It may seem out of place for a software consultant to comment on HR matters. However, I have been an employee many times over, as have been most of the readers of this blog. I have also been an employer, and have always tried to treat the people working for me as valuable “assets”. Regrettably,  as an employee I was rarely  treated the same way.

When we are employees we all feel that we are indispensable and irreplaceable, but rarely is that the case. When we are employers we feel that everyone is dispensable and replaceable, and that is also rarely the case.

A recent article, titled the same as this blog post and written by Mel Kleiman, was published in the April 2013 issue of Humetrics, This article struck me as both poignant and accurate, and I have taken the liberty of paraphrasing it here, following each of the author’s “points” with a better alternative.

1. Treat everyone equally.
   Your employees are not equal and therefore they need to be treated differently. The key is to treat them all fairly.
2. Tolerate mediocrity.
   A-players do not have to or want to play with C-players.
3. Have dumb rules.
   Great employees want guidelines and directions and do not want rules that get in the way of them doing their job.
4. Don’t recognize outstanding performance.
   Behavior you want repeated needs to be rewarded. That reward may be as simple as saying, thank you.
5. Don’t have any fun at work.
   The work place should be fun and the environment should be relaxed.
6. Don’t keep your people informed.
   You have to communicate the good and the bad. Uninformed employees start up the rumor mill and the rumors are rarely good news.
7. Micromanage.
   Tell your employees what needs to be done and why their job is important.
8. Don’t develop employee retention strategy.
   Employee retention must be attended to every day. Cultivate those you want to retain and review what you are doing or will do to keep that person engaged and on board.
9. Don’t do employee retention interviews.
   Do not wait for an exit interview to find out what you should have done to keep that valuable asset.
10. Make your onboarding program an exercise in tedium.
    The biggest cause of “Hire’s Remorse” is a poorly organized, inefficient and boring orientation training program.