Brandon Frere on Making Employees Feel Needed Without Pressure to Overwork

It’s important in any company for employees to feel valued. Satisfied employees produce higher quality work and are more loyal than others who simply complete tasks for a paycheck. Feeling needed can contribute to satisfaction, but feeling indispensable can lead to undue stress. Brandon Frere, CEO, Founder and Entrepreneur suggests that business leaders strive for balance in their workforce.

“Employees need time off to recharge their batteries, but if they feel like they have to work during those breaks it becomes counter productive,” said Frere. “That’s why it’s important to have backup systems in place for when your employees need to take the time away.”

Employees who feel like no one can step in and take over for them when they miss work may feel undue pressure to always be available. They might skip sick time, work outside office hours, and delay vacations. Employers can make some changes, big and small, to make sure that employees can disconnect from work when they need to. It might start with respecting business hours. By limiting communication outside those hours, employees may feel less pressure to work then.

The bigger step is to plan for the time when employees will be unavailable. This might require training others to be able to take over in their place temporarily. Or it might mean automating some of their work, which can also free them to focus on other priorities. However, automating jobs to replace employees can worsen work ethic of those remaining. Frere suggests automating to support employees and aid them in their work.

“The trick is to establish these processes without making the employee feel less needed,” said Frere. “The thing I love about automating someone’s work is that it frees them up to be creative and innovate to the benefit of the company. That’s what I focus on when I put such changes in place.”