Value your employees more for more value

During the 10 years Hillary was working at the telecoms company, it seemed like she was there to stay. Some of the employees joked around telling her she seemed to have an asset number just like any other equipment in the company. She had been the longest serving employee at the company by the time she decided to move on to competition. During her stay at the company, Hillary recalls, the employer seems to have gotten so used to her that she felt misused and not allowed to undertake more exciting engagements. 

As the company excelled in terms of number of customers and the profits soared every subsequent year, it seemed like the directors seemed to value the employees less and placed more premium on the customers. Indeed, the management evoked the statement that the customer was king and this was truly reflected in the behaviors of the senior management team on the staff.

To please the clients, the management reviewed the working hours of the staff and increased them by an extra 2 hours. They did not however consider it worthwhile to review the staff remuneration. The management did not consider recruiting extra hands with the enhanced work and considered the present staff as having been underutilized and should hence naturally fit in. After going through this challenge for 8 months, Hillary decided to move on to competition.

Unbeknown to the management, a month after Hillary’s departure, the number of clients started to drop and so significant was the drop that the management was moved to act. It was realized that most of the clients had learnt of Hillary’s departure from the company and decided to follow her wherever she went. The management considered the facts and decided to review the terms of service for the remaining staff and hoped by their increased concern for staff, the client base will be sustained at least for the foreseeable future.

It is mythical for an employer to imagine that the departure of a staff does not affect business performance.  As much as some employers feel like they can treat their staff as they wish and would easily replace them should they consider departing, the loss to the company is often far more than imagined. Staff are the core of the engine of the operations and management of any workplace and should hence be treated with utmost respect and consideration. Whenever the employer has to make a decision that would affect both the staff and the clients, it would be prudent to first engage staff in the decision making process so as to act in the best interest of the staff.

Acting in favor of the clients usually produces short term results while providing adequate support and been seen to be concerned about staff welfare would produce more sustainable results. Companies that have learned the art of placing premium value on their staff have been known to reap the benefits that accrue. Staff develop a strong loyalty to the company brand and act as the best ambassadors hence sustaining company sales and perception among clients. It is common knowledge that staff can easily sabotage the progress of a company when they feel undervalued hence the need to value the employees more for more value to the business.