Organizational Behavior: What Makes a Good Employer

Organizational Behavior: What Makes a Good Employer With changing corporate culture and rapid transformation in the definition of a worker, employees no longer base their decisions on salaries and fringe benefits alone when selecting an employer. The companies that everyone wants to work for are the ones that invest heavily in their employees. Not only do they provide adequate training to their workers but also have a set of good human resource policies.

While good salary package counts to a certain extent, it is not the only thing that employees are looking for. Good employers are the ones who work hard to create a positive and attractive workplace for their employees. They treat their workers fairly well and are strongly committed to meet their needs. It is extremely important for employees to know their company cares about them and would seriously address their grievances. Apart from that, employees should be given complete freedom to make decisions in their own job area.

Secondly, while the management is required to supervise and assist, it should not unnecessarily interfere or dictate. In other words, employee empowerment should be the top priority of the employer as it serves as the best retention tool in the long run. Brian Toda, human resources consultant with Hewitt Associates explains what makes a good employer, "Employees today want challenging work and they want to be treated well. And they want employers to accommodate their many and varied interests and responsibilities outside the job.

It's all about ensuring a good quality of life." (Ann Eby, 2001) Edward Jones is the company that I would like to work for because its human resource practices are close to perfect.

The financial advisory company that ranked first for two straight years on Fortune Magazine's list of best companies to work for in America "spends 3.8% of its payroll on training, with an average of 146 hours for every employee." (HARRINGTON, 2003) Apart from that, this company has a perfect employee ownership program, one factor that plays a dominant role in attracting and retaining loyal workers. When selecting the right employer, it is important not to fall for salary package alone.

No matter how attractive that may seem at first, it is likely to lose its appeal if other significant factors are missing. For this reason, a thorough research on potential employer is needed before you actually accept their offer. The first step is to go through available literature on that company. If the organization has been in business for a long time, chances are that much has been written about in leading newspapers.

This is a very good source of reliable information about the firm, which can help you make an educated decision. Edward Jones for example, has mostly been in the news for its 'training program' and its perfect compensation and reward system. Though it currently employs more than 8,915 investment representatives in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, every single worker feels like he is an integral part of the firm because the company works hard to create win-win situations. Investment representatives are adequately rewarded for their performance.

For example, some 3,500 couples were sent to exotic locations around the world in 2002. It also pays to personally talk to the current and former employees to benefit from an.