Treating Employees With Respect Will Improve Your Company’s Bottom Line

Research shows turnover increases and productivity sours when workers don’t feel a sense of belonging.

No matter the industry, turnover is expensive – and every industry is facing high turnover right now.

Between March and April of 2021, pollsters from Harris asked 1,000 hiring managers how much turnover costs their company. Get this: the average figure was $26,511.

How can these companies best avoid the financial blow from employee turnover? A new report called “The 2022 Workplace Belonging Survey” says, workers just want to be “treated fairly and respectfully.”

“We have recently undergone life-altering challenges as a population, exposing the need for workplace cultures to be transformed,” said Dr. Rumeet Billan, the study’s author. “More than 19 million American workers have quit their jobs since April 2021, disrupting businesses everywhere. Companies cannot afford to continue going through this type of employee turnover.”

Here’s how you can improve retention at your company…

Show a little respect

Nearly half of survey respondents said they’re considering leaving their current job. Of those who are looking to jump ship to another company say, it’s because they don’t feel a sense of belonging.

The vast majority of workers polled (88 percent) agree that feeling correlates with productivity. Treating employees with fairness and respect is how you make them feel like they belong, according to the study.

That means many things to many people. Acceptance and feeling valuable makes workers feel like what they do for the company matters. An inclusive environment starts from the top. Company leaders set the culture that trickles throughout every touch point of the guest experience – from front-facing workers (i.e. sales) to back-of-the-house workers (i.e. warehouse workers).

Roberta Nedry, President of Hospitality Excellence, has been coaching business on these fundamentals for more than two decades and says all great guest experiences start with company leadership.

“Management that shows appreciation to employees who affect service delivery, especially exceptional service, understands that “human capital” must be considered less as a cost and more as an asset,” Nedry says. “When an employee feels appreciated, he or she is more motivated to appreciate the guest and the dollars that guest represents.”

Lead and they’ll follow

GEM Journal has previously reported “A Bad Boss Can Kill Guest Experience.” Good leadership begets good guest experience.

A manager can pass their bad habits on from the top of the totem pole to the rest of the workforce. When leadership lacks vision and miscommunicates with staff, they lose that personal capital.

That’s when employees experience a lack of belonging and respect. Letting the team know when they’re doing a good job can put a wilt in their step. The way those employees are treated will reflect on the way they treat guests. As much as employees want to feel a sense of belonging, so do guests. If not, they wouldn’t spend money at your business.

Nedry has simple – but tried and true – advice on how to get the best attitude from your staff.

It is actually amazing how very little effort can go such a long way,” Nedry says. “Studies show that informal recognition often may be a stronger motivator than formal rewards.”

When employees feel special they’re more likely to make guests feel special. Say thank you and give positive affirmation for a job well done.

“Simple praise and recognition feel good whether directed by manager to an employee, employee to employee or employee to a guest,” Nedry says. “ Gratitude for attitude is a nice payoff in the design of the guest experience.”