How to (and How Not to) Empower Your Employees
Posted April 20th, 2010
Employees truly make a business work. That is, without employees, products aren’t made, sold and shipped to customers. Without employees, a business is nothing.
And, to take an old bromide and twist it a bit: “If your employees ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
One way to keep your employees engaged, productive, contributing and giving you their best is to create a work environment in which they feel they have a say, in which they have control over how they do their work, in which their managers pretty much believe that so long as employees get the job done, supervisors stay out of the way.
Below are some ideas as to how to empower employees the right way – and the wrong way:
- Walk your empowerment talk: Give your employees the tools they need to get the job done. Give them the information they need to do so, give them training as needed, and give them goals. Provide feedback and let them know when they’ve succeeded.
- Provide clear expectations: Give them specific deadlines. Let them know who they may go to should problems arise.
- Allow them to make decisions: One savvy business owner allows his customer service people to spend up to $400 in whatever way they deem fit to resolve customer issues without having to get permission from him or his managers. Talk about empowerment!
Should you ever wish to disempower your employees, follow these steps:
- Don’t provide your employees with a fair and competitive wage. Nothing says you’re little more than worker bees in my eyes than providing salaries that are far below prevailing wages in your area for the types of tasks your employees provide. Yes, money isn’t everything, but money is important; pay your people fairly and competitively.
- Never tell them how much you appreciate their work. Praise and recognition go a long way to making your employees feel appreciated. If employees are busting a move for your company, but no one gives note, just watch how fast they start doing just the minimum to get by.
- Give them so much “empowerment” they break under the weight. Never start an “empowerment” program that’s really just your way of taking advantage of your employees. Make sure employees’ responsibilities and work load match their position. Once employees start to feel that “empowerment” is just your way of squeezing more work out of them without being given anything concrete in return (a raise, a promotion), you’ll soon hear a stomping noise. And that will be the sound of your employees rushing out the door to work for other businesses.
Looking for more great ideas on employee engagement?
As one of the leading staffing and recruiting agencies in San Francisco, we would be happy to share examples of how other companies are engaging their employees and driving performance. Simply contact us today and we would be happy to help!.
