Increase Productivity Through Employee Respect

A workplace is a dynamic environment where employers and employees work side by side to achieve business goals. Team members are one of your greatest assets as they work around the clock for your business. If you want to attract and keep higher level employees, then you must respect them and make them feel like they are an essential component for the company’s culture.

When leadership within a company take an active and genuine interest in their employees, they are working to better understand their employees at a fundamental level. This active role can improve the decision making, incentives, and overall work culture for employees – all working to boost productivity. In short, your business will thrive!

We’ll be going through some of the common mistakes leaders make that impacts respect and how to act in ways that increase employee productivity.

If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers, and your business will take care of itself. – J. W. Marriott

Common mistakes

By listening to your employees, a lot of mistakes can be easily avoided. However, when you do make a mistake without considering your employees, you’ll find your best employees will be the first ones to leave. The reason for going is simple – they have a lot of other options for employment, so ensuring that you’re promoting a dynamic environment that fosters respect between employees and leadership is crucial.

Now you’re stuck looking for a new employee, and worse, you might make the exact same mistake again and continue bleeding talent and weakening your work environment.

Here are some of the most common mistakes that must be avoided to retain your best employees and improve productivity:

Treating everyone equally

It is important to acknowledge and award employees that go above and beyond for the company.

It is important to acknowledge and award employees that go above and beyond for the company.

We’re not talking about treating someone differently based on their sex, gender or race, but rather treating them differently based on their performance. If you start treating all employees equally, it will imply to your top performers that no matter how welll you are doing at your job, you will be treated the same. This can make top performers feel underappreciated and lead to them becoming lazy or uninterested when it comes to their work.

Acknowledge and award those who go above and beyond their duties. Make sure they know that you respect them for their hard work and efforts and that their performance has not gone unnoticed.

Not raising salaries

It is important that an employee continues to be interested in their work; otherwise their productivity may falter. Raising salaries is a crucial aspect of retaining your best employees. A salary increase will increase the amount of interest an employee has in their work, and they will feel they are being compensated because they are a respected member of the company.

Many companies increase employee workload without raising their pay – this is a mistake as many employees can become resentful and feel like they have been taken advantage of. You need to reward employees in a manner that feels proportionate to the amount they work.

Implementing unnecessary rules

A business must have rules – some to govern their employees and some to ensure their company runs as smoothly as possible. However, companies sometimes go overboard and create rules they think will help employees, but the result ends up being the opposite.

Employees want to be respected and trusted to do their job with minimal interference. Creating unnecessary rules such as banning mobile phones or taking employees’ frequent-flyer miles can make an employee feel unappreciated and can quickly drive them crazy. If your employees think these rules are a burden to their work life, they will start looking for other employment opportunities.

Remember, even though they’re your subordinates, your workplace culture thrives on teamwork between multiple tiers of workers. You have to give your team a certain amount of trust and freedom to get their tasks done, and accept that good work isn’t limited to your exact idea of how it should be completed.

Not acknowledging accomplishments

Everyone – no matter their position within a company – appreciates being acknowledged for their work. Unfortunately, many leaders don’t take the time to show appreciation as they see it as an employee merely doing their job.

Rewarding individual employee accomplishments shows that you are paying attention and respect an employee for their hard work. Frequently acknowledging the work of your employees can keep them motivated and productive. Taking a moment to say, “Well-done” or “I appreciate your hard work” goes a long way and will help build mutual respect.

Discouraging growth

Allowing employees to grow both personally and professionally can help to improve productivity along with job satisfaction.

Allowing employees to grow both personally and professionally can help to improve productivity along with employee engagement.

Talented employees are always passionate about their work and will want to grow. Many leaders discourage pursuing passions or taking on projects outside of their regular duties because they are afraid that employees will ignore their normal duties and become less productive.

The truth is, allowing opportunities for your employees to pursue something that interests them will significantly improve their productivity and job satisfaction. Employees will feel as though leadership is genuinely interested in seeing them develop both personally and professionally – promoting mutual respect for one another.

Micromanaging time

No employee likes to have their time micromanaged. It makes them feel as though they can’t be trusted to complete their work. Rather than hovering over an employee every moment of the day, consider investing in time clock software. This will allow you to track the work an employee is doing without being overbearing. By using a time clock software, employees will feel as though they have more responsibility over how their time is spent.

Best ways to improve employee productivity

Employees are a valuable asset to each company. They are the key to ensuring your customers are happy and that your business thrives. It helps to think of employees as internal customers – if you make them feel happy and respected they will become more productive and make more significant contributions to the business.

Here are some ways to improve employee productivity:

Show respect for your employees

While this may seem like a given, leadership often forgets that those who work for them are more than just employees. They are people who have feelings, thoughts, and passions just like everyone else!

As a leader, you should meet your employees at least quarterly to address any concerns they may have or discuss any new ideas they may come up with. Just listening and acknowledging your employees goes a long time.

Simply put, respecting your employees will motivate them and increase their productivity.

Allow flexible work schedules

Employees appreciate the ability to have a flexible schedule for several reasons. Achieving a more optimal work-life balance is one of them. Not every employee is the same – some prefer working early in the morning while others are night owls. By allowing employees to have flexible work schedules, it shows them that you respect their personal preferences and want them to perform at their best.

Plenty of studies and surveys show that flexible work schedules are one of the most important factors when it comes to employee retention. In a recent survey conducted by Glassdoor, nearly 80% of people choose benefits such as a flexible work schedule over pay and other factors.

Provide opportunities for growth

Every business – if they want to thrive – should promote and encourage personal and professional growth for their employees. After all, a company is only as good as its employees, so why not encourage them to be the best! Come up with special projects for your employees to do, register your organization in an online learning platform such as Lynda. This will help them improve their skills and in turn, will help your business grow.

Encourage feedback

No business is 100% perfect. To show your employees that you respect their opinion, ask for their feedback – no one can better tell you how to improve your business than those who are apart of it. You may end up learning something new about your business or ways to improve a particular process.

Communicate frequently

Leadership must frequently communicate with their employees to ensure they are happy and productive.
Frequent communication with employees is a vital aspect of ensuring their happiness.

As with any organization, communication is vital. Employees appreciate regular contact with leadership and their co-workers as it makes them feel as though they are part of the team. Leadership should regularly reach out to their employees to help guide them, ensure they have the proper tools to do their job and give them much-needed support. Whether by email, chat or frequent one on one meetings – as long as you’re attempting to connect with your employees you’re on the right track.

Unite your employees

Ensuring that your employees work together like a well-built machine is a crucial element of growth in an organization. If you can bring your employees together and unite them as one cohesive group, they will do wonders for your business.

Many leaders often refer to their employees as their family but treat them much differently. This should not be the case if you want your employees to be productive and your business to flourish.

Conclusion

Employees are the greatest asset of any organization and should be treated with dignity and respect – especially if you want them to do the same in return. Always keep in mind that your employee’s performance and productivity has a direct impact on your business’s bottom line, so it is essential to keep them happy.

If your leadership follows the tips as mentioned earlier and continually works towards fostering an environment of positivity and respect – they will be rewarded with employees who are happier, more loyal, and more productive than ever.

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