Employers look for knowledge and skill when hiring people but rarely consider whether the person has a caring nature. Care is like honesty, primarily a feeling or passion. While honesty includes having a passion for truth, caring means having a concern for people’s well-being. The need to make a difference in people’s lives can have meaningful implications in the business world.
In this sense, caring is almost always connected to other people. However, if you are a caring person, you need to consider this: Care is the implementation of your passion for helping people. But because you are a person too, it means applying care to yourself as well as to others.
Caring employees are primarily servants, but not in an exploitative way. Caring persons serve their company, their clients, and their coworkers while taking care of themselves, as well.
Why Caring Employees are More Engaged
An employee who doesn’t care about their work can not be fully engaged in it. Engaged workers are those who have an emotional connection to their job and a moral commitment to take it seriously. Employees who don’t care enough are not completely engaged with their work, coworkers, and company culture, making them more than just an inconvenience. They’re a waste on an organization’s two vital resources: time and money.
Employee engagement is connected to higher profitability, quality of work, productivity and fewer safety incidents. When a company increases employee engagement levels consistently, everything improves. The best way to have people engaged in your company is to make sure that you’ve hired the right people in the first place. But how do you evaluate if someone will be a caring worker?
Evaluating Care
These questions and suggestions can be useful in job interviews and performance reviews when assessing the candidate’s commitment to care.
Why do you want this job?
High-character persons are committed to serving others, even if their job is not in the service industry. They are willing to help the clients, the bosses, and, most importantly, the mission of the organization. They should be neither selfless nor self-serving. The language that they should use when describing what they do shows a strong commitment to people, so make sure to listen carefully when candidates explain why they want a particular position.
Share a situation when you went out of your way and beyond the call of duty.
The story they choose to tell you about a time when they put others above themselves to contribute to the company’s mission and vision tells a lot about their character. But listen for any cues that may indicate that they sacrificed too much of themselves in the process.
As a manager, how would you take care of the employees who come to work sick with a cold or flu?
The right answer should be something like this: “I wouldn’t allow someone who is sick to come to work. First, I wouldn’t want them to make other employees sick too. Second, I’d want the person to get better, which means that they should stay home and rest. I’d find another way to get their work done.”
Discover the best way to maximize engagement in your workplace, consistently connect with your leadership team, and predictably turn them into highly engaged employees. Call me for some complimentary advice. Book an appointment at https://go.oncehub.com/GregNichvalodoff or call me at +1 (604) 943-0800.
