Is your company like a library?
Libraries have books flying off the shelves into different eager readers’ hands daily when successful. Companies can be exactly like that with employees, except it is a sign of failure. These companies have new hires leave in a hurry shortly thereafter to be embraced by another welcoming company’s arms.
“What is going on?” a CEO might think. “How do we keep our employees after they sign the dotted line?”
1) Extend Genuine Compassion
The lack of genuine compassion from higher-ups and the rest of the employees is one of the primary reasons why employees leave. Common complaints in the workplace might ring true in companies with minute levels of genuine compassion.
People might say…
- I wish my boss understood me.
- The interviewer said the company culture was passionate about what they do, but these people don’t seem to care at all.
- I just took this job, because I needed the money.
People might ask…
- Why did they have to yell?
- Why don’t they care about my opinion?
- Do they even care about my work-life balance?
- This company is a mess. Do they even know what they are doing? Do I even want to begin to help fix this?
- Why is employee morale so low?
If you care about your company at all, whether you are in management or not, then you’re going to want to make sure that the key players on the management team know what’s going on so that they can at least address it. That is the first take away here.
If you’re company is losing employees,
especially skilled and experienced ones,
then you need to show them first that you not only
hear their concerns,
but you also
mirror their concerns.
Remember: If you aren’t genuine, they will know. Approximately 80% of communication is shown through body language. Body language is near impossible to manipulate to the degree you may want to manipulate it. Be honest. Increase your emotional intelligence. This will bring you to step two.
2) Show Thoughtful Care
After you show your employees that you hear and mirror their concerns, you want to do these three things:
- Sift through each concern,
- Apologize where apologies are due, and
- Provide a custom, permanent solution with SMART goals.
This will immediately boost employee morale and confidence. These employees will see that you are stepping further and further away from sheer lip-service. Without implementing this final step, you have completely wasted your co-workers and your own time.
3) Implement Immediate Action
Once you have created SMART goals to meet the concerns of your employees, do the following three things to seal the deal.
- Delegate specific tasks to the appropriate persons to complete these goals, and
- Follow through, and then,
- Ask those impacted for their honest feedback.
4) See the Lasting Effects
It is really that simple. Whenever there are new problems or complaints, start over at step one. Your employees will not only respect and admire you for changing the game, they will also stop complaining and may even help you solve the issues at hand.
This will immediately improve employee morale.
They will trust your word, open up to you, offer their profound industry insights, seek your counsel, vouch for you, speak well of the company, and bear the company name proudly. If that wasn’t enough, it will encourage them to be more mindful of ethical practice in the office, helping your company to avoid exponential amounts of money on legal battles. What don’t you have to gain from implementing these four steps? Start following them today!