4 Simple Ways to Show Your Employees You Care

“We definitely cannot make everyone happy all the time. Once in a while, there will be someone bitching about us, complaining about us not being up to the mark, expecting something that we are not even aware of or valued members leaving company because of some misunderstandings.” This the story of every manager, every boss, and every leader.

If you belong to this exclusive group of people, you should know that your employees are your most valued resource. Because people spend so much of their time in the workplace, every leader should genuinely care about employees at work. And a caring workplace that nurtures understanding, support and employee engagement has been a hot-button topic in the workplace for years. Oleg Vishnepolsky wrote an article on “Take care of your employees, or your competitors will”, which simply symbolizes the importance of standing up for your employees.

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"Give them a little extra care and some love" -- this is what we do for our employees at ProofHub. At times it has been a bit challenging to rally a team of people, to show them that we care about them personally, but overall we are doing it quite well. Here are some simple and effective ways that express well that we care for our employees. 

Let’s get started:

Recognition for work well-done

In a true sense, employees are the real backbone of any organization. They are the face of your company. When they put their hard work day-in and day-out, they expect to be recognized in the workplace. As you start appreciating them through recognition of the good work, they will be more motivated to maintain the quality of their work and improve as well. The best formula for recognizing them:

• Be specific about the achievement
• A written “well-done” note
• A deserving job-title
• Discuss how it added value to your organization
• Thank each person by taking their name

Let them boss themselves

Everything will change when you give them the charge. Your folks are someone who have been hired by you, so have trust in them. Give them the charge to manage workflow. It is not true that you will be better than your employees always. Provide them the necessary guidelines, then give them as much autonomy as possible to work the way they find it best for themselves within those standards.

If possible, let the tasks be based on the employee's own ideas. When they feel in-charge of their hard work they will change their perception of working from "have to" into "want to" and start for something much more meaningful. Let your people figure out the best way to attain goals.

Create new opportunities

A sure-fire way to show them you care is to start looking after their development programs. As a leader, one of the best ways to win the hearts of your employees is to offer as many opportunities as you can. Allow employees to be vocal about what they are eager to learn. Pay attention to what interests them and let them take on big challenges or a new leadership role. But since a different employee is looking to grow in a different way, make sure your development program is tailored according to their needs and interests.

If you give your best workers more responsibilities than everyone else, it can create a damaging effect on them, on rest of the team and as a whole on your business. Also, offer them the tools and resources to step outside their usual responsibilities to better develop a position within the company.

Avoid playing favorites

Experts say, “When it comes to playing favorites, no matter how fair you think you’re being, you’re probably guilty.” It’s quite human to like someone more than others or to treat someone more special than other fellow employees. But when as a leader you favor one employee over another, it can make you look unwise and unfair. Employees often find it hard to swallow this bitter pill.

How do you make sure you don't treat anyone special? I have been guilty of this many times, but now what I have been doing is remaining neutral towards all employees. Rather than trying to get rid of this habit, I find better ways to limit the impact of favoritism on my team.

At the end of the day, it is how your employees feel. Do they feel valued or worthless? To go above and beyond for your business now is the time to think harder about employee satisfaction. And your business will grow beyond your wildest imagination.

Author Bio:

Sandeep Kashyap is the Founder and CEO of ProofHub — a leading project management and collaboration software. He’s one person always on a lookout for innovative ideas about filling the communication gap between groups, teams, and organizations. You’ll find him saying, “Let’s go!” instead of “Go!” many times a day. That’s what makes him write about leadership in a way people are inspired to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more.