Use these “A” Strategies to Better Protect Your Employees.

The notion of business productivity is something we talk about all of the time, but there is something far more important underpinning it: the protection of your employees. Whatever type of employer we are, whether we hire freelance staff or have people in-house, we have a duty of care to make sure that they are able to do what is asked of them. Ensuring that you can protect your employees better is a crucial part of running a responsible business but also an ethical one. Ensuring that you are improving productivity is critical, but when you protect your employees it’s going to keep the talent in your midst. Here are some ways to better protect your employees:

Greater Autonomy with Their Decisions

There are so many ways you can increase autonomy amongst your employees. If you have workers who are offering ideas to benefit the business, for example, by traveling off-site and traveling to client meetings, this should be actively encouraged. One of the biggest issues businesses have with employee autonomy is thinking that their employees are not in a good enough position to actually make decisions that impact the business. Invariably we can subscribe to components of chaos theory with this example. 

Them traveling hundreds of miles could not just add to our business expenses, but it could also cause a number of potential problems whether it’s the legal ramifications, like a lawsuit arising from accidents on the road. But even if an attorney contacts your business to initiate some form of legal proceedings, it should not be to the detriment of your employees. We have to show trust in our employees to make sensible choices that will, over time, boost engagement. We need to make decisions at the top level, but when we give staff the opportunity to express their opinions over small choices, this will greatly reduce micromanagement and increase employee value and, therefore, performance.

Address Their Problems

There are still companies that subscribe to the old-fashioned way of thinking that if nobody sees it or only one person is expressing concerns, it’s not worth addressing. We need to listen to our employees and provide a safe working environment. Both of these components operating concurrently will improve trust. And if there are concerns with regard to workplace bullying or conflict, it must be addressed swiftly but also professionally. 

Companies that don’t take complaints seriously will lose employees over time, and those that remain will only be contributing to a culture of fear. If you have high staff turnover, you have to ask yourself why this is. You can easily tell yourself that it’s due to things beyond your control, but as you have a duty of care to protect your employees, ensuring that you address any form of concern that guarantees their safety but also ensures they are heard will go a long way to cultivate a far more impactful organization.  

There are so many ways to protect your employees, from leading by example to protecting their data and of course fair pay. But if you want to protect your employees at every turn, autonomy and addressing problems are a double-A attitude to have.