As your business grows and you take on employees, you also take on responsibility for those employees. Yes, you can continue to expand your business and boost your customer base, but it comes with a significant cost and extra complications. The larger your team, the more complicated things become.
One of the major pitfalls of a growing company is to fail to scale growth correctly. By growing too quickly and becoming bloated, a business can risk crumpling in on itself. You need to build the strength and infrastructure of your business along with everything else so that it can support itself.
So, what does this have to do with meeting the needs of your employees?
Well, part of building the foundation of your business includes your employees. They will have to take on the extra work, and they are also where cracks will be most obvious in a crumpling company. Your employees are potentially your greatest asset and risk all at once.
By ensuring that your company can sustain itself and its employees, you’ve made the first step towards meeting their needs.
Why It Matters
This post has already touched on why meeting the needs of your employees is so important. In short, the needs of your employees are synonymous with the needs of your company. Without a solid foundation to support your people, your company will crumble.
A more specific reason as to why this matters is that it has a massive impact on your employee morale and team spirit. Nobody wants to work somewhere their needs aren’t being met, and are much more likely to leave for greener pastures. But if you develop a reputation for treating employees well and fairly, you are much more attractive to work for.
Not only that, happy employees are determined employees. They have more motivation and you will find that productivity and efficiency improve as people are more driven to work hard.
Finally, in some cases, meeting the needs of your employees is a legal requirement. Before you hire anyone, you need to familiarize yourself with your full responsibilities as an employer.
Communicating Needs
The only way that you will know how to meet the needs of your employees is to open up the lines of communication.
Start early. Ask your employees about their needs and preferences and how your company can accommodate them. Sometimes it seems like you’re being “too soft” on employees, but they will let you know how they work more effectively.
For example, some employees might work better in a remote setting, especially if they have a reason to want to stay home. Rather than being dogmatic about coming into the office, work with your employees to find a schedule that works for everyone. Employees are often willing to give a little for a flexible employer.
When it comes to accommodating disabilities, whether they are temporary or chronic, it’s your responsibility as an employer to work with your employees. This might involve providing a portable wheelchair ramp to improve accessibility or being flexible with work hours.
Communicate kindly, openly and honestly for the best results.
