In economic downturns like the present, we depend highly on our employees to put their best efforts and help the organization pull through this crisis. To allay each employees fear and anxiety while at the same time keeping them motivated to perform at their best levels, special attention on maintaining employee confidence and maintaining a good work environment is highly essential.
To have a confident and engaged workforce, clear communication and a proactive approach is essential for the following:
• Infusing optimism on the current and future business, by sharing actual facts and figures, to ensure every employee gets the complete and accurate picture.
• Setting clear goals on what needs to be done and when.
• Demonstrating proactive approach to help employees cope with stress (through proper training and/or counseling sessions)
• Have normal working hours to the extent possible for work/life balance,
Practicing the above also increases the chance of improving employee productivity and their retention.
I feel an important thing to gain an employee’s confidence is to keep all lines of communication open between the employee and all levels of management. Proactive communication on new business developments and strategic decisions helps in allaying fear and bringing a sense of continuity to the entire organization. These communications can include both informal interactions between a reporting manager and the team and formal communications to the employees by the Management and HR.
In our organization formal communication channels include our monthly internal newsletter (The FourSoftian) which gives updates to all employees, spread across our global offices, on the company’s achievements and key operational activities. “Open Sessions,” where each employee can ask the management any questions pertaining to the micro/macro level work or business environment and regular updates on the intranet are some other means of communications practiced in the organization.
Apart from this we put special emphasis on maintaining the following:
1) A calm and confident leadership style where the Management and HR focus on the positive aspects of the business, especially in the current times when employees feel the most insecure.
2) Training managers and team-leaders on identifying and dealing with proper means, information and authority to assist employees who are close to the front lines. Training includes identifying post-traumatic stress disorder and how to communicate with people who are under stress.
3) Restrict any negative behavior to ensure that incidents arising due to emotions and actions like anger, harassment or actual abuse are kept under check.
4) Provide active counseling to people showing signs of stress so that there is minimal affect on their work performance. We understand that their performance and productivity might drop due to stress and give them the chance to recover from this situation.
Employees who are confident about their future are highly engaged at their work. This has a direct impact on the team work-environment and spreads positive energy throughout the organization and externally to the customers. If companies are not focusing on their employees in times of economic crisis like the present then they might miss a huge opportunity of increasing customer loyalty and repeat business, which might prove crucial to the company’s performance or even its survival.
Confident and engaged employees contribute directly to the company’s bottom line, as their engagement is reflected in their quality of service to customers. They help to create more loyal customers, who in turn give repeat business, refer other potential customers to the company, stay longer and bring long term stability to the business.
Excerpts of this article has been published in Times Ascent - http://www.timesascent.in/article/1/200908252009082512195362be12bf7f/Employee-confidence-gets-a-boost.html
To have a confident and engaged workforce, clear communication and a proactive approach is essential for the following:
• Infusing optimism on the current and future business, by sharing actual facts and figures, to ensure every employee gets the complete and accurate picture.
• Setting clear goals on what needs to be done and when.
• Demonstrating proactive approach to help employees cope with stress (through proper training and/or counseling sessions)
• Have normal working hours to the extent possible for work/life balance,
Practicing the above also increases the chance of improving employee productivity and their retention.
I feel an important thing to gain an employee’s confidence is to keep all lines of communication open between the employee and all levels of management. Proactive communication on new business developments and strategic decisions helps in allaying fear and bringing a sense of continuity to the entire organization. These communications can include both informal interactions between a reporting manager and the team and formal communications to the employees by the Management and HR.
In our organization formal communication channels include our monthly internal newsletter (The FourSoftian) which gives updates to all employees, spread across our global offices, on the company’s achievements and key operational activities. “Open Sessions,” where each employee can ask the management any questions pertaining to the micro/macro level work or business environment and regular updates on the intranet are some other means of communications practiced in the organization.
Apart from this we put special emphasis on maintaining the following:
1) A calm and confident leadership style where the Management and HR focus on the positive aspects of the business, especially in the current times when employees feel the most insecure.
2) Training managers and team-leaders on identifying and dealing with proper means, information and authority to assist employees who are close to the front lines. Training includes identifying post-traumatic stress disorder and how to communicate with people who are under stress.
3) Restrict any negative behavior to ensure that incidents arising due to emotions and actions like anger, harassment or actual abuse are kept under check.
4) Provide active counseling to people showing signs of stress so that there is minimal affect on their work performance. We understand that their performance and productivity might drop due to stress and give them the chance to recover from this situation.
Employees who are confident about their future are highly engaged at their work. This has a direct impact on the team work-environment and spreads positive energy throughout the organization and externally to the customers. If companies are not focusing on their employees in times of economic crisis like the present then they might miss a huge opportunity of increasing customer loyalty and repeat business, which might prove crucial to the company’s performance or even its survival.
Confident and engaged employees contribute directly to the company’s bottom line, as their engagement is reflected in their quality of service to customers. They help to create more loyal customers, who in turn give repeat business, refer other potential customers to the company, stay longer and bring long term stability to the business.
Excerpts of this article has been published in Times Ascent - http://www.timesascent.in/article/1/200908252009082512195362be12bf7f/Employee-confidence-gets-a-boost.html
Comments
Post a Comment