By John Tabis
So many companies have it backward. So many bosses have it backward. So many of us have it backward. We’ve built our lives around our jobs instead of the other way around. Not surprisingly, this can lead to stress and unhappiness, resulting in poor productivity and poor outcomes at work, high turnover and expensive recruiting.
As a leader, you can change this mentality at your organization by enabling the flexibility that employees crave. At The Bouqs Company, I’ve found that putting employees' personal lives first through accommodating policies can yield more productivity and ownership -- and better results. At a gut level it may feel a little odd given the historic culture around workplace norms, but we believe that an employee-first mentality will yield amazing financial returns. While we also believe it’s the “right” thing to do, this is ultimately an ROI-based decision.
In addition, and perhaps most importantly, an employee-first perspective in your business creates a great company culture. With a staggering 70% of American workers disengaged on the job, your company culture is key in retaining and attracting the talent you need.
That's why we focus on the person over the position, looking at the individual first and their role second. It’s time to stop treating people like cogs in a productivity machine. Here are several ways to start putting employees first:
Flex Vacation
Less than 1% of American employers currently offer unlimited paid vacation time, but companies like Virgin, Netflix, and Groupon are among these progressive thinkers. At The Bouqs Co., we offer 100% flex vacation. We trust our employees to manage their work in the best way possible, but enable them to work when they want, where they want. We believe employees shouldn’t have to sacrifice important personal time for a job. We provide them freedom to make their own choices and execute the work when they can be most effective. This is not only empowering, but also builds long-term trust and loyalty. When vacation time comes around, we ask employees to ensure that results won’t suffer, and leave handling that up to them.
Remote Work
We also allow employees to choose where they work. This allows employees to deal with life events, such a caring for a sick family member, without having to take weeks off or quit their job completely.
This flexibility also helps attract and retain young talent at your company. According to oDesk, 89% of Millennials would prefer to choose when and where they work rather than being placed in a 9-to-5 position, and 45% would choose workplace flexibility over better pay.
We’ve seen this have positive impact at The Bouqs Co., and other companies tend to agree: according to a survey on workplace flexibility by WorldatWork, 65% of organizations say that flexibility has an extremely positive impact on employee engagement, motivation and satisfaction. With all else equal, we prefer to have folks in the office. It’s important for building bonds and culture; but if there’s a reason for being out of the office for a short period or an extended time, we don’t focus on it much. We hire self-driven people who will create great work wherever they are. And we trust them to execute regardless of location.
Focus on Results
At The Bouqs Co., I care much more about the what than the how. We operate ethically and within brand guidelines. In employee reviews, we talk about performance and the employee’s personal progress, but I also encourage employees to tell me what makes them happy (or unhappy) in their job and in life. This provides an opportunity to look at how we can help maximize that happiness.
This Harvard Business Review article describes a survey that says a good leader must be results-focused and have strong social skills in order to be successful. However, there must be a balance of both. Strong results-focused leaders with weak social skills were perceived as a "great leader" by only 14% of people. Along the same lines, leaders with strong social skills and weak focus were perceived as great leaders by only 12%. When people were thought to have both qualities, their perceived leadership abilities rose to 72%.
Being results-focused or having strong analytical skills is beneficial only when a leader has the interpersonal insight to diagnose potential problems' origins. Often, problems stem from relational issues in the workplace. If you focus on the what, you can leave the how open for restructuring in order to produce results that make sense for your employees’ individual needs.
It’s time to start putting employees first. After all, you can’t create a great company without great people. When employees feel cared about, they do their best work, stay with the company longer, work harder and produce more. It's a win-win.
John Tabis is the founder and CEO of The Bouqs Company (@TheBouqs), a cut-to-order online flower delivery service.
