If you are a manager of people, you may have seen ‘that look’ on your staff members’ faces during the morning or the afternoon: not passionate about arriving and looking for the moment to go home and leave it all behind.
The truth is that you can never know what is happening in the detailed lives of your staff, but you can remember that they are people and you can make their lives easier. You have the unique power to do this and so here are some easy ideas to take the leap of faith:
Flexible mornings
Maybe it’s a few too many drinks the night before…or it’s a fight with the other half..or it’s recovering from the flu. If you insist on every member of staff being at their desk at the same moment, it’s likely that there will be reasons why some employees will not be bringing their A-game. Vice versa, other people may wish to start early and spend some extra special hours with their children in the afternoons.
So how do you create the solution? All you need to do is offer flexible working. For example, if your staff currently work 9-5, simply offer them flexibility to start between 7-10 and finish between 3-6. Your workforce will produce the same number of hours, but with more efficiency that may even reduce costs on recruitment. And won’t you feel better when you start seeing happier, more prepared and committed faces in the mornings?
Childcare
Many leading companies such as Goldman Sachs and Google offer cutting edge on-site childcare to their staff, retaining top talent rather than losing them to entrepreneurship (mothers with small children create £7 billion to the UK economy per year through small businesses). Parents can go through many stresses with their children, including days when their children are sick and emergency childcare is required. Rather than lose your staff to absenteeism or a new career, maybe it’s time to consider using an employer childcare provider.
Courses
If your staff really believe in your management, then it’s likely that they don’t really want to go to interviews with other companies during their lunch breaks. If you’ve solved flexible working and childcare, another strong reason for a lack of full commitment could be that your staff members feel that their careers are stagnating.
It may not be possible to offer promotions, but you could certainly be helping their personal development by partnering with flexible online course or online language providers. Show your staff that you are committed to their development and provide new experiences to their lives, because new routines open up new connections and feelings of happiness. You will be thanked with a smile and maybe even some extra hours of work.
Put your staff first and you will see the goodness in people; your staff will appreciate your help and return the loyalty with interest. Have a good day!