When thinking about Public Relations, the topic of employee relations does not often come to mind. Before this program I would have never thought that managing employee relations was a job, and that that job could be considered part of the Public Relations field.
Employees are the backbone of an organization, and one of the their most important audiences. Employees’ attitudes have the ability to make or break an organization. This means that the happiness and satisfaction employees get out of working for their organization should be extremely important to management.
The class was asked what made us unhappy in our workplaces, and everyone was very quick to respond, however then we were asked what made us happy. We were all a little slower to respond to this question, however after some thought we came up with some very positive answers. Some of the things, as students, we valued most were the ability to be creative, freedom, flexibility of schedule, meeting people, and seeing our work have an impact on somebody. Most of the things that made us unhappy were related to communication . Our answers included, lack of employee motivation and appreciation, opinions not being heard, no clearly defined expectations, and lack of inclusivity training.
At this time I believe that recent graduates expect something different out of their work environment than 10 or 20 years ago. I believe we expect something more. We are a generation of social media that is used to being able to share our opinions whenever we want. We value communication, freedom, and equality in the workplace, and expect to be able to have open communication with other employees, as well as upper management. We expect everything to be fast paced, and as efficient as possible, and rely heavily on technology. I also believe that we want our workplace to be more than just a place we go from 9 to 5 to do work. We want to feel included in the workplace, and feel as if we are contributing to the larger picture.
This summer I had a job in one of the ministries. I went in thinking that everything would be extremely professional, fast paced, and organized. The reality was that it was extremely unorganized, and slow going. No one had set jobs for me to do, and I was often given tasks that didn’t need to be done, but were just work for me to do as I would finish the work I was given quicker than expected. The way I am trained to work is to get things done as quickly as possible, in the most efficient and useful manner. My employers also commented on my communication skills. They said that they couldn’t believe how well I communicated with the team I was working with through letting everyone know what I was working on, what my progress was etc. This is also something that I have come to expect through email, Facebook, texting etc. I am used to fellow classmates, and friends updating me and keeping me informed on what is going on so that I can stay organized.
Employers really need to begin to focus on their employees, and their employees’ needs. We live in a time where job loyalty is not common, so making employees want to stay in an organization is a very positive thing. The more job loyalty, pride, and satisfaction an employee has in their organization, the more successful the organization will be.
Here is a clip to go along with this blog post. Enjoy J
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