PHWP: Good Company

Last year many organizations had to make some pretty difficult decisions in order to stay afloat. Pay was slashed, employees were let go and benefits were cut to the bone. To their credit, some employers are trying to support employees and keep spirits up, even under these difficult circumstances, but I wonder -- where's the line between morale boosters that employees actually appreciate and trivial niceties that come across as superficial and in some cases offensive, given the hardships many employees have faced?

The Onion captured this issue nicely in its May 2008 article, Potential Employee Uprising Quelled With Free Pizza, where they write:

A massive employee backlash over low wages and increased workload was narrowly averted this week when company management arranged to have eight large pizzas delivered to the design firm Cobalt Media, instantly quelling months of mounting resentment and dissatisfaction. 

The story goes on to make the point with a quote from a fictional employee:

"Everyone's been fed up and ready to explode at management for weeks," production designer Carolyn Wurster said. "But then all those pizzas showed up, and it just didn't seem like the right time to start demanding a legitimate healthcare plan or salary raises that reflect the amount of work we do."

Okay, so sometimes good intentions go awry, but other times its clear that an organization is simply doling out little perks to gloss over the real issues. I grew up in Texas, where we love our idioms, and know good and well what you can't polish (figuratively anyway), but assuming an employer really does have the best interests of its employees at heart...

How can an organization maintain a positive climate and build morale during tough times, without coming across as superficial and condescending?

What has your organization done and how have employees responded?

Special thanks to Dr. Sheila Gardner, who heads up New Hampshire's State-Level Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards, for bringing this article to my attention.

Photo Credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/su-lin / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0