Employee Consideration Is Equal to Customer Consideration

Employee Consideration Is Equal to Customer Consideration



In 2004, a University of California at Santa Barbara survey of nearly 900 MBA graduates from 11 universities in North America and Europe determined that more than one-third were willing to sacrifice some financial benefits in order to work for a company whose employers were caring and ethical.

The professors coordinating the survey said that they were surprised by this finding, but most owners of successful small companies have long known that time spent with employees can be just as valuable in the long run as time spent with customers.

Keeping an employee motivated and enthusiastic is a process, not a one-time event that begins and ends at hiring. The more involved employees are with the company, the more they feel that their responsibilities are key to the company's success. And the more their boss values them both as employees and individuals, the more enthusiastic, motivated and loyal they will be.

Above all, employees need to feel that they are indispensable to their company's success. This can be achieved only by management taking time to include employees in company decisions, and by continually pointing out how employee tasks and goals relate to the company's overall goals and successes.

Successful managers and small-business owners take time to include employees in their daily schedules. They go right into the workplace and talk with employees. They include employees in important meetings. And they encourage daily interaction between employees and management at all levels. This brings employees into the central flow of the company, involving them directly in successes and failures. And, perhaps more importantly, it involves them directly with the company's profitability.

The study mentioned above by Montgomery and Ramus found that being intellectually challenged topped the list in importance when an MBA graduate chooses a company for which to work. This makes sense for employees of small companies also. Employees need to feel challenged. They need to feel that their full capacities are being utilized. They need to grow, both as individuals and in their working careers.

Employers need to interact closely with employees to assure such growth. Ultimately, this is vitally important to strengthen the ongoing relationship between company and employees. A company is nothing more, really, than the sum total of the knowledge and dedication of its employees. Interacting with employees and truly caring about them is the best way for job satisfaction and company loyalty to develop. Ultimately, it is the basis for long-term profitability.
 
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