How to Gain Appreciation & Respect from Employees

Commitment and engagement are behaviours that follow leaders who are respected by their subordinates. In the quest to gain respect from employees, an employer must show respect to their employees - its reciprocal ! A few simple rules might prove useful:

Treating your employees with respect: Just like with many other human interactions, employees tend to mirror what they see others doing. If a superior acts disrespectfully, it sets the framework for how people within the organisation are expected to act towards each other.

Recognition: Thanking and acknowledging your employees for the smallest tasks shows them appreciation, and communicates to them that their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.

Empowerment: Providing employees with the tools, resources and training to improve themselves shows them that you are invested in their growth and success.

Supportive: By giving ongoing positive and constructive feedback, employees will know that you care about the tasks they complete, and that you have set time aside to tell them what they have done well, and how they can make it even better.

Partnering: Fostering a collaborative working environment by working with employees directly and asking them for ideas/advice shows employees that their opinions and ideas are valued, and their direct efforts contribute to the growth of the company.

Expectation setting: Managers should establish clear performance goals, set deadlines and hold employees accountable for their efforts. In doing so, employees know that a certain level of work is expected from them, and that management is not discriminative against their expectations of all their employees.

Consideration: Be kind, empathetic, open-minded and thoughtful. A respected leader puts themselves in the shoes of their employees, and demonstrates understanding. Consideration needs to be placed within the context of performance management, but this should not necessarily be a harsh experience.

Trust: Demonstrate that you have faith in your employees’ skills, abilities and decisions. The employee shouldn’t feel like they aren’t trusted without reason, as it may cause tension and resentment towards the employer for unfair judgement. Trust stems from a deeper, more personal level – and employees will respect you more if they feel as if you have confidence in them.

To gain respect, an individual needs to give respect. If an employer gives respect to their employees, there is likely to be mutual satisfaction and respect – reciprocity again !