A lot has been written about how employers should look after their staff, how they should be managed properly and how they should be valued.  Many employers feel that the weight of society is behind the employee and it can seem as though no one is willing to listen to their side of the story.

Distinguishing the ‘assets’ from the ‘liabilities’ within your staff and focusing on getting the best out of these employees can be highly lucrative both financially and emotionally.

It’s about time an article was written about employee integrity, loyalty and behaviour by taking a look at what constitutes a valued employee.  How many of your employees deserve the time and resources to be managed effectively, trained and rewarded to ensure that they remain a long term member of a company?  Distinguishing the ‘assets’ from the ‘liabilities’ within your staff and focusing on getting the best out of these employees can be highly lucrative both financially and emotionally.

I was interested to watch the series of the business-meets-reality television show, ‘The Apprentice’ from which you may be familiar with the phrase ‘You’re fired’ where Donald Trump crushes yet another contestants ambitions in two small words.  There was a girl named Tracy whom he fired in early December.  Tracy was a bright girl who ‘knew it all’.  She was highly critical of anyone who became the team leader and thought that her way of doing things was the only way.  She may very well of been right, however the way she communicated her ideas was aggressive and her downfall was her failure to build enough creditability for herself in order to have people listen to her.  She was destructive in a team and unconsciously drove wedges between team members.

In the consulting side of my business I meet a lot of employees who are terribly bright; however they disadvantage themselves because they do not; A) put into practice their ideas in order to gain credibility; B) have the respect of their peers or management to be recognised as a valuable part of an organization.  Like Tracy they are all ‘talk’ and no action, contributing little and becoming destructive to a team.  If they put their head down, kept their mouth firmly shut and worked to attain the results, they would be recognized by both their peers and management as a valued employee and would move to greater heights.  Donald Trump would no doubt have seen this sort of behaviour before and was wise in getting rid of Tracy quickly.

I lived and worked in the UK for a year in 1990.  I was astonished to observe that many employees arrived at work and then stood at the coffee machine for 30 minutes drinking coffee and discussing their mode of transport before they started their job.  To me that was stealing.  Misuse of time is not recognized as stealing and yet I see it prevalent in New Zealand organizations.  I am horrified that this behaviour is becoming an accepted part of some staff’s work ethic here in New Zealand.  In my opinion an employee should be ‘fed and watered’ by the start time of their work day.  To come to work at start time and be preparing breakfast or coffee is not acceptable.  If breakfast and coffee pre work is to become something that is done at work, employees should arrive before their start time and enjoy it in their own time.  
 
Loyalty is another area that some employees do not respect.  I experience a lot of candidates ‘bad mouthing’ their present employers in an interview but what they don’t realise is that they are actually doing an injustice to themselves.  It alerts us to check to see if that candidate was valued in the company, or if this is a person is a ‘Tracy’ and finds fault with others, rather than evaluating their own performance.  A quality employee will discuss their concerns internally with their superior or management in attempt to find solutions, and will recognise that confronting the issue rather than avoiding it requires courage and sincerity.

One area which is a growing concern for employers’ is the internet and emails. Personal phone calls were enough to deal with but now we have two added time stealers.

One area which is a growing concern for employers’ is the internet and emails.  Personal phone calls were enough to deal with but now we have two added time stealers.  Some employees may not understand that the telephone bill details all numbers now and that computer data can be traced.  If an employee is spending more than 8 minutes per day on personal calls or emails then they are effectively stealing time from their employers.  They can of course admit the time they are spending upfront and make it up after hours in their own time, which once again requires a certain level of integrity and honesty.

Employers value, pay well and indeed treat well the following attributes:

• Employees who do not steal time
• Employees who are loyal
• Employees who have integrity
• Employees who are personally honest
• Employees who set a positive example to their peers
• Employees who ask questions to grow their positions
• Employees that come up with solutions rather than criticisms
• Employees who take personal responsibility for their actions
• Employees who take personal responsibility for decisions
• Employees who build credibility before developing innovative ideas that are accepted by the team
• Employees who perform to their targets or key performance indicators
• Employees who will go beyond what is expected of them

If you can say yes to all of the above categories and you feel that you are not valued then it is time to sit down and talk to management.