*** Employees - The Front Line Deserve Respect

In many companies there are the front line employees doing the work that gets the companies promises completed. The company has said that they will do certain things for the customers and it is these front line employees that fulfill those promises. In most cases the employee comes in to work and engages in the tasks of the day, deals with what comes along, and completes any assignments. For the most part, the employee is left alone as long as these tasks are being completed, maybe at times being checked on, but if it were timed, most of the time the employee does the job without direct supervision. In fact, if a supervisor had to watch the employee all the time, the employee probably would not still be there.

The front line employees are the players. They are the ones in the arena competing to get and keep as many customers as possible. They are the ones with direct contact with these customers and the entire reputation of the company rests on them. Let's for example, take a hospital. There are doctors that have gone to school for a very long time and know a whole lot about health care. There are nurses that assist doctors and care for the patients. There are maintenance people that keep the building running. Cafeteria people that feed every patient and the employees. The diagnostic personnel do all the tests ordered by the doctors to find out what's wrong with patients. The environmental service people make sure that operating rooms and patients rooms are clean. The stock room makes sure that everyone has the supplies to do their jobs. And there is also administration to set the goals and support services to fill in the gaps. Which group of employees can be taken away and not have it affect the hospital? I hope you answered none.

Every employee that helps the organization do the promises and service deserves respect. Without each employee doing the job the company would begin to break down. Many times these are called mistakes and mistakes do happen, but if a job is not completed on any regular basis the system breaks down. Most of the time the jobs are completed and the promises are kept, in this case, to the patients.

Respect means that an employee knows that the job is important. The employee knows that someone notices that the job is being completed. The employee is never treated as a child or belittled in any way. It means that an employee is praised and noticed. And it means that an employee is treated as if he/she knows the job best. Perhaps ideas on how to make the job better are asked from the employee. Or if an employee has a complaint the employee is asked to bring a solution with the complaint , if possible.

The reason companies have employees is that a job has to get done. Employees deserve respect for doing what is asked.