This week PricewaterhouseCoopers released the results of a survey of 1,300 CEOs worldwide showing a fairly optimistic outlook on the global economy for 2014. In fact more than 60% of CEOs in the United States said they planned to increase hiring this year versus last. What’s interesting is the amount of confusion in the market right now. While we see this high degree of optimism among U.S. CEO’s we are reading about layoffs at Best Buy, JC Penney and Macy’s. Even Johnson & Johnson, a stalwart of Wall Street, and one of 4 companies to still carry a triple-A-rating showed signs of concern in yesterday’s financial news indicating a “slowing due to weak prescription drug sales”. The other 3 companies maintaining a triple-A status include ADP, ExxonMobil, and Microsoft.

In our data hungry society we have the ability to create one story that shows extreme confidence supported by data, and at the same time build another story that shows the complete opposite…supported by credible data. The Consumer Confidence Index shows a slight increase in December 2013 but is still below 80. The national unemployment rate is below 7%. And the stock market seems to be unstoppable. All data points that suggest improvements in the economy and beyond.

But peel another layer off the onion and you’ll see that the number of American’s on food stamps has doubled in the last 10 years. In the last 5 years alone there has been a 51% increase in households on food stamps. In just the first few weeks of 2014 nearly 35,000 jobs have been eliminated by some of the companies mentioned above, as well as, others including HP, Kmart, Sears, and Intel. Major companies from Target to Trader Joe’s have announced major cutbacks in employee benefits due directly to the negative impact Obamacare has had on their business.

And now we get to the heartbeat of our country…small business. The latest survey of small business confidence put out monthly by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) shows lagging confidence, low expected hiring rates for 2014, and still limited access to credit markets. The report goes on to indicate that the economy, Obamacare, and the current political climate makes expansion less likely as small business owners tend to withdraw from risk when facing these types of issues.

So how can there be such a disconnect between the confidence of small business owners and that of corporate CEOs? Perhaps it could be the fact that many large companies simply have more options. Capital markets and debt markets are two places large corporations can access that small businesses can’t…or at least struggle to.  Healthcare reform, company benefits, and “big company perks” are areas where many small businesses also struggle to compete.  Finally, there is some interesting data from NFIB that shows a signficant increase in the sale of small businesses.  What would be more interesting is to see how many of these small businesses have actually been gobbled up by larger companies taking them out of the equation altogether.  I’ll dig into this more to see what I can find.  If you have any thoughts please comment.

The fact is, we should be spending our time watching what small business is doing rather than relying on what they’re saying.  Some times there is a disconnect between what we say and what we do.  Not because anyone is trying to mislead, but instead because our actions speak to our reality far more accurately than our words.  Listen AND observe.  It’s not either or…there is much to be learned.

PTO, otherwise known as Paid Time Off, is a topic that evokes major emotions from employees across just about every industry type. Relatively new, PTO seems to have been introduced in the late 1990s as a way to move from traditional vacation time to more of a “bank”-type program. PTO provides an employee with a certain number of hours each year that they can use as they wish…vacation time, sick time, bereavement time, etc. But is PTO driving your employees to be more or less productive? The answer lies in how companies, and more specifically how bosses, manage their employees PTO time.

Human beings are interesting creatures. We require rules, guidelines, and parameters to operate within. In the absence of rules or laws we have chaos. However, even in light of having rules and laws there are still those who hold little regard for doing what they’re told. When someone breaks a law they are called a criminal, yet when someone pushes back against a policy at work they are often referred to as either a trouble maker or a progressive thinker…it all depends on the type of culture they work within.

Many companies are pushing the envelope when it comes to paying their employees for time away from work. Companies like Motely Fool and HubSpot have unlimited vacation time for which they pay their employees. Both companies say that by treating their employees like adults they get better performance. While I agree in concept, the challenge arises when we experience people having different definitions of what it means to be, and act, like an adult.

Still there are companies who have chosen to rule with an iron first. They micro manage PTO to a level that can at times create distrust between management and its employees. Worse yet, these companies end up forcing employees to make decisions based upon the impact that decision will have on their PTO. Do I leave early to go to the doctors and get docked for PTO? Do I stay home during a winter storm or hurricane or go into the office? Do I pick up my child from daycare early because she’s sick?

If management held its employees accountable for their performance at the highest level than PTO would be a moot point. It is in my experience that organizations that continue to employ non-performers are the ones that try to exert the most control…because they have to.  But docking an employee an hour here, and an hour there for time away doesn’t lead to better results. It simply leads to the perpetuation of tepid results at best.

In order to solve the PTO dilemma companies must first decide upon the culture they want to develop. If it’s one of performance then create the structure that provides clear expectations relative to results along with the tools provided to achieve those results. If your goal is to create a culture of dependency and command and control style management then a rigid PTO policy may be exactly what you need to keep your folks in line.

Now more than ever, companies can create highly productive work forces by leveraging technology more so that traditional command and control policies. Before making any changes to your policy first ask yourself what’s most important to you and your business followed by how do I feel about the employees I have today relative to their ability to executing what I define as most important.

Mixing Personal with Professional – Can it be done?.