Businesses are Desperate for Employees. You can make yourself a Valuable Employee.

By, Bob Peters || January 27th, 2022

Businesses are desperate for good employees.  You can make yourself a valuable employee by understanding what a good employee looks like in the eyes of the employer.  Good employees make more money.  A couple of stories:

Many restaurants are now limited on the hours of operation because they can’t get enough workers to support the customer demand.  Restaurant owners need to serve as many customers as they can to cover the cost of rent and other fixed costs.  Limiting hours because restaurants can’t find workers makes it very difficult for the owner of the restaurant to stay in business.

A friend who is doing a remodel on his home had ordered a replacement garage door.  During a normal phone call check-in with the business owner to coordinate the delivery of the garage door my friend was told by the owner that he was shutting down his business because of the difficulty in locating reliable, skilled employees.  It became too difficult to hire and train new employees.  The irony was that business was “booming” and demand for garage doors was at an all time high but without good employees there was no way he could fulfill the orders.

We are living in a time where the demand for labor exceeds the supply of labor.  This won’t last forever but if you are seeking a job its a good time to find a job.  

It’s very easy to become a great employee.  Listen carefully.

The basic business model:  A business needs to provide services and products that delight their customers so that customers want to come back for more.  It’s no more complex than that.  Listen carefully.

What this means is that every employee needs to figure out what he/she needs to do in order for customers to be delighted.  If you interact directly with the customer its all about understanding what it would take for the customer to share and describe a great experience to others.  There are internal customers (coworkers) and external customers including vendors.  If you have the mindset of what it would take to Wow the customer you are on a good path.  Some descriptives may sound like these:

“Laura was the best restaurant waitress I’ve had in years.  She greeted us with a smile, showed a sincere appreciation that we were dining and respected our desired pace of the dining experience.  Further, Laura was very knowledgable on each of the entrees and happy to make recommendations that were backed up with descriptions of the menu that underscored her food competency.  She checked in timely to make sure our meal was prepared as requested.  Silently refilled water, coffee as we dined and politely offered desert with a display of knowledge of how each selection was prepared.”

“My business produces products that we install at the home of the customer that allows them to have a more enjoyable life with friends and family.  Our success depends upon providing supplies of consumables that are refilled each month.  If the product is installed correctly, is well maintained and the employee is courteous and respectful, the customer will likely stay with us for many years.  I need to make sure my employees respect the customer by showing up on time, doing good quality work the first time and is courteous with customers, vendors and other  employees.  The employee needs to be able to take constructive feedback to make them better without drama and work with others within the company to achieve the common goal of growing our business and delighting customers.”

Caring matters

“If your manager sees that you sincerely care about learning how to do the best job possible and delighting the customer you will likely be given more leeway to learn from your mistakes.  On the other hand, if you show apathy about doing quality work and lack of desire to treat others with respect, your employment will likely be short lived.  For good reason.

Show up on time, ready to give it your best.  Pay attention to detail.  Detail matters.  Personalize the Why.  Why am I doing this job beyond the pay?  Can you provide an experience that would be so great that it would “make the customers’ day” and, in doing so, create an advocate who will tell friends and family to come to your establishment?”

Working as a waiter is a great way to understand how to Wow the customer.  There is not a better way to connect the dots between good service and more income.  Tips are better for those who provide a great experience.

Every job has the same base need for the employee to understand what the employer needs and delivering that with respect, courtesy, openness to accept constructive feedback and a sense of urgency.

Everthing that you want, you are already that.

“Everything that you want you are already that” 

It’s worth thinking about those words. Attitude, Behavior, Support and Love mix with all of our strengths and weaknesses to create an outcome.  You have all that you need inside of you.  Be kind to yourself and others. Get excited about finding an opportunity to Wow.