NOW IS THE TIME TO GIVE YOUR EMPLOYEES C.R.A.P
As all employers are painfully aware finding and retaining quality staff is now more than ever a major element in operating a successful business.
C.R.A.P. is of course an unconventional acronym designed to stick in people’s minds and focus their thoughts on the core elements of employee retention namely caring, respect, appreciation and praise.
Caring, Respect, Appreciation and Praise are all common enough practices however because of their very mundane nature they are easily overlooked, they have been overlooked for so long most employers no longer know what they look like in practice.
So how do you give your employees C.R.A.P.?
- Caring
Caring ultimately means being there for your employees when they need you.
When people have issues or problems be there and listen to them.
Make yourself as available as possible to employees, when people need you, they need you right away not in one weeks time. If you ‘blow off’ someone a couple of times when they come to your office, they will stop coming at all and issues will escalate.
It is equally important to sincerely have employees’ best interests at heart, people know when you don’t care about them, you don’t need a masters degree in psychology to know if someone cares about you.
- Respect
Listening plays a major role in demonstrating respect for your employees, all employees but especially Gen.Z. talent like to have their voices heard and their opinions considered.
Instead of telling employees ‘this is how we are going to do it’ why not say ‘we have a problem and I have some ideas, what are your thoughts on how to overcome the problem’. This approach can be very powerful and can yield great results.
- Appreciation
Appreciation means telling employees when they have done a good job which is all too rare in the workplace these days.
We tend to look for people doing things wrong and ignore the people doing things right, if an employee goes the extra mile for a customer or works really hard to win an order, show them appreciation, a little acknowledgement will inspire them to do even better.
- Praise
Praise is a step above appreciation and should be given when an employee has exceeded all expectations. Let the employee know you recognise how their efforts have made a difference, a little bit of praise goes a long way.
If you want to retain your employees and motivate them to be the best they can, remember to give them some C.R.A.P. and see the impact it has on your business.
