Develop Effective and Devoted Employees

Far too often we look to client relations to fix client issues rather than employee relations. Don't get me wrong, client relationship building is extremely important, but so are the relationships we need to build with our employees. As a Branch Manager you may get to see your client once or twice a month but your employees see him or her every day. This means that how well your employees feel about the company, and their manager will more than likely get passed on directly or indirectly to the client. So the more effectively we engage, recognize and manage our employees will help you in the work you do to improve your client relationships.

Engaging people starts with onboarding and how we bring them into the company, because it helps people to understand their role in the organization and where they fit in. If they do not feel like they fit in, then they question their ability to fit at all.

You need to show your employees, you care. It's not enough to just provide them with a job, employees need to recognized, validated and appreciated for the value and drive they bring. It is imperative that we ask ourselves, "How do we engage our employees who have allowed us to get to the point we are right now." One way is to provide continuous learning throughout their careers with Securitas. Organizations that enjoy high retention of employees establish learning development plans for their employees and mentor them through the learning, to ensure understanding of the material.

It's important that you have open and honest discussions with your employees especially when it comes to your expectations, their performance and the feedback you provide. Good coaching and counselling can go a long way to help improve engagement in an employee, and allow them to grow as a valued member of your team.

All too often managers find themselves spending most of their time fixing issues created by about 8% of their workforce and have little time to look at the other 92% who are doing an excellent job. However, to keep employees engaged we need to ensure that we recognize the excellent work the other 92% do or they will see that the only way to get recognized is to become part of the 8%. Recognizing an employee does not need to have a monetary value to have a great impact. A personal phone call, handwritten thank-you note, email announcement, nomination to Guard of the Year or acknowledgement during a team meeting can go a long way to make this person feel appreciated and engaged.

Learning to create a team of engaged employees will help you to stabilize your team and send a message indirectly through your employees that Securitas is a good organization and one the client can be proud to be partnered with.

By Warren Young
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Warren Young is the National Director of Training at Securitas Canada.

Securitas has been providing security services since 1934. With over 7,000 people in Canada and 310,000 people globally we have the experience and knowledge to offer a broad range of Security services; including On Site Security Guard Services, Mobile Guarding, Remote Guarding, Technology Solutions, Corporate Risk Management and Investigations.

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