team loyalty Archives - Lone Star Staffing Solutions

09Jun

What Employers Should Expect from Employees

We talk a lot about employee retention and best practices to keep them engaged in a culture where they can thrive. These expectations are still critical, and employers who care about their employees will develop a culture that attracts and retains quality team members.

But what about the employer? What should they be able to expect from an employer-employee relationship? Is it realistic to think they should also realize certain benefits? The answer is a resounding YES. Suppose all of the benefits fall solely on the employees to keep them engaged and motivated? What keeps the employer motivated to nurture and support the growth of their team?

The goal should be to make the relationship a win-win with everyone on board to do what’s best for the company.

To follow are some of the expectations that an employer should be able to anticipate from an employee.

Treat the Company as Their Own

Your employees may not have direct ownership of your business, but you want them to feel like they do. If you’re a business owner who provides rewards or other benefits tied directly to company profit or growth, they will be more incentivized. On the other hand, this mindset should also be in place simply because they want to see the company succeed.

Creativity and Problem-Solving

You hired them for their skills and experience, but you will want all employees to think creatively no matter the industry. Creative thinking doesn’t just apply to artists but everyone.

For example, you reach a roadblock in a project. You want your team to think, “how can we get this done,” versus “we can’t do this.” Challenges come up every day, and while that “creative thinking cap” may be left at home on some days, ultimately, you want, and should expect, creative thinking to be a part of the daily perspective.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

When we first interview employees, one of the questions typically revolves around their ability to work as a team. No matter how much they express how well they work as a team, it’s essential to ask them for clear examples. If possible, give them some scenarios where they can insert themselves into the situation and talk about how they would respond.

In addition to the above exercise, make it VERY clear that leadership will not tolerate any disrespect of co-workers. When this happens, it disrupts productivity and is not in the company’s best interests. At the same time, let the potential employee know that working as a team will still allow you to assess them as individuals for future growth in the company.

Working Efficiently

Many tasks, including long-term projects, generally come with budgets set in advance. It’s easy for employees to spend more than the allotted time because they don’t understand how they should allocate their time. If this is especially important based on the type of work assigned, get everyone in the habit of recording their time. When they genuinely think of the company as their own, as outlined above, it will be much easier and less costly to the company.

Working efficiently also includes attention to detail. Work with your team to set up checkpoints to ensure they aren’t so far into the project that they cannot correct something missed.

Put Forth the Best Effort

Everyone, every day, should arrive ready, willing, and able to do their best. Yes, there may be some days when someone may not be motivated, but it’s important to address this quickly if those days happen frequently. There may be something affecting them either at home or work, and you may be able to help without getting too personal. However, this needs to be corrected if it’s more of a general “laziness” issue.

Integrity Is a Virtue

When an employee has integrity, it’s easy to spot, and this trait is something usually ingrained in someone’s character. If you can form a team full of people who have integrity, the workplace becomes lighter and less complicated.

Loyalty

This quality is one of the most important things you should be able to expect from your employees. No matter if you do or don’t have a rewards system in place, loyalty from your employees should be a given. It goes back to the mindset of treating the company as their own. When asked about the company, there should be nothing less than positive commentary from your employees.

As with anything expected of your employees, it’s crucial to have everything outlined in your employee handbook in laypeople’s terms. And even more important, these discussions should happen in the early interview stages.

Are you about to conquer the task of searching for someone to add to your team? Give us a call as we can help with these upfront conversations and help you find the right people with the right attributes and skillset to grow your team further.