The Power of Putting Employees First

Putting employees first is an idea that may feels backwards at first. I mean aren’t you supposed to put the customer first? Customers pay our bills, they make our business possible — right?

Not exactly. The benefits and value of this management philosophy don’t get nearly as much press, but they are as solid as a rock.

Think about it — employees are your front line, your direct connection to the customer experience. They make the products, interact with buyers and essentially represent your business every single day. What could be more important than prioritizing them, giving them the right tools and motivating them to succeed?

So putting employees first might seem counterintuitive – after all, business is all about profitability right? And customers bring in the profits, so it makes sense to cater to their needs first, right?

Well, not so fast. It may feel wrong at first to think that a successful business should make their employees their main priority, but let’s dig into why it actually makes sense and ultimately leads to success.

The Philosophy of Putting Employees First

The idea of putting employees first really took off in the late 20th century. Businesses began to realize that happy employees are productive employees. In fact, some of your favorite companies and small businesses are already doing this, they just aren’t talking about it.

One of my favorite authors, Jeanne Bliss wrote a book about dozens of companies who embraced the employee first philosophy in her book “I Love You More Than My Dog”.

Why is Putting Employees First Important?

Well, it might be helpful to ask yourself, “Why is putting employees first important anyway?” Why should I spend the time and money on employee development, offering flexibility, encouraging breaks, promoting communication, valuing individual team members, instilling positive attitudes, creating positive customer experiences, and all the other components of an employee-first workplace culture? Can’t I simply make job descriptions crystal clear, clearly outlining the values and the vision of the company and the mission of the employees – the benefits they receive and then leave them to do their jobs?

Sure, but consider for a minute how powerful a genuinely satisfied and fulfilled workforce can be. Employees are the heart of any business. If they feel valued, appreciated, and listened to, they’re far more likely to feel good about their job, work productively and creatively, stick with the company, go the extra mile for their customers and really contribute to long-term success.

Although an MIT study found a connection between the “Great Resignation” and toxic corporate culture, putting employees first creates the exact opposite, leading to increased employee engagement, increased productivity, lower employee turnover and greater customer satisfaction.

How Happy Are Your Employees Really?

Are you assuming your employees feel happy with their job, and are totally motivated to come to work and contribute their talents? If so, this is risky – remember that you don’t know how an employee really feels unless you create processes and lines of communication where an employee can comfortably share. After all, most workers will do their best to put their best foot forward, staying true to the company vision – not rocking the boat, and maintaining positive customer experiences. It takes a really engaged employee with trust in their superiors, team members and leadership to let them know how they really feel.

Think about what motivates workers, it’s not merely the size of their paycheck. According to reports from Gallup, 44% of employees feel stressed every single day.

You’ve probably seen those corporate posters hanging around in break rooms, but do these work-life balance mantras actually help your workforce to feel content? If you’re prioritizing work lists over communication with team leaders and fostering trust, then likely not.

How do your workers feel? This should be a frequent and vital topic of discussion between the employees and management, human resource departments, leadership teams and every member of the team.

What Does Putting Employees First Look Like in Practice?

Sure, having company values written in job descriptions is great and having them displayed proudly in common spaces might remind team members, but real action speaks volumes, wouldn’t you agree?

So take a close look at the structure, behaviors, and processes you’ve put in place. A truly engaged workforce can go the extra mile to promote company success, helping to build up a great corporate culture, providing excellent customer service, working to minimize employee turnover and build a customer service operation that motivates them. They want to get in touch and stay in touch with company ideals and team leaders. Are you prioritizing the long term or just trying to check off HR tasks for the month?

How You Can Start Putting Your Employees First (For Real This Time)

I’m always shocked at how many business leaders say “We want our employees to be happy.” and then they’ll continue pushing for 10-hour days and prioritizing client work requests over anything else, wouldn’t you agree?

A people-first corporate culture takes time, focus, and a deliberate system to help support employees both inside and outside of work. That includes making tough decisions. Remember, prioritizing profitability over your people often has negative consequences.

Here’s a simple recipe with six key ingredients that help create a more worker-focused environment at any business.

1. Go Easy With Demands

Are your managers driving your workforce crazy with demands, pushing them to accomplish tasks and stay in touch around the clock? We may complain about demanding jobs, but according to data, 71% of workers in the USA would actually accept lower pay for their ideal job.

You’ll save a ton of money if your hiring managers really know what they want in a team member and clearly define expectations during the recruitment and onboarding processes. The truth about employees is that they’re often more flexible on salary than we think, especially when their efforts will ultimately benefit customer experiences. So really go in-depth to discover how job candidates see their career going in the future.

When your leadership listens to employee aspirations, a new team member might feel motivated enough to contribute more creatively and willingly for their ideal workplace environment. Putting your workers first begins during the interview process.

2. Empowering Employees

You’ve probably seen every “employee empowerment” article on the internet, and have even attended the free webinars – right? This buzz phrase often becomes little more than empty words spoken in speeches and boardroom discussions by those not working on the frontlines.

This all has to translate to practical daily steps. In other words – don’t make the employees have to check with their manager for every single issue. Trust your team members, create processes for quick decision-making, and promote ownership.

I once watched a janitor at a Disney Park quickly replace the balloons of a little girl that dropped them in a water fountain without thinking twice, didn’t you know?

He wasn’t thinking about money lost. He had this kiddo beaming at him and was making that child happy.

A similar act of dedication was displayed at a Marriott resort several years ago. Not only did a staff member go the extra mile to repair and clean a child’s doll that got accidentally dropped, but the staff member also took a ton of pictures with Disney dolls. When he brought them all to her, this little girl was floored – totally blown away, would you believe it?

That employee could have just called maintenance, created a work list request for repair and written up an explanation. The truth about employees though, this is lazy management – pure and simple.

Think about this type of problem-solving. It’s truly empowering, isn’t it?

Think for a moment, are your workers limited by strict scripts or afraid to take independent action when interacting with customers?

To illustrate this in real life – how much autonomy do frontline employees have at a company such as Ritz Carlton? Did you know they’re authorized to spend as much as two-thousand dollars each day just to help improve a guest’s experience?

Think about that – wouldn’t your team be blown away if they knew that leadership trusted them that much?

3. Prioritize Work-Life Balance for Your Team

I bet this will probably make your HR staff roll their eyes – I’m saying it’s a management philosophy, but how is it possible when customers expect immediate feedback, replies to messages and solutions, wouldn’t you agree? It takes some work for management and a culture of open communication, although according to research from Microsoft – workers are receptive.

That means offering flexible work arrangements (as long as job expectations are met, of course), encouraging time off, promoting mindfulness, promoting time management, encouraging movement, limiting “always-on” communication, promoting boundaries with time entry management, discouraging communication during off hours, prioritizing communication during business hours, understanding how Ayurveda sleep aids promote wellness, providing options for employee healthcare, including help for workers with physical health challenges as well as employees suffering from anxiety, prioritizing the importance of mental wellness and providing support such as healthcare options, access to help, allowing team members to seek mental health support as needed… I could go on and on with things.

The point here is that you really need to sit down with your people and ask yourself, how are our management philosophies actually affecting our team members outside of work? And don’t only put it in your work lists, this needs to happen regularly.

4. Promote Open Communication

Open communication isn’t simply a poster with slogans and buzz phrases. If team leaders encourage genuine feedback from their people, workers are more likely to speak up, ask questions, get the answers, address grievances, feel engaged, trust one another, stick with the company and really contribute.

That goes for problems, ideas, successes and pretty much anything. It really opens the lines for positive interaction between workers, right?

Let’s face it. Studies show that most workers have quit at least once in their lives due to a bad boss. This has consequences – according to a recent labor study open jobs rose by twenty-two percent but applications went down by twenty-three percent, because it’s a huge factor.

Don’t assume workers feel great.

It’s really important to be consistently “in touch” with employees (not just at the end of the month when they sign time entry paperwork).

Communication can involve a variety of practical techniques that help team members get answers, resolve challenges, generate better customer experiences and increase loyalty.

This could include frequent (at least once per week) scheduled conversations with direct superiors and managers, brainstorming meetings, problem-solving exercises and even social events during working hours. Social activities that help encourage more openness and team building, ultimately benefiting both employer and customer alike.

The power of connection is vital. I’m thinking of my former boss. Whenever an important company issue came up, even the really frustrating challenges, this boss always treated them the same as the rest of us. This might seem fuzzy to someone used to “CEO over everybody”, right?

Not this boss – instead he worked like crazy on a plan to support every team member. We all knew he really was committed to doing everything he could with whatever we needed to help resolve challenges, whether they involved new customers, frustrating projects, workplace anxieties…whatever.

Even years later he is always the person I think of when talking about true “leader.” You’re probably laughing, because isn’t “leadership” just an MBA-inspired marketing term for upper management types?

For him it wasn’t – he consistently led with kindness, dedication, genuine respect and a “whatever it takes” work style. So I really stayed true to those ideals (no more eye rolling when hearing “mission” or “vision”, because this came from a true leader). And it actually made it far easier to make tough calls to ensure deadlines would be met. Did this affect productivity and morale? It did and ultimately the customer experiences, too.

5. Make it Personal. Make People Feel Important

If your employee sees your company’s “employee-first” values merely as empty slogans posted on the walls – the words “team” and “valued member” plastered everywhere you look – then you’re really doing a terrible job – agree?

Put aside your corporate “scripts” on getting in touch and truly try to find what motivates each person in your team. I knew a corporate leader that always set aside time during his days. He’d visit with everyone at lunch – asking what everyone had been working on – the highs, lows, any projects that were driving them nuts. It was inspiring, believe it.

This might sound funny, because after all – he was the Executive Chairman right?

Shouldn’t he be making billion-dollar calls and meeting with those powerful Wall Street money types instead of a janitor emptying trash cans or some overworked employee running to clock out at their scheduled time entry clock?

Not for him – he felt this really made people feel appreciated, gave them a way to get in touch with their leaders and made it more personal.

So get to know everyone in the company, acknowledge personal milestones, find a way to reward accomplishments in public (beyond just the usual pay raises, although research by Zippia showed 58% of workers feel that regular development opportunities increase job satisfaction). Support growth by recognizing talents and give feedback frequently – beyond those yearly reviews and time entry management meetings.

6. Lead From the Front

This might sound fluffy, because I know – “leaders are born, not made” right?

Leadership is the result of skills, abilities, experience and effort. What if this whole thing really involved managers setting an example by staying true to the company vision and being part of the team (as well as creating job descriptions, outlining mission statements, prioritizing communication, motivating them to make customer-centric calls)?

If it really feels like a true collaborative effort that values the experiences of everyone then employees will not see their job merely as “work.” Employees do not go the extra mile unless leadership is there with them.

When we think of leadership it’s natural to assume they’re only concerned about their paycheck and profitability margins. Instead, it should also incorporate humble leadership where they understand this empowers people.

The best leadership styles promote engagement and employee wellbeing (something that even major companies understand – Marriott’s worker-focused employee programs were recently given an award by The American Psychological Association).

Conclusion

Creating a successful, long-lasting company in a highly competitive market takes focus and dedication. An often overlooked component of that is how workers really feel when they’re interacting with management and their bosses – their motivation for being there in the first place.

So put aside those fluffy business cliches you hear over and over in management training seminars – phrases like “empowering our workforce.” Instead look at practical steps to increase communication and employee well-being. Create an environment that doesn’t focus merely on time entry paperwork, deadlines and maximizing profit margins. After all, if you are a customer, don’t you gravitate toward a brand that seems to genuinely respect their workers and value the power of their contributions? Companies that take action to put employees first ultimately win over loyal buyers.

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