In our efforts to engage our employees, we tend to forget that their spouses have huge influence on how they feel about the firm. Spousal influence can make the difference between keeping a valued employee and losing her. Spousal influence can also make the difference between having an employment offer accepted or rejected. Here are 5 specific things you can to do engage your employees’ (and prospective employees’) spouses:
1. When an employee works late into the evening or weekend, send a hand-written note to their spouse thanking them for donating family time to the firm and emphasizing the critical role their spouse had in accomplishing something important for the firm.
2. When an employee helps land a big job, send the spouse a handwritten thank-you note expressing your firm’s appreciation for the spouse’s efforts.
3. When you get an “attaboy” letter from a client expressing extolling the virtues of one of your employees, send a copy of the letter to the employee’s spouse, along with a handwritten thank-you note from you.
4. When interviewing a potential employee from out of town, invite the spouse to come also. In addition, arrange for a local realtor to show the spouse around the town, including some possible areas to purchase a home.
5. When making an offer to a local potential employee, hand-deliver the offer letter to the person’s home on your way home from work.
These seem like small things but they can make a huge difference!
Thanks to David Burstein, our guest blogger from PSMJ Resources.
