Melina Murray

This is a comment that makes me grind my teeth- especially since I only hear it when someone is feeling disgruntled, under appreciated or undervalued. (I am taking this scenario from the perspective of a friend who is an HR professional.) I want to say, “oh, yeah, how’s that?”. Instead, I usually ask “what do you mean?”. And the answer I get is something like this, “Well, I know that if I put in hard work, work overtime with no pay and don’t complain, I will benefit when the company is successful.”

And I think…

“Oh really?” Is the company taking care of you now? Have they taken care of you in the past? Have the promises that have been made to you come through? Have you set your expectations and goals with your manager?

Because if the answer to most of those questions is “no”, then the employee will go on feeling under appreciated and disgruntled. The most important one of the questions above is “Have you set your expectations and goals…?”. And the answer is usually “no”. Those who work in limbo, in the grey area where there is nothing to work towards, except some ambiguous “reach profit” goal are often the ones who feel this the most. They don’t know how they contribute to the overall goals of the company and often whatever motivation they had fades and dies out. These are the people who just go to work “for the paycheck”.

So- note to employees:  Talk to your manager.  Discuss your role and your goals.  Let your manager know how you want to grow.  Maybe your growth path isn’t possible now, but it may be down the road. Or maybe there is a role that you would enjoy and don’t know about- and you manager doesn’t know of your interest.  Not all openings are posted or talked about.

Note to managers:  Be aware of your employees.  Talk to them, reward hard work, help them grow.  But most of all - talk to them not at them.

Here is a typical scenario.  A company has a receptionist.  The receptionist is there to answer the phone.  The company realizes that the receptionist can do more than answer the phone! Wow.  But wait!  The receptionist can’t leave his/her desk because of the phones and some tasks require the person walks away from the desk.

I have seen countless scenarios where a fully capable person sitting at the front desk is not utilized because of the fear of phones not being answered.  Often this leads to making another admin hire, or handing off work to an already overloaded person.  Worse yet, it leads to the receptionist leaving out of boredom.

There are solutions!!

1. Get a wireless headset with functionality.  That way the person is mobile!  I guarantee you this costs less than a new hire, even if you have to buy a new phone system.

2. Program the phone system so the phone “hunts” other people.  If you have an actual phone system, it is easy to do.  And if other people balk at answering the phone occasionally, well, you have other issues.

3. Set up your automated system so callers will be able to find who they need without the receptionist.

With phone systems today, all of this is easily possible.  You can have your resources and use them too!