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Want to keep up with what your employees really think? Establish an employee sounding board, says
Sally Tassani, founder of Tassani, Communications Inc., in Chicago.
Tassani came upon the idea haphazardly. "There I was in a meeting with my key managers trying to figure out
what employees wanted." she says. "I realized I should ask them myself. Boy, was I surprised." She learned in her first meeting with
employees that a benefits package she had been agonizing over wasn't worth the effort. What they really wanted was more access, inspiration, and
positive reinforcement from their managers. These were at least as important as a better bonus system.
"The meeting was so successful that I decided to do it do it on a regular basis," Tassani says. Now she
meets with a board of about 10 employees twice monthly.
To create the board, each department head recommended a non-managerial employee who has good communication skills
and was caught up on work. The board even includes the company's clerical workers. "It eats up about an hour every other week, so I want
the most efficient, bright, and capable employees," Tassani says.
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