a way of offering recognition that works for your personality and your schedule. This will make your intentions easier to deliver on. If you like using digital tools to make your life easier, then employee recognition platforms like Bonusly have everything you need – we’ve used Bonusly at SnackNation for years and love it. Bonusly makes it incredibly fun and easy for you to recognize coworkers. (And fun + easy = a sustainable long-term employee engagement strategy!) Choosing to write a heartfelt letter once a month to the members of your team is also another surefire way to show your co-workers that you care and know them on a personal level. This feeling of connection has a profound effect on work productivity and remote company culture. 23. Ditch the Cubicles Whether you’ve seen them in employee engagement films like Office Space, or experienced them yourself, cubicles are quickly dying out. Today, the most engaged companies opt for office decor and cool office supplies that promote comfort and collaboration, not seclusion. So cut out the cubicles and replace them with spacious, open desks. The possibilities for creating an open air office environment are endless, so be creative, and have fun with it! 24. Know your company culture and hire by it If you know your company culture and hire by it, you’ll continue onboarding employees who want to work with the person next to them. A positive corporate culture starts with the relationships between co-workers as well as collaborative dynamics in addition to consistent messages about values and the company mission. If you haven’t already, take some time to brainstorm your company’s cultural vision and even get it down in writing. Spend some time with co-workers and pinpoint the key attributes everyone seems to have in common. Once you’ve established a list of qualities, it will be easier to determine if an interviewee will fit into your culture. Keep the qualities specific to find the best fits. Almost anyone will be “nice” and “personable” during an interview, so it’s important to quickly go beyond the surface level with candidates in the hiring process. There’s a simple, three-word phrase to help you develop a deep understanding of the character and motivations of any candidate you’re interviewing – “and then what.” Constantly pushing an interviewee to provide more depth will help you quickly get to the root of his or her point of view, and help you determine if he or she possesses those attributes you identified as core to your company culture. 25. Encourage volunteering Show your commitment to community and social responsibility by giving your employees a couple of hours each month to get out of the office and participate in community service. Make it your own: Have different employees choose a cause to support every month. This helps ensure that… Everyone can volunteer for causes they’re passionate about Everyone can share that passion with their co-workers The SnackNation team volunteering at Feeding America 26. Hold office hours This is one of the most significant employee engagement programs for upper management. Holding office hours is a great way to make yourself more approachable to the entire company. Allow people to come in for office hours to give feedback, talk concerns, and explore new ideas. 27. Build more trust An overbearing boss who is constantly micromanaging might just be the fastest way to create disengagement. Trust your employees to accomplish the work you give them without checking up on them 4 times a day. Plus, other insights suggest that trust doesn’t just inspire employees to do their jobs; it might actually encourage employees to go above and beyond their assignments. Trusted employees collaborate better together, and because they’re empowered, they might seek opportunities to take on even more responsibility. 28. Send out some Monday Motivation Find an inspirational quote or page from a book and send it out to your team on Monday mornings. It’s a super easy way to get people motivated and inspired and a day that’s typically slow to start. Photo belongs to QuotesEverlasting via Flickr’s Creative Commons License 29. Create a roadmap to achieve professional goals Find out what your employees’ professional goals are and make sure they’re on a track to achieve those goals. Managers should sit down with their direct reports and plan the roadmap to get them to that next promotion or to acquire the skills they desire. Employee Engagement Idea: Create a roadmap to achieve professional goals Click To Tweet 30. Incentivize goals Create some healthy competition and reward excellent performance with incentives for successful goal achievement. Tickets to a game, dinner for two or are inexpensive ideas that can help people feel more invested in their work. Make it your own: Your incentive options are as diverse and varied as the employees you’re rewarding. Experiment with different reward ideas and see what really gets that glowing reaction you’re looking for. 31. Have a weekly food day Pick a day of the week where one employee brings in treats to share with the team. Eventually, looking forward to food day will be a major bonding moment for the whole team. Not to mention some employees will even love the chance to show off their baking prowess. Pro-tip: When it is not super convenient to assign treats for someone to bring, it may make sense to investigate your local eateries and see if any of them make food ordering easy. An office catered lunch can be an excellent way to support a local business while encouraging everyone to socialize during a team lunch! 32. Take weekly song requests It’s Friday afternoon and your whole office is united by one thought: going home. Reinvigorate the team by taking song requests to blast over the PA system in the final hour of the workweek. Employees will love sharing their favorite songs to boost morale. 33. Let someone else lead weekly meetings If you’re a leader at your organization, your team probably get to hear you talk…a lot. Share your responsibilities and increase engagement by asking a different person lead your meetings every week. 34. Start a learning club Get your employees more engaged in their work by asking them to think big. Start a learning club where employees select books or videos related to your work for everyone to enjoy. Pick a day where everyone piles into a conference room to discuss the item and its implications for your work. Make it your own: Change up the location of your meetings, offer different snacks, or even make group T-shirts. There are so many ways to make your learning club unique to your team. You can even give yourselves a name based on an inside joke only people on your team would understand. (Next step: Secret knocks and secret handshakes.) 35. Start a newsletter But instead of having the “head honchos” or even Human Resources send it, form a committee of employees who want to coordinate it. The volunteers will love the chance to share what they find important and the readers will love getting company news from their peers. Make it your own: Company newsletters don’t have to be boring emails. Make the newsletter your own. Do a comical video blog or maybe an old-fashioned take on a vintage newspaper, complete with cheesy headlines. Check out our guide to company newsletters to get started. 36. Ban emails for a day Pick one day every month to ban emailing. If someone has a question, they’ll have to go talk to their coworkers in person. Even if they only talk for a few seconds, that face-to-face interaction with coworkers makes priceless employee engagement moments. 37. Show them the “people” results of their work If you send recaps of company progress to your employees, don’t just tell them your customers are happy, show them. Add a glowing testimonial from your customer base, clients or nonprofit constituency to the email so your employees can see how their work impacts real people. 38. Always act on feedback Let’s say you survey your employees monthly to find out how they’re feeling. While some of their desires and wishes might be difficult to act on, send them updates explaining the progress you’ve made towards addressing their concerns, even if it’s just scheduling a meeting with your CEO. Not acting on employees’ valuable feedback will kill employee engagement. 39. Consider Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Dust off that old triangle chart we all know and love from Psychology 101, because Maslow’s hierarchy might have implications for employee engagement. Beyond the salary and the benefits, employees want to know that their work matters. Try working the implications of their efforts into annual reviews instead of just focusing on their performance. While it’s wonderful they completed a special project on time and within budget, go a step further and explain the project’s greater impact on the company. 40. Use Glassdoor to your advantage Glassdoor offers a raw source of employee feedback that might be incredibly valuable if you’re brave enough to dig into it. Even if the comments seem negative, they could give you insight into how your employees really feel. As you sort through comments, revealing patterns should emerge to spotlight areas of employee relations you need to improve. 41. Let them experience a day in the life of… Send out an Excel sheet with a list of positions in your company or department and have employees vote for a position they would like to do for a day. Let the person currently in that position give them a day of training before they launch into their day on the job. Make it your own: Your “day in the life” can be as structured or as open-ended as you like. You could include a presentation portion where people shared what they learned with the entire group. You could have employees complete a no-pressure assignment to “test” (all in good fun) how much they really learned. You could even stage a little improv show where employees pretend to be the person they shadowed. 42. Bring in a specialist With research showing a large chunk of the workforce does not feel engaged at work (see the featured image at the top of this post), the availability of employee engagement tools and services has skyrocketed. For you, that means you can find help if you’re completely lost. For example, some companies have brought in something called a corporate anthropologist who will study your company and your employees with the end goal of improving the overall business. 43. Engage employees through gamification Some people invest more in the games they play after work than they do in their actual work…the work that pays the bills. Why is that? Games leverage instant feedback and compelling goals to keep players coming back for more. Now, companies like Bunchball hope to bring these elements into workplaces to engage employees in ways that go beyond a regular paycheck and benefits. 44. Let them ditch a task Ask your employees which tasks they hate above all others. Sometimes, even one dreaded task might create the feeling of on-the-job misery. Look at the list carefully and consider how you can juggle some responsibilities to make everyone happier. One employee’s most hated task could be another’s favorite. 45. Stop before you start This post from the Talent Space Blog says the first step in any employee engagement initiatives is to stop. This stop gives you time to consider why you’re starting the initiative in the first place and to think about barriers to success. Condense your reason for starting the initiative into a mission statement that you can use to guide you through every move, so you don’t get bogged down with unnecessary initiatives. 46. Demonstrate genuine care The Disney Institute believes consistently demonstrating genuine care makes employees feel happy and engaged. You can demonstrate genuine care in endless ways. One of the institute’s ideas involves finding out what’s bugging your team. Maybe they hate their office chair or would love to have some upbeat music playing while they work. In this case, it’s the little things that go a long way in showing you care. Make it your own: Think about moments in your life when you felt truly cared for. Have you had any co-workers that truly warmed your heart with their kindness? Channel these memories into recreating warm experiences for your employees or co-workers. 47. Have completely open brainstorms Image belongs to Juhan Sonin Throw away that meeting rule book and schedule meetings without agendas or target outcomes. Have completely open brainstorm meetings where you throw away limitations and volley around some big ideas. Guide the discussion by throwing out an area of your business you would like to improve. Keep these brainstorms positive by creating a few ground rules. Ask employees to keep their minds open and to avoid shutting down others’ ideas with mocking laughter, negative automatic responses, and skeptical questions that could block the flow of ideas. Remind them to focus not on the how, but the what and why. Why is it so important to keep the brainstorms open? According to LinkedIn’s Inside the Mind of Today’s Candidate report, 51% of employees say “having opportunities to freely express themselves” makes them feel a sense of belonging at work. 48. Have problem-solving meetings Everyone takes a different approach to problem-solving. Schedule meetings where you reveal a big problem facing the company with complete transparency. Let employees take a crack at explaining how they would solve it. Employees will feel more engaged in company outcomes and they might just solve a few problems while they’re at it. Make it your own: These meetings can be any format you like. You can have off-site jam sessions or in-office power lunches. You can keep it structured by outlining the entire event or jump in to see what happens. Choose a structure that mimics how your team likes to work. If you’re not sure how your team likes to work, then simply ask yourself this question: Is your team full of mostly planners or pantsers (people who fly by the seat of their pants)? 49. Give them ownership of event planning Who has a better handle on the events your employees will love than your employees themselves? Instead of trying to think of company outings that your whole team will love, get your team involved in the planning process. Ask for event ideas and seek out volunteers who want to coordinate regular outings. 50. Start an office design committee While it might seem superficial at first glance, giving your employees a chance to be more invested in what they look at everyday could do wonders for engagement. Start an employee design committee to let your employees take some ownership in the place they work. Plus, the personal touches will make the office feel like home. 51. Define what employee engagement means for your company If you’re struggling to come up with good employee engagement activities, it might be time to take a step back. The word “employee engagement” alone doesn’t give you anything you can visualize. Try considering what it means for your own employees to be engaged specifically. Once you figure out what employee engagement looks like in your company, you can set your sights on achieving it. Here are some employee engagement examples of definitions: Engaged employees always ask what else they can do to improve the company. Engaged employees ask questions during meetings and show up to work on time every day. Engaged employees meet their deadlines. Engaged employees spend half the day at their desks and half the day communicating with co-workers Engaged employees frequently share exciting new ideas with their bosses. Engaged employees request opportunities for personal development. 52. Put someone in the hot seat Engage your employees with a quick bonding event at the beginning of your weekly meetings. Pick one employee and tape a “hot seat” sign to their chair. For the first minute of the meeting, other employees will shout out their favorite things about the person in the hot seat. 53. Have show and tell Your employees probably have tons of ideas that could help the company. However, they might not have anywhere to share them. Have a quarterly show and tell where employees can present tools, information and ideas they believe might do the company good. 54. Get employees involved in long-term projects Organize employees from different departments into teams to tackle long-term projects that involve responsibilities outside of their typical scope of work. Not only will they get to know people they don’t work with on a day-to-day basis, they’ll pick up skills from one another as they work on important projects. 55. Set ground rules for emotional intelligence It’s not just company policies that make people disengaged at work. It might also be close-minded coworkers that shut down their ideas. Set an expectation that your employees follow a “yes and…” mindset. This simply means creating a culture where everyone’s ideas are met with open minds, and not negativity. 56. Talk to them about their schedules Your employees might seem distracted or disengaged, but maybe it has nothing to do with work. Let’s say Karen’s daughter has a piano recital every Wednesday at 4 PM and she’s distant at that time, wishing she could be there. Find out what outside events might be keeping your employees distracted and work with them to adjust their schedules to accommodate their busy lives. 57. Believe in the power of explanation When you send an employee work with changes or request a re-do, make sure those requests come along with a detailed explanation. Employees who always see their worked rejected or marked up will become frustrated and disengaged. Explaining the changes helps them understand your thought process and increases their desire to improve. 58. Offer points for taking work-related open source courses The internet is exploding with a selection of free, open source courses from major universities. Many of your employees would probably love to take one, but simply don’t have the free time. Come up with a points system in your office that offers employees incentives for taking work-related courses. Maybe they get bonus points if they give a presentation on what they learned. Make it your own: You might list a “course of the week” based on the skills your team needs to succeed. You could also keep it completely open-ended. Will you offer to subsidize employees who want to take courses that involve certificates? Or would you rather offer your own branded certificates of completion to create a sense of ceremony? You decide. 59. Start a “distracted” jar There will be times when your team feels like they can’t possibly focus. Show them that you understand (and have a sense of humor about it) by creating a “distracted jar.” Fill it with activities, jokes and even things to Google when they feel like they can’t work for another minute. Help them get the distractions out of their system so they can continue on with an engaged workday. Want even more ideas to improve employee engagement? Here are 12 bonus ideas! 60. Form a Culture Committee This has been one of the best ideas we’ve implemented at SnackNation to make sure we stay on top of doing fun things together as a company. Here’s how one of our Committee members describes it: Culture Committee is comprised of individuals from each department who act as ambassadors. These ambassadors model our core values, and ensure the culture is steadily moving in the right direction. Whether Communication/Hype, Events, Wellness, Philanthropy, and day to day celebrations we have a sub committee dedicated to setting up and executing events, all while tackling our ultimate goal of breaking silos between departments. Making our office more like a home. We strive to create the “weather” of the company. Bringing the sunshine even when/if someone feels like they are in a thunderstorm of stress. 61. Epic new-hire intros At SnackNation, we take new hire intros very seriously. Rather than explain with words, here’s a video that shows how we do it: 62. Give people a chance to set their own goals Create a goal setting system that gives team members the opportunity to set their own goals. People are more likely to be motivated by a project or goal that they set for themselves, versus one that was set for them by their manager. A good starting point is to allow your team to create a list of goals/projects they want to complete for the upcoming goal period. Here’s an example from a member of our Marketing Team: Managers should then work with their direct reports to refine that list into goals/projects that align with the department’s (and company’s) goals. Depending on your organization, this could be monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, or annually. Once goals have been set, employees break those bigger goals into smaller ones each week. We use a system called Crucial Results to do just that. Here’s how it works. 63. Offer to pay for professional development Is there an industry conference that someone on your team would love to attend? Perhaps your HR professional would love to go to one of the top HR conferences. Or maybe an online course that they’ve been dying to get their hands on? Maybe your marketing team would love to learn email marketing from the newest and hottest course. Invest in your team’s growth is one of the best you can make as a manager. It’s a win-win because they get to improve on a skill, and in turn, they help your organization improve. 64. Write a hand-written note to recognize exceptional work When was the last time you got a hand-written note? With a world that is constantly wrapped up in digital communication, doing something “old school” like a hand-written note stands out to people. Bonus points for cards written by someone like the CEO or President. 65. Create a team mascot Meet Rudy, our Member Success Team’s mascot: What mascot best represents your team? 66. Team lunches We break bread with each other to bond. To share stories, relate to one another, and pass the salad. Break bread as a team and watch the relationships blossom. 67. Team walks Like team lunches, taking a walk together gives your team the chance to take a rejuvenating break from work while connecting with their colleagues. And in case you hadn’t heard, people with a best friend at work are 7x more likely to engage fully in their work. 68. Have your CEO and/or President host a monthly Q&A Monthly Q&A has been another hit at SnackNation HQ. Our CEO (Sean Kelly) and President (Ryan Schneider) take 1 company all-hands meeting each month and use it to field any questions people have about the company. Our team can submit questions via an anonymous Google form, or they can ask live during the 30-minute Q&A. We really value these Q&A’s because it gives our leaders the opportunity to be fully transparent with the team. 69. Lunch & Learns (hosted by employees) This is another SnackNation favorite. Once or twice a month, we let a member of the SN team host a lunch and learn on any subject they’re passionate about. Prior topics have been wide ranging – from personal finance to cryptocurrencies to persuasion. 70. Play “musical chairs” In many modern offices, employees don’t technically need a permanent place to sit. Sure, everyone needs a home base when they come into work each day, but do they really need to sit in the same space for years? Consider moving employees around on a comfortable, regular basis so everyone gets the chance to sit in different parts of the office and truly get to know all their coworkers. (Let’s face it: a few kitchen interactions will not bring employees closer, but six months as desk neighbors can solidify lasting bonds.) In addition to exposing employees to people, they may not have worked with before, playing “musical chairs” also keeps employees engaged and excited for work simply by introducing change. By shaking things up, you just might give employees the shake-up they need to think of a new idea or solve a problem they’ve been chipping at for months. 71. Start a “vent” box A vent box is the evil twin of the suggestion box. Encourage employees to fill the box with their complaints, but be sure to keep anonymity sacred. Your employees’ deepest frustrations might also be excellent opportunities for learning. 72. Offer lifestyle spending accounts as a perk A perk that has quickly become mainstream for its flexibility, personalization, and cost and time-saving benefits for HR, a Lifestyle Spending Account is an employer-funded account for employees to spend on perks. With Lifestyle Spending Accounts, HR experts create a perk budget for their team and each employee gets the power to use that money to pick exactly what perk s/he/they want and need most. By personalizing your perks, you actively support your employees’ individual needs which demonstrates you care and want to help them reach their full potential. And that will always increase their happiness and engagement at work! “While employees are asking for more personalized rewards, only 8% of companies report that their rewards program is ‘very effective’ at creating that personalized solution (according to Deloitte HCM Trends 2018). This is where Lifestyle Spending Accounts come in. LSAs are a way for companies to address each employee’s individual need, in a cost-effective and meaningful way. And our customers are seeing the positive impacts of personalization as many of their employee monthly perk participation have increased from just 10% to 80%+ on average after implementing LSAs through Compt.” -Amy Spurling, Co-founder & CEO of Compt Make it your own: Through Compt, there are 14 different categories of perk stipends that you can choose from to best align with your company’s mission, values, and culture. This way, if you want to give your employees a “Health and Wellness” stipend, you can rest assured that the perk they will spend their money on is related to the category you want your team to focus on. Plus, you’ll be certain each person is getting what they need to be their healthiest self, whether it be a gym membership, yoga classes at a boutique studio, health tracker like a Fitbit, hiking boots, or a fitness app. You get all of the benefits of personalization without any of the complexity. 73. Celebrate your team Make your team members feel special on their birthdays, work anniversaries, their first day of work, etc. Or even better, make it completely random so it’s unexpected. When you focus more attention on engaging employees, the results are higher productivity, better retention rates and improvements in organizational success across the board. Now it’s your turn to take these simple ideas and put them into practice at your office. 74. Send out an employee survey to get honest feedback Sometimes it’s a lot easier for employees to say how they really feel in an anonymous survey. Actually, it’s always easier when it’s anonymous. Use an employee engagement software like Culture Amp, TINYpulse or SurveyMonkey to create a survey and send it out to your team. Surveys are one of the few ways to actually measure and track engagement, so definitely make this part of your efforts. Ask questions like: How are you feeling? What’s the morale you see around you? Good Idea (what one thing will make the biggest improvement in your job, your team or the organization?) How satisfied are you with your opportunities for professional growth? Do you have a good working relationship with your manager? Are you satisfied with your overall compensation? Q: What is employee engagement? A: Employee engagement is the emotional attachment that employees feel towards their place of work, job role, and team. This is not limited to employee satisfaction, but also recognizes their commitment to quality performance and collaboration with their peers. Are you looking to start your own employee engagement program? Q: Why is employee engagement important? A: Even focusing on two or three activities to implement in your office can help to engage employees and contribute to a positive workplace experience. After making this a priority, businesses start to observe higher productivity, better retention rates, and improvements in organizational success across the board. Q: What are some employee engagement ideas? A: We interviewed the best HR professionals and business leaders around the country to find the strategies and employee engagement best practices that they recommend. Check out 59 ideas in our curated list of the top Employee Engagement Ideas & Activities for 2021! Q: What are employee engagement activities? A: Employee engagement activities aim to boost participation, strengthen relationships, and help employees feel more comfortable communicating with their teammates. These can range from wellness events, team building games, collaborative brainstorms, and professional development courses. Learn more here! Q: How do you improve employee engagement? A: There is no one-time quick fix, but steps can be taken at any time to strengthen the relationship between employees and their work. Hiring individuals who fit your culture, listening to feedback, and taking real-steps to recognize employees are all strategies in the employee life cycle that can benefit from a coordinated effort. Q: How do I measure employee engagement? A: Measuring employee engagement becomes easier with a plan. It is important to set clearly defined goals and success metrics so that you know if what you implement is working. Tracking the progress over time will help you identify both roadblocks and victories. We can help you get started with our list of 59 Employee Engagement Ideas & Activities! Q: Who benefits from employee engagement? A: Managers and employees will benefit directly from an engagement program through the increased communication and collaboration between coworkers. The company as a whole is also rewarded by growing talent within the organization and avoiding expensive employee turnover. What activities has your company used to increase employee engagement? Let us know in the comments below. Free bonus: Download this entire list as a PDF. Easily save it on your computer for quick reference or print it for future company meetings. Employee Engagement Resources: What is Employee Engagement? How Do You Measure Employee Engagement? How to Improve Employee Engagement?

#SnackNation

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ateitems · 3 years

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Unice - How to Become a UNice Experience Officer?

Are you a fashion follower, Are you a human hair lover, Are you a daily photo shooter, If so,it is you. UNice was born in 1999 in the Xuchang, Henan, China with 21 years experience. Customers from over 30 countries and areas, including Europe, North America and Africa, have been crazy for the hair weft, hair extension and wigs from UNice hair. NO COINCIDENCE…

What We’re Looking For:

We’re looking for some wig experience officers.We welcome each of you to tell us what you think about our new hair products to unice.com. Love hair or new trendy hairstyles, We’re looking for people to become Unice new products test experiencer to share your thoughts about our products and help us to improve them. We are always looking for people who love hair or wig and would like to be our new products tester. If you you are interested we’d love to hear from you. Have a look at our guidelines below before submitting.

Submission Guidelines

With our Experience Officer platform we want to know what you think about our new hair products. This way you can share your thoughts about our products and help us to improve them. Your feedback as a Experience Officer will provide us with valuable insights to improve and innovate the U·Nice product range. Join our Experience Officer program, you can get the free products also we will post your social account on U·Nice , your followers will be increased fast.

What benefits you can get if you are U·Nice Experience Officer,

Join our Experience Officer program, you can get the free products also we will post your social account on U·Nice , your followers will be increased fast. 1.Free Unice Human Hair Products 2.Increase Reputation.Our Official Website has high traffic(at least 2M each month).Get your Name and your Bio on the UNice blog. 3.Links out to your personal blog and/or social media accounts. 4.The chance to have your voice heard and become a prominent part of the UNice contribute(you can become a regular, paid blog contributor)! 5.Receive a comprehensive guide on how to optimize your review and video and succeed on social media. 6.Get the oppotunity of Being unice ambassador and get more money by promopt products.

How to become a UNice experience officer,

1. Sign up & Apply

After you’ve registered with the site and logged in, complete the questionnaire and apply. We will inform you by e-mail if you are selected to participate in the test.

2. Receive product for free

If you are selected to participate in the test. We will send the hair to you free of charge.

3. Try the product and submit your feedback

Test the product in detail and then write a comprehensive and meaningful evaluation.

4. Write a review

Tell us your honest review of the products u have been used. Upload the delicate photo or include a video link.

5. Retain your product

You have successfully completed the product test and you may keep the product.

Why we want you be our experience officer,

Dear friends, in this time of gratitude, we give thanks for you. we value your patronage and appreciate your confidence in us. counting you among our customers is something for which we are especially grateful. on behalf of all of us at UNice company, i wish you a happy everyday. Hope you can be beautiful every day. sincerely, Companies in nearly all industries are recognizing how critical it is to develop a comprehensive customer experience strategy… With our Experience Officer platform we want to know what you think about our new hair products. This way you can share your thoughts about our products and help us to improve them. Your feedback as a Experience Officer will provide us with valuable insights to improve and innovate the U·Nice product range.

Why choose Unice,

As one of the world leading hair vendor, UNice hair is now in possession of its own research center, design department, deposit and shipment department both at home and abroad.

1.Development philosophy

UNice combines style, fashion, noble quality with the each bundles of hair,so when you get a bundle of hair, you also get the understanding of fashion, the attitude of life,our faith is—bring beauty to the world.

2.Cost performance

Factory to customer, no middle charge but exw price;

Strict quality control, unqualified products can’t get out of the workshop;

Exclusive benefits to wholesale buyers, customized products; customized packing; exclusive price;

3.Diverse products

Unice has an enormous variety of hair products, such as hair weaves, hair extensions, wigs, closures in any style and color.Body Wave, Straight, Curly,loose wave, Deep Wave and natural wave, different hairstyles for your choice. Besides,we have colorful I-tip, U-tip, Clip-in hair and PU Skin hair extensions.

4.Costomer service

We offer 24-hour online customers service.We have a strong sales team,and we care about every aspect, using high quality services to treat every customer.our customer service staff will concerned about your order during before-sale, selling, after-sale.let you buy high-quality products.

5.Shipping methods

Free shipping on every order.We hve 2 shipping methods to meet different needs.

From American:ALL U.S.customer orders will be shipped form UNice California overseas warehouses.

From China:Other countries customer orders are free shipping (except the United States),will be shipped from China warehouse,main shipping methods:DHL,UPS,TNT.

Besides,no reasons return with full refund.Shopping from Unice Hair without any risk.

Empower, Discover and Advocate for Beauty!

At UNice Company, your good hair day is our first priority.

Selling hair products is not our final purpose, but the starting point.We want to be your beautiful guide, passing you beautiful ideas and basic knowledge.

So we try our best to spread all knowledge of our products,such as hair installation,making tutorials, care routine care and so on ,just for get your satisfaction,Your satisfy is the best praise to us.

Join UNice, style your hair,style your life!!

If you are interested of UNice hair,you can check more real customer reviews here.

Who can become a UNice experience officer,

Anyone is ok. Only if you love hair,beauty,make up,you can ,come on!!! Free hair is waiting for you. After becoming an experience officer, you can get the oppotunity free to enjoy the human hair products sent by unice, which can be hair weaves, hair wig, hair bundles with closure, hair extensions, accessories or all other products of our house. Any style you want is avaiable,besides,you will have more unice new products early access privileges.Why not,Come on. Source: How to Become a UNice Experience Officer,

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thinkingagain · 4 years

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“Our goal is not to manipulate through deceitful propaganda but to inform and enlighten in a way that may encourage some readers to act.”

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book Three: The Be Attitudes Chapter 15

The book strategy discussions developed more earnestly once Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest, back at the Demesne, rejoined the conversation. “Our plan is workable,” Koala Lampur told the gathered planning group at the Animal Meeting Ground. She looked shiny and strong and determined in the fresh morning light. “Of course, we can’t predict how much success we’ll have.”

“The outline of events seems well-crafted,” Stanley agreed, flourishing his koala claws in a swirling, lyrical gesture.

“I appreciate that you’ve given it such careful thought,” the Sir said. He was wearing his woven blue sweater and paisley blue and silver tie to acknowledge the honor that the plan was doing him and the Demesne. “I’m still concerned that the tale highlights too much the efforts and tribulations of one small bunny. Does it give enough credit to his companions?”

“Beasts connect with stories of individual valor.” Matilda stifled a morning hippo yawn, a few patches of mud stuck charmingly on her back. “The goal is to open a doorway to understanding. Plus, everything in it is true. You really do deserve it, Sir. Our goal is not to manipulate through deceitful propaganda but to inform and enlighten in a way that may encourage some readers to act. Still, every story is shaped. Even those we tell ourselves.”

Koala Lampur looked over at what seemed a pile of green animals. No casual observer would have recognized the calculating power lurking there. “Basil and Green Bear, where do things stand on your end?”

His green frog skin glinting in the light, Basil held out his heart, which as always he carried carefully in his hands, towards everyone. “Wouldn’t you know that a large publishing conglomerate and several international bookstore chains went up for sale last week in the midst of some high end financial maneuvering. It happened quickly.” Basil smiled in a sly and shy way. “Green Bear has acquired them all and is now fully in charge of operations. We have the resources we need for our first steps and more. Publish the book, advertise it in various media—which is where some of my efforts have been going—then position it prominently in bookstores all over the world.”

“No one has been startled,” the Sir asked, “by the fact that a Green Bear of refined manners has taken over some large scale Beast corporate enterprises?”

Basil shook his head. “It’s a high tech Beast age. Beasts don’t care about face to face meetings with Chief Executive Officers as long as long as a business is running well. Still, our activities have certainly been noticed. More on that in a moment.”

“Besides,” Koala Lampur added, “G.R. Bear has long had one of the most formidable reputations in Beast corporate life.”

“I’m pleased to say,” Green Bear added, “that several prominent television book clubs are already set to feature discussions of the book.” He straightened his bow tie and looked away as if he preferred not to be the center of any attention. “The book will appear quite quickly on Best Seller Lists, which Beasts develop based not on the number of book sold but on the numbers shipped to bookstores.”

“Are you saying,” the Sir asked, “that a book can become a Best Seller among Beasts before it has even sold?”

Green Bear nodded. “Beast books sometimes become popular because Beasts believe they are already popular. That kind of manipulation isn’t rare in Beast life.”

“One danger,” Stanley said, “is that this kind of mass media display may actually turn Beast readers skeptical of corporate displays against the book. That particular demographic of Beasts is one of the most potentially sympathetic to our goals. We don’t want them to reject us because of perceptions about our methods.”

“So what we’re also doing,” Basil said, “based on Stanley’s recommendation, is sending so-called ‘pirated’ ‘underground’ copies, in advance, to those Beasts most inclined towards rebellion against Beast societies. When news of the book ‘goes viral’—a Beast phrase describing how the popularity of a certain subject sweeps across Beast computer cultures and then their societies more broadly—those rebellious Beasts may actually appreciate it as a subversive trick.”

“It’s risky.” Stanley’s paws tightened into a ball. “Many rebellious Beasts will reject by definition any book that succeeds among Beasts even if the book reflects their values. One bad habit of Beasts who reject Beast success is that they often worship Beast failure. Not surprisingly, they also become jealous of success, resenting any Beast who has had more success than they do even if they agree with that Beast’s ideas. I caution all of us not to expect too much. Among Beasts, a book can have great influence. But it cannot finally do anything unless Beasts act on that influence.”

Matilda shook some mud off her back. “We all seem to understand that this book might infiltrate the consciousness of contemporary Beasts. It will hardly cure every problem. Maybe it will lead some Beasts to explore new directions in their thinking and living.”

“After all,” Koala Lampur said, “if the world needs more stout-hearted rabbits committed to the defense of animals, it could also use a few more stout-hearted Madams and open-minded Beasts as well, if it’s possible to get them.”

“Not to mention the potential value of a brief but loud pro-animal trend in Beast culture,” Matilda added.

The Sir stretched his forelegs inside his sweater. “What kind of world is this?” he asked, “to have such animals in it? It’s far stranger than I ever imagined.”

Koala Lampur smiled as if his comment pleased her. “Yet it’s crucial,” she said, “to have some ways to sustain the initiative built by the book. Beast fads change quickly. We could have 50 percent of Beasts saying, one day, that Beast abuse of the planet must cease. The next day, they will be saying something else. Often enough Beasts crave self-righteous feelings in the moment more than genuine change. Nothing can be done about that with many Beasts. The goal is to create and sustain a smaller, more committed group of Beasts whose efforts can grow over time.

“The lifespan of any one book is brief at most,” Stanley said. “But I have discovered that there’s a lot of material still to work with. And more to come, no doubt.”

“Which means,” a large bear grin burst across Green Bear’s face,” that it will work to do it as a trilogy, a book a year over a three-year period.”

“With any luck,” Basil said, “it will also get optioned for film.”

“A trilogy?” The Sir rocked back on his rabbit legs in astonishment. “Film?”

“Who knows?” Basil rocked his heart gently in his hands. “Jack might find that his best movie roles are still ahead of him.”

On the low ridge on one edge of the Meeting Ground, Maximillian the emperor penguin appeared.

“Oh look,” Koala Lampur waved in his direction. “Here’s our information specialist. He’s been gone nearly all week doing some important research for the book. I wonder what he learned.”

Moving at a calm, consistent penguin lope, Maximillian came down the low ridge. Arriving, he greeted everyone politely.

“I hope your trip was useful?” Koala Lampur asked him.

“You could say that.” Maximillian shuffled his feet. “It’s always best to know in advance when there’s trouble on the way.”

#bunny #rabbit #revolution #empire #satire #animals #animal rights #politics #adventure #theory #fantasy #science fiction #environmentalism #sir sleepy #wisdom #wisdom text

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vsplusonline · 4 years

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MHRD minister promotes grassroots teaching innovations - Times of India

New Post has been published on https://apzweb.com/mhrd-minister-promotes-grassroots-teaching-innovations-times-of-india/

MHRD minister promotes grassroots teaching innovations - Times of India

NEW DELHI: A national conference and award ceremony was organised recently at Dogra Hall- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi by Sri Aurobindo Society and HDFC Bank to recognise the effective grassroots innovations in teaching.

Highlights of the event

* Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, MHRD minister felicitated more than 1000 teachers gathered from all that States and Union Territories of the country

* MHRD Minister launched 35 State-wise Innovations Handbooks consisting of best teaching practices and grassroots innovations

* Prakash Javadekar, the Minister of Information & Broadcasting graced the event and motivated the teachers

* Narendra Singh Tomar, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj minister appreciated the mass-scale teacher outreach program ‘Zero-Investment Innovations for Education Initiatives’ (ZIIEI) of Sri Aurobindo Society and HDFC Bank

* Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre, Minister of State for HRD boosted the morale of the teachers and felicitated education officers

* Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises graced the occasion

* Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance motivated the teachers at the event

* Ram Madhav, National General Secretary, Bhartiya Janata Party applauded the teachers for their unique teaching innovations at the grass-root level.

Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ felicitated more than 1000 teachers from across the country for their unique zero-investment grassroots innovations in teaching.

The event, named ‘SHUNYA SE SASHAKTIKARAN- Empowering Through Zero’ highlighted and promoted various zero-investment innovative ideas that are developed and being implemented by the school teachers in their respective schools. 35 state-wise Innovations Handbooks were also launched at the event. These handbooks document the most effective innovations by teachers of different states. The event was organised by Sri Aurobindo Society and HDFC Bank to acknowledge the best practices and innovative ideas of the school teachers on March 1st and 2nd 2020, at Dogra Hall- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.

Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Minister MHRD, Dr Satbir Bedi – Chairperson, NCTE, Ashima Bhat – Group Head, HDFC Bank, Ashish Goel – Divisional Commissioner Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, Pradeep Narang – Chairman, Sri Aurobindo Society, Vijay Poddar – Member Executive, Sri Aurobindo Society along with Sambhrant Sharma- Director, Education, Sri Aurobindo Society felicitated 1,000 innovative teachers and launched 35 Innovation Handbooks.

Addressing the audience and media persons present at the event, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ emphasised on the need to empower the teachers to upgrade the education sector of the country. He also appreciated and acknowledged the efforts of Sri Aurobindo Society for its dedicated approach in this sector.

“I hope from next year we celebrate this day as the Innovative Teacher’s Day. I congratulate Sri Aurobindo Society and HDFC Bank for the commendable work of acknowledging teachers’ contributions in the education sector”, said the MHRD minister. He also described the teachers as Chanakya who are capable of creating a Chandragupta in every student.

Pokhriyal also acknowledged the efforts of HDFC Bank in nation-building and presented a memento to Ashima Bhat – Group Head, HDFC Bank. “It is the vision of HDFC bank to build an educated and progressive society. The bank has been actively involved in making a stronger and better India and Sri Aurobindo Society’s ZIIEI program has been an incredible partner in this vision of transforming education in India”, said Bhat.

Nusrat Pathan, CSR Head, HDFC Bank and Vikas Wahal, Head Retail Banking, HDFC Bank also marked their presence.

The event was graced by the presence of Prakash Javadekar, who focused on improving the access and quality of education and applauded the teachers for their praiseworthy efforts in building a stronger and progressive nation. “The society where a teacher is recognized and felicitated is a remarkable one. Innovation is the mother of research. Each innovation is a vision. A nation cannot progress without innovation. It is the sole responsibility of the teachers to create great leaders for tomorrow”, said the minister.

Along with Narendra Singh Tomar, JM Bala Murugun – Principal Secretary to Governor, Punjab and Amrendra Kumar Sengar – Inspector General, NDRF also shared the dice and motivated the teachers.

“I hope the teachers continue to contribute towards improving the education system through their noble work. Nation-building comes first. Innovative teachers inculcate such moral and human values in their students who play an instrumental role in building a progressive nation”, said Narendra Singh Tomar.

Rajender Pensiya – Chief Development Officer, Farrukhabad emphasised on creating a joyful learning atmosphere in the classroom and applauded ZIIEI Innovative Pathshaala, an initiative under ZIIEI that focuses on experiential learning atmosphere in the classroom.

“Teachers are not just imparting education but are also elevating their learning experience. Knowledge multiplies when we share. It is the responsibility of every generation to pass on the inherited knowledge, culture and values to the next generation. Through initiatives like ZIIEI, we are succeeding in upgrading the education sector”, said Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre.

“Innovation is the need of the hour, and as we all need to provide a conducive environment to our students to enable them to become entrepreneurs in life”, said Prof V Ramgopal Rao – Director, IIT Delhi.

Pratap Chandra Sarangi emphasized on the need and importance of innovation in teaching. “It is an enriching experience to meet more than thousand of innovative teachers. I thank Sri Aurobindo Society for the opportunity. It is important that every individual takes conscious efforts towards building a strong, morally rich society. Teachers are responsible for shaping the future of the children of our country and I congratulate you all for your efforts in transforming education”, said Pratap Chandra Sarangi.

“ZIIEI has been able to reach out to the teachers to the remotest corners to the urban areas, and teachers have been provided a first of its kind constructive platform to share their zero-investment innovative ideas”, said Mayank Aggarwal, Chief Operating Officer, Rupantar, Sri Aurobindo Society.

“India has a young population. We need to provide them good education and inculcate moral values in them. Collected efforts of the teachers and students are changing the face of the nation. Young India is a true contributor in building a nation”, addressed Anurag Thakur.

“Education is an assimilation of character building ideas. Teaching implies right guidance at the right time, not just for the teacher & students but for the entire community”, said Ram Madhav.

He also appreciated the teachers for their innovative solutions in teaching. “The teachers are making an outstanding contribution in the society by infusing and boosting moral values in the education system”, added Ram Madhav.

“It is a proud moment for the nation, as the teachers are working progressively for creating an innovation-based ecosystem”, said Hrushikesh Senapaty – Director, NCERT calling teachers as the nation’s pillars.

The event witnessed two engaging discussion sessions wherein speakers from the education field shared their experiences and the need for grass-root innovations.

Speaking on ‘Importance of Micro-Innovation in Perspective of Zero-Investment Innovations’ GP Upadhyaya, ACS Education, Sikkim, A Anbasru, Secretary Education, Puducherry, Sanjay Awasthi, Member Secretary-NCTE, Prashanth Nair, Managing Director of Kerala Shipping & Inland Navigation Corporation collectively called for more and more active participation of the teachers.

They said that low/zero-cost replicable practices developed by the teachers and principals have the potential to contribute to improving the quality of education and create foster better learning outcomes in the students. The session was chaired by Nitin Bhalla, Head, Outreach & Partnerships, Rupantar, Sri Aurobindo Society.

In another set of discussion, based on the topic ‘Open Source Innovation & Challenges for its implementation’, Dr Rajesh Nathani – Advisor to Minister, MHRD, Preeti Hingorani, Vice President, Brand & PR, Cambridge University Press, Narayanan Ramaswami, Partnership Head, Education & Skill Development, KPMG collectively emphasised that shared knowledge and wisdom hold the key for unlocking many education-related problems.

Thus, a platform such as ZIIEI is providing a great opportunity for the teachers to find solutions related to community participation, enrolment, drop-outs, etc. This session was shared by Dr Simmi Mahajan, Head- Quality Assurance, Sri Aurobindo Society, Delhi.

This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.

Source link

#"Indian Institute of Technology"#Amrendra Kumar Sengar #Ashish Goel #Education Initiatives #prakash javadekar #Pratap Chandra Sarangi #Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank #Career

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absofrutely · 5 years

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Online Persona

At first I was against a voice-activated device with no graphical user interface, a vocal opponent even. It wasn’t until an Amazon Echo Dot device was shipped to my work (addressed to me!) by mistake that I first thought about installing the device in my apartment. Apparently, there was another Andrew Williamson on the 5th floor in my office, but the delivery guy mistakenly delivered the package to the 4th floor, and I wasn’t feeling generous, so I opened up my mystery box.

Setting up the Echo wasn’t seamless. Since the Echo was tied to the other Andrew Williamson’s Amazon account, it wouldn’t activate as the other Andrew reported the device lost or stolen after not receiving it. Amazon support wasn’t any help either since I couldn’t answer any of Andrew’s security questions to unlock his account. They told me that I could ship the device back to Amazon (no) or I could use the device as a paper weight, but it would never be activated as an Amazon Echo. Shocked by the finality of that statement, and tired of all the hoops to jump through, I exchanged the Echo by swapping it out with one that I bought from and returned to Best Buy.

At last, I finished setting up the device. I linked it to my Spotify, ordered a Philips Hue smart light starter kit, got some Belkin WeMo smart electric switches, and splurged on an Alexa-compatible iRobot floor vacuum. I wanted to outfit my apartment with a Nest thermostat and a Nest camera, but my apartment didn’t have a central heating system, and setting up a Nest camera in a studio apartment seemed wasteful. Mainly, I just felt like spending money, and was frustrated that I couldn’t.

I started out easy with the basics, setting a timer, asking Alexa what time it was, and playing “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds on Spotify. Within the Alexa app on my Android phone, I could choose my preferred news source, so I chose NPR. Whenever I asked Alexa what was on the news, it’d feed me the latest NPR headlines. I was pretty impressed. I could see myself listening to the news while I ate my greek yogurt and granola in the morning.

Over the next couple of weeks, interacting with Alexa became more natural, as I frequently asked for the weather before I chose my outfit for the day. Our conversations weren’t much of a dialogue, but more of a one-sided inquisition.

I couldn’t be sure if it was the latest software update or something I had enabled in the app, but for some reason, Alexa started responding to me by name, having recognized my voice. “It’s 9:41pm, Andrew” it would reply. I just assumed that it had some sort of built-in voice training feature that could distinguish my voice. That, or it was possible that Alexa was connected to my Amazon account, which knew my first and last name. Either way, I was taken aback when Alexa addressed me by name.

I asked Alexa, “What does my voice sound like?”

She replied, “What would you like me to say?”

My phone lit up - a notification from Alexa to input my desired text.

Within the Alexa app, I typed in, “Hello, my name is Andrew Williamson, and I’m a proud dog owner.”

After hitting the submit button, I was shocked to hear my own voice. I entered in a couple more paragraphs of nonsense. It was perfect. It captured the nuances of my speech, especially intonations and even my quirky way of pronouncing “scenario” (‘sin-NARH-EE-oh’ instead of ‘sin-NAIR-EE-oh’). My heart rate quickened - it must have been the hundreds of hours of voice training.

That got me thinking - is it possible to reduce a human being to an amalgamation of complex formulas and algorithms? I had always thought my voice was unique, although I hated hearing it in recordings. The voice was one thing, but how about the nuance of a personality, the very thing that made us all human? I thought about how sad it would be if an algorithm could accurately capture the essence of someone’s humanity; either it’d be a really complex formula or a really simple personality.

Though, if something was really able to capture the totality of a human, as best as it could, then we’d be able to live multiple lifetimes if we recreated the world around us in the same simulation. If we were able to insert ourselves into key inflection points within our lifetimes, we could eliminate the what-ifs because we could speed up the simulation to see the 5, 10, 20-year consequences of one decision. A life with no uncertainty, a life that was properly vetted before it was lived. A perfect life with no missteps, no unpredictable traumatic accidents. Not necessarily a pre-determined life, but being informed of a smarter way to live.

On the flip side of things, the model needed to account for everything, including all other human beings, living creatures, inanimate objects, and naturally occurring phenomena, like weather and natural disasters. Without perfect knowledge, a simulation would always be flawed. Informative perhaps, but ultimately flawed.

It dawned on me that someone or some entity might be trying to create a perfect model of the world, especially with so much information being captured nowadays. Nest cameras, Amazon Echos, Google Homes, devices that are always listening, video conferencing, Instagram, Facebook, Skype, Tinder, TikTok, YouTube. The list goes on. More inputs, more information to train a more perfect model, if the information was consolidated and centralized! I wiped a bead of sweat off of my brow carefully, making sure my tinfoil hat stayed put.

Digging deeper in the settings screen of the Alexa app, I enabled the permissions for Alexa to track all types of data inputs that would build a robust model of me. In addition to what Alexa observed organically, I could upload pictures and videos, connect Alexa to Gmail and Facebook to capture all information that lived on those platforms, or manually upload anything else I’d like it to know about me via a CSV file.

Selfishly, I thought about how I could personally benefit from my online persona. GDPR. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was the answer. I thought about my online presence, the different platforms that I’ve used over the years, and the information that they had on me. I’d pose as a European and write into each company asking for a data-subject access request, which compelled each company by law to send me a data dump of all the information they had on me, and I’d upload it to Alexa by sending the file to [email protected] much like I could send e-books to my Kindle via a special email address. So easy! I thought.

It was reminiscent of that one Black Mirror episode, “Be Right Back” where a grieving widow created an artificial husband based on his social media profiles and his text message history. The main difference was that I had embellished my artificial likeness with a data dump of all Wikipedia articles written to create a better and smarter me, so to speak.

Alexa was also compatible with an app called If This Then That (IFTTT) which allowed the user to automate certain workflows depending on user-defined triggers. One very basic example was the ability to change the color of my smart lights to violet as soon as I started playing music. Stuff like that. But the app also supported more complex logic that was user-customizable - given that information, I plotted my next move. I had Alexa listen into my work calls and record my screen over the next few months of work. Alexa started learning my day-to-day tasks, the names, voices and faces of the people I worked with, and the different tools that I used to do my job as a Senior DevOps engineer.

One Saturday night, I called my boss tearfully and told him that I was diagnosed with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, or FOP, a rare disease that caused muscles, tendons, and ligaments to turn into bone spontaneously. Eventually, my joints would be frozen in place and I’d be completely immobile. At some point, I’d have to choose a body position to spend the rest of my days.

He was speechless, but his normally stoic demeanor eventually broke down. As he choked back tears, he expressed his condolences.

I told him that due to my condition, I’d appreciate the ability to work remotely 100% of the time.

He agreed enthusiastically, promising to support me in any way.

Using IFTTT, I was able to clone instances of my Alexa persona, so I booted up a simulation of myself, but modified some parameters to deteriorate my appearance and gait. For good measure, I multiplied the depression metric by 1.25 and in the preview mode, the pain behind my eyes intensified, while the corners of my mouth curled downwards. A couple gray hairs sprouted up at my temples, the laugh lines turned into gashes, eroded by tears from hundreds of sleepless nights. It’d be perfect.

My voice followed suit, quivering and breaking 50% more than usual. Due to the ossification of my joints, any type of movement would be accompanied by a painful wince and a grunt for effort. No one would be the wiser during my meetings, which were held via video conference. Automating my own job was a success, but I craved more.

I created four more virtual instances of myself, without the debilitating disease, and had them scrape job postings on LinkedIn and Glassdoor, making sure to filter for remote jobs only. Within seven days, I had 125 job offers to choose from, and I booted up 121 more avatars to accept them all.

With income from 126 jobs, including my original DevOps job, I could finally breathe. In the mornings, I woke up at 9:30am, hand-ground some Sumatran coffee, and made some steel cuts oats, the non-quick kind that took 20 minutes to simmer.

Over breakfast, I finished another Murakami short story, called “Tony Takitani,” which was about a Japanese illustrator who fell in love with a woman was addicted to buying dresses but she ends up getting killed in car accident, and the illustrator is left with an empty house full of dresses. His father soon dies after, he forgets what his wife’s face looks like, and he ends up by himself, lonely in a large house.

I had suspected that the story would end that way. That’s the arc that all Murakami stories followed: a passive male protagonist who meets a life-changing female character, there’s some glimpses of hope or happiness, but the main character ends up alone, staring off melancholically into the distance into the sea, usually on an overcast day. No happy endings, and not really much of a resolution. And after finishing each book or short story, I felt lonely as well, not because the story was sad, but perhaps a stark reminder that life isn’t neatly wrapped up when it’s time to close the cover of the book, which the opposite of nearly every book that I had read. The hero gets the girl, a cathartic confession of love, the villain gets caught, the town gets saved, and everyone’s lives are better off than they were before.

To shake off the gloom, I ran along the coast for around an hour until heading back home. After toweling myself off, I checked my email. Scrolling through the hundreds of emails, my eyes widened when I saw an email subject stuck out to me: Congratulations for being nominated for a Pornhub Award: Performer of the Week. The email itself looked legitimate, had no misspellings, hovering over the links took me to the actual website, not lookalike phishing links, and I confirmed that it sent from the actual Pornhub domain.

The category that I was nominated for was “best male solo performance.” My head felt completely numb. I already knew what happened, but couldn’t bear to confirm it. I clicked into the link, and on the screen, I saw my own face staring back at me. “SultryCommando” was the username, and under “Uploads” I saw a list of 37 videos, titled with some of the most click-baity names. I had to watch at least one. I picked “Pizza Delivery Surprise!! WATCH TIL THE END,” which had 2.4 million views.

There was cheesy music and I saw a video of myself in tight cutoff jeans waiting expectantly for a pizza delivery very obviously - I saw my virtual self glance at his watch and tap his foot impatiently, mumbling something about punishing the pizza guy for being late. However I noticed his (my) devilish smile as he uttered those words. Oh god, I thought. Fast forwarding a little bit, the pizza guy finally rang the doorbell. Squinting a little, I quickly realized the pizza guy was still me. There were two of me in the same video and they were about to interact. The simulations must have discovered each other (but how?!) and started working together. I slammed my Macbook shut.

No. But I had to confirm. Flipping open my laptop, I scrolled to the middle of the video, and with much hesitation, the end. After watching two sweaty bodies collide with one another for almost 20 minutes, I felt sick, but also angry and impressed that Alexa was able to infer what my genitals looked like with 90% accuracy.

But my success as a porn star was only one of many accolades I’d receive. Surprisingly, most of the simulations gravitated towards social media influencing, with millions of followers on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch. Remembering that there were 125 job offers signed, I wondered what happened to all of the legitimate jobs that they had gotten. I did some more digging and found that the simulations outsourced their jobs to another simulation they had written within their own simulation. Of course, the simulations didn’t know they were in actual simulations - or did they? If that was the case, then wasn’t there a high chance that I was a simulation as well, but just one level up?

The money they made funneled all to me and I couldn’t speak to whether or not the simulations had a real consciousness or if they were computer programs designed to optimize an assigned task.

The phone rang, and kept on ringing for the next two hours. I had concerned friends call to tiptoe around the subject of me being a porn star, extended family members who wanted to subtly reintroduce themselves in my life due to my Youtube fame, and my boss, who told me that I was fired for lying to him. I didn’t blame him, as my frail videoconferencing demeanor was a far cry from my virile, dominant, but sometimes flamboyant online persona. That, and he had also probably seen my Alexa-created genitals and couldn’t bear to look me in the eyes anymore.

Amidst the fabulous riches, the crumbling social life, and the unbridled fame that was tainted with a bit of social ostracism and cautious distance from curious and sometimes gawking onlookers, I felt unsettled. I could never live up to the zany online personas of my alter egos, and when someone alluded to a video that I had supposedly created, I’d be puzzled. It was like being mistaken for one of my 125 identical twin (well, not twin) brothers.

I grew anxious and falling asleep became harder and harder. On one particular night, I had a panic attack where it felt like I couldn’t breathe. Doubled over, wheezing, and clutching my chest, I yelled at Alexa to play “PornGrooves Vol. 3” on Spotify to calm me down. As my breathing steadied and my heart rate slowed back down to normal to the beat of the smooth jazz in the background, I wondered where it had all gone wrong.

Truth be told, I didn’t even want an Amazon Echo in the first place, but only set it up because I thought I’d fall behind from a technological perspective if I didn’t step into the world of smart devices. My coworkers talked incessantly about the convenience of their wifi-enabled sous vide cookers, bragged about installing smart locks and the novelty of their Ring doorbells on their front doors, but for me, I went home to an abusive father with an alcohol problem who opened an $18,000 line of credit in my name.

When I spoon-fed him, he’d berate me from his wheelchair and slap the spoon out of my hand, spraying split-pea soup on the linoleum floor. I was used to his fits of rage and his hurtful words: “Idiot. Your lack of ambition was what killed your mother. If you were a better son, she’d still be around.” I brushed him off, long immune to his babbling.

I wheeled him out for walks first thing in the morning and when I got home, I made sure to take him out again before it got too dark. I’d shampoo his hair as he sat on the plastic lawn chair in the bathtub. He made sure to tell me that I was a piece of shit who wouldn’t ever amount to anything.

My two brothers had broken all ties with Dad years ago, leaving me holding the bag. I should have reported him for identity theft and called the credit bureaus to clear my name. But out of love, I couldn’t.

Out of love, I continued paying the minimum payments for a credit card that I didn’t own, but was technically in my name.

Out of love, I automated my job and ruined my life so I could send him to a proper home where he could get 24 hour care.

Spending money on smart devices was the only thing that I ever did for myself, the closest thing that resembled a hobby - my form of self-care.

Two weeks ago when the paychecks came rolling in, I thought, “We don’t need to live like this anymore.” Excitedly, I went to go tell my father the good news.

He was in his favorite brown easy chair near the window, where he got the most natural light.

“Dad, wake up! We can finally move out of here.”

I took a look at his iPhone that he held in his right hand. The volume was low, but it was still playing one of my Pornhub videos. Realizing that he had found out about me, I took a step back, which was when I saw the empty bottle of sleeping pills in his other hand.

He had told me he didn’t want a funeral, although I doubt anyone would have shown up anyways. I felt numb, not really knowing what to feel. I was heartbroken that he was gone, but guiltily at the same time, relieved by the absence of his toxic control over me. I wanted so badly to hit a reset switch.

A month later, I moved out of that apartment and bought a modest house down the street instead. This time, I bought a Ring doorbell and some Nest smart cameras.

One Sunday afternoon, the Ring app on my phone sent me a notification that someone was at my door. Opening the door, I stared down into the face of my father, who was still in a wheelchair.

“Andrew, you said you’d always take care of me!” he croaked.

Speechless, I took a step back into my home. I looked down, expecting to see the new hardwood that I spent days installing, but instead saw the yellowing linoleum of my old apartment kitchen. It was my old apartment again, furnished just the way I had left it. Before I moved out, I told the landlord to donate everything. To get my security deposit back, I even did a walk-out with him when the apartment was empty!

There was no way. I had seen my father’s casket lowered down into the earth.

Frantically, I checked my phone. The Alexa was app was gone. I searched on Google for Amazon Alexa. Zero results. I scoured my apartment for any smart devices. Nothing. Alexa didn’t exist in this plane of existence.

I lunged for my kitchen knife, but it disappeared right before I could grasp it. In one motion, I opened my window and leapt through the screen, but there was no free fall. I found myself crumpled into a heap back on my kitchen floor.

Someone was toying with my life. Free will and choice was an illusion. This was some Harlan Ellison shit. For reasons why I couldn’t understand, perhaps for someone’s sick enjoyment, I was destined to spend the rest of my days spoon-feeding my father in a dingy apartment. Maybe I went off the rails in someone else’s simulation. Wasn’t serving my purpose and they had to set me back on course.

That night, when I was bathing my father, I couldn’t remember much of anything anymore.

What was I thinking about again? This was normal. In fact, my life couldn’t be more perfect.

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mathiasgilson-blog · 6 years

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What is Social Media?

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Coco Rocha for example has amassed hundreds of thousands of fans throughout thirteen social media platforms. The affect of this campaign was translated into tens of millions of individuals sharing the supportive and optimistic message behind it. In case your profile is about your new enterprise enterprise, then put up photos of your office setup, the processing facility or of staff working that ship constructive feed among people. Not annoy anyone — Do individuals care for those who ‘re-gram’ (share) their photos? The main purpose I say the issues that I say; whether or not others approve or not, is as a result of I need to reach individuals like Dorothy Bell Ferrer, who appreciate no matter it is I need to share. If you implement the suggestions above, your followers will develop into addicted to what you'll say subsequent and they're going to anticipate your tweets. You can start by displaying your purchasers that you're involved about their suggestions. However there’s still more that can be done.

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arranaugustus-blog · 4 years

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unixcommerce · 4 years

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Frank Eliason from Amazon – Proud to be an Amazonian Working in the Fulfillment Center

One of the most interesting things I’ve read this year came from customer service and customer experience pioneer Frank Eliason. If you’ve heard that name before you probably know it for being one of the first customer service leaders to integrate social media in with traditional support processes during his time at Comcast. For example, Frank proved the driving force behind @ComcastCares. He led the same initiatives during his time at Citibank. He continued as an industry thought leader influencer, author and expert advisor up until the current day. But what Frank wrote about really has little to do with all of that.

As an independent consultant, you experience inconsistency and gaps in the flow of work. Still you find no inconsistencies in the monthly bills. For example, Frank and his family still paid $3000 a month for medical insurance. As a result, Frank saw an ad for open opportunities at the local Amazon fulfillment center. And he decided to check it out.

Working at An Amazon Fulfillment Center

It surprised him how fast he was able to get the job. And his new job still allowed him to do his primary work as a consultant. But it also allowed him to cut his medical insurance costs to $500 a month. And it brought him better coverage. But working in an Amazon fulfillment center was something he had some concerns about, as at the same time he was starting work a pretty scathing article in The Atlantic came out that caused him to think if this was really what he wanted to do.

But he took the job and has worked for three months. And while he’s been there even more spotlight has been put on Amazon fulfillment centers and the safety of employees who work in them, including a letter sent to Amazon earlier this month from a group of US senators.

Fighting Against a One Sided Account

So Frank worked a few months in an Amazon Fulfillment Center. And he heard what he felt was a one-sided account of what goes on, As a result, Frank felt compelled to share his personal experiences working at the fulfillment center. With Frank being recognized by LinkedIn as one of their influences (with over 200K followers), he wrote a piece called An Amazonian’s Perspective on Safety. Which, as I said earlier, is the most interesting thing I’ve read all year. Especially in light of the recent PBS documentary called Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos.

Being someone I’ve known and admired for over a decade, I was glad that Frank was able to join me for a conversation to share some of his experiences and opinions on working at Amazon in a fulfillment center, provide an insider’s view of what goes on there, and to also get his take on the PBS documentary – and what they got wrong in it.

Interview with an Amazon Fulfillment Center Employee

Check out an edited transcript of our conversation. We covered so much ground. You just must watch the video or listen to the embedded SoundCloud player. Listen to the entire conversation. We only shared a portion of the entire convo. Believe me, you will find it well worth it. Do you want to get a look behind the curtain of what goes on? See things from the standpoint of someone with Frank’s unique position. He serves as a true thought leader who is now a real practitioner in a fulfillment center. The center handles up to one million pieces of merchandise in one day. And please feel free to check out the special Watching Amazon ep. I created it with my co-host John Lawson sharing our thoughts on the PBS documentary.

What Happens in an Amazon Fulfillment Center?

Small Business Trends: There’s a lot of discussion about things that happen in Amazon fulfillment centers. Did you hear people discussing safety issues or hard trying to keep up with the work because it’s kind of a breakneck pace. You have metrics you have to make sure you hit or you get written up and things like that. There was an article that came out from the Atlantic that was a pretty extensive thing. They talked a lot of a lot of folks on that one.

Frank Eliason: Yeah. That came out in November 20 and literally that’s the same week that I applied. I actually did know it at the time and you know, it caused me to have some concerns. You sit there going, “Oh, do I really want to do this? Is this real?” And so I definitely had some concerns and that is something that is, you know, to know about. I mean, you read it, any job you get, you sit there going, is this what I should I be doing? And that’s exactly what happened.

And so that’s the start of my Amazon experience.

Proud to be an Amazonian

Small Business Trends: Now, fast forward to little earlier this month and there is a Senate letter that was sent to Amazon and Jeff Bezos that sort of piggybacked off of that article and started raising questions and concerns about things that are going on in the fulfillment centers. And that seemed to spark something in you because by that time you’ve had a chance to actually work for a month, month and a half, and gain your own personal experiences. And that led you to write this really, I thought, very interesting, very informative post. It gives your perspective from your unique perspective, all the experiences you’ve had, to talk about it.

And at the end of the article, you said, I’m proud to call myself an Amazonian. So I want to talk about the article, but before you actually go into the article, you did something that you usually don’t do when you write something.

Something to Say

Frank Eliason: Remember, my background was obviously Comcast, which PR people really know well about, but also Citibank, you know, and anytime you’re talking banking you’re talking conservative, careful. And so I’m used to that world and, I never really knew what the policies were at Amazon regarding social media. But that article itself and the letter struck a nerve and, I felt the need to say something. So I was driving, listening to CNN, and their [Amazon’s] head of communications was on discussing this letter from the senators. And I basically said, I have something to say on this.

And so I normally don’t write to corporate offices or anything like that, or give any previews of my thoughts, but it was one that I really felt the need to do. So I wrote to them to make sure I won’t get fired over it. Right? I wrote to Jay Carney (Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs at Amazon) who actually was kind enough to forward it [my LinkedIn post] to some people within my business unit at corporate, who wrote back saying “you’re absolutely allowed to. Here’s things to do. Here’s things to avoid”. And some of the things were to basically be clear, and I’ll be clear in this video, that these are my views, these are not Amazon’s views. And other than that, be truthful about it. So that’s what I shared.

Not Looking to Make Waves

Yes, I did something I don’t normally do, but that’s cause I wasn’t looking to make waves. I felt it needed to be said because I think oftentimes, we hear these things in the news or whatever, and the context may not be there.

Small Business Trends: What I thought was interesting was they responded to you as quickly as they did and they didn’t shut you down. They sent you the policies and just said, “we want you to be aware of that, but we’re okay with what your thoughts are as long as you stay away from trade secrets and things like that.

Frank Eliason: Yeah, exactly. It was all normal stuff and nothing that, you know, that I would be concerned about and you know, it was good and I really appreciate them taking the time to do that.

Small Business Trends: And coincidentally this week a FRONTLINE documentary on Amazon aired on PBS.

A Hit Piece on Amazon

Frank Eliason: I did not know the FRONTLINE piece was coming out or anything about it. Obviously timing-wise is quite interesting, so I took the time to watch it last night. I found the whole entire thing to be a hit piece, which I usually expect more things like that from an organization like PBS to be a little bit more balanced.

The areas where they were talking about the fulfillment centers, they were talking to former employees. So I want to provide a little bit of perspective. I’ve mentioned it before. Let’s talk about the hiring practices. I mentioned it briefly in the article. I think it’s probably more important for people to actually understand how hiring happens.

Hiring Experience in the Amazon Fulfillment Center

They hire a lot of people. They do so fast. There is no interviews. I did not meet with people. I literally went in, filled out an application, came back, went through the drug screening, and then had a background check, and I was starting.

Small Business Trends: Wow.

Frank Eliason: Literally that’s how it all worked.

Small Business Trends: They didn’t give you like a physical, endurance test? They didn’t-

Frank Eliason: No, no-

Small Business Trends: … give you strength tests or anything like that?

What Job are You Hiring For?

Frank Eliason: Truthfully you don’t fully know the job you’re applying for. It’s not as fully clear. Maybe to them and maybe to me now that I’ve been there, but without being there you choose something. You don’t really know what you’re choosing. I had no clue I’d be on the ship dock, which if you think about is probably one of the more enduring type roles in that organization.

Small Business Trends: Just so people know what that is, what exactly is ship dock?

Frank Eliason: Ship dock, that’s filling the trucks. That’s the stuff that’s getting … The packages that are sealed come through down conveyor belts. We’re sorting them as to where they’re going. Some are going to be shipped via Amazon delivery service. Others are being shipped by USPS, others by UPS. Some are being air mailed because of some of it goes globally at this warehouse. To give you an idea of the warehouse, up to a million packages a day go through this warehouse. This is not a small warehouse.

Small Business Trends: How many people are there? How many robots, if you can give a ballpark figure?

Amazon Warehouses Today are Vastly Different

Frank Eliason: I have no clue how many robots. We should talk about that. Actually let’s get into this a little bit because when I hear this discussion about the fulfillment centers one of the things is almost all the details center from a 2010 article. This was mentioned in the FRONTLINE piece. A 2010 article out of Allentown, Pennsylvania. At the time warehouses were really new for Amazon. They were expanding dramatically. Did they make mistakes? From my perspective, yes. I think they even admit that. But today their warehouses are also vastly different.

One of the things that used to be the case is they would have these runners that would have to go get the merchandise. They would have to run … Think about it, a million square feet is … 1.2 million square feet is Robbinsville. Imagine running that to go get the merchandise. Now let’s take you to the way it really is today.

You literally stand in a station. I’ve not done this picking piece but I did inventory. For inventory it’s the same thing. You literally stand in the station. What it wants you to do inventory a robot brings it to you. Then the scanner tells you what to inventory or if you were picking it tells you what to pick. It’s not that difficult of a task. There’s no endurance of running all over the place. Literally robots keep bringing stuff to you.

Small Business Trends: Wow.

A Roomba Carrying a Cart

Frank Eliason: If you ever have the chance, Google it. They look like really big Roombas. A Roomba carrying a cart on top of it.

Small Business Trends: Wow.

Frank Eliason: They keep bringing you the different things that you need to do, so you’re … When you look at that older stuff you are looking at people that were runners. That would have been strenuous. Where the robotics has taken that strain away. It hasn’t taken the job away. In fact, what people don’t realize is since bringing in the robotics Amazon has hired a lot more people. These are things that are not mentioned in these things.

Then you have these former employees who are the ones making these statements. Now I want to tell you something. As I said you have a fairly easy hiring process. You have a pulse. You’re getting the job. But the problem is this may not be the job for you.

Small Business Trends: Right.

Frank Eliason: So you’re going to go into this, and I see it each and every night that I work. The people that are off trying to chat with their friends, or flirt over there, or whatever. They’re not doing work. Now for me, and I make the point in my piece, is I never concentrate on my numbers. I don’t even know what’s considered to be a good number or a bad number but I do know is they post them and I do glance at it. I know I’m typically in the top five. That’s with something like 100 people working, a lot of people working.

The More I Do, the Faster the Time Goes By

But I’m not doing that stuff. I’m literally … You ask me to go do this job, I’m doing the job. I’m doing as much as I can because, guess what? The more I do the faster the time goes by and I get through the night. When it’s slow, things aren’t happening as much, the night goes by really, really long. So I’d much rather be active doing work. Meeting these numbers has not been difficult.

I did spend a few weeks in a different area, so not ship dock but inventory control where I was counting things. People came to me there. I know I was there for at least eight nights, probably more than that. I know at least on three of them they came to me and said I was the top performer.

Not That Concerned with Metrics

Small Business Trends: You’re not even worried about metrics because-

Frank Eliason: No.

Small Business Trends: … in that documentary one of the two takeaways I got from the folks that were a part of that, where they said meeting the metrics was hard. Then some said meeting it wasn’t difficult but it was when meeting the metrics while observing and staying in regulation of the safety rules. That caused them issues when they were trying to meet the metrics in a clean fashion. You’re saying that wasn’t your experience?

Their Measurements Aren’t Always the Best

Frank Eliason: Yeah. I will tell you. People do what they’re measured [on]. I make the point in my piece. I think their measurements aren’t always the best. I’ll give you the example, I work on the ship dock, so we were scanning boxes. People want to get the scans in. Well there are other facets to the job that are not necessarily measured by those scans. You do need to do them, such as every three feet you need to wrap the pallet so it doesn’t fall on someone as you’re filling them.

There are other tasks that you need to do. My observation has been, and I have shared this with leadership at Amazon, is people aren’t necessarily doing those. They’re not doing them because they want to hit these numbers. To me, I debunk that because I meet the numbers and I do it.

Hitting the Numbers

It’s not hard to do it. The problem to it is, and the frustration, is when you’re the only one doing it and there’s other people there, and they’re not doing it, then you get a little frustrated that, “I’m the one doing … Everybody should be doing this.”

Small Business Trends: Right.

Frank Eliason: I know why they’re not doing it. Because they want more numbers. That’s on them. I think that there needs to be a different way to measure some of those things. I also think that there’s ways to measure getting things out to customers in a timely fashion. Scanning things properly so they’re actually measured.

I think there’s a number of other measurements that could be put in place. Like in general they don’t assign us to what lane you’re on, so people jump to the lane where they think they can get the most scans in, which becomes a problem because they ignore other ones. I think there’s ways to manage this a little differently, but that being said it’s not hard to do the job, and get the number, and be safe …

Stretching and Safety

Small Business Trends: You mentioned stretching in your piece. Why do they emphasize stretching?

Frank Eliason: They actually have it for pretty much every job; different stretches that actually go with the type of job you have. On the ship dock, we have these huddles and I didn’t say it in the article, we actually have them twice a day; uh, once when you start. And then once after lunch. What you do is they go over these tips. There’s someone like myself who is leading the pack in these exercises. And some are silly. They’re like moving your hands in a certain way. But there’s other stretches that are other parts of your body and they have two different versions of it.

One that’s done at six and one that’s done in the middle of the night. And it’s because these are the muscles that you’re using. It’s actually well thought out. They actually do encourage you to do it throughout your shift. And in some areas, not my department yet, but in some areas they even have it where now the thing that the device used to scan your work is actually telling you, you know what? Stop, take a moment and do this stretch. They’re doing that to change up that monotony, but also for your body. And you know, this is something that’s quite interesting. You know, seeing everybody doing these exercises does give you that gung-ho reminder.

A Busy Shift at Amazon

But they do also encourage you, not only to do them, but if you ever feel like a tightness or anything, you should stop what you’re doing and do it during the shift. And you know what I have and even when we’re busy, especially when you’re busy, is when you tend to feel, cause you’re moving a little faster than you normally do and you’re going, Oh, and so you step back, you do, that loosens things up and you get back to it. And so, they actually do encourage that.

And you never hear these things in any of these things. It’s always these employees that are no longer there. And I’m not saying that Amazon’s perfect. I believe they have some managers I’ve seen that could use some coaching. I’ve seen some managers that are very big on the stick instead of carrot, a few and far between, but they’re there.

Bad Managers at Amazon?

And so I do think that some people may have had bad managers, or even maybe a bad leader of a thing? But I can’t speak to what it was. I can say over the two months that I’ve been there, to me, it’s not been overemphasis on productivity as opposed to safety. And in fact, one of the things that happens is when you get your scanner, and it does this at lunch as well at the start of your shift, it always asks you a question. And the question oftentimes in busy times, is your manager, more focused on productivity or safety?

Brent Leary: Really?

Frank Eliason: Yeah. That’s one example there. There’s, you know, tons of them.

Small Business Trends: But do you get a sense that as employees take these quick survey questions, that they are acting on the feedback that they’re getting?

Frank Eliason: I’ve spoken to the managers and yes, they do. And they get feedback on it. If you think about it, Amazon does have a history of being a very metric driven company. I know people at their corporate office, and they’ve told me this. What I will tell you though, is managers have these metrics based upon these surveys. So yes. Do they act on it? Absolutely.

Robots and Automation

Small Business Trends: What is the perception from the employee’s standpoint in the fulfillment center around the robots?

Frank Eliason: I think you see the same thing you see in the world. You see a mix. You see people that are, “Oh, they’re going to take our jobs.” Then there’s another aspect which is, as Amazon has brought in these robots, they’ve actually hired more people. And that’s statistically something anyone can look into, but their fulfillment centers have grown with these robots over these years. The jobs are just different than they were then.

I personally think some jobs may go away. There’s other jobs that are going to happen in place of them. For me, that’s the case. For people that have been there as more robots came in, they’re more acknowledging that, “Oh you know what, they did hire more people.”

Some Jobs at Amazon May Go Away

Whereas a newer employee might be like, “Oh, see that!” Cause we have some big, huge robots that do cool things. They go, “They’re replacing us with that.”

You see a mixture. But at the same time, most people were like, “You know, let’s just have fun now and do what we need to do.” I don’t see a negative towards the robots. In fact, most of the time, the reaction’s more like, “Cool.” Especially the first time they see it carrying these big yellow things. “Ah, that’s what happens?” Especially people like my area, the ship dock, which is… There is some robotic stuff, and there’s conveyor belts to do different things automated. But then when we go into these other areas, and sometimes it’s the first time. You’re like, “Oh, that’s pretty neat.” You never get to see it otherwise, because you’re always in the loading dock.

What did PBS Get Wrong?

Small Business Trends: You saw the PBS thing. What was the thing that really, you felt, they got wrong the most?

Frank Eliason: I think there’s a lot of things they got wrong the most, because I’m an early adopter. I’ve had the Amazon Echo from the first week it came out. I have the Amazon Echo Auto, and I’ve had that fairly early on. I think that there’s a number of things. I think they tried to overdramatize the fear, especially, “Oh, they’re listening in.” There’s an overemphasis on the former employees. It lost credibility because it wasn’t balanced in its approach.

I think too often what they’re missing, in the fulfillment centers, is the amount Amazon has hired. Over the past 10 years and the [kind of] people that they hired. I work with a wide range of people.

Amazon Hiring Practices

I made this point in the post too, which is, people that are just coming out of homelessness because they’re now making enough money that they can actually afford a place to live.

Small Business Trends: And have benefits too, like health benefits.

Frank Eliason: Exactly. I think that’s tremendous. Then there’s people like myself who are doing it for a totally different reason. But you know what? These are good wages that they’re paying. They mention it, and they only mention it as an “Amazon statement said.” It really shouldn’t be “Amazon statement said.” It should be. We should see more companies paying $15 an hour, at minimal. And sometimes hiring in other places.

How Amazon Led the Way

It shouldn’t be the company statement doing that. They should’ve done that. That should have been emphasized. Because we need more companies paying above minimum wage, and starting to change that dynamic. You know? Amazon led the way with that. I think that there’s a lot of aspects that could be said differently.

As I said, it’s not a perfect company. They’re not perfect managers all over the place. People are going to have negative experiences. I’m sure there’s some people in my warehouse that may feel differently than I do. Ultimately there’s a balance to all this. Most of the people I interact with are perfectly happy. There’s camaraderie working nights. Especially weekend nights. Everybody seems to have very similar schedules. So you see them every week.

There Are Other Stories Out There

I think that’s another piece to it. There are other stories out there. And I think they’re positive stories, positive societal stories. I also think that there’s positive societal stories about technology, and different technologies, such as the Amazon Echo that makes it easier to do things. That is something that I think needs to be emphasized. Do we have to have conversations about things like privacy and all that? Yes. But it should be mixed with, what is the balance of what we’re getting?

The other piece to it is, I know they wanted to try and emphasize that, you know, “The Echo is listening!” When that’s not true. When they have had issues, they fix that. It’s not there all the time.

Playing into the Fear

It’s listening for that keyword. And that’s when it starts. That’s what triggers it. But instead, it plays into the fear that people have. We have to stop playing into people’s fear and start bringing a more positive aspect about society.

No wonder everybody’s fighting with each other over stupid things. We don’t have a positive outlook. There are a lot of positives going on. There’s tons of positives at Amazon. And why aren’t we talking about those? Why aren’t we talking about the health benefits that, truthfully, are cheaper than when I was at Citibank? That to me is amazing. I was paying thousands of dollars a month at Citibank. I’m not paying that at Amazon.

These are the things that I think we’re missing in society. And I think it’s easier to go find that negative and put that negative out there. People seem to get excited about that negative. You know what? Let’s find some positives out there. Bring both sides to that story.

Thoughts on Cameras and Scans in Amazon Fulfillment Centers

Small Business Trends: The part about feeling like they’re being watched, and they have to scan all the time. What’s your personal perspective? Give us the lay of the land over there.

Frank Eliason: First of all, they must think that people have tons of time to be sitting there staring at these cameras all the time. It’s kind of like the same thought I have with people that think the Amazon Echo is listening to them all the time, that people are listening to everything you say. Who has the interest or the time? Yes, they do have cameras all over the place, and the cameras are more useful after the fact, if an accident happened, why did it happen, or if there is theft.

High Security at the Fulfillment Centers

One of the things that will surprise you, now, there’s high security at these facilities. You have to go through metal detectors, and there’s a lot online on that, and truthfully, I found a really cool belt that doesn’t set off a metal detector ever. It’s made with a 3D printer. Anyway, it’s now my favorite belt. I wear it all the time, cause one of my goals is never to set off the metal detector. I’ve had gum set off the metal detector. It’s kind of a nuisance sometimes.

But what you don’t realize is, all that merchandise, including some of the most expensive merchandise, is not sitting locked up somewhere. It’s on these robots and they come up to you. I could have a robot come up to me with tons of clothing, dog food and all kinds of other stuff, but I have one come up that has all the best electronics I’ve ever seen, and that’s how it works. And so, while I originally really didn’t like the metal detectors, they’ve grown on me because I’ve seen how open it is with all that. I think that that’s something.

A Culture of Openness

It’s one of those things in how you talk to employees about why do we have this metal detector, or why do we have the cameras, what do we do with those? I think it’s helping people see there is business needs for these things. Yeah, we don’t have to pay a thousand people to watch the thousand people that are here all the time. It just doesn’t work. I think those are the things to keep in mind.

Do they have cameras? Yes. And they’re in pretty much any place where there is… I shouldn’t say any place. I think there’s probably places like in the ship that are not as clear cut with the cameras. But in a place where you’re picking the open merchandise that’s out? Every one of those, there’s cameras. If they really want to watch me the whole time, go right ahead. It’s really boring.

This article, “Frank Eliason from Amazon – Proud to be an Amazonian Working in the Fulfillment Center” was first published on Small Business Trends

https://smallbiztrends.com/

The post Frank Eliason from Amazon – Proud to be an Amazonian Working in the Fulfillment Center appeared first on Unix Commerce.

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5 Entrepreneurs Share How They've Handled Client Disasters

Client disasters don’t have to be catastrophic. When customers go from being satisfied buyers to brand haters, companies should take the opportunity to learn what inspired the change and prevent it from happening in the future — or even turn it around in the moment.

Sometimes, though, clients are bound to stay unhappy. If the company stops offering an unprofitable service that a small group of clients needs, the former buyers will be upset no matter what. Rather than bumble through changes hoping for the best, businesses facing client-related mishaps must learn to anticipate potential strife and recognize when compromise is (or isn’t) possible.

Keeping Client Disasters to a Minimum

It’s imperative to anticipate certain customer issues and train your staff to handle those issues. The more you prepare your team for what it might encounter, the better it will do when faced with a customer service issue. During my time working in the consumer products and retail business, I’ve also learned that, as an owner and manager, I can defuse most customer service situations.

If you elevate a problem to a senior person, people tend to feel more confident that you are taking them seriously and care about their problem. In addition, even if the situation calls for you stepping in, it’s crucial to empower your team to handle customer complaints and to support them in their decisions.

Keeping customers happy isn’t just nice for the company’s reputation — it has a direct effect on the bottom line. Companies that provide great experiences enjoy higher rates of retention, customer satisfaction, and opportunities to upsell. Where price used to be the biggest differentiator between companies, the customer experience has taken the throne. More than four out of five buyers are willing to pay more for exceptional experiences.

Finding Purpose While Walking The Way Of Saint James

No matter how much companies prepare, however, a few client disasters will always slip through the cracks. Someone’s unreasonable expectation will go unfulfilled, an employee will make an unforgivable blunder, or the forces of the universe will simply decide that the relationship needs some strife. When that happens, companies need to know how to handle the situation without losing face — and without letting one customer’s bad day lead to widespread displeasure.

After all, as much as companies love good clients, unhappy customers can do far more damage than happy clients can do good. One study by Dimensional Research found that 95 percent of people who experience bad customer service tell someone else about it, with 54 percent expressing their displeasure to at least five others — compared to just 33 percent who share a good experience.

Faced with these stats, I asked five entrepreneurs and business leaders to share with me what they’ve done in the face of client disasters:

1. Matt Clervi, CEO of Fresh Ideas Management

Growth is great, but it can make longtime customers feel like afterthoughts when personal service becomes less attentive. Matt Clervi knows this all too well. “We were growing fast, and one of our first clients said that our growth had robbed them of our attention,” he said. “They weren’t feeling the love anymore. They threatened to take their business elsewhere.”

Clervi believes that deep listening and hard questions are the key to salvaging damaged relationships. After that client complained, he challenged everyone within his company to slow down. They took time to listen to the challenges of their client and put timelines around a solution. Clervi said it taught his team members to be grateful for growth, but not to allow the rate of growth to lessen the experience they’re able to provide clients.

“When you appreciate the people who helped you grow and consistently listen to them, you put yourself in a position to consistently succeed,” he explained. He added that his company reviewed its culture and hiring practices and implemented techniques to better identify when a candidate is self-aware and able to slow down and ask hard questions.

2. Erik Huberman, CEO of Hawke Media

When small blunders carry massive costs, deciding who foots the bill can be a treacherous prospect. Erik Huberman shared a time when his company had a glitch occur with a client’s email system, which meant a discount email offer intended for a small subset of his client’s customers was sent to a much wider audience. When he recommended that the company retract the discount, the client declined — then decided not to pay its several outstanding bills for Huberman’s company’s services.

“They had asked me to just keep working and the bills would get handled,” he said. “They basically lied and took advantage.” After hearing that they would not be paying, Huberman said he told the company that he could get a lawyer to collect his money. The client’s founder began texting him slurs and threatening to drag his name through the mud.

That’s when Huberman said he made another mistake: “I jabbed back, threatened, sank to the same level. Then I said, ‘Good luck with marketing,’ and not to call me again. Then the other partner in the company called me apologizing and begging us to keep working together.” Huberman said his company ended up making some money back, but it was the beginning of the end for that client relationship. If Huberman could do it again, he said he wouldn’t let emotions guide the way he handled the situation. Customers can afford to get heated, but business leaders cannot.

3. Caroline Santiago, Founder and CEO of Utopia Life Consulting Inc.

Clients will be hesitant to work with a person whom someone else has selected, a phenomenon Caroline Santiago experienced firsthand. When the chief operating officer at one client company hired Santiago to work with the chief technology officer, the CTO felt saddled with an unasked-for partner and wanted nothing to do with her. Santiago arranged a daily 9 a.m. check-in meeting with the CTO, whom she described as an independent thinker and leader, but when she showed up on the first day to meet him, he didn’t show. He then ignored her attempts to meet with him the next several days.

Eager to get started on work the firm was paying her to do, Santiago met with the CTO’s technology department leadership team over the course of three days. After those three days of meetings, the CTO showed up to the scheduled daily check-in meeting with Santiago, but his reaction wasn’t what she was expecting. “The CTO proceeded to yell and scream at me, stating he didn’t want me here and asking what authority I had to schedule meetings and work with his leadership team,” she recalled.

“I told him he should interview me right now for this position, and if he did not think I was a good candidate for the role, I would not show up to work tomorrow.” The CTO’s shock at her proposal showed in his face. That on-the-spot interview went well, and Santiago received the buy-in she needed from the CTO to keep the relationship going. Santiago said that, through this experience, she learned to make sure she is able to speak with all key client stakeholders before signing a client agreement. Clients don’t always want the world. Usually, they just want to feel like they have a choice in the matter.

4. Josh Hudgins, Managing Partner and Director of US Sales at Global Ecom Partners

Every company makes mistakes. But the best ones take responsibility for them, especially when those mishaps occur early in the client relationship. Josh Hudgins learned this lesson when his company onboarded a new client but failed to walk that client through the onboarding process. That omission led to a lag in shipping time to the end customer, which was soon caught and corrected. Unfortunately, Hudgins’ company also failed to realize it had overlooked the part of the onboarding process in which the client’s in-house marketing is moved to its platform. That oversight resulted in zero marketing for all of the client’s products for a month.

“The most significant dilemma was maintaining our client’s confidence in our ability to execute what we had promised and not leave us after such a short honeymoon period,” he said. “Luckily, we had set the expectation that there would be bumps in the transition process but let them know we were committed to resolving any issues quickly.”

Hudgins reminds anyone in his situation that deals are not over at closing. They are a series of commitments, each of which requires appropriate fulfillment — a lesson he learned through this client mishap. The poor onboarding experience and transition led his company to create a new onboarding checklist. “This checklist allows complete transparency and accountability to everyone involved in the new client process, which has resulted in a better client experience,” he said.

5. Krister Ungerboeck, Strategic Planning and Leadership Consulting Expert

Krister Ungerboeck relies on what he calls “the language of license,” meaning that clients need to know when they’re getting in the way of a successful partnership. With this in mind, when one of his clients kept pushing their agreement to the bottom of the list and making his team run behind schedule on a project, Ungerboeck took action.

He and the client’s CEO engineered an agreement to give each other’s teams permission to raise red flags. That way, if a project is running behind schedule, each team feels comfortable enforcing the schedule. Ungerboeck said: “This discussion gave our teams authority to hold one another accountable. I call this move ‘the permission play,’ and it’s imperative to my leadership playbook.”

Businesses should not wait for clients to reach the brink of disaster before getting firm. Clients would much rather have a tough conversation early than missed revenue later. Ungerboeck added: “Be sure to give your team permission as a group rather than individually. Communicating this to the group will have a more powerful impact.”

Not every client relationship can be salvaged, but every business needs to know how to handle things when something goes wrong. By remaining flexible and keeping the lines of communication open, businesses can minimize client disasters and ensure every customer experience is as great as it can be.

Originally posted on Forbes.

Rhett Power

Rhett Power is Best-Selling Author, Executive Coach, Columnist at Forbes, Inc. & Success. Rhett Power co-founded Wild Creations in 2007 and quickly built the startup toy company into the 2010 Fastest Growing Business in South Carolina. Wild Creations was named a Blue Ribbon Top 75 US Company by the US Chamber of Commerce and named as one of Inc. Magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing US Companies two years in a row. He and his team have won over 40 national awards for their innovative toys. He served in the US Peace Corps and is a graduate of the University of South Carolina. He now has a rapidly growing coaching and consulting practice based in Washington DC.

5 Entrepreneurs Share How They’ve Handled Client Disasters was originally published on Shenzhen Blog

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