Perhaps I should have titled this “Are You a Boss?” and backed into if you’re a jerk or not. Whatever the case may be, if you do have a boss that’s a jerk then welcome to the club! You are not alone. If you happen to be a boss, do you know if you are a jerk or not? Have you had anonymous assessments done at work from the people you manage? If you haven’t, now might just be the best time ever to do one.
My crystal ball is telling me that the job market is going to pick up, plus our clients are telling us so, which helps my crystal ball. What that means is that your employees are going to start looking for new opportunities. That is why now is the best time to find out what you can do to make them happier. My motto is to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. What everyone else is doing is treating their staff like crap. Today, more companies are telling their work force that 80 hours per week is the new 40. People today, because of the job market, feel that they have no choice but to kiss butt. Choice is about to change and with their backs against the wall, good luck with kissing their butt. How do I know? I’m a recruiter! I talk to people all day long who are at their jobs.
I know there are people in management out there who think their employees are privileged to be working but the number one reason why people are unhappy at work is because their boss is a jerk. Why not change their thoughts by asking them how you can make it better for them? An employee is likely to pick happiness over money because lets face it; no one is leaving making forty thousand dollars a year for an opportunity that is going to pay them one hundred and forty thousand a year. Leaving one job for another is not like going from a Ford to a Ferrari, but it could be like having one nag versus two. Hope my wife doesn’t read this! No she’s really great, but back to the blog.
People today are at an all time high stress level, like never before. Let’s face it, only two years ago people’s largest asset, their home, was worth a lot more than it is today and let’s not mention the kid’s college fund or retirement. If you manage people why not take the first step in making someone’s life a little better by making the work environment a better one. Before you know it they’ll be putting in the hours because they want to versus have to.