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The Story of a Great Empoyee

Metro HR exists to help small and medium sized businesses deliver great HR. So what happens if you deliver great HR? In theory that means you should have great employees, right? So today I am going to tell you a story about a great employee.

Let’s call this great employee Ollie.

Ollie loves his job, he comes to work with enthusiasm every day and loves doing great work, he exhibits great health and wellness habits and probably went to the gym or for a swim on his way in, or he heads out at lunchtime for a walk or run. He arrives at work early, grabs a coffee and a large glass of water and heads to his desk to check out his emails and his diary and plan his day, he is engaged and ready to face the day.

Ollie is a constant learner who embraces not only change, but professional development opportunities, he reads a lot of interesting things and is a great conversationalist, both generally and about the business, he is great in front of clients, they love him. He hates wasting time and will seize the moment and any opportunity for the business and to raise his profile, he is full of great ideas which he is not afraid to put out there for discussion, he embraces change and plans for success and he is really motivated by a sense of excellence. He is proactive and seeks feedback from his manager and his peers. He gets your business, what it does and he lives and breathes the business vision, mission and values.

He is one of the business’s rising stars, one day he will make a great leader, his exuberance carries the team with him and he brings out the best in the team, encouraging peers to put their ideas out there too. He is sociable, popular and fun to be around.

Importantly though, he is not afraid of making mistakes and is accountable and takes responsibility, he is also very self-aware and respectful of others and can be a great source of support in the team when workloads rise or times get challenging.

If he needs to he will stay on to get a job done, but in essence he plans and manages his time so well, he often leaves on time.

Well, here’s the thing, this probably is a view of perfection, and whilst we do come across businesses that have great employees like this, it’s not always the norm. But perhaps it is something to work towards?

Unfortunately, we often come across employees that are the polar opposite of a great employee, and what we see is the shockingly detrimental impact a disengaged, unhappy, change resistant employee can have on a business, but particularly within small businesses, where the impact is intensified.

What is well evidenced, and what a lot of small businesses don’t recognise is that the way employees behave and engage can have a direct effect on the bottom line and profitability. If your people are happy, committed and engaged they will treat your customers/clients and each other well, and deliver great service internally and externally. They may also say what a great place your business is to work which helps with recruitment and retention.

So we think this is about balance. If you haven’t got one already, perhaps it is time to start thinking about a people plan and considering what steps you can take to move more towards having great employees and reap some of the many benefits, rather than coping with disengaged unhappy employees that cause no end of problems, zap your time and energy and cost you money to address.

A people plan doesn’t need to be complicated. Here are our thoughts on what should be included in a basic people plan:

A comprehensive employment contract
A well thought out induction and integration activities
Ensuring all employees understand the business purpose, vision and values
A suite of HR policies that set and manage expectations,
Performance management discussions that include well delivered, two way, real-time feedback
Competitive salaries and some employee perks/benefits
Coaching or training for line managers
Regular dialogue between the management and the team

If you want help to get a people plan in place, or to review and enhance what you already have, we would love to help. You can make a start by downloading our Fantastic HR Checklist, or by booking one of our Sounding Board Taster calls. Charlotte Allfrey www.metrohr.co.uk

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