HR 101 - A job is just the way to pay the bills

ARTICLE 24

A Job is Just A Way to Pay the Bills

By Nikki Viljoen – N Viljoen Consulting CC – April 2009

Would you believe me if I told you that for millions of employees out there, not only in South Africa but also all over the world, think that ‘a job is just a way to pay the bills’.

How sad is that – and I am saying that from experience!  There have been moments in my life when I felt trapped in a job that I did not particularly enjoy but, hell it paid the bills, and I was too scared to walk away from it because to some extent, it was a comfort zone.

What about your staff – are they passionate about what they do or is it for them, ‘just a way to pay the bills’.

Wait a minute, lets look at this from a different perspective – as employers, are you hiring people ‘just to get the work done, or fill a gap’ or are you hiring people who have every intention of becoming skilled in whatever job they are in, in order to make it into a career?  Do you encourage your staff to move in the direction of making, whatever it is that they do, a career?

Again, I speak from experience when I tell you, you need to hire someone who wants to make something of their lives, people who are passionate about being the best that they can be in whatever field that they are passionate about – be it as the tea lady or the cleaner or the warehouse worker or the Accountant or the Salesperson.  If you want them to do whatever the job requirements are to the best of their ability, with passion, with thought and with love – then don’t be hiring someone just because they look good or because at a push you can ‘squeeze’ them into whatever you think the job you have on offer is.  I promise you all that you will bring upon yourself is irritation, challenges and often loss of sales, stock, clients and even money, never mind respect.

Your employees need to see  what the opportunities the job you have on offer are, they need to see that they will grow as individuals and they need to see that you will train them properly (or help them get trained properly) and in return they will, more often than not, serve you well. 

Staff who are not passionate about what they do, won’t be passionate about your business, which means they will not perform well, which means that productivity will be shot to hell and the quality of their work will be ‘just enough to get by’ and all of this will impact on your business, your sales figures, your clients.

So think carefully when you hire staff – think about what they can do to your business or for your business.  Choose wisely – the success of your business may actually depend on it.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za