Work Relationships

Most adults spend a majority of their time at their job. Because our time spent there makes a huge impact on our lives, people should think about making well-being a priority at work. Often times we spend so much time there that we sometimes end up with a “work family” of sorts. Since we spend so much time with the people we work with it is important that we take care of and look out for each other when we can.

Even though the dynamic may be different because it is the work environment, people often take care of each other in some sort of way. If you have close relationships with the people that you work with you, may know at least the basic information about them. Others you may have more personal relationships with. Either way you know a little about them and can use that to build a positive work relationship.

Managing With Integrity

When it comes to upper management, things often change because managers are supposed to manage, delegate and guide others. However, staying too removed from the people that they work with can often hurt not only work relationships but also the work environment in general.

By forming (healthy and appropriate) relationships with their employees; managers can help their employees to do better which will in turn make their jobs easier and more enjoyable as well. Did you know that in many large corporations when there seems to be a lot of problems the first person that gets in trouble is the manager if it looks like they are not working well with others? If that doesn’t encourage you to work better with others, I don’t know what will.

Praise and Encouragement

It is extremely important for people that are in charge to encourage and praise their employees when they are doing well. When someone is praised for their “good work” or “dedication” it often makes them not only feel better about themselves but can also inspire them to continue to do great work.

When someone feels like their hard work has paid off and they get complimented for it, it can positively effect their well-being as well. As a manager, the health and well-being of your employees should be just as important as them turning in that assignment by the deadline. Healthier employees often equates to happier and harder working employees. If they don’t feel balanced in all aspects of their life it can really effect their performance.

Making Well-Being a Priority at Work

As the person in charge who mentors and guides their employees, making well-being a priority at work can do things like:
– increase morale
– boost employees self-esteem
– be a catalyst for positive change in the work place

Whether you are giving out compliments or holding health and wellness seminars – it is important to help your employees live better. If people feel good on the inside it reflects to the outside and in everything that they do – which includes their work.

My Personal Experience in Retail Management

Retail work is not for everyone. There are cranky and crazy customers. Often long hours and not enough pay. A lot of the time this equates to high turn-over. As a Retail Store Manager I always took it upon myself to praise and encourage my sales girls. Whether I ran a sales contest with prizes or made it a priority to always say a simple “thank you” at the end of their shift – I tried to treat all of the employees like they were just as important as my management team was.

There were several times where employees would later come to me and say “thank you” in return for encouraging them and treating them like human beings. I genuinely cared about how they were doing and where they were going – from their education to their career. You can form relationships with people and still hold your position when it comes to your job. Be one of the positive people in their experiences during the week.

Ways to Recognize Employees for Their Accomplishments

By recognizing employees for their accomplishments you can make often make them feel better overall. If you know that they are into competitions you can set a production or sales goal and reward the top performers – you can even reward everyone else just for their effort.

Some of the ways that you can recognize employees for their accomplishments:
1. Create a spreadsheet, poster or board that tracks your top performers: Based on my experience, this can create some healthy competition between employees and often makes everyone feel great about what they are able to accomplish while they are in the zone. You can change what the goal is every week, month, quarter and so on and even the activity because in general some people are better at certain things overall so you want to make it fair as well.
2. Recognize them during team meetings or events: If you have a small team you can have a prize, reward or certificate for everyone and point out what their best assets are. If you have a larger team you can give out bigger rewards but still give out maybe a treat bag or something small to the other members of your team.
3. Tell them to their face: When someone is going above and beyond for a long time they may be discouraged if it goes unnoticed. Give them a boost of confidence by pulling them to the side and saying “thank you.”
4. Encourage them while on the job: If you have a few employees around you do a pow-wow and point out each persons strengths. You can say something like “Jenna is really great at analyzing our XYZ reports; feel free to ask her if you want some tips.” This works well because you are pointing out the strengths of someone and encouraging others to look to them if they want some tips (which often boosts peoples self-esteem because they feel like they are the person to talk to.) Also, colleagues that are at about the same level in regards to job duties and responsibilities are more likely to ask each other questions and when they do you want them to go to the right person for certain questions.

Those are just some of the ways that I have recognized employees for their accomplishments – what are some of the ways that you have recognized your employees in the past? How have you made others feel better in the work place? How have you made well-being a priority at work? Let me know in the comments or give me a holler on Twitter.

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