Page 48 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

28 Building a High Morale Workplace

Commitment to the Environment
IKEA employees worldwide, some 44,000 of them, play a
key role in the environment and effecting positive change.
Each IKEA store has an environmental training coordinator for store
co-workers.The objective of the training is to give people insight into
and an understanding of the environment and how to preserve it.
More than a decade ago IKEA adopted a systematic approach to envi-
ronmental issues and through the years employees have achieved a
variety of environmental accomplishments, from IKEA’s use of
improved products and materials to preserving Europe’s precious
ancient forests.All, according to the company, have been “successes
which have made us proud and filled us with enthusiasm.”
Other IKEA global morale builders include:
• A code of ethics for its suppliers worldwide that focuses on positive
working conditions for everyone and protecting the environment.
• Coordinating programs in Northern India to make education more
readily available for women and children.
• Teaming with UNICEF to fight child labor worldwide.

It’s the Death of Distance and the Birth of

Unlimited Opportunity

For managers who are leading and influencing a global work-
force with whom they are trying to build relationships and ongo-

ing high morale, here’s the challenge: working together, apart.
Yep, you read it right. Managers are now faced with creating
a team feeling even though team members may be spread as
far apart as Kalamazoo and Timbuktu. And even if your work-

force isn’t quite global at this point, you may still have employ-
ees telecommuting between downtown Detroit and the ’burbs. It
remains a special challenge if you’re not interacting on a daily
basis with your people, face to face, no matter how close or far
apart those people might be.

The Future Is Here and So Are Virtual Teams

With the imminent death of distance, there is a great rebirth of
opportunity taking place. It’s called virtuality, the inherent abil-
ity or potential to bring people together as one team, working