What if you had an Oprah, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs or Martin Luther King Jr, working at your company. How would you treat them?
As employers, it’s important to realize that the people you hire are capable of amazing things and the way you treat them (or allow them to be treated) means everything to both them and the success of your company.
It’s more common today, even with fancy employee engagement platforms and products, for employees to feel underappreciate, stuck, stagnant, isolated, and overworked.
A company is only as good as how they treat their people.
Focus on your culture
It all circles back to culture. The mistake most startups make is they fail to create a culture that puts people first. They create a culture and environment for employees JUST to do their job, which is the bare minimum on the employer's part. If employers are creating bare minimum environments, what do they expect from their employees? Create an environment and culture of respect, trust, compassion, grit, empathy, forgiveness, and understanding. Build a strong culture and everything else in your company will thrive.
Turn “headcount” into CEO’s
If you look at your people as “numbers” or “headcount” that energy will be felt translated into poor work performance, high attrition and loss of revenue. However, if your people were viewed as CEOs of their role or function, you create an inspiring, collaborative, and productive environment. Your company and culture will thrive and employees will excel to be the best they can be inside and outside the office.
Go above and beyond
Re-think what your people need. Ask them what’s important to them and do your best to provide a resource either within or outside the company. Going above and beyond doesn’t have to break your budget. Being creative and resourceful is all you need to show that you’ve gone the extra mile. Two examples come to mind:
- Creating a helpful relocation document for employees new to the area or looking for a place to live. This is a relocation document for SF/Bay Area.
- Build a baby bonding package that matters. Think of all the things new moms and dads go through during the nine months and the year to follow. What can you do as an employer to make the transition easy for them? You can offer a longer bonding leave, allow them to work remotely for a period or put together a bundle with things they might need as new parents.
Again, it’s all about being thoughtful and resourceful.
Live your values
Practice what you preach; you can’t live a double life - treating employees one way and customers another. Consistently living your values across the board is a win-win for everyone. If you don’t have a set of values, I encourage you to get them in order. They will be vital as you continue to grow. If you aren't sure where to start, this is a great article on How To Create Company Values That Stick.
Communicate Universally
We all think we are great communicators until someone just doesn’t get it, and it’s usually them, not us. We rarely stop and think that our way of communicating differs from theirs. As employers, one of the best things you can invest in is learning how to communicate on all levels. I guarantee you will have a diverse group of communicators in your office. To efficiently communicate with each of them is going to truly be an investment in your company. One way to improve communication flow is to do it together and make it fun. Set up a quarterly communication hack paired with a team building event. Learn different styles of communication and have fun doing it.
And last but not least…
Treat everyone like a loved one
I know this sounds mushy, but it’s powerful. Imagine if the whole world did this. Think of someone you love, now think about if they were treated the way your employees are treated. Would you be okay with that?
I might be a little bias with this one, but as a mom, it's in my DNA to nurture and that doesn’t just stop with my kids. With a deep level of empathy, I don’t want employees to be mistreated, left out or feel they don’t matter. If you have ever felt that way, it’s not a good feeling.
The fact you have highly intelligent, capable, creativity, driven people on your team is a cue for the employee to inspire, challenge and support them on all levels.
Which brings me back to my initial question: Do you know who you hired? You could have the next CEO of a million-dollar company, a world changer, a motivational speaker, a philanthropist, a humanitarian, an inventor, or writer. You could have a human that is greater than he or she might realize right now.
As employers, I encourage you re-think how your people are treated and take action. You will see a pivotal shift in your culture, increased employee engagement, cross-functional collaboration, and profitability. You will never know who you hired until you start to inspire.
Charisse Fontes is the founder of Culture Circle and an Executive + People Ops Advisor to founders and leadership teams.
more about Culture Circle →first published on linkedin, jun 2016_
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