How long is a piece of string? When we have a duty of care to our employees, it can be almost as much as we want to take on. As such, we can have a very arms-length approach to looking after our employees, or we can be so caring that we are too caring. How much responsibility do we actually have to our employees? And what can we do to ensure that we are embodying everything that our employees want us to be?
Fighting Their Corner
There is nothing worse than having that feeling that someone is not on our side. Our employees can go through so much trauma, inside or outside of work, that we have no idea as to the heartache they are experiencing. But whether the work is being impacted as a result or not, on a personal level, it feels far more reassuring to know that your boss has your back in one way or another. It’s a very fine balance, especially in terms of inter-office politics, but when it comes to the external components like the numerous attorneys like Hadley Law Firm if your employees had a massive accident, it’s that extra reassurance that all employees need in times of crisis. If they feel that we share their burden, we are doing something right.
Improving the Open Door Policy
An open door policy is invaluable. Our employees need to feel like they can come to us with any problems. But if we are constantly sat in the office not getting involved, this standoffish approach won’t inspire them to have faith in our abilities. Even from the basic perspective of improving employee morale, if you work on improving your open door policy, you will be able to open the doors to communication. Employees will feel more inclined to share with you, and this will, in turn, benefit the culture in so many ways.
Develop Their Skills to Be as Good as Yourself
We set the precedent. We have a standard that we want to be maintained. What happens when our employees hit these? We’ve got to develop our employees to be our equal, but more. We can’t proclaim to know everything, which is why we have people on board that have specialist skills. But what we want to do for the benefit of employee morale is ensure that they are growing in stature. We need them to be people we can delegate to. This means we’ve got to invest in their employment journey. Developing their skills isn’t about putting them on one course; it’s about giving them the tools to progress up the ranks, and make them an invaluable part of the business fabric. This is quite a lot of responsibility we have to shoulder, but if we are looking for the right person for the role, they need to be the right person for the business as well.
You could argue that you don’t need to take responsibility for your employees. But this can immediately breed a culture of ill communication. They would also have a lack of respect for your abilities. More people than ever are looking for a role that gives them the opportunity to progress, but is somewhere that they actually want to work. And they look to you, the boss, as the litmus test.
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