The Importance of Feeling Important

Between my sophomore and junior year of college, I saved up money by working as a customer service agent at a local outdoor cooking appliance company. While I'd had a little experience working as a customer service agent from a different agency in my college town, I knew little about the product I'd be assisting customers with, and felt a little green among my coworkers, who had significantly less turnaround than my last job.

Just a couple days into the job while I was still training, my supervisor told me that she had a special job for me. I took an hour or so off emails to gather the serial number locations on our different products to make a reference sheet for my coworkers. Looking back on it, it was a low-level and insignificant task. But at the time, I'd felt like a trusted, important, and needed member of the team.

As it turned out, I wasn't the only team member with special projects. K.R. worked on case assignments, K. C. was over case merging, M. S. oversaw the chats, K. W. sat on the donations committee, T. J. watched undeliverables, and so on. Everyone had their own project that they were in charge of and reported to our supervisor on--everyone was important in their own way, and everyone knew it.

It is necessary to note that there are many ways to make an employee feel important, which will vary from employee to employee and even manager to manager. Before we look into that, what are the benefits will you get for making your employees feel important?

Increased Worker Productivity

The first (and in many ways the hardest) job I ever had was a milker at a small dairy farm. Between fourteen and eighteen years old, I spent countless hours in the milk barn, oftentimes at three in the morning, oftentimes at -10 or 110 degrees fareinheit. Anyone who has worked at a dairy knows: it isn't glamorous work, and it is some pure form of crazy that keeps you going.

Or maybe it isn't. I had an amazing boss those years who took the time to check on me, evaluate how I was doing, and ensure I understood both the importance of my job and his appreciation for me doing it well. I knew what would happen to the cows if I didn't show up for a shift, and I knew I had a boss that was both aware and appreciative of what I was doing. Perhaps that made getting up at 2:45 AM on a Saturday achievable.

"Appreciation is a fundamental human need. Employees respond to appreciation expressed through recognition of their good work because it confirms their work is valued. When employees and their work are valued, their satisfaction and productivity rises, and they are motivated to maintain or improve their good work." -Cutting Edge PR

While the goals of a good manager should be more than to just increase the productivity of your team, it is likely on the list. I've seen this accomplished (or attempted) in many ways--intimidation, fear, incentives, comparison. However, the most organic way to get more from your team is showing them that you know what they are capable of, and you appreciate what they do.

Incentive for Problem Solving

It's amazing, what you'll recieve from those who feel trusted.

When an employee feels that they are trusted, they will be more likely to report problems and seek solutions. Consider my first customer service example. After I'd been given that first project, I was always more willing to reach out to my supervisor when I thought something needed created or corrected. To her credit, she always reinforced this behavior by showing that my input was valued and taken seriously. This lead to me finding a filing error and creating new reports that were shared with the VPs of the company.

Trust is a necessary element that creates self-sufficiency in a worker. Imagine an employee for a moment that constantly feels like their supervisor is monitoring their every decision critically, is reminded only of their mistakes, and rarely receives praise for how they handle situations. That employee is going to constantly seek advice or approval for solutions to their problems, take longer acting on a solution because they don't trust their gut, and be unable to work efficiently without supervision.

Better Employee Retention and Workplace Environment

It will always be more expensive to hire and train new employees than it is to keep the workforce you already have. Creating a work environment that makes people want to stay is not only advantageous from a purely business standpoint, but makes being part of a team more enjoyable.

Let's look at one of my bad examples. During my sophomore year of college, I worked as a customer service representative at a vacation booking company. It was, and likely forever will be, the worst job I've ever had. Aside from the nature of the work just being awful, the management didn't do anything to make workers feel like individuals that were cared for, respected, and valued. In fact, they did little if anything to make their workers feel like they were seen as invidiuals at all.

As a result, their employee turnaround rate was horrible. While I only worked there a semester and a half, by the time I left, I was the longest-running employee that wasn't in leadership. While I didn't get much of a chance to get to know any of my coworkers at all since fraternization was highly discouraged, I did notice that 2-3 months was the longest most workers seemed to stay, and many left after 1-2 weeks.

So, how do make employees feel important?

At the end of the day, you have to treat them like people. People with thoughts, aspirations, and feelings. While this is true for employees across the board, it is especially pertinent for members of Gen Z. They value connection and, more importantly individuality. You need to show them that you understand care about who they are and the unique strengths they bring to a team.

The best ways to accomplish this are:

1. Give your employees specific, specialized tasks that are best suited for them. This will help them remember that there is something they bring to the team that no one else can provide. In addition, it shows that they are trusted enough to handle something above and beyond their typical ascribed job list.

2. Ask their opinion on pertinent issues. The reason is twofold: first, it shows that you care about how decisions effect them, and want to make sure their interests are taken care of. Second, it shows that you trust and value their opinion--which you should, as your team sees and knows things you don't.

3. Say "Thank-you." Yes, the fact that completing a task is someone's job should be enough for them to get it done. However, showing appreciation for a job well done signals to an employee that they are doing a task correctly, and it helps them maintain a positive relationship with you.

4. Keep open lines of communication. This includes constantly touching base with how an employee is performing as well as how they are doing as a person. Is there anything that they need to be more successful? Is everything going well in their personal life? Again, this signals that you care and develops trust between you and them.

5. Show them their value. In lower positions in a business, it can be hard to see the difference you make and the value you give to the company. As a manager, it is your job to show either their progress or how they are valuable to the company. Show them the impact they've made through working with you.