Discussion on:

Happy employees will help your business thrive

In my first 'major' business - ie, major for me - I had a crew of 17 men for a hair under 20 years. We put work in a dozen countries. I detest policys, so we had very few of them - a total of 6 or 7. The ones we had made Sense. Such as: "There is no pecking order here. There's Carol & the rest of you. If you have a problem you can't work out on your own in adult manner, SEE THE BOSS so we can fix it." And: "You were hired because you are an adult. ADULT behavior is expected here." And - "WE are 'the company'. If you steal from 'the company', you steal from yourself as well as the rest of us. Do it enough & no one will have a job here." & - "If you come here with alcohol in you & I find out, you will be fired. If you bring alcohol here, I will kill you, resurrect you, & then fire you. If you come here with drugs in you, you will be fired. If you bring drugs on the premises, I will kill you, resurrect you, & repeat until I'm too tired to do it again, & then I will fire you. Never think I'm kidding about this." I told them all, "The building has electricity & heat 24 hours a day. If you like working 2 a.m. - whenever, that's up to you, so long as you get your work done to spec & on time. No visitors unless they're cleared ahead of time, and no shenanigans. Keep the door locked if you're working here during non-business hours. If you need to take time off, let us know if we're close to deadline; otherwise, just let us know when you'll be back. If it's an emergency, leave a note & go; don't fret about it. Keep in touch while you're gone." Funniest darned thing - in 20 years, I lost 3 to quitting; 2 because their wives got really good jobs too far away for them to commute & 1 who, at the tender age of 63, was inspired by my methods to open his own shop. He was sad about us having to compete until I told him, "Hank, there will be times when you will need work & we'll need another subcontractor. And there may be times when we will need work & you will need some help. We don't 'have' to eat each other to stay alive." He left a happy man, as did the other 2. In those same 20 years, I had to fire 3; 2 for closet alcoholism & 1 for trying to sabotage the shop. The saboteur cost us an $85,000 commission in November when work would get scarce. That commission would have kept us all fed & warm thru the winter. Not only did I fire him, but as the President of a 6-state regional professional group, I notified every similar shop within 150 mile radius of us of his antics, & last anyone heard, he was stocking shelves at WalMart. He was let go in front of the entire crew, & they all knew why, because I have never been one to mince words. When I went to Chamber of Commerce meetings, literally everyone else would be wailing about how they couldn't get good help. I obviously never had that problem & the reason was simple - I treated my people as intelligent capable ADULT human beings & did everything I could to keep them happy because... (Duh-uh-uh..) HAPPY PEOPLE WORK HARDER & PRODUCE BETTER RESULTS. Funy thing is, it isn't hard to do because most people's wants are simple. This didn't need a study by a major university to figure out. It is basic how-to-do.

It's unfortunate that such common sense would not be common in the business world, for the most part. Although there are standout companies that take care of their employees by creating an environment of appreciation, many more companies do not. It's not about the money! Using low cost/no cost strategies, such as a simple "thank you" can make a world of difference in the employee's perception of his/her employer and can mean the difference between a long-term, loyal employee, or one that leaves for a more personally satisfying opportunity.