3 Ways Employers Can Show They Care for Their Staffs

By Sean Condon, CFP^®

Just because businesses are for-profit companies doesn’t mean that profits are the only thing that matter. Yes, you want to make a profit, but you also want to provide a useful product or service that helps make the world a better place, and you want to help individuals by creating jobs that will make their world a better place. 

Sometimes though, employees don’t recognize how much their driven, entrepreneurial bosses appreciate them. It is important to find ways to show your team that you don’t only care about the business, you care about them as well. Here are three ways you can do that.

1. Public Praise & Acknowledgement

Every human being craves recognition. Modern social media reveals just how true that is. The good thing for business owners is that, while recognition is incredibly powerful, it is also free. So, you have no reason not to dole it out liberally.

The power of positive recognition isn’t even just emotional, it is physical. Research shows that a burst of dopamine is released in your brain when you are being praised. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that leads to feelings of pride, satisfaction, and happiness.^[1]

So, praise your people. Do it often and do it publicly. Just that alone can lead to a decrease in costly turnover. One survey found that having a system in place for employee recognition lowered turnover by about 30%.^[2]  It also found that up to 80% of senior management thought they were offering praise to their employees at least once a month but only 22% of employees agreed. That means that even if you think you’re doing it, you should still try to do it more.

2. Be Personal & Available

Another way to show your staff that you care is through relationship. Long gone is the time when the boss would sit up in his high tower overseeing his minions but never speaking to them. We live in a relational society and your employees want to be able to connect with you. 

You don’t have to be best friends with them and attend their children’s birthday parties. However, you should try to connect. They want to be valued as individual human beings, not simply cogs in a wheel. When was the last time you spoke to a subordinate about something other than work? Be available; make some time in your schedule to get out from behind your desk and go chat with your employees.

3. Improve Their Financial Wellness

Even if your employees love their jobs, a big reason they come to work every day is for the paycheck. Whether we like it or not, life takes money. It takes money to buy the basic needs of life: food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. And most of us want more than just the basic needs. We want our kids to be able to join the soccer team, we want to be able to go on vacation, and we want something to give to the homeless man down on the corner.

Money doesn’t just affect what we have and what we can do, it affects us mentally and emotionally as well. When we feel like our financial life is out of control, our inner turmoil manifests as lack of sleep, inability to focus, and irritability with others. Financial stress affects relationships and the ability to produce at work. In fact, 37% of Millennials feel like they are distracted at work by their personal finances. This has a real impact on company productivity as they are spending up to three hours per week dealing with these personal issues.   

While it would be nice to be able to pay your employees so much that they would have more than enough and never worry about money, that’s just not realistic. However, while you may not be able to pay them more, you can help them do more with what you do pay them.

As a business owner, one powerful way to show your staff that you care is by sponsoring a financial wellness program. Financial Wellness comes in many forms: simple online resources, group “lunch and learn” meetings, or even individual consultations with a dedicated planner.  Our Fi-Care Financial Wellness Benefits program takes the personalized approach: we provide your employees with a Certified Financial Planner® to not only help them develop a plan for their finances, but ongoing guidance as they implement the plan and their life circumstances change. 

If you want a happier, healthier, more productive staff that wants to stick around long-term, give them the tools they need to build a solid financial foundation with the Fi-Care Financial Wellness Benefits program. Call us at (844) 377-4963 or email Fi-care@windgatewealth.comto learn more about what we can do for your employees. If you’re ready to show your staff you care, you can also book an appointment online here.

About Sean

Sean Condon is a wealth advisor with more than a decade of industry experience. He specializes in helping entrepreneurs build a culture of financial confidence by offering their employees unprecedented access to a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional. Taking an owner’s approach, Sean does his best to understand the many elements of his clients’ entrepreneurial journeys. He works in a technically competent and caring manner to reduce his clients’ anxiety about money issues and serves as a fiduciary by always putting his clients’ best interests first. Learn more about Sean by connecting with him on LinkedIn.