What are the responsibilities of employees?

The wise employee and employer both realize that the success of the individual is tied to the success of the organization. A slovenly, slow-moving waiter may cause a loss of customers. If enough of them go away, he will also cause his own loss of employment. A cross receptionist could run off so many clients that her boss could no longer afford to employ her.

Any employee of an organization should be prepared to fulfill three responsibilities. The responsible employee serves as an interpreter for the company, as a humanizer or personalizer, and as a promoter. Each of these roles requires particular communication skills and attitudes.

Interpreter:  Suppose that anyone want to purchase a very sophisticated camera for your father as a gift, but you know nothing about cameras. Would you order it from catalog? The chances are that you would go to a camera store where an employee could interpret for you the various models and explain the advantages for each. This employee’s function would be that of an interpreter of the organization and its product.

Humanizer: As a business organizations get larger and larger, there is a growing need for employees to humanize their organization. If an employee uses highly skillful communication, the human contact can relieve the fear and sometimes the anger of a customer. There was a time when people paid their monthly bills in person to business who employed people they knew.

This rarely true today. The person send payments to faraway computer centers, and your inquiries about bills are handled by individuals working in crowded offices miles away. An employee who can create a sense of warmth and caring in communicating with customers is humanizing the organization.

During a recent convention, a conventioneer picked up one of the houses phones and asked for the hotel manager. When the manager answered, the conventioneer described the kind and the patient actions of the desk clerk who had been on duty during the frantic check-in time the night before.

Within the organization there are also opportunities for an employee to humanize the business. If new rules, mandates, and policies that affect the employees can be made more understandable, they will be accepted more readily. An organization needs employees who can establish communication with a personal touch.

Promoter: Employees are also important in promoting business. Promotion can take the form of deliberate communications to audiences about the wok and contributions of the business. This situation do not mean that an employee must accept everything that the organization does; constructive criticism is needed in any group. But the employee who promotes the organization helps it work to solve its problems rather than broadcasting them to the outside world. A sense of pride in the place you work and a sense of loyalty to the organization should be part of your attitude and should show in your communication.