Employer/Employee Relationships

Employer/Employee relationships are complicated. No different than most other relationships, but work related issues seem to cause more stress than any other type! Appreciation, collaboration, and communication are the key words to help make a successful workplace for 2012.

I find that when one person in any relationship feels unappreciated, the feelings fester, eventually erupt, and sometimes can't be repaired. If the boss feels unappreciated, that person usually holds most of the power, and he or she may begin to pull back in some form. The boss may withhold perks, promotions, raises, or any other little offering he or she may usually present or over look for those employees who don't thank or show any gratitude. On the flip side, for employees who don't feel appreciated for their hard work, their loyalty, or their value, they may steal, perhaps time or items, they may cause quiet disturbances, or they may just quit, perhaps without proper notice.

Appreciation revolves around people's feelings. If employers and employees equally collaborate on what is fair for both parties, as well as for the organization and other related parties such as co-workers and customers, the workplace will be a better place to be. The mutual goals need to be clear, and the expectations of the business and its people understood. The cross point between appreciation and collaboration is communication. Employers and employees need to be able to talk about the realistic fairness of the workplace, what will be expected and what will be appreciated as part of the deal. When spouses marry, they usually talk about who is responsible for the housework, the yard work, the shopping, and paying the bills. There is some discussion, some expectations are set, and they communicate pretty well when one party feels underappreciated or the load becomes unfair in some way. And yet, in the workplace, we enter these hopefully long-term relationships, we stress about them, we complain about them, we stick with them for sometimes years and years. We count on our work to give us our lifestyles and pay our way in life, but we don't necessarily communicate those expectations.

Hopefully in 2012 we will become better at employer/employee relationships; we will not worry about retaliation if we do communicate our needs and our goals for this coming year. These tough relationships are difficult to navigate, but we rely on them for almost everything in our livelihood.

2012 workplace goals and strategy for bosses and employees should be to appreciate one another as often as possible while remaining fair to each other and the organization, to collaborate enough to achieve the goals, and communicate the expectations as well as the thanks when it comes to fruition.