Love Your Employees

February 10, 2016 Susan Iverson

Love Your Employees

The process of loving your employees is not always an easy task, but hopefully by the end of this article, you will be motivated to spread the love and continue to build value in your team. There are three concepts to loving your employees: getting to know them, giving recognition, and having fun.

Get to Know Them

Get to know your employees. No, I don’t mean how well they perform their job duties or if you can depend on them, as important as those both are. I mean get to know the person they are. What makes them tick? Who are they when they’re not at work? This can take place at a staff lunch where everyone writes something about themselves on a piece of paper and places it in bowl. The bowl is then passed around and each person draws and guesses who wrote it. Have a conversation about what you learn! Another idea could take place during the onboarding process of a new employee. During the interview, ask what their favorite candy is and on their first day, place a bowl of their favorite candy on their desk. Then send out an email to the entire staff encouraging them to go have a piece of candy and introduce themselves.

Recognize Effort
Giving employees positive recognition is important for their continued growth and motivation. When a job is done well, send an email that says good job. When someone feels appreciated and valued, the employee finds pride in their work and will hopefully continue to be a strong producer.

Welcome Fun
The concept of FUN in the workplace is not always appreciated but it does increase employee moral and connectivity of staff. A simple way to increase the fun in the workplace is lottery lunches. Draw an employee’s name at random and let them decide where lunch will be ordered from. Eating together is a natural way to create togetherness. Team bonding is also a great way to introduce fun into the workday. Turn the office into a putt-putt course or have team challenges like building the tallest structure from uncooked spaghetti noodles or an office makeover to spruce up the space and get organized.

Loving your employees is to appreciate and value them as a part of your team. Recognize their strengths and identify their weaknesses in an effort to promote growth. Consider including them in decisions, conversations and problem solving to see solutions from a different perspective.

Overall, loving your employees will increase your retention of employees and job satisfaction. In the end, people may not always remember what was said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

Author
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Susan Iverson

Positive, passionate and always learning! Susan’s background in communication and leadership studies spurs her interest in human resources. A graduate of Kansas State University, Susan is currently pursuing an MBA in Human Resource Management.

Love Your Employees