One of Human Resources’ biggest gripes is that employees are a thankless bunch. And they’re probably right. That said, I think the bigger question is what’s really making the employees not appreciate the benefits organizations bestow upon them?
While I know this would be the perfect ‘it depends’ scenario, in my opinion, one of the prominent reasons could be the fact that employees can smell shallowness from afar. I’m not saying HR folks are shallow but from an experienced practitioner’s point of view, merely paying employees well with incentives and benefits isn’t enough.
You have to really care. As deeply as you possibly can care about those persons who’re giving away some of the most productive phases of their lives to your organization. It sounds thoroughly impractical, I know, particularly for those massive Fortune 500/100/50 organizations. They don’t have the time to deeply care for anyone but the policies, procedures, and meetings that have to happen to keep the engine running. I get it.
I’m pretty sure, however, that they can afford resources who serve as touchpoints to the employees. Couple that with an outreach program that requires them to set up some time with each employee to find out what’s going on and what else can the human resources do to make it worth the employee’s while.
If you’re still not convinced, that is okay. But I’m pretty sure it’s pretty doable. Just hard to execute. Could that be because HR practitioners refuse to step outside their policies and procedures mindset?
Whatever the case might be, the truth is nobody remembers what the company does for its employees, especially once they’ve moved on to better opportunities. Except how you (the immediate boss, HR person and/or department) made them feel.