Many companies refer to their employees as their “most valuable asset” without actually treating them as such. My biggest complaint is that we are disingenuous and the term makes liars of us. I’ve seen managers show more concern over clocking in on time than empathy over a struggling employee.
I am not a fan of that term, and will certainly be writing more on the subject. We are talking about human beings, so I prefer to call employees our Most Valuable Partners. Which immediately brings with it a completely different context and requires a completely different approach:
- Assets can be set aside; you must interact with partners.
- Assets are interchangeable; you can’t just replace a partner.
- Assets naturally depreciate; partners multiply in value.
Don’t say it unless you mean to follow up with supporting actions.
We humans have evolved to identify and avoid predators and liars.
Here are three ways to demonstrably show your employees you value them:
- Aggressively involve your employees, ask for input & feedback. Act on their feedback.
- Pay what they’re worth, develop a meaningful reward system. “We pay $0.50 more than our competitors” and a pat on the back doesn’t cut it.
- Proactively position employees for meaningful growth and development. Remember, the person seeking growth gets to decide the definition of “meaningful”.
There are numerous rewards to this behavior, depending on your business and the efforts you employ:
- Increased Employee Retention/Loyalty
- Increased Employee Efficiency/Productivity
- Improved Morale
- Stronger Culture
- Improved Growth/Innovation Trajectory