Making sure all your employees feel valued

There’s always one employee who always has something to say: telling you about the work they’ve done, or asking questions about how, exactly, you want the office organised, or letting you know that they are particularly stressed, or pleased, or whatever their mood is. They are not the employee to be worrying about as they will let you know if they have any problems.

Often, when you have one or more of the above-mentioned employees, you will have one or two others who are the polar opposite. They may want to speak to you about certain issues or worries they are facing, but they never get the chance as chatty Carol whisks you away, distracts your attention or comes to join in the conversation whenever you are around.

These employees often work exceptionally hard, and try to solve problems on their own, especially when they see that you are busy yourself: not wanting to disturb you or perhaps feeling that their issues are not quite big enough to raise with you.

Any workplace should be open to the needs of all employees, not just the chatty Carol types – but how do you make sure that there is enough oxygen for every employee, without it becoming an immense burden on you or your management team?

Apart from scheduling dedicated one-to-one meetings with each employee on a regular basis – say once a month or once a quarter – you can ensure that every employee is using their full allocation of leave days. It is often when someone is absent, that you become fully aware of just how much work they do!

When the only employee who properly cleans the kitchen is away for a week, it very quickly becomes clear that they are doing more than their fair share of what should be a communal task. You will also be able to accurately monitor any drop in productivity while they are away – which could help you to decide who deserves the next available promotion. Quite often the chatty Carols are very good at inflating a small amount of work into a full day’s worth of jobs, while the quiet dedicated employees simply put their heads down and achieve an awful lot!

Quite aside from this, it is good for staff morale if employees are encouraged to take their full holiday allocation. They will feel rested and valued, coming back to work fresh and prepared to boost business and productivity.

Keep track of everyone’s holiday allocations and claims with an employee holiday planner from Leavetrack to make sure that everyone – chatty Carol included! – gets their fair share of downtime from the job.