Very often, when you hear a CEO talking about their company’s financial results, they will use a phrase like “our employees are our greatest asset” or “our staff are the most important part of our business” or something similar. Then, in their next breath they talk about automating a part of their business, or about an office closing with several hundred staff to be made redundant. It is then that you see the hollowness of their earlier comment about their staff.
If you are leading an organisation, you will know that your employees and volunteers ARE your most important asset. Without them you cannot achieve anything.
While how we treat our volunteers may form the basis of a future blog, I want to encourage you to think about your employees for a few minutes. You may be a small organisation that only employs a handful of people – or a large organisation that employs many staff, but you still need to show that they are valued.
You and your organisation will not be able to achieve anything without your people. They are the ones that talk to clients, tend to the administrative issues, that market and sell your vision and your services. You need your staff to facilitate the meeting of your objectives. For that reason, you need to make sure that they feel valued and cared for.
The most obvious thing is to ensure that your staff are adequately rewarded for the work that they do. This includes the financial benefits – but also other things like any bonuses, holiday entitlement, pension contributions, flexibility etc. You cannot expect anyone to come and work for your organisation if you are not prepared to pay them a fair rate – that is comparable to similar roles in other places.
Secondly, ensure that there is good communication. This is so important, that your staff know what is happening in the organisation, that they hear the right messages from the right people – before hearing the rumours on the grapevine. They also need to know who to talk to if they have any issues that they need to discuss.
It is only fair that your staff know what is expected of them – and how their performance is viewed. Everybody should have a designated line manager and a clear job description to outline their role. Their line manager should outline the current priorities of the organisation and, therefore, the current objectives for the staff member and should regularly meet with the member of staff to assess how they are performing against those objectives and discuss any issues.
Your staff need to feel that they are supported. A regular assessment should be made of any training that may be needed – and of any seminars and conferences that would be useful for them in their role. An amount of money should be available to cover any costs that will be incurred in providing such training externally.
By spending time with their member of staff, a line manager should be able to discover what motivates them and how they like to be praised and rewarded for the work that they do, the training that they need – or may want – and any issues that they may have regarding their work and the organisation. It is also important that any time promised from the line manager is provided, and that they can have confidence in the relationship regarding the confidentiality of the line manager – staff discussions.
All of these points are the minimum that we should be providing for our staff in our organisations. They are the minimum requirement in showing that our organisations really do believe that our people are the most important asset that we have. They will help to show our staff that they are valued and that we are interested in them – and will help to produce happy motivated staff. The last thing that we want is to end up with staff that are demotivated, demoralised and who feel unvalued. Such a situation would not help our organisations and their causes.
Test out how you fare in these areas. Talk to your staff, ask them how they feel about the way they are treated in their jobs and let them know that you are listening to them. Take note of their comments – and take any action that may be required.