Consider human resources expert Susan M. Heathfield’s article, “Make the Super Bowl a Workplace Win.”  It cites interesting statistics from an employee survey by career community Glassdoor, which asks: “Is the Super Bowl good for the workplace?”

The results:

• 20% of employees say employee morale is typically better in the office the day after the Super Bowl.
• 22% of employees notice, however, that the Monday following the Super Bowl is commonly a less productive day than usual.
  (Need some last-minute productivity boost suggestions?  Check out the blog Workplace Productivity.)
• 8% of employees plan to take the day off following the Super Bowl.
• 9% of employees plan to take the Monday off as a vacation day.
• 3% of surveyed employees admit that they plan to call in sick the day after the Super Bowl.

Some Companies Offer Perks on Super Bowl Monday
The survey asks employees if their companies offer perks for Super Bowl Monday:

• Several employees say they’re either allowed to work from home or use the Monday as a flex day.
• Another employee says their weekly Monday morning meeting gets bumped until later in the day on Super Monday.
• Other survey respondents say their employers buy breakfast for employees on the Monday after the game.

Should Super Bowl Monday be a Holiday?
Some even say Super Bowl Monday should be a national holiday and not just sports fanatics.  In her article, “Do We Need a National Holiday on the Day After the Super Bowl?”,  Lisa Johnson Mandell  argues it’s a lost day anyway.  She notes that in 2010, “1.5 million Americans didn’t show up for work the next day at all, and an estimated 4.4 million showed up late. Then there are all the people who do show up on time who are fuzzy, drowsy and blurry-eyed.”

What Can You Do?
For one, take advantage of the high morale employees have on Monday.  Chances are your employees are in great moods the day after the Super Bowl—or horrible ones, if their team lost—but nonetheless they’re engaged and talking about the game and how they spent Super Bowl Sunday with family and friends.  It’s something almost everyone in the workplace can relate to and chatter about.

You’ll make the whole day more productive if you allow employees an hour in the morning to gather and talk. Consider hosting a simple breakfast for everyone to share or make it a potluck event.  A simple gesture such as this not only provides a needed transition for employees to focus for the day, but also builds long-term morale and goodwill too.

Be sure to announce special plans in advance, so those thinking of taking the day off or calling in sick will have an incentive to attend.  If you restore normal productivity on Super Monday, it will be well worth the time, effort and money.

What do you think? Do you see diminished productivity on Super Monday? What kinds of perks might work well in your workplace?

About gThankYou, LLC

gThankYou! Turkey Gift Certificates are one of America’s favorite employee gifts and can be redeemed for any Brand whole Turkey, at virtually any Grocery Store in the U.S. 

gThankYou, LLC provides company leaders with a variety of easy, meaningful and affordable ways to recognize and reward employees, holiday time or anytime.  gThankYou! Certificates of Gratitude and free Enclosure Cards are personalizable including incorporating your company logo, and ship same day.

gThankYou, LLC (www.gthankyou.com) is based in Madison, Wisconsin.  Contact:  Rick Kiley, Chief ThankYou! Officer, gThankYou, LLC at info@gthankyou.com or 888-484-1658.
Follow the Company Blog –  “Celebrating Work”.
Watch our gThankYou! YouTube Video – “Learn More About Us”.

“G” logo and “Certificates of Gratitude” are trademarks and “gThankYou” is a registered trademark of gThankYou, LLC.

Today — if you’re very lucky —  your office has a bona fide administrative pro or two, along with a whole cast of others who take care of duties big and small, each necessary for keeping business moving efficiently.

No surprise that the International Association of Administrative Professionals changed the focus of this year’s Adminstrative Professionals Week (this week, April 24-30) to Celebrate All Office Professionals.

A bit on their reasoning:

“The recession has hit everyone in the office. Downsizing has forced all of us to pull together and work harder, not just the administrative professionals in the workplace. IAAP recognizes the hard work and sacrifice from everyone. This year, celebrate all office professionals.”

According to labor statistics, there are 4.1 million secretaries and administrative assistants in the U.S. today along with 8.9 million people serving in other administrative support roles. But few “traditional” secretaries still exist. In fact, only 5 percent of the administrative trade group’s membership still has the title. In their place are a slew of administrative pros that perform complex tasks managing projects, putting together budgets, serving as the staff expert on computer software and more.

Blogging on the Small Business Trends website, Susan Payton of Egg Marketing & Public Relations makes some great points just how much we rely on administrative professionals. In 5 Things an Administrative Assistant is Better at than You, she lists (among other things)

1. Organizing your calendar
2. Managing travel plans
3. Removing the paper pile from your desk

I could name many (many) more. Where would we be, for example, without the office Excell expert, or the one guy who knows how to replace the toner? 

We are all, indeed, administrative professionals. Celebrate your success by recognizing the great effort everyone makes pulling together, and take pride in the work you do.

Please share your own examples of can’t-live-without admin duties performed by someone at your office. Happy Administrative Professsionals Week to us all!

According to research from Gallup Inc., engaged employees are more productive, profitable, more customer-focused and safer. Plus, they’re more likely to stick with a job. Says Gallup:

“The best-performing companies know that an employee engagement improvement strategy linked to the achievement of corporate goals will help them win in the marketplace.”

How does it work? Take the example given by Doug Conant, Campbell’s Soup CEO. Blogging in the Harvard Business Review’s The Conversation, Conant explains how he developed engagement as a business practice and why. As is often the case with the best ideas, it grew out of personal experience.

Conant was able early in his career to develop the analytical skills he needed to succeed in business only after initial failure. He succeeded after moving to a division that fostered employee growth through encouragement. It led him to a firm belief that offering a pat on the back is the best way to engage employees:

“Over the years, I’ve worked on acknowledging others for their efforts. I’ve managed to marry tough-minded performance standards with tender-heartedness.”

How does engagement affect the bottom line? According to Gallup research, companies with “world-class engagement” have 3.9 times the earnings per share growth rate compared with those in the same industry with lower engagement.

Creating an engagement program can mean a mindset change, described by Gallup as requiring, “a year-round focus on changing behaviors, processes, and systems to anticipate and respond to your organization’s needs. From the leadership team to the frontline employees, all levels within an organization must commit to making these changes.”

In his journey at Campbell’s, Conant notes three elements that have worked well for him:

1. Make it personal: Conant describes how he takes a “direct, sincere and authentic” approach to establish trust and build a solid foundation for the relationship from the start.
2. Seek celebration opportunities: How? “My executive assistants and I spend a good 30 to 60 minutes a day scanning my mail and our internal website looking for news of people who have made a difference at Campbell’s,” he explains
3. Go old school with Thanks: Your mom and grandma were right — again. Writing Thank You notes make a big difference. Says Conant, “Believe it or not, I have sent roughly 30,000 handwritten notes to employees … over the last decade.”

Conant’s engagement strategy has been credited for turning the company around over the past decade. No real surprise. After all, it doesn’t take a lot of research to know that a pat on the back means more than a slap on the wrist.

Share with us your employee engagement success story.

In her now famous Wall Street Journal essay, “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” Yale Professor Chua describes (somewhat tongue in cheek, some argue) how kids in China –  and Korea and India among others – are driven to do so well in school and outperform kids in the U.S., for example.

For these parents, the reward is a good result, notes Chua:

“Once a child starts to excel at something—whether it’s math, piano, pitching or ballet—he or she gets praise, admiration and satisfaction. This builds confidence and makes the once not-fun activity fun. This in turn makes it easier for the parent to get the child to work even more.”

Blogging for ZDNet, Eileen Yu, who believes Chua’s sentiment was somewhat misunderstood, concludes that this kind of “tough love” method of pushing results would probably not work in every workplace:

“…the primary objective of any workplace [should be] to encourage and help employees realize the fullest of their potential, even if it may sometimes mean pushing them to their limits. “

How a manager accomplishes that for each employee is the tricky part. Success can breed success. Getting to the initial win could mean creating an environment that fosters success and rewards achievement. A simple thanks has been proven to get results according to reports including a survey by the staffing firm Accountemps, which found frequent recognition of accomplishments as the top way to reward employees.

Chua’s essay has sparked an important discussion about how to best facilitate  success, which includes fun take-offs like this from Edie Larson posted on Awl titled, “Why Minnesota Mothers Are Doing Pretty Good.” The parenting style can be summed up in this statement by Larson:

“If a Minnesota child gets a B, well, good for them! Room for improvement.”

In my mind, regardless of whether you’re a room-for-improvement style manager or succes- drives-success manager, rewards make a difference. Don’t forget to say thanks, no matter your style.

Forbes blogger Jenna Goudreau recently highlighted 10 firms profiled in positive psychology leader Shawn Achor’s new book, The Happiness Advantage, The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work.

In the book, and in the companies he works with, Achor advocates practices that help improve social connection and workplace environment, among other things, to boost happiness. His research, pioneered at Harvard University then put into practice at a popular class there (and now in break rooms and boardrooms across corporate landscape) shows results worth noting:

“…positive employees outperform negative employees in terms of sales, energy levels, turnover rates and health-care costs by as much as 30%.”

View the slideshow of all the companies here.  They include:

1. Adobe: which offers employees engaging knitting and book clubs, plus positive psychology training.
2. American Express: a champion of flexible schedules and gay benefits.
3. Google: with free food, games and childcare on site.
4. IBM: after an MIT stidy there showed more social employees perform better, the company began an introduction program.
5. Southwest Airlines has a spirited culture described as “fun luving” with a “warrior spirit” that can be seen on its corporate blog, Nuts About Southwest.

Not all solutions need be elaborate or costly. Goudreau describes seven tips Achor says you can use to create a happy and sucessful environment work for yourself and your team.

What makes you happy at work?

Which brings me to the topic of Turkey. There are many, many options out there. So many, that (thankfully!) there are good choices at a wide variety of price points. Depending on your preference – fresh or frozen, conventional or organic, kosher, heritage, self-basting (get the picture?) – you can get a great bird for a good price.

The Associated Press has already put out good information on this topic. It’s a nice starting point, and reminds that Turkey prices at many grocery stores do not go up around Thanksgiving:

“The average retail price was $1.16 per pound for a conventionally raised turkey, $7 to $10 per pound for a heritage bird and a range of prices in between for free-range and organic turkey, according to the National Turkey Federation, which says Americans consumed some 45 million turkeys last Thanksgiving.”

Figure out how big your bird needs to be and then if price is top-of-mind this year, wait for those deals to appear in the upcoming weeks.

If you choose to spend more, there are plenty of options there, too. But cost is in the eye of the spender. Take, for example, this recent Bon Apetit blog entitled, “Making the case for a $140 Turkey.”

In it, Heritage Foods USA co-founder Patrick Martens explains that a happy, family-farm raised heritage Turkey costs less (in Brooklyn, NY) than dining at Applebees or buying a McDonalds value meal, saying, “It ends up coming out to $8 a pound, or $8 per person.”

Those looking for the best for less might like personal finance columnist Michael Koretzky’s take on turkey. In his recent piece, “7Tips to Save on Thanksgiving,” he advocates frozen over fresh saying that even Emeril says there’s no quality difference, despite his new locavore focus.

Generally speaking, Koretzky says this year’s dinner will cost the same or less than last year’s dinner, gauging current inflation and the cost of last year’s Thanksgiving dinner:

“For the past quarter century, the American Farm Bureau has estimated the average cost of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner – with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie, and all the trimmings. In 2009, the total was $42.91 for a table of 10. That was a $1.70 drop from 2008, and the first time prices have dropped since 2000.”

The bottom line: Decide which kind of turkey you want to serve based on what’s important to you.  Do your homework. Then shop well to get the best turkey for your table to prevent your head from exploding!

From the current look of the newsstands, it’s time to pick an issue for this year as well as  pull out my favorite standbys from years past. In the checkout line yesterday, five brand new editions of food monthlies called out, each one decked out with a tempting image of a gorgeous Holiday Turkey.

I’m not alone in my love of collecting holiday food pubs, as evidenced in reviews by number of bloggers. Here’s a roundup of some favorites.

Like me, the Postmodern Hostess finds it hard to resist Thanksgiving magazines. Her picks for this year’s crop? Based on recipes she flagged, Tanja liked Food & Wine, Food Network Magazine, Taste of Home’s Healthy Cooking and Martha Stewart Living. As she notes of Taste’s Healthy Cooking:

“Another great magazine. I’ve never bought Healthy Cooking before, but I really enjoyed it. See all those flags up top? Lots of great recipes to be found here, including some good non-dairy ideas and recipes that would be tasty year-end. As with most of the magazines above, the Thanksgiving recipes themselves weren’t terribly voluminous, but it’s definitely quality over quantity with this one. And they’re all lower fat than traditional recipes, which just makes their stock rise even more with me.”

The Bitten Word has a handy “recap and roundup” of food magazines. They’ve  cataloged and an astounding 172 recipes from 2009 issues with more from 2008 as well, if you want to access them online. Or, search your local second-hand book shop or eBay for print editions of these back issues.

For even more vintage stock, the Washington Post offers a 2007 Thanksgiving Magazine extravaganza. The Post graded top publications from that year on criteria including theme, cover, recipe count and relevancy, how-to tips, among others. With an overall letter grade of B+, Martha Stewart Living rated the best of that crop, with Gourmet coming in second with a B.

Like the PH, I, too, still lament the demise last year of Gourmet print edition. While the publication lives online now, last year’s holiday issue was the last published for print. But I still have my favorite Gourmet back issues. And judging from newsstands, there are plenty of other options to explore.

Fun at the Great American Pie Festival

According to the experts at the American Pie Council, we serve up 186 million pies purchased at grocery stores annually. That’s about $700 million in pie sales at markets alone!

More and more, gourmet pies are sold alongside traditional choices right in your supermarket. But what are the most popular pies today? I don’t want to start a debate or anything, but here’s what the Pie Council found in a 2008 survey by it conducted with Crisco.:

1. Apple (19%)
2. Pumpkin (13%)
3. Pecan (12%)
4. Banana Cream (10%)
5. Cherry (9%)

Another pie favorites list published in the Nation’s Restaurant News in 2005 named the top 10 pies served in restaurants across the U.S.:

1. Apple
2. Chocolate or French Silk
3. Coconut or Coconut Cream
4. Pecan
5. Berry (all kinds)
6. Key Lime
7. Lemon
8. Pumpkin
9. Cherry
10. Banana or Banana Cream

We haven’t even touched on the kind of pie people most like to make (and eat) at home. Perhaps rhubarb – our pick — and other regional favorites would show up on that list. What’s your favorite to buy in a store, order out or make at home?

The heart of the message: “a gift lets you know you’re appreciated.”

And that’s really at the heart of why we’re here, to help company leaders appreciate employees, customers and friends. But it’s how we help that means the most to both employees and employers. Explains gThankYou President Rick Kiley of our popular Turkey Gift Certificates, the gift that launched it all and continues to be popular during the holidays, particularly around that season of gratitude, Thanksgiving:

“It’s so convenient for employees, and gives them flexibility and choice. They can redeem the certificate at their convenience and choose the turkey that suits them. It’s a very meaningful, highly visible gift that puts the employer front and center.”

That convenience and meaning allows gThankYou certificates convey appreciation in a way that builds relationships and engages employees.

It’s a rare treat for us to have such an “aw, shucks” moment. But having our work highlighted in this way gives us a glimpse of the appreciation that comes through recognition. Sort of a validation that what we’re doing really works. It certainly has given us a boost to work even harder to spread Thanks around.

Thanks to innovation in the food industries, we have access to just about any type of pie imaginable right in our neighborhood grocery stores. And we’re eating it right up. The popularity of store-bought pies has increased in recent years, according to a baking industry report.

Blame the now bygone recession for our increasing appetite for supermarket pie. As people continue to eat in, they’re choosing tasty pies from the supermarket to cap their meal at home. In the March 2010 report “Home sweet home,” Mark Grandanetti, president of Rocky Mountain Pies in Salt Lake City noted:

“Consumers seem to be spending more time at home instead of dining out, and this trend seems to be driving the high-end product sales. It’s less expensive to dress up the dinner table with a nice dessert than it is to go out to dinner at a restaurant.”

Apple and blueberry pies are still top choices. But bakers said that consumers want more unique, high-end pies that will “stop the shopping cart.” (Sour Cherry or Blackberry Peach Crunch anybody?) Increased demand has also prompted producers to make pies in a wider variety of sizes, too adding 8- and 6-inch pies to shelves alongside traditional sized pies.

Good to keep in mind, even if you are of the DIY mindset in the kitchen. Why bother, when you have gourmet pie options like this right on store shelves?