How do you know if your employer is worth your investment? Most people don’t think they are investing in their employer. After all, you aren’t giving them money. However, you are giving them something far more costly. You give your employer your time, which is the most valuable commodity. It is so precious that you cannot buy more once it is lost. You can never replenish it, yet time is the most wasted resource despite these facts.
When a company wants more money, they increase revenue or reduces expenses. Similarly, when you want more time, you either find creative ways to become more productive or you reduce the amount of time you waste away. Are you wasting away time by staying with the wrong employer? How do you know if your employer is worth your investment?
The Evolution of the Employee-Employer Social Contract
Your employer is under a great deal of pressure to maximize shareholder value. Wall Street pressures them to put stockholders above all other stakeholders. However, it wasn’t always like that. Previously the relationship between employer and employee was very different. Employees would stay with their employer for the long haul. They earned solid wages and had great benefits and a pension. The cost of those awards was their loyalty and hard work. When times got tough, and the organization had to cut expenses, they would lay people off. When business improved, they would bring the people back, and it would be as if they had never left.
The relationship between employee and employer started to change around the 1980s. Companies started massive downsizing that continued into the 1990s. The downsizing initiatives weren’t always in response to a recession. Often companies were looking to reduce costs and maximize shareholder value. When there was a recession, employers brought fewer and fewer employees back as the economy improved. Through the restructuring and pivots, they realized they could do more with fewer resources. As a result, mid and late-stage career employees found themselves without a job and unprepared to reenter the job market or retire.
When evaluating your relationship with your employer, you have to be savvier. You have to figure out if your employer is worth your investment. These are the areas to evaluate when deciding if you should stay with your employer.
Does your employer reinvent itself or show signs of evolving?
Every business reaches its peak level. Blockbuster, Nokia, and Blackberry are a few examples of employers who were leaders in their market. However, they failed to adjust to market trends and competition. As a result, they had to make cuts, so jobs disappeared. If you continued investing your time in these companies, you would likely have found yourself unemployed. Even worse, future employers could perceive your skills and talents negatively.
How well do they empower employees from the bottom up?
You can tell your employer empowers you by the level of trust they offer. They talk more about what done looks like than how to get it done. They engage in small talk to understand who you are as a human being. Your employer solicits feedback and ideas from the front line up to the leadership team. They are approachable and view mistakes as lessons learned. Your employer empowers you when they encourage vacation and downtime. Additionally, they delegate more than just work by asking you to lead an important meeting or high-impact project. Moreover, they show appreciation for your efforts. These are all signs of an employer who empowers their employees. When your employer empowers you, they are worth investing your time in.
How do they treat you, and more importantly, how do they treat others that aren’t like you?
Does your employer really listen to you? Do they take the time to listen to your concerns and needs? Are they addressing conflicts head-on and quickly, or do they let conflict rot the culture? If your employer communicates regularly and openly and you feel adequately informed, they are worth your investment. Additionally, if they are public with praise when you do something exceptional, they are definitely worth your time.
More importantly, though, is to evaluate if they treat everyone this way. If your employer treats you well but doesn’t extend that courtesy to others, especially those who don’t look like you, it is time to rethink your investment in them. If they aren’t treating everyone equally and fairly they are not worth investing in. Additionally, you could soon find yourself on the other side of the fence when something changes their feelings about you.
Are the pay and benefits suitable for you and your family?
Your wages and benefits satisfy you and your family’s basic needs. Your salary is in line with the market, and for the knowledge and skills you bring, the time demand your role has, and the level of work you produce. The health benefits offered by your employer allow you to address your family’s medical needs. Finally, they offer some level of pension or a 401K and adequately match your contributions.
Are you treated like a short-term resource or a long-term resource?
You are all too familiar with the employer who acts as if they can easily replace you. You don’t matter to them; they treat you like a cog in the machine. If your employer’s only way to survive is through continuous cost-cutting, eventually, employees become victims. An employer like this is not worth your investment.
However, if your employer invests in you by growing your knowledge, skills, and experience, they are worth your time. An employer worth investing in offers learning through additional training, either in-house or outside of work. They have a solid coaching process that offers continuous improvement. Offering a regular, structured feedback process is another sign of an employer worth investing in. They also provide opportunities to stretch your experience by assigning tasks or projects that pull you outside your comfort level.
Are you loyal to those around you?
So much of our stress comes from bosses, co-workers, or our employer’s daily pressures. Close relationships are among the most important things to have in the workplace. Finding someone at work who you can talk to, who will tell you what they see in you, regardless of their strengths or weaknesses, helps you in the long run. If you are loyal to your manager, colleagues, clients, or organization, it is safe to keep investing your time with them.
Do they demonstrate care for your well-being?
Workplace stress causes absenteeism or causes people to work through illnesses. Job burnout, poor management, unmanageable workload, and unfair treatment at work are ways employers aren’t demonstrating care for your well-being.
Instead, suppose your employer checks in frequently to see how you are doing, encourages you to take time off, or offers wellness initiatives that improve your diet and physical fitness. In that case, they are an employer worth investing your time in.
What is the quality of your relationship with your direct manager?
You spend more time at work during the workweek than with your family. When your relationship with your manager is less than ideal, it has a tremendous impact. A poor relationship with your direct manager hurts your performance, potential, and attitude and bleeds over into your personal life. Having a poor relationship with your direct manager is a sign you shouldn’t invest your time in your employer.
However, having a positive and strong relationship with your direct manager is worth investing in your employer. Having a high-quality relationship with your manager means high job satisfaction and having support of senior leaders. When exciting new projects come along, you have a higher chance of being involved. When the relationship with your manager is good, you are better positioned to discuss issues, concerns, and dissatisfaction. Even more, having a good relationship with your manager means obtaining a good reference. Moving up within your organization or other opportunities elsewhere is easier when your manager holds you in high regard.
Are the processes handled fairly?
Can you trust the process even when the outcome doesn’t go your way? Being treated fairly is an expectation, and everyone’s right. Employers who avoid favoritism are worth your investment. What applies to one employee applies to all. Promotions and recognition are based on merit, qualifications, and outcomes rather than personal opinion. Having equal opportunities to apply for new positions and posting them for all to see is another example of an employer worth investing in. Furthermore, your employer should have a handbook that clearly outlines policies and rules, so everyone knows what is expected.
Having an employer who treats you as an equal rather than less is worth investing your time in. It is normal to make the distinction between management and employee, but it is not normal to be made to feel inferior.
Don’t fail to appreciate the value of time, especially when it comes to growing your career. Once lost, you can never replenish time. The sacrifices we often make for our employer, manager, colleagues, and clients are enormous. Avoid making those sacrifices for an employer who isn’t worth your investment.
Last updated on August 27th, 2022 at 06:53 am
