Getting Back In Touch
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Microsoft is overhauling benefits, the big mention being the return of towels for those who play sports or exercise. As someone that has often used the lunch hour to sweat a little, I'd certainly appreciate that.More important than just the towels, however, is the fact that Microsoft is recognizing that retention is important and that benefits are a part of that. Most of the people at Microsoft, and in lots of hi-tech companies, are skilled workers. We work all hours of the day and night and the paycheck isn't enough. There are all kinds of ways that companies can really help their workers to feel appreciated and make them willing to go the extra mile when needed.
Interestingly enough, my little survey on benefits yielded the fact that most people want more time off. And the time to take time off. The US is way behind most other countries in this regard.
I think the biggest change that I see at Microsoft is the revamping of the performance measurement system. A similar system at Peoplesoft caused me to leave that company and I know there are lots of computer companies that have used the same technique. That one technique sounds like a good idea in management meetings, but really is a poor way to motivate people, especially when you are trying to motivate a team.
Performance curves and forced measurement works better with free agents, something that it seems Microsoft would like to avoid.
Continuing to put more emphasis on respect for the employee and appreciation on their value certainly would get me interested in Microsoft as a company.
Now if they could just move the company to somewhere more weather friendly...like Denver
Steve Jones
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I blogged about Performance Based Organizations in IT a while back.
Like many manufactring trends of the 70's and 80's, PBOs have jumped the fence to our industry. Here's what we learned in manufacturing: It worked great when the metrics were objective, such as "number of widgets produced per hour with zero defects." When manufacturing enterprises attempted to move these great tools to knowledge workers, pandemonium ensued.
It's all about the quality of the metric. You know I typed in the past - you can count the paragraphs, words, characters, etc. in this message. Can you tell me how many thoughts I had during the process? Can you measure the quality of those thoughts? You can measure the results - but can you do it via bug count, effectively?
I've not yet seen PBO applied to an IT company without negative results. I'd like to hear from anyone who has seen anything like PBO work in an IT company: andy@vsteamsystemcentral.com.
:{> Andy
Andy Leonard, Chief Data Engineer, Enterprise Data & Analytics
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I once asked my coders to measure their performance, and told them they could do so on any basis so long as they could explain it. One or two common aspects of how they measured were evident.
The first was that they tended to measure outcomes, small or large, as opposed to such specifics as lines of code. For example, I remember one chap telling me he had performed well during the project we were finishing because his components were more or less on time, and even when late they were costing very little effort to integrate or debug. So, in his measure, he had done five quality components. For the others. similar larger-scale measures were what they used, showing one of the reasons why lines of code and such are such rotten measures. The people being measured know that those methods are incorrect, because they don't reflect outcomes or quality.
The other common aspect of how they measured was by their satisfaction, not by how the "company" perceived them. This might seem a bad thing to some, but I discovered that the happier they were, the more productive at every level, and the employee happiness seemed almost always to be perspective-driven. For example here, one coder who had the unenviable task of testing the component interaction said they were frustrated that their test process was goings lowly, but thought that they were working well, because they were taking time to help their co-workers not only identify bugs, but making suggestions to fix them. This chap was the best tester I have ever worked with, and it showed because he was comfortable that he was appreciated even if misunderstood.
In any organization where I've seen a hard rule applied (a set of specific and usually dehumanized measurement stats), I've watched it fail, because ultimately people who feel respected work smarter. I hope that MS really has recovered an awareness that long-term investment in people is the most valuable resource they can have.
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I think "360 degree feedback", where your performance is evaluated by your co-workers, your customers (even if they are internal), and your boss is probably more accurate than any single-direction measurement.
Having a portion of a team's compensation "at risk" based on customer evaluation tends to make a more cohesive and responsive team. I think 80% of Bill Gates' compensation should be at risk based on end user satisfaction surveys (with individual complaint letters having a very high multiplier). The percentage should drop as you descend the management ranks.
I've never been a Microsoft employee, but have worked for a large company (AT&T when it was "the phone company"). 30 years of experience
under assorted management/evaluation styles leads me to believe that good people are usually self-motivated but that bad management/evaluation practices may turn team players into "play the company's game" players - which generally has very little to do with the work that needs to be done.
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Excuse me, but I live in Seattle and the weather here is great. The rain keeps it green and the air clean. The mild climate is amazing for gardening, you can grow palm trees here. And the summers are unbelievable, just the perfect temperature, lots of sun.
Markus Lofstrom
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I've been to Seattle a lot, and Denver once or twice. Neither one is ideal; perhaps adequate, but not ideal. (I'd actually be happier just flying over Denver if I didn't have friends there to visit.) If you want some place that you can play golf on Christmas Eve, Houston's your place.
Being a Hoosier transplant to Houston, I'm much happier not seeing (let alone shoveling) a single snowflake...Houston - it's like Florida, only better! JAX is nice, but I spent enough time there last year to know that if Florida's the "retirement heaven" then I'll never retire. Heh.
In Tejas, we've already killed off enough of those nasty, hostile 'gators that they're not a problem (but they make great boots!). And with all the energy cash flowing into technology again, everyone is having trouble locating enough quality geek talent which is pushing salaries up nicely.
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Ah, too humid in Houston. And you could easily be playing golf at Christmas in Denver. It was sunny and 60s last year. Kids outside in shorts.
Seattle is too rainy for me, it's a beautiful place and I hear great things about the city, but it's doesn't have the best weather.
Seattle: 55 sunny days (http://www.mapsofworld.com/cities/usa/seattle/index.html)
Denver: 300 sunny days (http://www.mapsofworld.com/cities/usa/denver/index.html) and four seasons.
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At least Microsoft is doing something to retain their talented employees. Some big company does not care about employee retention. They think they are so big that they find always find good people. That is not true. I used to work for a Fortune 500 top 10 company and then I went to work for a medium size company. The pay and benefit is so much better than the big company. The senior management recognize you if you are doing a good job. Not liked the big company, no one knows who is doing anything.
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OMG, please don't judge all of Florida by Jacksonville. You gotta check out Tampa, Clearwater, Sarasota, etc...
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