According to David Sirota, chairman emeritus of Sirota Survey Intelligence, employee attitudes can have a marked effect on productivity. In the NY Times, Sept. 2, 2006 at C5, he singles out three things that especially pump up employee enthusiasm: “Fair treatment, such as equitable wages and benefits, a sense of achievement or pride in one’s job and performance and company, and camaraderie among co-workers.”
This trio of motivators makes sense (See my posts of Feb. 8, 2006 on the buddy system at Cox Communications and references cited; but see April 13, 2006 on low ratings for colleagues; July 14, 2005 about equitable and transparent pay schemes; Nov. 27, 2005 on how to supervise lawyers; and Aug. 26, 2006 on 13 ways to build professional skills.). If a general counsel wants happy campers, and the creativity and high performance-level that pours out from an enthusiastic team, look to how they view their pay, their pride, and their work pals.