No Whiners Allowed, How to enjoy a healthier, more positive workplace

Nutzwerk GmbH a German IT firm based in Leipzig has banned whining and complaining from the workplace. After moving to brand new spacious facilities a few years ago, head of the company, Ramona Wonneberger witnessed the downward spiral of moral and energy when the Telecom company was slow hooking up their new telephones and computer lines.

The complaining about the Telecom took root among staff and spread into further complaints about neighbours and spouses like a virus, sapping the positive energy of the move to new premises. So she banned complaining in the workplace. She writes, "When anger arises, there are three questions one can ask:

Do I want to change it?

Can I change it?

Is it worth the effort?

If these questions are answered with yes, then change it!

Change it as soon as possible, because every further minute of anger is a waste of time, life energy and happiness.

If one of these questions is answered with no, then therés only one more thing to do: Accept the people and things as they are.

Anything else is truly a waste of time. Life is much to short to be angry.

Complaining is allowed if the person complaining also offers suggestions for improvement or solutions, meaning he or she wants to change something positively, can change something and is willing to initiate the change!

Meaningless complaining affects your own well-being and that of the people listening in a negative, detrimental way. So this type of complaining does have direct influence on the general well-being and productivity of Nutzwerk employees. It pollutes the working atmosphere and pulls down the overall results of this company."

Details of the blitzkrieg on bitching can be found at: www.freuteuch.de . Look for the little flags at the top left of the landing page for the English version of the site.