Building Employer-Employee Relationship

Employer-employee relationship

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

African Proverb

This proverb clearly explains the importance of different elements in an organization. It evidences that the presence of a positive relationship among co-workers is the reason behind the long term survival and success of an organization.

A healthy employer-employee relationship demands commitment towards organizational goals from both ends. The motive of growing together shall be prioritized.

My mother, a government employee, once told me that her office is a good place for those who know the technical stuff but not for the new employees. Working there was humiliating for her until she started getting technologically aware.

She switched her division to learn the work & that division had a completely different environment. On asking, what was different, she told me that they turned me from an ineligible employee to a worthy one. The new division knew her weaknesses & they helped her conquer those weaknesses by supporting & motivating her.

During this period, I not only saw her grow at her job but noticed a drastic change in her confidence and personality. I saw her transform into an independent lady. Her fear somehow wiped off.

Also, the division invested in her by making her learn technical work and in return got an efficient worker whose presence reduced their burden. It was a win-win situation.

This is how impactful an employer-employee relationship is. The key is to work & grow together.

Ways to Build Strong Employer-Employee Relationship

An entity flourishes by combine efforts of the employer and employees. Each person in the organizational chain has its own importance; be it a huge corporate entity or a small firm with minimal employees. Hence, it is necessary to maintain a sturdy employer-employee relationship.

The following elements help to build strong internal relationships.

Freedom of Work

During my internship period, I experienced less freedom of work. We had a strict boss. I was always terrified of working under him. I was not able to ask for solutions to my problems because of fear. I wasn’t able to work using my own methods and that way I didn’t get any chance to test my skills.

Raj, a friend of mine says, the thing he loves the most in his office is the freedom of work. He enjoys the work with the least interference from the seniors.

A fearful environment makes us lose our ability to make decisions. We become dependent on the seniors for even the slightest of decisions. This also restricts our ideas and results in a lack of innovation & creativity.

Although the reporting requirements in an organization are mandatory, it should be liberal enough for an employee to make necessary decisions & communications.

Competition Ethics

This world has turned into a massive race. Every place involves competition; fair or not doesn’t matter.

Lack of organizational ethics has given birth to filthy competitions. Amidst all this filth, the real potential has been trapped. Healthy competition is losing its existence.

Every element from top to bottom in an organizational hierarchy needs to learn ethics. People should do something about their greed. Instead, the focus should be shifted towards making genuine & clean efforts.

Imagine, how the overall industrial scenario will change if each organization acknowledges its responsibility for cultivating a healthy internal environment and employer-employee relationship.

Resilience

Ratika, the co-founder of Gulp Juice India Pvt. Ltd., on asking “What is different in Gulp from other organizations when it comes to employer-employee relationship?”, says that it’s Understanding, Friendliness & Resilience.

Again it’s something which should work both ways.

Gone are the days where employees had to chime, in tune with their bosses at the workplace. This is no more a world where you can use the traditional approach to deal with your people. Not having communication with each other, agreeing to everything ignoring your own troubles hampers your productivity.

Recently, I was doing a part-time job. The office environment was cool enough for me but somewhere it hampered my peace and the work was depleting my energy. I used to come back home feeling mentally exhausted.

The reason that I couldn’t communicate my troubles & the existence of not-so-resilient environment, made me suffer.

An environment should be resilient enough where both the employer & employees can communicate with each other without fear. They should also have the ability to patiently listen to each other’s plight.

Discipline

Well, as I mentioned earlier, I had a strict boss in my internship. But its rigidity was overshadowed by the basic discipline habits which the place & its people displayed.

My boss was old-school and this showed in his cabin arrangement. The files & books were always in order. His table was neatly arranged with the necessary stationery. He had the tidiest room.

Even the receipts, payments, bills, postages, etc. were taken care of properly.

Apart from this, he was punctual and expected the same from everyone including his clients.

These are little habits but they make you organized in the long-run. This can only be done by encouraging self-discipline in an organization. Employees learn from employers, the way a child learns from his parents.

Flexibility is necessary but not at the cost of discipline. Any entity having such an arrangement ensures order and ultimately leads to an organized path to achieving goals.

Family

Prashant, now a hotelier, shares his views on the changes he sees from an employee to becoming an entrepreneur. He says, “Employer was like my family.” There can be nothing better than a group of people working together putting aside their designation and treating each other, part of a family.

If we consider our workplace, a family; the kind of decisions we take, the efforts we put & the perspective with which we look at the troubles, will become justifiable. It will make us more responsible because family struggles aren’t taken offhandedly.

However, to expect conduct like this from employees, the same treatment should be offered in return.

Such behaviour allows space for integrity & loyalty. It enhances individual efforts leading to increased collective efforts for organizational good.

Giving Credits/Appreciation

People in the corporate world due to increased competition tend to snub through the efforts of others. Giving credits to the ones who deserve it, is the least we can do to motivate each other.

Appreciating the work of others gives a boost to their willingness to work.

However, it’s not only the responsibility of an employer to take care of their staff but its also the duty of employees to keep their bosses motivated with little gestures.

Reminding them how good they are doing in their industry, how hard working they are, how neatly they manage themselves or how kindly they behave with others, gives them the needed push.

Creating a Positive Environment

A positive environment inside an organization allows each person to grow. An organization should be driven by empathy. Respecting each other, irrespective of power, money, and position is what we need to teach in an entity.

Kindness & sensitivity should be inculcated gradually, to develop a more positive environment.

Feelings of jealousy, hatred, resentment, revenge, etc. should be discouraged at the workplace.

A compassionate environment leads to a positive, energetic and most importantly a joyously successful organization.

Work-Life/Personal Life

I worked at a start-up, once. I’m an introvert and my boss realized this immediately. He asked me to treat him as a friend so that I get more comfortable at the workplace. Soon, this turned into over-friendliness. He began scraping my personal life, which made me uncomfortable.

We make a friendly relationship so that we can be comfortable with each other. However, there is a limit to every connection. It is necessary to keep our personal and professional life separate.

This helps us in giving qualitative results at work. We work with more efficiency. Also, the issues in our personal lives impact our mental state. If we develop a habit of keeping those issues away from our job, we’ll be able to focus better.

Celebrities are the best example of this. Doesn’t matter how hard they try, their personal life never remains their own. Whatever they are going through, they still deliver quality work and unaffected public appearances.

Being friendly doesn’t mean we intrude on each other’s personal space. Professional life should be strictly kept separate.

An organization’s success or failure depends on its people. The stronger the internal relations are, the stronger the organization stands in the industry.

Remember, the biggest life lessons come from the workplace.

How your official journey is going? What are your views on the Employer-employee relationship? Do let me know in the comment section below. Also, subscribe to my blog, so that you don’t miss any updates.

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