The Employee Perspective

Are you a business owner or leader of an organization? If so let me ask you a question.

How valued and appreciated
do your employees feel?

I ask this question because I believe it to be an important one that leaders of any organization or team should be asking themselves on a regular basis. Recent surveys have indicated that over half of all workers are right now looking for another job and would leave their current position if another opportunity became available. Over half! That is a scary prospect if you are in a leadership position.

I know when I owned my own company and had service talent that I had basically paid thousands of dollars to train I constantly worried about a pithy competitor swooping in to take them. I spent many a sleepless night worrying about the potential hit I would take in both the support of my customers and to my bottom line. I had nightmares of my people leaving for a minor increase in their salary or benefits and some evil competitor laughing all the way to the bank as he or she calculated all the dollars they had saved by my training their new employee.

Fortunately the nightmares didn't often come to pass and I believe it was because I said, and said often, two little words that can be more lasting than any raise.

THANK YOU!

Employees want to know that their efforts are recognized and appreciated. All too often, I see organizations that treat their employees like cattle and refer to them as "human capital." Human capital? How about Tom. Bob, Stephanie, Michelle, George...anything but human capital.

I just completed reading Blue Ocean Strategy and wanted to share an excerpt I found particularly interesting about why it is important to share with your employees why you value you them.

"Emotionally, individuals seek recognition of their value, not as "labor," "personnel" or "human resources" but as human beings who are treated with full respect and dignity and appreciated for their individual worth regardless of hierarchical level."

In part I created the Corporate Ripple as a means to show teams and workgroups that they are valued both as individuals and collectively by opening up the channels of dialogue and connection. I truly believe that companies that invest their time, money and resources in helping bring connection and yes, Rippling, into their work environment can positively impact their employees' perception and commitment.

So I challenge you if you are a leader of a company to ask that question. Don't just ask yourself the question but ask the Tom's, Bob's Stephanie's and Michelle's of your company how valued they feel. Really listen to how they answer that question and take notes. And no matter what, follow it up with the two most powerful words in the English language (heck any language)....THANK YOU!

If you can't seem to bring to yourself to ask those questions or are afraid you might not get the straight scoop or hear the answers you want to hear then it might suggest you need someone in there asking for you before it is too late! In today's tough labor market losing core talent can and will cost your organization an unbelievable amount of money and it is so avoidable.

If you have interest in learning about some of the innovative Ripple programs we are putting to work for organizations of all sizes, shoot me an email at steve@ripplecentral.com.

Let's make sure your employees feel valued and appreciated and stay right where they belong!



Ripple On!!!

Steve Harper