Number of words – 136

Alan realized that employees work better and more effectively when they are allowed to go home after their jobs are done for the day. He therefore decided to put his sanitation haulers on a task basis, where they are assigned certain tasks to accomplish each day. So when other city staffers work 40 hour weeks – whether they have caught up with your work or not – sanitation truck drivers and trash collectors work on a task basis. When they finish the prescribed work for the day, they are free to go. Although his approach creates no end of headaches for the city’s administrative staff, his workers consistently maintain the best customer service numbers in the city, as well as the best employee morale.

Excerpted from ‘1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work’ by Bob Nelson