True leaders are superheroes without a cape around their neck. But these days the problem arises in corporate office culture with the issue of valuing employees the right way in the workplace. This system comes with certain formalities which creates confusion between bosses and leaders and the type of relationship an employee should have with them.
When we say the word boss, it comes with a dominating and overall a negative intonation whereas the word leader actually gives a friendly vibe.
You can never deny the necessity of your head acting as a leader to boost the productivity of your company. This is because a leader knows the value of an employee and capable of making the equation work.
All those customers and clients come after you manage your employees. Because devoted employees bring layered benefits for a company. The first step to manage this relationship is to let your employees know that you care about them.
Showing Your Employees that You Care
Employees spend most of their time working for your company. They probably do not get enough time to be with family. So, valuing employees in the workplace and making them feel at home should be the practice in every office.
The first step to do that is to show them you care for them. There are thousands of ways to let your employees know that they are important for you. If you look into a few leading companies you will see that they will do anything to make it work with their employees.
For example, Google lets their employees bring their dogs to workplace. This is how dearly they want their employees to feel at home in their work.
In Facebook HQ, they don’t have a cabin for their CEO. The CEO works on side by side desks with all other regular workers.
Netflix may capture people before laptop screen for hours but when it comes to the office environment, they understand the necessity of the employees spending time with family. According to Tawni Cranz –
“We want employees to have the flexibility and confidence to balance the needs of their growing families without worrying about work or finances.”
At Twilio, they care about employees mental health and progress. This is why they inspire reading books. Even they reward their employees with kindle when they meet an expected goal.
It is alright if your company is a startup and you still do not have the ability to do all those things. But if you want to grow, you must be aware of the best practices that will keep your employees happy. Here are some suggestions that have been proved fruitful in different cases.
Acknowledge Your Employees
Acknowledging your employees is not a very difficult thing to do. You don’t need to arrange a party or anything to praise the works of your employee. Your employees do not want to go unnoticed. So, sometimes a simple text or email will do the work. Just let them know anyhow that their hard works are not beyond your knowledge.
Be More Specific When Situation Demands
Sometimes a formal message may be inadequate. So always be more specific. Mention the exact incident that made you admire the employee. Suppose one of your employees has suggested a way to improve your business strategy. You can praise his/her saying – “Thank you for giving the brilliant idea. We will implement that shortly.” These small gestures break the barrier between you and your employee.
Further Appreciate Them without Hesitation
You Should not hesitate to appreciate your employees. You can always send texts, emails, be specific while admiring their works. Other than these you can be vocal from time to time. Like, when someone is extraordinary in their performance, praise them publicly. Or these days you can use social media to show your appreciation.
Take Care of Their Inconveniences
Your employees give their intelligence and divine efforts for the company. In fact, without them, you cannot take the company ahead. So you can not treat them as mere workers.
You should consider their personal inconveniences too. For example, one of your employees is sick but has already used up all his leaves. Won’t you consider his/her situation? You should not push the employees beyond limit rather make arrangements to comfort them in sickness.
Build a Relationship of Trust and Dependency
Trust is always crucial in every relationship. Development of an organization highly depends on mutual trust and dependency among employee and employers.
Employees are expected to be loyal to the work. But you should never forget that you too are dependent on them. So you should create a position that your employees can trust you with their job security. Altogether its a two-way road to success.
Be Their Guide
Employees often find it difficult to coup up with the work environment. It is your duty to provide a workplace your employees don’t feel like an alien in. You should develop a culture of being a guide to all of them.
Guiding will testify your leadership once again. At the same time, it will create a better communication bridge with your employees.
Construct A Friendship with Them
Most company or organizations heads fail to befriend their employees. Being friendly doesn’t lessen the gravity of your position.
Rather it adds to your skill how well you can balance the friendly persona to your employees and hold the depth of your position.
Employees Space is Necessary
You cannot dictate the employees all the time. Each person has their own way of doing their works. In order to have the best result, you must give them enough space to get the job done their way.
You should leave it up to them with the work and deadline. This can be a great way of valuing your employee in the workplace by letting them have their own spaces.
Be Careful in Setting Your Priority Between Clients and Employees
In many cases after customers, companies concentrate on their employees. But you should never put clients before your employees. In fact, you should always support your employee in front of them. This shows your unity to them. Again, your employees feel important.
Time is One of the Best Offerings from You to Your Employees
It is always not possible to give attention to each employee individually. This is why you need to speak to their representatives. But to know them better, you should try to make time for them.
Maybe you do it once in a week or once every 15 days. Because talking only to the representatives can create a distance which can be harmful. And most importantly time is the most precious thing they can get from you.
Make Your Employees Work in Different Fields
You can run experiments on your employee’s abilities. You can throw them new challenges and new goals. This way they will get to explore new things and discover their potentials. And in return, you will get something more for your company.
Treats Make People Happy
Treats these days are the easiest way of getting into your employee’s hearts. Whenever they do something outstanding in a team or individually, give them treat as much as you can. Plan dinner, lunch, movie, bon voyage or bbq party with them. These small treats always plays a big role in building a better bonding in a team.
Planning Annual Trip and Conference
An annual trip can be refreshing for you and the entire team working out there. At the end of the year, you can arrange a conference throwing lights on the company overview. This will show your transparency. And a trip will create better understanding among different teams.
Arrange Awards For Them
Awards or rewards are always inspiring. Your best employee should be recognized. But if you think it creates a distinction between your employees then you can arrange small gifts for all your employees. This will motivate them to be more dedicated to their works.
Happy Box and Depression Box
Some companies have boxes in the office where employees, at the end of the day share the things they were happy or sad about. It is your duty to provide them with a healthy environment. These boxes are like review boxes that help you seeing yourself in the eyes of your employees.
You evaluate your employees against so many standards. Employees should have something to evaluate you too. You should take into account every comment they make in that box if you value their opinion.
Other than these, your HR management department can help you in this case. They have the ability to create an office culture where everyone feels comfortable. If you are interested then you may check out this interesting article on the Importance of HRM Communication and Real-time Feedback in the Workplace and apply it.
Why It is Important to Show Your Care
Getting loyal employees for your company can be a tough task. Stable employees is as much important for a company as a stable job is for an employee.
Getting dedicated employees is a two-way road. They will go above their professional statement only when you will give them reasons to do that. Providing them with a healthy workplace is the first step here.
If you fail, you will make headlines as Amazon or Uber did ” Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace” or “Inside Uber’s Aggressive, Unrestrained Workplace Culture”.
If you are still wondering about the importance of valuing employees in the workplace or the necessity of showing the care, lets give you some highlights on that argument.
- Your Workforce is always your asset.
- Employees are your greatest advocates. When they are happy your branding is half done already.
- They are your gateway to the customers.
- Utilizing their potentiality you can bring unbelievable benefits to your company.
The system has been digitalized. Companies are now using software to manage their employees. The software keeps them updated. So implementing the suggestions above become easier. If you are skeptical about the necessity of software for managing employees, you can check Top Reasons For Using A WordPress HRM Solution For Your Company.
Things You Should Avoid Doing with Your Employees
So far we discussed what we should do to make employees feel important. There are a few things you should never do with your employees if you care about the workplace environment. Such as-
- According to Forbes you should never gossip about any of your employees in front of any other employee, does not matter how much you trust them.
- You should never show your disliking. Because you cannot be partial in your position.
- Never make them feel they are easily replaceable. This harms the working spirit.
- Keep your emotions out of your workplace and make it a professional but friendly place.
Wrapping Up!
Sometimes employees can be difficult to deal with. But the reality is when you support your employees, make them feel precious they can give you an outcome you never imagined. Together you and your employees will take your company ahead. So pleasing your employees is never an out of fashion practice.
So what do you think is the best way to deal and mainatain a healthy leader-employee relationship? Do share it with us in the comments below.
