Urban Thought Collective

Most employers have 3 basic expectations of their employees:
- A return on salaries paid.
- Ethical behavior.
- Good customer service.

In today’s challenging environment employers are taking a hard look at which employees help generate income and which ones are what some refer to as fluff or puff.

Income generators are treasured because they are a critical part of the team relied upon to help the company stay afloat. Other key team members are those that produce the products/services, develop and implement procedures for company efficiencies (make things run smoother and save money) and those that help the company build strong working teams to position the company to attract investors and/or lenders to stay afloat.

Take former BET CEO, Robert Johnson or Apple Computer’s CEO (currently on leave), Steve Jobs. Their innovative ideas and income generation strategies put their companies on the map many years ago.

Johnson and Jobs had tremendous vision and dedication, but are there strategies for others who do not wish to take on the risks of business ownership?

Be worth more than what you are being paid
Make sure your employer can determine his/her returns on the salaries you are being paid.

In other words, understand what department your salary is paid from, how it is being justified (i.e. is it a percentage of the sales you generate or are you paid based upon the division’s overall performance or based upon some budget figure from several departments).

You are in a positive position if you have unique talents and skills that can’t easily be replaced and you take the time to research your options both within and outside of the company.

Bottom line, make sure you are adding value to the company that employs you and know your worth or rest assured you will not have to worry about scheduling vacations or punching a time clock ~ you will be on permanent unpaid leave.

Ethical behavior is back in style
With the Enron and many other scandals and the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley and company-wide anonymous whistle-blower hot-lines, ethical behavior (at least on the surface) appears to be coming back in style.

It’s amazing that bad, unethical decisions companies made affected hundreds of thousands throughout the country and the world. Take the bad decisions that were made extending loans to individuals who the lenders clearly realized were not in a position to pay-off loans and often times used fraudulent documents to approve these loans.

Don’t be one to let commissions or a thought of continuing employment cloud your behavior. A simple fudge or oversight can easily be viewed as criminal intent in the eyes of a fraud investigator.

Clearly in many instances, this unethical behavior (maybe not illegal if they followed the actual rules in place at the time) has caused the markets to falter and we are still experiencing the fall-out from these bad decisions.

Do the right thing to avoid not just firing, but to maintain your solid positive personal reputation.

Remember, if you get released for unethical behavior this might prohibit or lengthen the time it takes for you to find new employment.

During challenging times whistle blowers are in full force and if the company offers rewards, this would be just the incentive needed to convince someone to tell (snitch).

Loyal customers stick around
Do you want to increase your chances of keeping your job in a down-turn market?

Help be part of the team who caters to the customers because loyal customers refer others and stick around, even when times are challenged.

It’s great if customers write in positive experiences they have with you as an employee and how this helps them spend money with your employer.

Continue to perform quality service, even when there are reductions in staff adding to your work-load. You will hopefully be rewarded with continued employment and/or an opportunity to jump ship if someone views you as a team member they want to have at their company instead.

Try to document the value you bring to your clients and if you are able to increase customers and create more efficient ways to serve them. I’m not suggesting that you should waive a
flag and remind your employer everyday that you’re a great client attraction magnet, but certainly have relevant documentation of positive customer experiences ready to discuss during annual reviews.

Remember, creating efficiencies with the work you perform and helping the company make more money and cut expenses will help in the long-run and might save a job or two (hopefully yours).

Employee’s Loyal Tendencies
There used to be a time when employers expected employees to be loyal if they treated them fairly and provided a stable work environment.

Employers now evaluate employees on what some call “loyal” tendencies. In many management circles, an employee’s performance expectation is based upon whether you’re a short-timers or a longer team player. There is an understanding by most employers that the term loyal employee refers to someone who will not disclose trade-secrets, will hang around as long as they are making a competitive salary and have work and fellow co-workers who interest them.

During more positive economic times top performers are always being recruited by other companies so employers typically determine the status of a prospective employee during the interview as a:
- Job seeker who can’t find work elsewhere within their chose profession.
- Climber who is only interested in building a resume.
- Hard worker interested in finding a better opportunity.
- Name dropper impressed by the company and who he/she might be able to affiliate with if hired.
- Seeker who has evaluated the company and determined that he/she can add value and fit-into the company

Speaking to many clients they tell me that it’s the co-workers and office culture that attracts employees to a particular company and if you want to be successful you should seek to find an employment situation that is mutually satisfying and if you are in-between opportunities take what’s available and seek a better opportunity.

Genevia Gee Fulbright, CPA is President & COO of Fulbright & Fulbright, CPA, PA, a business strategist, tax advisor and author of Make the Leap: Shift from Corporate Worker to Entrepreneur and most recent book Make the Leap: From Mom & Pop to Good Enough to Sell (Infinity Publishing). Her sound financial planning advice tips can be read regularly on www.urbanthoughtcollective.com. Visit Fulbright at www.makeleap.com.