A Different Take on Employee Benefits

I had an opportunity to speak at the Printing Industry Alliance Employment and Human Resources Solutions Conference last week. This sold-out event brought together industry executives intent on learning and sharing best practices for building strong, effective, and engaged work teams.

Among the many timely subjects presented, particular emphasis was given to the increased importance of employee benefits. The “post-pandemic” impact on remote working preferences, enhanced schedule flexibility, and the challenge of attracting and retaining top talent (an enduring challenge in the printing industry) were given considerable time for discussion. Creative ideas for enhancing employee benefits were shared. All good!

Here’s another take. Perhaps one of the most overlooked employee benefits is the commitment to developing the managerial, supervisory, and leadership capabilities of your key people. Think about it.  What better way to improve the level of commitment, productivity, and work enjoyment among your team members than to ensure the people responsible for supervising, managing, leading, and developing your staff are given the training, tools, and professional development needed to improve their chance for success?

Numerous surveys asking employees why they choose to leave their job point overwhelmingly to one major reason: A lack of respect for their immediate supervisor. This can manifest itself in many ways in the workplace and can lead to problems, some of which are obvious, and some more subtle. Either way, the question to ask is this: Can your organization afford to have promising, talented people leave because of supervisors who are ill-equipped for their role?

As much as senior leadership may work to create a positive, productive organizational culture, the fact is that for many employees, corporate culture is defined by the department in which they work and the person in charge. I have seen a good amount of frustration expressed by business leaders who lament the gaps in communication and understanding about what matters most in their organization despite their best personal efforts.

If you have thought about the importance of strengthening the leadership and interpersonal skills and effectiveness of your supervisors and managers, but just haven’t gotten around to planning for this, here is one more reason to move this up on your list of priorities. Of all the “employee benefits” you currently offer and are thinking about enhancing, there may be none more impactful than management and supervisory skills development. The Graphic Communications Leadership Institute (cgleadershipinstitute.com) is an excellent option. There are other resources as well.

Now is the time to make this important investment.

For more information, contact me at joe@ajstrategy.com