Recently a group of business colleagues and I had an amazing experience that had us buzzing – a beekeeping class at Miraval Resort in Arizona.

As business owners, it was impossible not to admire the bees’ single-minded pursuit of work in the interests of their community – work that also supports the crops that feed us and the animals that are part of our food chain!

An employer’s reaction to the ultimate work ethic of the bees is to wish, “If only humans were as dedicated as the bees!” But in the beekeeping class we also learned why employers need to have back-up plans and resources for when human workers don’t behave like bees.

Bees lack individual identity and exist only to serve the colony. That means you can’t expect your staff to be as focused as bees are, because:

1. Bees have no life outside of work! All worker bees are female and go through their short lives without partners, children, a need to do laundry or grocery shopping or sleep.
2. Worker bees change jobs without retraining. Worker bees seamlessly go through a series of vital jobs during their short lives of about six weeks: cleaning and polishing the cells for new eggs, nectar and pollen; disposing of dead bees; nursing baby bees; tending needs of the Queen Bee (the only bee to lay eggs); and, finally, foraging fields for nectar to turn into honey.
3. Bees never lose focus or take a break. Interrupt the bees to collect honey and they immediately go back to work. If they perceive a threat to the developing baby bees, the honey (the colony’s food!) or the hive, they will sting (and die!). But the instant the intruder is gone or an interruption is over it’s back to work.

But we humans need to take breaks, must learn new skills, have outside commitments, and move on to new jobs when it is our own interest.

That’s why PRofessional Solutions, LLC is “the bee’s knees”* when someone on your public relations staff goes on family leave, gives notice, or doesn’t have the skills a new for a new role.

* ”The bee’s knees” became a popular expression in the U.S. in the 1920’s meaning “the height of excellence”!