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Do your employees feel valued? How do you know? What are you doing to make you think they feel valued? What are they doing to make you believe they feel valued? If you don’t know how to answer these questions you’ll want to read this article. Don’t just assume your employees are happy, help them to be happy and productive. Your bottom-line will appreciate it.
Workforce Sustainability – How to get the most out of the employees you have!
By TJ Helm, CPCWe’ve heard it over and over: A happy employee is a productive employee.
It’s not like I can cut you from the bottom of your left earlobe down to your forth rib pull that out and go: “See there, that’s your work. Or that’s your personal life.” It doesn’t work that way. We are all like a fine tapestry and when one thread is tugged it affects the others.
Whether you work for a large corporation or for a small mom–and–pop shop you spend a considerable amount of time at work.
That’s why it’s so important to consider the whole employee when determining and providing ways of showing appreciation.
When an employee feels valued they will focus more on the positives of the Company / Management / Task rather than the negatives.
With a more positive outlook people have feelings of being honored and appreciated for not only what they do but also for who they are. This helps to develop an environment that gives people freedom to be their best and to do their best.
We talk about the sustainability of our environment. Our employees are part of that environment. It’s very difficult for a person to concentrate on work, deadlines, and going “above and beyond” when they are unhappy, unhealthy, or have feelings of being unappreciated and over worked.
The workforce today has to accomplish more with less. More work with less people and resources. If employees are using precious mental energy on worrying about their work environment, they will have less of that energy to devote to accomplishing the work.
Employees, people are our greatest resource yet we don’t always treat them as valuable.
Tips for creating a valued workforce:
Health and wellness programs
Health and wellness programs help to cut the costs associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of productivity, and poor work quality. There has been a 25% jump in corporate interest in providing Employee Health and Wellness programs.
A healthy and happy person will be more productive in the workplace. Employers are discovering that providing programs and resources directed for the benefit of the employee is good for the health and happiness of the company’s bottom line.
Coaching
Coaching is a hot topic among Fortune 500 companies and a recent Fortune magazine article showed executive coaching yields a return on investment of almost six times its cost. According to Fortune, benefits to executives who received coaching included improved working relationships, productivity, quality, organizational strength, customer service, employee retention, cost reduction, bottom-line profitability, and reduced customer complaints.
You don’t have to be among the Fortune 500 or an executive to realize improvements in productivity, organization strength, and customer relations. In fact, you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own office. Coaching is provided through a telephone, at a fraction of the cost of executive coaching.
In one company that had launched a coaching program they were able to identify specific financial and intangible benefits that came as a result of their coaching.
The two things most significantly impacted by the coaching process were:
- productivity
- employee satisfaction
These two items alone demonstrate just how valuable a good coach can be to your business.
Additional benefits derived from the coaching program were:
- work output
- work quality
Happy employees are not only more productive they are more creative and more willing to go “above and beyond”. They are also more willing to “think outside the box” which is where the most lucrative innovations and creative problem solving originate.
Imagine how even a ten percent increase in work output by you and your employees could impact your bottom line! That alone would more than reimburse you for the costs associated with a quality coach and coaching program.
Training
More companies are starting to realize that it’s smart and profitable to invest in training for their employees. Technical training for specific job requirements has always played a part in the corporate world.
Now, training is being considered for the improvement of the employee for the employee. Employers are recognizing that this improvement will also benefit the company’s bottom line.
A few training topics that companies are finding particularly beneficial are:
- Stress reduction and management
- Goal setting and achievement
- Communication
- Nutrition
- Fitness
Training can take many forms. Depending on the employee’s learning style, it can be on-line, in a traditional class room setting, one-on-one, on-site or off-site.
According to a Gallup Poll, 80 percent of employees said the availability of company sponsored training programs was a factor in deciding whether to accept a new job or stick with a current one.
Mentoring
Mentoring programs are classic. The focus of a good mentoring program will be on the development of the employee.
Initiatives to recognize and reward staff can improve an employees’ feeling of being valued, but even a simple “thank you” from management can dramatically improve the extent to which staff feel like key contributors to the organizations’ success.
Don’t mortgage the future of your company by ignoring your employees.
