Expert Opinion: How would you like to be treated in the workplace?

Rob Birley, director of HR consultancy, Cornerstone Resources, discusses the importance for business leaders of flexibility and empathy in managing teams.

How would you like to be treated in the workplace? Many of us, me included, stepped out of the corporate world to run our own businesses because we didn’t like how we were treated. So what do we do now we have our own company? Do we default to how we’ve been managed previously or do we take time to think about the positive and negative experiences we’ve had in our careers and try to do better? We’ll never get it completely right, but what if we could create a genuinely great place to work?

Be flexible when your team need it

I’ve spent the last couple of days in Macclesfield General Hospital. My day started with a phone call to say my mum had been taken by ambulance to hospital. I dropped everything and went straight away. What would you do if a member of your team needed to do the same? Or if they had to pick their child up from school due to them having an accident? Or how about if they had a doctors appointment.

It pays to be flexible. Yes you can ask for the time to be made up. Sure, some sort of give and take on annual leave may be appropriate but fundamentally, try and put yourself in their shoes. Yes, there is a job to be done but with a bit of planning and effective communication with the client, most things can be rescheduled.

Don’t expect the earth

There are always times where you need the team to pull together and deliver important pieces of work. However, if you routinely expect people to work way outside of their contractual terms, then you can’t expect people to stay with you for long.

Back in my corporate career, I had a manager who expected me to be contactable on holiday. All the time. I also had to complete my first ever complicated salary review from a hotel room because the CEO hadn’t got round to signing off the pay increases as per the agreed timetable. What was the result? I did my job but hated most of my time there as it was clear that it was nothing but a one sided relationship.

Setting achievable targets and providing the support needed to achieve them, whether that be systems, processes, or access to experienced team mates is critical.

Value your team

Have you ever turned down a request for a pay increase but then found the money for it when the employee resigns? Isn’t it better to reward people fairly? Yes there are always times when the financial situation is precarious and you need to control costs but when you factor in the price of replacing people (upwards of £30k per hire) its better to retain in most cases than to have to start afresh.

Of course there are other ways of valuing your team. Recognition for good performance, training and development, providing good facilities etc all help to create a good working environment.

Trust your team

Once you’ve brought your team in and set your achievable objectives, trust them to deliver but equally hold them accountable for delivery. There’s no point bringing experienced people in and then micromanaging them. Equally don’t ignore them. Everyone wants to know that they are producing meaningful work to the required standard so holding regular meetings to review performance is equally important.

Involve your team

At Cornerstone, we’re pretty transparent in how we are doing in terms of business performance. I’m a big fan of explaining how we are performing as it helps everyone see what part they are playing in the performance of the company. It also provides perspective as to why we can’t say yes to every request. But what we try to do is say not yet rather than a blanket no. The reality is as a small business you can’t fund every request but you can explain why its not possible now.