Organisations or employers who believe that the best way to keep or maintain employees is to make them subservient and vulnerable under the working environment to the extent that all opportunities for further development of skills and competencies are restricted will not survive the corporate turf in the coming years. Their days are numbered and counting!

These employers feel it is a waste of time and resources to allow their workers to even use their spare periods to pursue some studies to upgrade themselves in any way. In fact, some feel threatened to the extent that they begin to engage their workers with extra duties making sure there is no room for further development on the part of their workers. Organisations of such caliber are not smart and definitely have myopic view of the corporate world which eventually affects their growth and performance.

In a time when competition is intense within the corporate world, creative growth and technological advancements are crucial to business success hence smart employers or companies are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of hiring and retaining excellent or talented employees and providing them with an enabling or exciting environment to work.

In my previous article titled “Smart employers must look beyond”, I identified Smart Employers as those who consider personality trait as a major determinant in selecting or hiring workers and placing them where they would be most comfortable and effective. They tailor roles or duties of employees to suite their unique nature which makes the working environment an exciting one. Smart employer in recruiting workers critically looks at the personality traits that match the organizational cultural framework which certainly enables the worker to feel comfortable in the specific organizational environment, feel motivated by this environment and be able to deliver the expected results for the organization. It is not just about the qualifications and experiences! These organizations per the nature of their working environment boost productivity making workers feel fulfilled which in itself becomes a sort of motivation.

Once employees feel satisfied and fulfilled with what they do, they begin to look out for new and smarter ways of doing what they enjoy and this is where they become passionate about their job and seek for more knowledge. Under a Smart Employer or Smart Organisation, all employees seek to excel in their individual roles even at their own expense because of the inner satisfaction they end up deriving. They therefore become smart employees providing the brain power for making things faster, better, cheaper and easier for the organization.

The Smart Organisation under this circumstance does not hesitate to make room for its employees to pursue opportunities for further knowledge in their respective fields of operation knowing very well that the organisation will eventually benefit from their expertise. The working relationship becomes a symbiotic one. The Smart Organisation on one hand acknowledges the performance of its employees and spurs them on to take bolder initiatives and become more creative in their endeavours and the Smart Employee on the other hand, in a bid to gain trust on the job and earn more revenue looks out for new ways of improving his or her performance.

Under such environment, there is a seemingly psychological contract between the two parties, which is the organization and the employee. The organisation feels obliged to provide the appropriate environment for growth and performance recognition whiles the employee feels obliged to deliver the utmost best. With this mentality, there is no limitation to the organisation’s performance just as the employees become experts in their field of operation. No challenge is deemed as insurmountable but rather an opportunity to explore new ideas and new ways of doing things.

The fact here is that, the Smart Organisation does not feel threatened by its employees just as Smart Employees under this organisation do not feel intimidated. There is mutual respect between the two parties as both look at the bigger picture out there and think about how to maximize their respective gains. There is no time for pettiness under this environment.

Frank Agyemang Agyemangfrank@gmail.com