How does one say that one company is more successful than the other? We see the sales figures, profit, creativity at one end and the organization’s vision, mission and its employer brand at the other. The underlying factor for success on all of these is the relation shared by the employer with his employees.
An employer and employees relationship is based on mutual respect and trust. The degree of closeness is matter of personal preferences. Some employers like to maintain a distance while the others prefer a friendly approach. While neither of the two approaches are completely wrong or right, each approach has its own impact on the work environment and culture of the organization.
The relationship that an employer and employee share should have emphasis on
- Mutual reliance
- Trust
- Respect
- Learning
- Development
The employees and employer co-exist for very obvious reasons and are therefore responsible for each other’s growth and development.
Listed below are a few aspects that contribute to this success.
- Productivity
Strong employer- employee relations create a pleasant atmosphere within the work environment. This leads to higher motivation and employee morale levels in the organization. Any organization that invests in the relationship sees higher levels of productivity and hence higher profit.
- Employee Loyalty
A pleasant work environment has a huge impact on an employee’s loyalty to the business, it encourages a loyal workforce. Having a loyal workforce improves employee retention. For most businesses the high cost of employee turnover outweighs the cost of employee relations programs that they have in place. Working on the same will ensure that the organization always has trained and developed employees on board.
- Conflict Reduction
A friendly and efficient work environment ensures that the conflicts within the workplace are reduced. Lesser the conflicts higher the productivity and therefore, higher profits.
Working to build a strong and positive relationship with the employees will help them grow and give back to the organization in multifold.
Let’s looks at ways of developing a positive relationship with the employees
An employer and employees relationship is based on mutual respect and trust. The degree of closeness is matter of personal preferences. Some employers like to maintain a distance while the others prefer a friendly approach. While neither of the two approaches are completely wrong or right, each approach has its own impact on the work environment and culture of the organization.
1. Help Employees Navigate the Organization
Employees have a place in the organization structure and hierarchy, but that doesn’t mean anyone should feel less than another or be demoralized. The organization’s culture sets the precedent for the professional personalities it hires. It should be clear to each employee why they were hired and why they are the best fit for a particular role.
Unfortunately, many employees simply exist in the vacuum of a cubicle and may not grow out of it. Such an employee may need hand-holding; an employer has to find a way to do so. Each employee has a unique set of things that motivates him, such as good benefits to meet basic needs, a positive work environment, a sense of place to develop a feeling of belonging and a way to become professionally self-actualized. The employer must invest at helping the employee meet his needs.
2. Invest in employee loyalty
A leader should invest in building relationships with his peers as well as those under his supervision. He is model of success for your employees, and therefore has a huge amount of responsibility to manage his relationships positively.
Investing in employee networks to build loyalty and employee morale will be prudent for any employer. They should encourage networking inside and outside of the office. By strengthening influential networks, the employees will feel confident about their professional objectives and goals. They must learn that even professional relationships are not mutual all the time, and this negative exchange should be avoided. Loyalty is earned and learned when employees align with others who reciprocate support in networking, and that’s first gained from the employer.
3. Emphasis on employee experience
Don’t let employees become bored with their jobs. Of course, there are mundane tasks to every role that feel like chores, but employees should be allowed to challenge their knowledge. Let employees develop their skills by teaching them how to do the job of a leader. Broadening the scope of an employee’s experience prepares them for what comes next in their career, let them not feel that their ambitions are neglected by an employer they trusted.
Strong employee/employer relationships are vital to the success of the organization. The people and their relationships behind the scenes are the gears that move the mechanism of the company.
When the employees do their jobs well, achieve a new goal or do something successfully, it is prudent to reward them with networking opportunities and better benefits.
Boundaries
Though, the type of relation that is considered appropriate varies from company to company, boundaries exist in almost all companies. It is advisable to avoid any kind of favoritism, unfairness or romantic bend towards an employee at any given point in time.
Quoting one of best leaders and employers that our generation has seen “There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow.” –Jack Welch
