In the past, employees might not have been treated exactly fairly – they might have been worked hard and not received much in return, with the boss reaping all of the benefits. Today things are different, and it’s a much fairer world when it comes to being employed (for the most part, at least) – it’s what employees expect and actually deserve.
If you’re an employer and you don’t treat your employees fairly, you’re going to lose them – they’ll go elsewhere where they’re treated better, and you’ll be left with a big recruitment bill and the unenviable task of having to start all over again when it comes to training and building a team. To stop that from happening, keep reading to find out how to treat your employees fairly.
Be Respectful
Your employees are all human beings – that’s a fact, and although it might seem obvious, it’s one that less fair employees seem to forget a lot of the time, and because of that, they don’t show their employees any respect. The fact is that respect is the foundation of fair treatment, and it’s the least an employer should do for their team, no matter what positive they work in or what their background might be.
If you’re an employer, you need to set the tone by being respectful of everyone who works for you, and creating a culture where everyone feels that respect. When an employee feels respected, they’ll do a lot more for the business and they’ll feel happier and healthier in the workplace, ensuring they stay around for longer and work as hard as they can for you.
Provide Equal Opportunities
If you’re going to treat your employees fairly, that also means offering all of them the same opportunities for progression (depending, of course, on their position and skills – that will have to be a consideration). In other words, you can’t have favorites in the workplace, and you need to consider what people can do based on their knowledge, skills, and qualifications, for example, rather than the fact you happen to like them – or not.
Make sure the process for allocating work and rewards is transparent so there’s no confusion or any problems. One way to do that is to use a specific rewards program that anyone can get information from; Awardco integrates easily with other software, for example, and that would be a good place to start.
Pay Fairly
You can treat people with plenty of respect and reward them well when it comes to one-off specific milestones, but what about in general? If their pay isn’t fair, then it won’t usually matter what else you do because the employee simply won’t be able to stay working for you, no matter how much they might want to. They won’t be able to afford it.
That’s why you need to pay your team fairly, and ensure you’ve done your research before you offer anyone employment. The pay needs to be in line with the job itself, so it’s wise to check what other people pay so you’re not too low (equally, being too high could be bad for business, so be careful). If you pay fairly, your team will be more satisfied and much less likely to leave because they can’t afford to stay.