Tess Taylor 
The power of self-esteem is incredible. When a person feels good about him or herself, in the workplace, he or she is more capable of doing a good job on a regular basis. Likewise, if an employee has a low level of self-esteem, that person struggles with nearly any action or task.
Though many people believe self-esteem is something you either have or don’t have, that’s not the case. It changes in degree throughout our lifetime. And, employers, floor managers, and even co-workers directly impact the self-esteem of workers.
The Cause of Self-Esteem
In close relationships, such as work environments, if a person receives generally positive feedback, the person is more likely to see himself or herself as worthwhile, thus leading to a positive impact, the Mayo Clinic indicates. Likewise, when a person is criticized, teased, or otherwise devalued by others, especially in front of others, he or she has poor self-esteem. Improving self-esteem in the workplace can lead to:
- Lower employee turnover
- Better productivity levels
- More internal promotions
- Better sales results in sales-positions
- A positive workplace environment
- Higher employee morale rates
Boosting Employee Self-Esteem
With all of these good things stemming from good self-esteem, the question is what the HR team can do to improve it within the organization. The following tips can help.
- Never criticize employee performance on the floor or in front of peers. Leave the negative for the office (private meeting) and praise on the floor.
- Realize the importance of making people feel valued on a daily basis. Even if you come from the line of thinking that people should just do their jobs, everyone needs to feel valuable to the company.
- Make time to communicate. Do you ask your assistant about her weekend? Do you talk to your floor managers about their sick child? Showing some level of interest allows a person to feel valued by you.
- Don’t use employee competitions that purposely will show how someone else didn’t do well. That is, if you know you have one superstar sales team member and he or she would win any competition there was, avoid such competitions. You don’t want to shame people who may not have the experience others do.
- Develop a training program that has stages learning and tests it. A big component of positive self-esteem comes from knowing how to do the job. Yet, many in-house training programs lack the depth needed to ensure this is the case.
- Manage your managers. As the HR team or employer, not only is it your job to communicate with your staff, but also your management’s job. The way your management or other area supervisors interact with staff is a critical piece of the self-esteem puzzle.
Investing in these changes may not seem like a big deal, but they can be to the people you work with on a daily basis. Take a long, hard look at the way you move through the day. Are there people in your workplace that could use a positive talk or an encouraging performance review? Give it to them. It makes them a better employee and you a better person to work for in the long term.
