Changing the terms of engagement between employees and employers is crucial. However, both parties might naturally be reluctant to this kind of drastic change, simply due to a fear of the unknown.
The Trigger
Our brain's primary function is to help us survive. Because of this, we prefer routine actions that we know are safe and risk-free. However, certain triggers can cause the brain to leave its comfort zone and take a new direction. These triggers can be external or internal.
An external trigger is outside of your control. It could be anything from an advert to someone bumping into you in the street. These triggers occur from the things around you, whereas internal triggers are typically based on your perception and elicit durable and longer-lasting feelings of positive or negative emotion.
The main objective of a trigger is to push you to take action. In the context of creating an employer-employee agreement, two external triggers are particularly important—law and results.
I recommend offering two types of agreements for employees to fulfill these triggers; a flexible arrangement based on results and a traditional agreement based on attendance.
A Flexible Agreement
A flexible agreement will allow employees to act more like business partners and mature professionals. This agreement will offer the employees full control over their time and actions.
With this agreement, the employee-employer relationship is governed by results only, and employees will receive immediate rewards depending on whether the right results are achieved. Employees won't need to get permission from their managers like a student in a class, and it can help ensure that employers accomplish the results they are investing in. This can also give employees a sense of ownership and a strong positive internal trigger.
A traditional employment agreement is based on current labor laws, whereby the employer has full control over the employee's time, and the employee must stick to their workplace's attendance system.
This risks triggering a negative emotional response for the employee, as they might miss social or family events while sticking to their contracted work hours.
This traditional agreement isn't always ideal for employers either, as it can become increasingly challenging to ensure that employees are using their time in the office effectively on work tasks. It can mean that employers follow a micromanagement strategy that isn't sustainable in the current technological era.
The first trigger is positive, while the second trigger is negative. Combining them will give you an excellent effect that will push both employees and employers to take action in creating a results-based agreement.
With time, employees will get used to the freedom these kinds of results-based agreements bring, and the employer will have more time to build successful strategies. Over time, the old days of micromanaging will vanish.
Implementing the New Employer-Employee Agreement
This section outlines the preliminary KPIs that you need to include in any flexible agreement. I recommend making it more straightforward at the beginning by only monitoring the deliverables, which we call the Purpose of Hire. Most companies try to measure every single result and spend months if not years trying to find the optimal KPIs that govern results-based engagement.
Now, both employees and employers are following results-based engagement, which is ideal. However, this agreement should show immediate rewards to ensure that both parties aren't reverting to the old agreement. This can be easily reviewed by having a monthly review. In this review, the deliverables will be assessed, and a score will be generated—it's vitally important to have a score, as a positive score offers immediate rewards to both the employee and employer. Post-positive review, the employee will get the flexibility promised, and the employer will get the deliverables that were requested.
Monthly reviews should continue, and the scores should be accumulated so the employee will have measurable assets for their future. Even if shortcomings appear in one report, scores can stay high as employees can maintain good credit.
I recommend having these results visible to all employees, as top performers will feel proud and try to protect their status, while low performers will work harder to avoid social pressure.
Warning: With this shift, an employer might lose some of the B Players who are not willing to take ownership. There might also be some resistance and attempts of keeping the old system, but this is a response to any overhaul, and the benefits of getting it right far outweigh the costs.
How Can StemeXe Help You?
With StemeXe, the process of transforming your employer-employee agreement becomes seamless and effective. Our comprehensive human experience management platform empowers both employees and employers to embrace a results-based approach. Through flexible agreements, clear KPIs, and continuous performance assessments, StemeXe ensures a smooth transition to a future where employees are motivated, engaged, and driven by their ownership of the outcomes. Say goodbye to the old ways of micromanagement and hello to a workplace where productivity thrives, and employees can truly shine.