Librarian by Day » Library Staff

There is No Excuse for Bullies at Work (or Anywhere Else)

Bobbi Newman — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:32:57 +0000

Times are hard, we are all stressed out, the last thing we need to do is take it out on each other. Don’t worry I am not going to ask you to hold hands and sing kumbaya. I just want you to take a couple of minutes and think about how you treat others, and how others treat you. Take some time to read this great Code of Conduct for Staff & Supervisors, every library should have one.

If you are a manager it is your responsibility to prevent workplace bullying. If you are a recipient of bullying, you are not alone, take action. If you are a witness to workplace bullying, you can do something about it. I know many people would say right now you should just be happy if you have a job. But bullying is never ok. Unfortunately bullies often get away with their behavior because it doesn’t qualify as a hostile work environment. According to Create a Bully-Free Workplace from on Harvard Business Review:

A startling 37% of American workers — roughly 54 million people — have been bullied at work according to a 2007 survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute. The consequences of such bullying spreading to the targets’ families, coworkers, and organizations. Costs include reduced creativity, low morale, and increased turnover — all factors that weigh heavily on the bottom line. Among targets of bullying, 40% never told their employers and, of those who did, 62% reported that they were ignored.

Managers take note a bully free work environment affects more than the mood in the office

Workplace bullying directly impacts the bottom line by affecting productivity, wellness (with subsequent rise in employer benefit costs), attrition, attraction and retention. – HBR

The article focuses on bosses that bully and offers some suggestions for managers to help prevent hiring bosses that will be bullies.

When hiring managers, set the bar high with regard to interpersonal skills and leadership experience.
Help new managers feel comfortable in their high-power roles.
Remind managers to focus on core values.
Design jobs in such a way as to avoid heaping unrealistic expectations onto individual leaders.
Educate yourself and your managers about the psychological consequences of power.

Unfortunately bosses are not the only bullies in the work place. This post, Bullies At Work, offers some suggestions for recipients of workplace bullies

Don’t take it personally.
Get help. Talk to someone about the bullying, even if it’s a friend, family member or co-worker.
Find out your organization’s policy about bullying.
Remember you have choices.

The New York Times offers a quiz to determine if you’ve been bullied at work.

Even if there is no bullying in your workplace take a couple of minutes to think of little things you could do to lessen stress.

More reading and resources

Creative Commons licensed image used courtesy of HeyThereSpacemanSimilar Posts:

It’s not about the money

Bobbi Newman — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:39:38 +0000

I’ve been reading, watching and listening to a lot about motivation lately. Not intentionally but once you start thinking about what motivates people to create, to participate, to get involved it starts to show up in places you don’t expect it. Sometimes I got looking for it too. Over and over I notice the same theme, it’s not about the money. Sure money is important up to a certain point, but after that you need something else.

In times like these when we are asked to do more with less this is something managers should keep in mind.

One of the videos I watched is this TED talk by Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation. He talks about the mismatch of what science knows about motivation and what business does. Essentially as long as you’re paying people adequately and fairly, money is no longer the most powerful motivation. Watch the video and maybe buy the book when it comes out. You can also read the entire transcript on TED.

There are a lot of interesting points, here is one of my favorites:

“Results Only Work Environment. The ROWE. Created by two American consultants, in place in place at about a dozen companies around North America. In a ROWE people don’t have schedules. They show up when they want. They don’t have to be in the office at a certain time, or any time. They just have to get their work done. How they do it, when they do it, where they do it, is totally up to them. Meetings in these kinds of environments are optional.

What happens? Almost across the board, productivity goes up, worker engagement goes up, worker satisfaction goes up, turnover goes down.”

What do you think? If more money wouldn’t motivate you, what would?

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Stress Management in the Library Workplace

Bobbi Newman — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:14:38 +0000

Yesterday I attended a MaintainIT webinar – Using MaintainIT Resources for Technology Training, where they shared some useful information and links. One of the sites was Infopeople, a nonprofit that archives their presentations and handouts and makes them available under a Creative Commons license!

As I was exploring I came across materials for a previous workshop - Stress Management in the Library Workplace. There are a lot of workshops listed but since my post – Library usage will go up during a recession – management are you really prepared? is still getting a lot of hits, I thought I’d share this one specifically. You can download the PowerPoint presentation, some exercise and these handouts:

The “Bakers Dozen” – How to Reduce Stress
Relieving Stress through Exercise
Stress Relief through Nutrition
Stress Relief and Sleeping Habits – 10 Tips for Better Sleep
Symptoms of Stress and Causes of Stress
Seven Quick Tips for Time Management

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Libraries looking to save money? Consider telecommuting!

Bobbi Newman — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:58:09 +0000

Talking about the blurred line between home and work when I was writing about Twitter started me thinking about telecommuting. Writing about the recession and it affects on libraries got me thinking about telecommuting. Let’s talk about telecommuting, it seems to be something libraries have been slow to embrace. Yes, I know the old standard that we sit at the reference desk all day and read books, but anyone actually working a library knows that’s not true. Many libraries are short on space and funding and much could be done from home, at least one day a week, so why aren’t we looking more closely at telecommuting?

Given the tough economic times and the reports that show telecommuting saves employers money and increases productivity it seems a good time to point to some information about it. Employers see savings in multiple areas and it helps to boost employee morale.

According to Business Week

Benefits of letting employees work from outside the office include keeping cars off the road, helping a company to bolster its green bona fides. But the practice can also foster employee retention, boost worker productivity, and slash real estate costs.

There are some cons too, according to this article “A Desk Too Far?: The Case for Remote Working” they include loss of face to face time and the perception by bosses and coworkers that the employee is not working or not working hard enough. Some of this can be overcome with a good relationship with management. Libraries considering telecommuting should have clear guidelines for staff, which positions could be preformed outside the office and which ones need to be on site. Management should have open communication with staff about performance and productivity regularly. Library staff should be honest with themselves about their self discipline, which aspects of their job can be preformed off site and the number of hours they can reasonably telecommute.

Yes, I know it isn’t for every workplace or every employee. Some people are not focused enough to work efficiently from home and for some positions you need to be on site to preform your duties. But many positions could be a combination that allow employees to telecommute a couple of days a week and be in the office the rest.

For libraries looking to save money and increase productivity (doing more with less!) this is something to consider.

Library Usage Will Go Up During a Recession – Management Are You Really Prepared?

Bobbi Newman — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:49:48 +0000

I’ve seen many news articles and video lately about usage of libraries increasing during a recession. I’ve personally noticed my library seems busier. While many have celebrated the increase of use and the public attention we so rightly deserve, we also need to consider the down side. Our funding might be cut, the public is less likely to approve bonds or tax levies to increase services, in some cases staff may be laid off. Libraries are masters of doing more with less and we are really going to need that skill now.

The other side of recession is that is causes stress. Patrons are likely to be less happy about paying their fines and, in general, be a little more on edge. Staff are aware of the news and what is happening, even those who feel secure in their jobs, have family and friends who have been affected.

So why am I asking management if they are ready? All of this stress means an increase in irritable, angry, demanding, stressed out patrons who are rubbing up against your irritable, angry, tired, stressed out staff. See where I’m going with this?

The one thing you can do is try to decrease the stress level of your staff. Happy library staff makes everything run just a little smoother (not to mention they are healthier and less likely to call in sick). So given the hard times how can you do this? You probably don’t have the funds to hire a masseur to be on call in the break room. I found a great many articles on workplace morale, some things kept popping up :

make sure staff feel appreciated
encourage open communication
training (almost any it seems)
provide clear goals and expectations
encouraging a sense of team
empowering staff
be flexible with time and schedules.
And there is always the fish books

These are great general principles for all workplaces. Oddly enough I couldn’t find any article or recommendations that were specific to libraries. I can think of a few library specifc ones and a few general ones:

ensure employees get break time away from a service desk
make sure they have a clean, comfortable place to take that break
make sure staff feel supported by management in customer issues
empower employees to waive fines or make other concessions that will smooth patron interactions
cross train staff so they are comfortable working all service desks and understand what each point of serivce does
pay attention – just being aware of employee attitudes will allow you to intervene to boost morale faster and more appropriately when/if need
be ready – have a plan, know how will you boost morale overall and on a case by case basis
take action – don’t wait to see the need before you put your plan into place

What suggests do you have? If you’re a manager what steps have you taken with your staff? If you’re staff what things could management do to boost morale?