Work/Life Balance with Employees at the Helm

Your superstar employee is out pregnant. An amazing employee’s father is dying of cancer. Your right hand man injured himself in a Rugby game. For these employees, you will do whatever it takes to help them get back up and running. You will bend over backwards to accomplish whatever is needed to help them because you know that the effort is appreciated and will be reciprocated.

Then, you have that one employee who always spends their accrued vacation hours before they have really earned them. When they call in sick, you grit your teeth and seethe. Life happens, yet you are bothered.

The question is why do some situations bother you with some employees and not with others?

The impact of an unengaged employee on your business can be catastrophic. Decreased productivity, lowered company morale, and miserable working environments have been common complaints by clients as they come to the decision to relieve an employee. For example, a past client had an employee who consistently gave the employer ultimatums. The threats were often “If you don’t do this, then I will quit.” First, who wants to work with an individual who is constantly threatening? The team was struggling to work with the individual, the employer was unhappy with the performance of the individual, yet the concept of firing and replacing this person seemed daunting and ill-timed. When my client finally became fed up, they did indeed fire the employee. I won’t sugar coat the transition. It was hard, uncomfortable and came at a terrible time, but my client knew that this was the right decision for the company.

The biggest difference between an engaged employee and an unengaged employee is that your rockstar employee will have a contingency plan in place so that work gets done in spite of life interruptions. They will work from home when their child is sick, or they will make plans to cover their job if they need to suddenly leave town. It isn’t their job to do that, but they do it anyway as a way to contribute to the team and the core values of the company. That extra little something that they do to make your life easier is why you will work hard to make them happy. Those who don’t aren’t really team members.

The overall health of your company relies on capable people. The actual hiring of these people is a simple yes or no question. The real work of staffing begins with a strategic interview process and a well trained interviewer. Without this, you may begin to erode the inner workings of your company.

- Begin with the job advertisement. Really describe the ideal person for the job.
- Create a new job description
- Select and prep the interview team
- Prepare a communication process that is respectful to candidates.
- Determine criteria for selecting the top candidate and define a system to communicate with those who were not chosen.

By approaching new hires from a well defined and strategic position, you will make better decisions and hire staff that will strengthen your company and be regularly engaged.