Getting to know what your employees want

Do you know what your employees want?

Most employees are hopeful and positive when they start out in a new role. From the employer’s point of view it may have been hard work finding a suitable candidate to fill a specific post – you need to keep this newbie.
Most companies have an induction process, assign a mentor or buddy, and arrange for someone from HR and/or the line manager to spend time with the new recruit showing them the ropes.  First days and weeks in a new role or a new company can be quite overwhelming. It all seems to be about learning – the newbie learning about what they have to do. How often though, hand on heart, can we say that we really invest time finding out what the newbie really wants?

3 Reasons to show an interest in what motivates your new employee

1. Showing genuine interest from the start makes the employee feel cared for and welcome.
2. Knowing what they want and how they like to work will help you manage them better.
3. You will start building up a trust relationship and employees are likely to feel motivated to contribute more than you expect.

3 Questions to find out what your new employee wants

1. What do you want from this post? You know what you expect them to do, but have they really thought about why they are here and what it is going to do for them?
2. What do you hope to learn on the way? This is an early indicator of things to come, and a great question for finding out more about attitude in general. If no interest is shown in learning, then perhaps you will see early on that this is a relationship that won’t be going anywhere. There are also those who expect you to tell you what they should learn and find the right training for them. And then there are those who have clear goals, and will not be afraid to say what they want – and they will definitely warm to this question.
3. How much support do you expect from me? Different people have different expectations. Some people may expect and want a line manager who controls every step they make. Others may want a boss who leaves them completely to their own devices.  And there are plenty of options between these two extremes. Doesn’t it make sense just to ask? Once we know , we can try and work around these expectations. But if we don’t know, how can we possibly be aware of whether  we are keeping them happy or not?

3 Possible outcomes of not discovering what your new employee wants

1. Allowing the wrong people to pass the probationary period. Getting some clear answers early on shows you so much about attitude. Making the wrong decisions in terms of the probationary period can be a costly mistake, de-motivate other members of the team.
2. Losing great employees. If no interest is shown, then those employees we really want to stay, will eventually move on to the competition.
3. Never getting the full potential. An employee may do their job well, but if they feel that you care what they want and are doing something to help them achieve it, they are just going to give so much more.

We only suggest three questions you could ask to find out more about what your employees want. There are hundreds out there. We’d love to hear what questions you use. Why not share them with us by posting in the comments box below?