Creating a respectful workplace is not about having nice slogans or values statements about respect posted up on the wall. It is about creating a culture where business practices are fundamentally respectful.

Zappos an electronic commerce company and online retailer specializing in footwear is such a company. Their goal is to offer the best customer service in the industry. CEO Tony Hsieh knows that the way to achieve that objective is to focus on core values and company culture. Clearly he is on to something. Zappos grossed $1 billion in 2008, up from $1.6 million in 2000, the year Hsieh became CEO. 

Zappos has 10 stated core values. The word respect does not appear in any of them. From my perspective that is not what is important. What matters is whether or not their business practices demonstrate respect and there is no doubt in my mind that they do.

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Earlier this year Paul was interviewed for a story in Inside Business magazine about how to respectfully lay off employees.

His latest article as a featured expert on respectful layoffs appeared in the business section of the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Sunday, June 21, 2009.

The Difficult and Delicate Job of Laying Off Employees: Though Workers are Most Affected, Managers, Company Feel Impact
By Marcia Pledger

When Lloyd Buckwell accepted a new job last year, he knew he would have to lay people off.

Knowing it didn’t make it any easier.

“You’re trying to build and right-size an organization so it will survive, but at the same time, you’re dealing with people’s lives,” said Buckwell, who was involved in about 1,000 layoffs as director of human resources for Wastequip Inc., in Beachwood.

“It’s always personal,” Buckwell said. “I’ve had to be in the room as people are calling their spouses saying, I just lost my job. I’m coming home.’ ”

As the recession has lingered, hundreds of bosses like Buckwell have found themselves in the uncomfortable position of telling employees they’re losing their jobs.

How they handle the task could be one of the most important decisions they make in their working lives. It obviously has the most effect on the laid-off employee, but it also carries implications for remaining workers, the company’s reputation and the manager’s own emotional well-being.

And there’s no good way to do it. But some ways are better than others.

(Read the Entire Article)

Recently someone forwarded to me an online article, featuring Adam Bender, an exceptional 8 year-old athlete, who happens to have only one leg.

According to Michelle Bender, Adam’s mother:

“Adam has helped other kids see that a person with a disability can be fun to hang out with, and play with, and they can still be a part of a community or part of a team. It’s developed the kids’ compassion, and if he can inspire even one family to allow their kid to try something they normally might not try, that’s great.”

Watch Adam playing baseball.

In celebration of our one year blog anniversary, we’d first like to thank all of our new and loyal readers. Your thoughtful and engaging comments throughout this past year helped shape our discussion about respectful workplaces. 
 
To commemorate this occasion, we’ve created a list of the 5 most popular posts from the last year:

1. Respect Starts At The Top
A company’s culture is one of its most important assets. Culture plays a role in helping to attract the best talent and it is absolutely vital to engaging, developing and retaining that talent.

2. Rules for Respectful Engagement
At the beginning of each Respectful Workplace program we lead, we ask participants to agree to 10 “Rules of Engagement”.

3. Multiple Generations Working Together
Last week we had a lively blog discussion on generational differences. With four generations (Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials) currently in the workforce, each group brings their own set of attitudes and values based on their generation’s experience.

4. The Art of Being Wrong
Every day brings a myriad of opportunities to increase our awareness, wisdom and, ultimately, effectiveness. The problem is that most of us walk right past these opportunities because of a little glitch in our mental “software.”

5. What a Respectful Workplace Looks Like
So how do we know what respect in the workplace should look like? During our facilitated respect workshops, one of the first activities we ask participants to complete is to explore how they perceive respect.

Tell us which one of our posts from last year was your favorite? Why?

Organizational Development and Learning Consultant, Chetan Borkhetaria is our newest and latest guest blogger to focus on diversity and the value that it brings to an organization.

What’s the Value of Diversity?       

Of course, we can all agree that having people from different races and genders is supposed to be a good thing. Isn’t that what companies on the diversity bandwagon are after?  But why is there such a focus on only race and gender?

Is it the easiest, or just the most salient? And if difference is a good thing, then how do you (or rather we) explain why these diversity initiatives often fizzle out, defy a positive ROI, or even worse – are the cause of interpersonal conflict and tension at work?

I believe it’s because we don’t understand the true value of diversity. Think for a moment about how we define diversity – it’s about all the ways we’re different. So is difference good or bad? Well, difference must be good because diversity is good. But wait! Do you really like difference? If you’re a meat and potatoes person, do you really want to eat sushi? If you’re a PC person, do you even want to think about using a Mac? No!! Generally, human beings don’t like difference. It’s work to deal with difference. So then why is it valuable?

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