Valuing the Employee Mentality

Do you find that no matter how closely you work with some of your employees and no matter how well you compensate them they still act like employees rather than owners?  Are you frustrated because you assume that everyone should care as much about the company as you do?

Some employees work very hard from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then walk out the door and leave their work behind to begin living their other life; their real life.  They don’t think about work until the next morning when they come back and do their best for the company again.  Their relationship to work is fundamentally different; it is the employee mentality. 

It is difficult for some managers to accept the employee mentality.  It is important to value the employees who come in, do their work and go home.  These employees make valuable contributions to the workplace every day.  They are dedicated, loyal and conscientious.  They simply do not want to make business the center of their lives and they are not wrong to feel that way.  They don’t want to be “owners” of a business. 

Monetary rewards, bonuses and recognition will motivate these employees to perform beyond their job description but will not change their fundamental values.  These employees bring a valuable sense of balance to the workplace; they remind everyone else that having a balance between work and a personal life and family life is important.