Build Employee Trust By Treating Employees Fairly, Not Equally

Would you want to work for yourself?  Let's be honest here....to be effective as a manager, you know that your employees must trust and respect you. They need to believe that you'll handle their work issues fairly and consistently, yet maintain their confidential information when they seek your help. Repeatedly, studies have shown that employee retention is directly correlated to the quality of the relationship between a manager and his/her employee. Employees frequently look for another job when this relationship doesn't exist.

Years ago, I had a boss who believed that he should treat all three of his direct reports exactly the same in terms of salary. He believed that he was being "fair" by treating all of us the same. Yet we all had different areas of responsibility, work styles, and performance levels.

Treating us all the same simply didn't work, because we were all different.  He treated us like a parent treats his kids; he didn't want to show any favoritism to anyone in particular.  Good parenting practice; lousy management style.....

When I began working for him, I made significantly less money than my peers. I almost left that job out of sheer frustration over the lack of recognition for my efforts and the discrepancy in salaries. Instead, I decided to stay and see what would happen because I trusted my boss to "go the distance" for me. Though it took a longer than expected, he did come through with a title and 33% increase in base pay for me.

I'll never forget how he told me about the big raise and VP title. He took me out to an Italian  restaurant for a fancy lunch and truly made the occasion a celebration to remember!

What kind of a manager are you? Do your employees believe in your ability as a manager? Can they depend on you for your support and fair treatment? Do you recognize their individual efforts and contributions?

Take a minute to consider what you need from your manager in order to succeed in your job? Make a list of your "top 10" requirements. Chances are, your list is very similar to the one your employees would create for you! You can use it as a self-evaluation of your managerial effectiveness to determine how you can improve as a manager before the economy begins to recover in earnest.

How can you become a better manager? By caring enough to...

• Build a professional yet warm relationship with each of your direct reports
• Frequently ask them how their job is going and how you can help; be available when they need you
• Commit to holding weekly staff meetings with everyone reporting on what they're working on in a round table setting; don't cancel or postpone scheduled meetings
• Honor your commitments to employees; follow through!
• Stand up for them as necessary to provide support, get salary increases, supplemental training, etc.
• Do little things, like saying "hello" at the beginning of the day ; walk around & talk with your employees
• Keep your door open; don't sit in your office with your door closed unless in meetings
• Find out what their individual interests are and use them creatively when recognizing each employee for exceptional performance
• Hold your employees accountable for work you expect them to do and timelines to be met
• Manage performance problems as they arise; manage poor performers out of the workplace
• Hire smart
• Ask them how they want to be treated or what outcome they expect from a conflict at work
• COMMUNICATE, LISTEN and EMPOWER!

Now is the time to become a better manager to enhance employee engagement.  Don't wait to use sound management practices for employees when the economy finally emerges from this "repression" and your turnover increases.  Train your managers now how to effectively manage and build that critical relationship between supervisor and employee.  It's your best insurance policy to implement now to protect your company from losing staff down the road.

Don't treat all of your employees the SAME, RECOGNIZE and build upon their differences to treat each individual FAIRLY.

Becky Regan is the founder and President of Regan HR, Inc., a human resources consulting firm specializing in compensation consulting for California employers and purveyor of online HR products. A former Corporate Human Resources Director (10,000+ employees) with more than 25 years of HR work experience in many industries, her team works with private, public and non-profit clients.  Becky is passionate about designing HR programs and compensation plans that build organizations.

Flickr photo courtesy of Reclassic2

Comments

[working girl]

Actually treating everyone fairly is a poor parenting practice as well.

[Wally Bock]

Nice post, Becky. You ask for a list of ten, I can offer eight, but they're derived from descriptions of a great working environment draw from class exercises over almost thirty years. Here's a link.

http://blog.threestarleadership.com/2009/05/26/8-characteristics-of-highly-effective-workplaces.aspx

I should note that my class participants listed "Fairness" but I don't remember a single group ever coming up with "Equal Treatment."

[Becky Regan]

Thanks, Wally! I downloaded your exercise to save just in case I need it for training. I appreciate your comments and the link to your list!

Becky