Employers, appreciate your employees. Employees, appreciate your employers. I command you.  By Nimroth Gwetsa, 30 September 2018.

Timeless wisdom from Scripture says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing,
And obtains favor from the Lord” – Proverbs 18:22 NKJV. Okay, okay! Maybe it’s wrong to bring marriage into this discussion. But, leveraging this Scriptural marriage pearl of wisdom I say to you, “He who finds an employer or employee finds a good thing, and obtains favour from the Lord”.

With newspaper headlines awash with horror stories about many ills in organisations, from bosses committing fraud, blatant thievery, accused of harassment of all sorts against vulnerable employees, to denying workers their fare wage and damaging the environment, it is encouraging to also reflect on and notice some good employers going all out for their employees.

Similarly, despite the horrors we hear of employees from hell, it is delightful to also read of employees loving their work and going the extra mile without prompting from their manager. The story of Ephraim Sibeko[1], the Lanseria International Airport Baggage Handler that went viral on social and mainstream media after it was first posted by Janine Brand who noticed Sibeko’s exceptional beyond duty service, is, but one of many good news stories we hear about, of employees going beyond their call of duty to serve others!

Inasmuch as there are many mismatches between employees and employers, with some employees taking on jobs they are not really interested in, but did so, so they could earn income while looking for something better, there are many employees happy to do their job and some even doing so at lower wages. Yet managers and leaders in some companies pay little attention to such employees.

Similarly, inasmuch as there are companies only interested in treating their operations as cash cows with no intention to invest further, there are many others seeing value beyond the immediate business climate. They refrain from hoarding capital but plough it back into business and ultimately in the economy to derive value for many, and not just employees, executives and owners but broader society. We must seek, recognise and commend such efforts to show our great appreciation so we can encourage them and others to continue pursuing good.

Looking after employees, and likewise, employees caring about employers is not only a risk management and job-preservation initiative, but a wealth creation and preservation strategy.

I wish it was plain easy to say those without motivation to do their jobs but are hanging onto them for the wages they earn, could just master the courage to quit and never apply for such roles again. Similar, I wish it was easier for employers to stop dangling “carrots” to divide people so they can achieve their nefarious goals.

But life isn’t like that. Life’s diversity and complexity mean dealing with the good and bad simultaneously.

So, when one notices some employers arranging quality and comfortable transport for their staff, providing child minding facilities within or near their premises, prayer and restrooms (British definition) and allowing employees to work flexi-hours, one gets encouraged to see that “capital” finally has a soul. Others may easily scoff at this as a gimmick or political correctness or a compliance requirement or a trick by employers into getting employees to have no excuse for not being at work or working more hours.

But, we are not those seeing the “glass half-empty”, but half-full. And so, we do not see gimmicks, but genuine understanding that it takes many small and trivial things to please and induce a sense of loyalty from people, just as “small things” could discourage people. The days of slavery are gone. Even then, many slave masters knew that it required greater effort to instil fear and discipline among slaves. And that was the most unproductive use of their time, than if they had spent that time caring for people, even when everyone around them was dehumanising them.

Freeing people gave smarter “slave” masters their freedom. No wonder we were and are told the greatest of all commands is to “love thy neighbour”. We ignore this command at our peril.

So, while we hear stories of some employers still operating as though they are in the stone ages era, worried about which restroom (the US definition) is reserved for managers as opposed to employees, or this race against that one, we have smart employers paying for the healthy upkeep of employees and paying for their safety, among others.

And while some employees think of the barest minimum they could get away with at the greatest reward, we have some employees arriving early, avoiding frivolous chit-chatting and incessant smoke breaks throughout the day, but being highly productive and not eager to postpone work that should be completed on the day.

We should be quick to recognise these behaviours and deal accordingly. That’s why good performance should be recognised and rewarded early enough without creating an unsustainable expectation and creating a wrong behaviour causing performance dip when no other rewards are given. Wrong behaviour should, likewise, be spotted and reprimanded quite early, lest it sets a precedent for others to emulate and perpetrator to normalise. But such reprimands should be done gently with love underpinning it so it doesn’t break the errant employee’s spirit for the worst.

Looking after employees is not only about making the working environment comfortable for them, or offering benefits and incentives to induce their loyalty. It can also be accomplished in the manner in which their work and roles are structured. Some employers are just happy to see employees working daily, doing the same emotionally draining work without adequate relief.

Sometimes I feel for our public servants, especially in the health sector, Home Affairs and Social Services Development. Daily without ceasing, these employees process long queues of people in need of fast quality service. We see them writing and stamping on many forms, hearing of complaints and frustrations some have had and still being expected to do their jobs with a smile, care and diligence. Yet, the employer could do much more to make their lives much better than it is done currently.

Examples of relief that can be provided to such employees include introducing technology to automate some mundane tasks, or even introducing some level of “Self-Service” to reduce the workload. The obvious easy intervention the employer could make is appointing additional relief staff so employees could take regular breaks to recharge. Employers could also provide employees effective tools and facilities to enable employees do their work efficiently.

Some employers are so inconsiderate and selfish that they expect employees perform their duties without being given appropriate tools to do their work. They expect employees to use their personal facilities without being compensated for it.

Recently, we were at a wholesaler and a cashier there handed us a merchant’s copy of the receipt to sign. We noticed he handed us a school branded pen to use. Upon enquiring, we learned the employer does not provide pens and expects employees to use theirs.

Perhaps this absurdity was owing to abuse by some inconsiderate employees of the employer’s resources. Whatever the reason, it is unacceptable for the employer to take advantage of employees in such manner. The employer could have found better ways of stemming errant behaviour from misbehaving employees than expecting employees, already earning little, to provide their own pens.

Many other established companies earning millions from efforts of their employees do the same. Some expect employees to use their resources without being compensated for it. They behave as though they are doing employees a favour employing them. If only they knew their draconian rule proved their greed and disregard for employees than it was about prudent management of resources.

But many employers dislike appointing more staff because accountants and market commentators count human efficiency as they do machines’. They look at revenue per headcount and begin to get the heebie-jeebies when the ratio doesn’t meet their expectations.

Sadly for them, humans are not robots as though they have no feelings or do not tire. And robots cannot be humans, at least as we have the situation now, though with Artificial Intelligence, the gap is fast narrowing. Nevertheless, even if the gap closes and robots surpass human beings, people will never be robots and neither would robots be human beings.

But any employer only interested in the money made and not the sustainable welfare of employees is not a good employer, just as an employee only interested in income earned and does not differentiate themselves, is not an employee an employer would want to keep if a better candidate shows up.

We secure our future only when we care about the welfare of others and not just ours.

Let love prevail.

[1] An example of the site among local and global media that covered the story of Ephraim Sibeko: https://www.goodthingsguy.com/people/lanseria-baggage-worker/