Honoring and Valuing Staff
Last week Business Insider posted an article entitled “Here’s Why Working At Apple Is A Dream Job“. With a title like that, and my love for Apple products, I just had to check it out and see what separated Apple from everyone else. It was a great article to read.
Of all the reasons why, here are the few that stuck out to me, especially in regards to how the Church and Ministries are run:
- Employees feel like their work has a big impact on the world. In the article, a store manager is quote as saying, “I joined Apple because I wanted to be part of something bigger than myself.” A store manager feels this way! That’s a big deal. For a technology company that promotes an environment where everyone believes that they are part of something bigger is so amazing. Does your church make you feel this way? Does it make the Janitor feel this way? Apple employees are apart of something big and everyone feels it! I hope you feel that way too.
- Apple feels more like a startup than a giant corporation. Employees describe working there that “When your job gets old and boring — and they all eventually do — it is easy to move within the company to get a fresh outlook without having to change employers completely. Likewise, if you need to stretch or improve your skill set, there are plenty of opportunities for advancement.” This is a big deal, especially for Youth Ministers. Too many youth ministers feel that they are pigeoned holed into a position and that their church will never look at them other than a “Youth Minister”. I am grateful to be apart of Church now that seeks to find the right fit for you. They desire to have the right people on Staff and once you are on staff, they may ask you to do any number of jobs, based on your talents and desires. It’s a great environment to be apart of. Do you feel that way?
- The salaries are pretty good for many positions. In the article it stated that “an analysis of Apple salaries on the salary comparison website Payscale.com shows that many positions at the company earn well above the industry average.” Can you say that your church/ministry pays well above industry standards? I know this isn’t very PC because we are “servants” and “called” to our jobs but working at churches or ministries often means that financially we get paid below standards. But it doesn’t have to be. You can be paid appropriately in ministry, but too often ministers find themselves having to “fight” for their salaries and/raises. Do you feel that you are appropriately paid in your position?
- Employees love that they aren’t micromanaged at the company. Although Apple has strick standards of excellence, they also give their employees the freedom to create and fail. They aren’t micromanaged. Creative people need the freedom to create. Unfortunately, there are too many creative people working for churches and Senior Pastors that stifle and try to control “creativity”. That just frustrates people and honestly prevents people from truly living out their calling.
I know that this post seems to trash some Churches and Ministries but it is not intended to. It is simply to highlight what we can learn from some very successful companies. Churches and Ministries are different from Big Corporations in many ways, but these 4 ways that Apple, Inc. honors and appreciates their employees. And, honoring and appreciating employees is something everyone can learn from anywhere.
So the question is, “Now what?” What do you do with this information? Hopefully, it won’t make you want to stomp into your Senior Pastor’s office and resign. Rather, I hope this will encourage you in that, if you don’t feel appreciated, loved. and valued, that you can go into your Senior Pastor’s office and have a conversation and share with them some things that may be welling up inside of you. It’s always good to have a conversation and who knows, maybe things will be even better after the conversation.
What do you think? What else can we learn from companies like Apple, Inc.? Share your thoughts below.
