Simples! - it isn't hard to be a good employer, or is it?

As a physicist, I value elegant and simple. It is natural for the world to trend to disorder and complexity, so unless you start simple life will never be easy.

In this vein I loved the following item that I found quoted by a business contact. In his article this was attributed to Lucy Kellaway of the FT, and i have now found it in an article on 30 January 2011. I think it is worth repeating and sharing.

‘We all know what distinguishes a good employer from a bad one. A good one provides four basic things.

First, it makes sure that everyone has a proper job to do.
Second, it pays them fairly.
Third, it makes employees feel that their efforts are recognised.
And fourth, it gives them nice people to work with.

That's all: there is nothing else'.

This seems so simple, but also seems to encompass all the important aspects. I have seen recently how it can be used as a litmus test when staff turnover is high. In the example I have on mind the first three aspects were deficient with a resultant annual staff turnover of 30-50%.

As managers, it would pay us to regularly "test" the environment we create for our staff and this is a simple one to use I would suggest that if two or more are below par then one can expect trouble.

Do you agree?

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