Manage My Employees

Short article #42

High unemployment has created a situation for employers whereby they now have many more applicants for job openings than previously. In effect, shifting bargaining power to employers.

Unfortunately, one unintended consequence of high unemployment may be that it has given some managers the belief that they can be more demanding or controlling of their employees.

I’m hearing managers say things I haven’t heard in a long time. Things that bespeak of an underlying and troubling attitude. 

For example:

• “I can have you replaced with a dozen just like you by noon if I want!”
• To an employee asking to leave for his lunch hour ten minutes early, then come back ten minutes early, the boss said with obvious irritation: “Don’t make it a habit.” (It was his first such request).
• Employees told they can’t make any personal calls or emails at any time, for ‘any’ reason, during the work day. And all calls on the office phone will be monitored. Violation can lead to immediate termination.
• To an hourly employee who was given a huge workload one day, when she was preparing to leave at the end of the shift, she was told by her boss: “You can’t leave, you’ll have to stay until you get it done!” She wasn’t asked, she was demanded to stay.
• Employees in a large nationally-based retailer routinely get demerits placed in their file for being just three minutes late back from lunch. Enough demerits can lead to termination. Management, on the other hand, has no policy for placing ‘merits’ in the employee’s file for taking short lunches or staying late in order to hit deadlines.

Now, smart employers don’t allow supervisors or managers to beat down employee morale with such threats or inane policies.

Employee-enriched employers, treat people with enormous respect and value the contribution they make. They build a reputation for being the kind of place good employees want to work.

Good bosses build trust with their employees through their actions as well as their attitude. Good employees want to work for good bosses, longer.

Yes, most employers today have more bargaining power with employees.  But that will change.

Bottom-line: Keeping good employees is about the basics of mutual respect, job engagement, trust and sincere caring. It’s as true today as it was when originally penned: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Our policies, moreover our practices, reflect just how much we really care about employee satisfaction.

Mark Holmes helps companies increase sales, service and employee performance. He utilizes twenty-four years of experience advising, training, and coaching some of America’s most successful small and large companies. His ideas on employee retention, employee motivation, customer service and leadership have been widely featured in major national media like FOX, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, BNET and The Wall Street Journal.

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