Are there Loafers in the Apple Ranks?

by Wesley Berry

Published on this site: September 8th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

If you own your own business and employ one or more people, I'm willing to bet that you've run across at least one employee that, to put it nicely, is a loafer. He or she isn't much of a performer and does the bare minimum to get by in the workplace-if even that! It's annoying, yes, but just imagine if you owned a huge company, say one the size of the Apple computer corporation. You wouldn't have just one loafer to deal with; you could have them in the double digits! What's an employer to do?

Well, you could just overlook that loafer, but that's just not a good idea. Just one person in the building who has a bad attitude can really bring everyone else down. In fact, Al Lewis of the Denver Post reported that a training and research company based in Washington, D.C. called Leadership I.Q. recently conducted a study to prove it.

Mark Murphy, the chief executive of Leadership I.Q. said, "Low performers can feel like emotional vampires, sucking the energy out of everyone around them."

During the study, participants were asked to create a list of the attributes of a low performer. Among the top attributes were negative attitude, stirs up trouble, blames others, lacks initiative, and incompetent.

Sadly, even employees who start out as real go-getter types can fall into the low performer trap when their enthusiasm, interest, and morale starts to wane. But, what can you do to keep your employees feeling happy to come into work every day without breaking your budge? A study conducted at Rutgers University in New Jersey just might have the answer to that-buy some flowers!

The Rutgers study looked at various work environments-some that contained floral arrangements and live plants and some that didn't. The results of the study showed that the employees who worked in the environments with flowers and plants produced more ideas and showed better and more creative problem solving skills.

That's not surprising to those of us who work in the flower industry. I feel the energy the flowers I sell bring to those around them every day. And, I see the smiles and happiness they produce. Now, that's not to say that flowers are the answer to all of your workplace problems. As an employer, you have to make sure all the basics (good pay, adequate training, an ethical environment, etc.) are in place. But, once you've got the basics down, you can work on making things even better by brightening up your workplace using fresh flowers and plants.

If you're interested in adding some beauty to your business, contact your local florist for some assistance. Many florists offer regularly scheduled deliveries to businesses to ensure fresh flowers are always in place. Some also offer plant care services for those businesses that prefer green or flowering plants. A short call to your florist could put your employees' productivity over the top...and who knows where that could lead. You just might find yourself with a business as big as apple!

Wesley Berry - is member of the American Academy of Floriculture (AAF) and President of Wesley Berry Flowers, a successful multi-million dollar floral business that was established in 1946. He is also the developer of http://www.LocalNewsDelivery.com a website that delivers local news to over 40,000 communities across the country. Recently he also launched a website providing information about various places of worship
http://www.local-worship.com throughout the United States. Visit Wesley Berry Flowers on the web at http://www.800wesleys.com