When I first got into the insurance industry 20 years ago, it was exactly what I thought it would be like to work in an office of any large corporation. There was the traditional boss (generally either a bully, a micromanager, or an easygoing fellow); there was the typical office layout with a new infestation of the cubicles that have been renamed “workstations” in the spirit of political correctness; and there was the rest of the cast of The Office – the crazy guy, the lady who lived with too many cats, etc. Leadership, such as it was, wasn’t really talked about.
Now, you can’t possibly expect to lead staff without being able to actually lead them. The problem is, staff has changed a lot in that same time. When I first went into our industry, I was pretty happy to have a stable job. As has been talked about in leadership circles non-stop over the last while, there is less a sense that they are working for your company, and more of a “sense of entitlement”, or as it was first coined, a sense of “What’s In It For Me”?. This is not a question I would have dared ask my employer when I first started, but it is certainly one that you will get asked now – not necessarily indirectly.
I’ve had the challenge of working in two very tight job markets, where getting qualified staff was very difficult. Simply attracting people to what you were trying to do wasn’t enough, they wanted to know what they would get. Do you have flex days (no) or flex hours (perhaps)? Will you let me work from home (depends on your skill level)? Will you give me flexibility during the day (yes). Essentially, what you will get asked is:
Are you willing to compete with every fantastic flexibility policy that benefits me, which I may get one, or two, or some of at another employer?
How do you answer that question? That will define how flexible you are, and how likely you are to keep your staff. That will define whether they think you are a fair company. By proving to them what they get out of it; by validating the fact that they are not automatons and that like you they have a life outside your office that also sometimes has to run 9 to 5; by being flexible ENOUGH to help them achieve their goals, you can be the employer that will lead them. You don’t have to meet everything, and you don’t have to change the names of your sick days to personal days and let them use them for whatever they wish – just set the ground rules and set where you are flexible in advance. It works wonders for helping to retain your staff members – and a bit of your sanity.
At the end of the day, flexibility used to be a privilege of the corporate leaders – your staff is rightly asking for some of that flexibility too, and without having to bow and scrape to get it. Be loyal to them by treating them like real people who have value – especially younger staff – and you will find they are more likely to find reasons to be loyal to you.
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