To all you bosses out there: chances are that you are probably clueless about the secrets that your employees are keeping from you. After all, don’t you keep your employees on a “need to know basis”?
Here are the top 5 employee secrets that your employees hope that you’ll never find out. (You can contact me and thank me for this!):
1. It’s all about the money, and it’s never enough: Your employees work for you for one reason only-their pay check- and there is nothing wrong with being open and honest about this. In addition, never fall under the delusion that your employees are happy with the amount that you pay them. No matter what you pay them, they believe that they are worth more and should be paid more money.
2. When the cat’s away the mice will play: No one wants to be “micro- managed” but in reality people work harder when they are being watched and being held accountable. When you leave the office or take a vacation, most people slack a bit. What the heck, the boss isn’t here? Again, there is nothing wrong with being open and honest about this as it is human nature.
3. Everyone of your employees goes on interviews : Your most loyal employee has either had an interview or is interviewing- on company time-believe me. Unless you are self employed, I am sure that you too are interviewing at times. When one of your employees has a doctors appointment or needs to see a dentist, they are probably interviewing elsewhere. Am I being cynical? Are you being naive?
4. Your are being watched and judged at all times. Your employees are busy doing their jobs, but always remember that you are being watched and observed. You have to maintain the highest standard of excellence with regard to integrity and style. Why should you care? Believe me, your employees are speaking to each other about you whether it’s good, bad or indifference. Conduct yourself accordingly and set a great example.
5. Your staff wastes valuable time on the internet: Your employees look very busy at their desks, but most of the time they are texting, surfing the web, facebooking, job searching, downloading, etc. As long as you hold your staff accountable to their tasks and as long as you are seeing positive results from their work, than a little bit of internet surfing is not a big deal. Let’s face it, we live in a digital age and all of us are on the internet. But when productivity suffers and you see your people busy typing all day, maybe it’s time to limit the amount of internet usage.
Any questions or comments? I am Bernie Reifkind, CEO and founder of Premier Search, Inc. I can be reached at 1(800) 801-1400 or email at ceo@psihealth.com