It’s very easy for us to identify when our bosses are mistreating us, managing our department poorly, or failing to properly grant us the provisions necessary for us to do our job. Yet it’s not always so clear what works and why it works, as a good, clean and functional workplace is often invisible in its success. For this reason, it’s not hard to feel a little out of sorts once you get promoted to a management position, or when you are able to run your own firm and hire your own employees.
Employees are generally the lifeblood of an organization. They help bring your systems, policies and protocols to life, and for that reason, they must be treated with respect. But how? How can you make sure they not only have access to what they need, but that every accommodation is provided for, and that workplace culture and staff interactions are largely positive?
In this post, we’ll discuss a few measures you can take in pursuit of this aim. Without further ado, let’s get started:
Emotional Health & Confidentiality
It’s essential to make sure the emotional health and wellbeing of your staff is accounted for. Of course, that doesn’t mean you need to shield them from trouble in their personal life, or perk them up whenever they’re in a bad mood, or coddle them and otherwise get involved in the personal business of autonomous adults. It can be helpful to offer a friendly hand when that’s required, however, because sometimes, work and personal life do intermingle.
For instance, it could be worth giving a staff member a couple of days of paid leave should they encounter a tragic loss in their family. You may find that ensuring everyone in your
Proper Legal Help When Necessary
Sometimes, problems, accidents, and business-wide issues take place, and in these moments, it’s never healthy to just let them pass or brush them under the rug. A much better policy is to focus on ensuring robust legal protection is there to help your company root through problems, seek compensation where necessary, and disprove accusations of bad practice if you can prove your staff wasn’t at fault.
To use an example, a reliable truck accident attorney with intensive experience can help you should your logistics team encounter difficulty on the road and remain in need of a little extra support. You may be surprised regarding the immediate positive impact this can have. Furthermore, when staff see that you’re willing to invest in keeping them protected and insured, they’re more likely to feel workplace satisfaction.
No Tolerance For Toxic Behavior
It’s important to make sure that your business not only encourages standards but expects them as an absolute baseline. Toxic behaviour including workplace bullying, harassment, and especially discrimination of any kind, be that gender-based, focusing on sexual orientation or race, none of it is acceptable, and ‘second chances’ for this kind of treatment should not be accepted.
Of course, it’s one thing to say this and another to enforce it. Providing your staff with the ability to confidentially report issues can be a huge help. They must feel safe enough to come forward. It’s also important to make sure appropriate reprimands, disciplinaries or contract annulments are options you can use to appropriately punish offending staff members given the needs of the moment. Sensitivity training can also work, although not all firms invest in this annually, and vetting staff appropriately instead of hoping they’ll change at your firm is a better option.
A Team, Properly Encouraged
It’s essential to view your staff members as individuals because that’s what they are, yet of course, a group of individuals working towards the same goal will be defined as a team. For that reason, it’s also important to consider the larger dynamics of how your team operates and how well they fit in with one another.
For instance, giving your team enough time to conduct their morning briefing with confidence, so that everyone is on the same page, can be essential. In some cases, investing in team-building activities (or simply throwing a great awards ceremony each year, and perhaps a wonderful Christmas party too), can be a worthwhile means of bringing people together.
While it’s never a good idea to ignore the individuals within a team by only addressing the group, on some level, staff want to know how to function as a collective, too, because they have to every day. Defining that for your own business can work wonders.
With this advice, you’ll be the boss everyone wishes to have.
