Employee Management Lessons From the Military

By Karen Axelton

Would your employees rather be working for a drill sergeant than for you? Quite probably, according to the results of a new survey of the “10 Most Blissful Workplaces” by CareerBliss, a website that helps people find joy at work.

The results of CareerBliss’s study showed that despite multiple ongoing engagements, lengthy deployments, and lower pay, the U.S. military is among the most blissful places to work in America.

Military personnel were more satisfied at work than many in the private sector. All four major branches of the military and the Army National Guard outranked well-known companies such as Disney, Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft in overall happiness.

Drilling down to specific aspects of happiness, The U.S. Army and the Army National Guard ranked number one and number two, respectively, out of all places of employment in career advancement, topping corporations such as Google and PricewaterhouseCoopers. CareerBliss also found that, on average, military members are happier with their benefit packages than employees in companies such as General Electric and Qualcomm.

What are some reasons military members love their jobs—and how can a small business owner emulate the military?

Security. Job security is a key reason U.S. military members valued their workplace. If you’re in danger of having to lay off employees, try everything you can to avoid it – whether it’s cutting hours, cutting pay or cutting overhead. Employees who know you’ll do everything you can to stick by them will be more loyal to you in return.

Development. The military places a high priority on personal and professional development for employees. Offer your workers chances to improve their skills, whether by cross-training them, giving them flexible schedules to take college courses or further their business training, or signing them up for online webinars and industry training events.

Camaraderie. The bonds forged in the military enable members of the armed forces to do the impossible. Foster an environment of teamwork, friendship and caring in your business, and you’ll create the same kinds of strong ties. When you and your employees truly trust and care for each other, there’s nothing you won’t do to get the job done.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 at 10:30 am and is filed under Workforce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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