What makes a good to great employer?

[GordonJ]

Your thoughts on the matter are apprciated.

The thread below about the emyth...and James Anthony's application of it (Cliff Notes version: Jim has a business that he lets others run and has put processes and systems in place...this is a growing and profitable business and one that affords Jim the compensation of spending time with his son and doing what he wants without having to show up every day to make sure his employees are working or not)

Some think good employees are hard to find. Some (like ME) think good employers are harder to find...for every Jim out there, there must be 10 really crappy bosses that do show up every day and pass out grief.

So what do you think makes a good employer? If I didn't have two hands that were all thumbs and had the skills, then working for a Jim would be a pleasure...and I'll bet he has LOYAL employees too.

In the last decade I've worked with 1000's of people at my little part-time jobs. Truthfully, I think most people can be good employees. Are they? Certainly NOT. But a lot of that is due to how they are treated too.

The worst of my employers? RADIO SHACK by far. In fact, if they are around in two to three years I'll be amazed. Total hostile enviroment to work in and they are JERK loaded from the top down. Is that an opinion?

Well the CEO quit because he LIED on his resume...his replacement, a SuperStar at McDonalds lasted a few months until she experienced it for herself and ran away like a bride on her 4th groom. I doubt she even puts Radio Shack on her resume. I

OK. That's the bad. The good? Gordon Food Service. Family owned and operated. Good work environment with OPPORTUNITY, which is my hallmark for a good employer.

The sell green beans. Their managers know this. Their regional managers know this. The owners know this. It isn't life and death stuff. It is FUN stuff. It is green beans sort of stuff.

They train you, allow you to learn as fast as you want, promote from within and don't put a ceiling on your improvement.

In between the good and the bad have been the UGLY...and the average and not so memorable ones.

So I think that OPPORTUNITY without hostility is one thing that makes a good to great employer?

Your thoughts?

Gordon Alexander

[Ankesh]

Thats a really good question. Taking from another angle - what do employees want in the "perfect" job? I would love to know the answer to that question.

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Is anyone aware of Ricardo Semler and his policy of employee management?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Semler

Gordon, in a word: fairness. It's a great goal for any employer and should be applied across the board from compensation to tasks...and everything in-between. No playing favorites with giving one person a perfect working environment and expecting the next person to get the hand-me-downs and stand on their feet all day.

Next would come a good example of leadership without power plays. Set a good example for the employees so you create a cooperative and productive environment. This is the real source of corporate culture...good or bad...the leadership sets the tone and the employees follow suit.

A good culture requires good follow through...rewards, recognition, opportunities to learn and advance if they wish to (not everyone does...some prefer routine jobs so they have more energy to invest in other pursuits after hours).

Do good investigating of any prospective additions so you don't get the jerkwaters that lead to chaos in the team.

Try to be upbeat and positive...or hide out in your office or the bathroom stall until you have things under control in your head so you don't spread negative feelings and atmosphere.

Sandi Bowman

Ankesh, to answer your question just reverse the statements I made in the reply to Gordon. Apply the answers as tho' they were from the employees. Add GOOD compensation and benefits and you have a decent framework.

Make the work environment as pleasant as possible for ALL your employees. Don't mix punk rockers with classical folks unless you want discontent over what music is played in the background, for example. Build your team with the team members in mind. The best technician in the world isn't worth having if they disrupt the effectiveness of the whole team.

Understand there is no perfect job. Suitable ones, perhaps, but no job is perfect unless you work alone and love it (and what you're doing). Personalities will clash occasionally, a task may be a temporary one but not ideal. Even when you work alone in your own business, it's still not a perfect job. Some tasks just MUST be done and, if the someone who has to do it is you...you'd best like, or at least tolerate it well.

Sandi Bowman

Ankesh, to answer your question just reverse the statements I made in the reply to Gordon. Apply the answers as tho' they were from the employees. Add GOOD compensation and benefits and you have a decent framework.

Make the work environment as pleasant as possible for ALL your employees. Don't mix punk rockers with classical folks unless you want discontent over what music is played in the background, for example. Build your team with the team members in mind. The best technician in the world isn't worth having if they disrupt the effectiveness of the whole team.

Understand there is no perfect job. Suitable ones, perhaps, but no job is perfect unless you work alone and love it (and what you're doing). Personalities will clash occasionally, a task may be a temporary one but not ideal. Even when you work alone in your own business, it's still not a perfect job. Some tasks just MUST be done and, if the someone who has to do it is you...you'd best like, or at least tolerate it well.

Sandi Bowman

Sorry for extra post, folks. Tried to edit my reply to Ankesh and screwed it up.
(

Sandi Bowman

Gordon,

Thanks for this thread.

My list of Some of things that make a Good Employer...

Good Employer Thing 1. Respectful speech. Talk to the employees like they are people and not like they are vile animals that just soiled your expensive Persian Rug.

This goes Deeper than just being terse, abrupt, condescending, belittling and so on, even when the employee did nothing wrong. It extends to How you get tasks done and the tone of your voice in the words used. Do you Order someone, Ask them or Ask if they would like to? Here's the difference...

1 - Bob, get the crate of milk from outside and put it in the fridge.

2 - Bob, would you get the crate of milk from outside and put it in the fridge please.

3 - Bob, would you like to get the crate of milk from outside and put it in the fridge.

Number 1 can work, if the tone of the voice is correct. Watch Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek First Contact. When he is on the planet and issues a flurry of orders of who remains, what they do and who comes back to the ship with him. Correct tone use. Very well done.

Number 2 is the best way. Doesn't require as much tone-skill and does not end in resentment as number 3 can.

Number 3 begs an answer, "No I would Not like to." The answer is Not expressed but then the person does the task and feels they are now doing something they did not want to do and resents it.

Good Employer Thing 2. Chastise in private. IF you need to scold an employee, do it in private. If you do it in public you will create a visceral opponent for yourself. You will have lost all respect, loyalty and enthusiasm and will end up with a staff member who will "burn 20s" (work so slow and without effort it's the same as if the employer had simply burned $20 notes - lost money without getting anything for it) and may even begin to pilfer (toilet rolls, pens, office supplies, etc).

Good Employer Thing 3. No nepotism. It goes against our sense of Fair Play and is often detrimental to the workplace and the staff moral. Specially as the nepotism usually results in a position of power - which is abused - that is given to someone who is not competent.

Good Employer Thing 4. Credit where credit is due. If someone performs well, They should be given the credit for it, not the Supervisor taking the credit.

Good Employer Thing 5. Words of praise not just words of condemnation. Rare is the employer who can congratulate work well done. Most say nothing when things go well and blow their stack when things go bad.

Good Employer Thing 6. Non threatening. Some employers use job-loss threats to Motivate staff. That is counter productive. May work Short term but not long term.

Good Employer Thing 7. Fair Work Hours. Do NOT do - or even try - to "work your workers to the bone" or think of them in derogatory terms. One "boss" I know of has said of his workers, "I don't give a fug about them. I just work em to the bone and when they leave I get another one". He has also been known to call them "Goons". To him, they are not people but disposable goons he can treat how he likes - including expecting them to work long hours (14 hour days) and discard them if they object.

Good Employer Thing 8. Be competent. Nothing gets under the skin of an employee more than a boss who Thinks they know better when the skilled and able employee sees they don't. Similar to telling the man who does it, How to do it instead of leaving them alone to do it. Results in staff thinking the boss is an idiot and loses any remaining respect they may have had for the boss.

Good Employer Thing 9. remain level headed. A boss with a temper, short fuse, or other Outburst Tendencies, is not a good boss. Staff grow to hate them and coming to work, as they never know when the volcano boss will erupt.

Good Employer Thing 10. Pay your staff on time. Many have money troubles and paying late or inconsistent will effect them mentally, create additional stress in them, and lower their performance.

Good Employer Thing 11. Pay your staff well. This includes bonuses and allowances. One guy I know Used to do Laboring. He decided to get a Trade as as Sheetmetal Worker. He accepted the reduced money as an Apprentice. But became gradually upset as he viewed his tasks as those of a general laborer and not an apprentice. And as the Labor Rate was higher, he thus viewed his position as Slave Labor. Spoke to the Apprentice Board who looked into it and found the company did not even do the work which would have enabled him to get the trade in the end. So he left and got a Labor Job and makes Much more money - nearly $10 an hour more!

This isn't to say incompetence should be highly rewarded. But competence should not be screwed and people's efforts not taken blatant advantage of.

This list is not the end. But a boss that follows this list is doing well.

Note, that I have NOT mentioned Benefits (whatever they include). Such Bribes MAY be used to Entice Good Workers, but such things do Not make a Good Boss. They make a Better Job. A Better working environment. And for mine, I would rather get a Bigger Paycheck than a smaller one but with Benefits. I can use the money, while the benefit might not ever be used.

Michael Ross