What is humanized management

Humanized management places the employee at the center of decision-making and seeks to encourage them according to their particularities, improving the organizational climate and stimulating productivity.

The relationship between companies and people has always been the subject of a lot of study, after all, it should be a constructive relationship for both sides.

However, technological advances and changes in the market make this delicate balance a real challenge for managers and also for the Human Resources department.

The constant search for increased productivity — and, consequently, profits — can be very advantageous for companies. But, from the employee’s point of view, this “agility” triggers issues such as lack of motivation and a bad organizational climate.

It is in response to these and many other challenges that humanized management manifests itself.

It is the role of HR — and its strategic role in managing people within a company — to engage employees, listen to them and create a methodology that results in participatory and humanized management.

Therefore, humanized management is the act of considering the subjectivity of employees, their particularities, aspirations, expectations and adversities in the company’s processes.

Of course, that’s a lot easier said than done, especially when we’re in a culture where productivity is overrated. And this is precisely the main paradigm that we will address in this text.

Humanized management does not only bring benefits to the worker who enjoys a more pleasant institutional environment , but also to the company, given that the main objective of this approach is to achieve the proposed goals.

One of the forms of humanization of treatment works through the approximation between employees and managers , the two human exponents of this relationship.

This is the main strategy in order to improve the organizational climate and relationships within the company.

There is yet another factor commonly overlooked in the business environment, emotional support .

At this point, the math of humanized management is quite simple: emotionally stable employees tend to create better relationships at work and feel less exhausted by their routine.

But how did this concept come about and spread to companies around the world?

How did the humanization of processes come about?

The emergence of humanized management dates from the beginning of the industrial revolution, when companies began to produce on a large scale and hire more and more employees.

Needless to say, the structure of work has undergone profound changes since company-worker relationships took the form we are used to today.

The abolition of slavery and the insertion of technology in this environment in the form of robotization and automation changed the paradigms of work several times. And of course that wouldn’t stop for now.

The market, in general, is very concerned about formulating new ways of carrying out old processes, creating agility and enabling employees to also improve their quality of life.

After all, at that time it was common to have working hours of more than 14 hours a day and a Fordist production that forced employees to a single function.

This generated numerous problems and stimulated a series of governmental measures in order to establish concepts of dignity of work.

In Brazil, the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) is the largest representation of labor rights and introduced the questioning of humanized management at the national level.

Thus, it is possible to see that any movement for employees to have humanized treatment in companies was born out of their appreciation as individuals and the granting of rights.

In other words, as the vision of employees as production machines dissipated, a new look emerged: the employee with a personal life, particular goals, individuality and, above all, feelings.

The pillars of humanized management

In order to establish the vision of an employee with desires and feelings, humanized management brings some pillars that should be the center of decision-making in the company that prioritizes this form of leadership.

1-Observe

Observation is a key factor within any HR action. It is from the data collected at this stage that it is possible to formulate and implement strategies.

Therefore, the observation of individuals within corporations focusing on their personal interests (dreams) is essential for any subsequent attitude.

After all, this is how you can align the companies’ goals with those of their employees, offering a space for mutual growth.

2-approach

The approximation pillar reflects throughout the company. The integration of different teams brings a series of benefits to the organization and is also a beautiful challenge for HR.

However, we will focus on bringing leaders and their teams closer together. This not only brings a much clearer view of each individual’s reality to management, but also allows employees to feel freer to express their opinions.

3-Adapt

For all this to have any result, the company must be willing to change. And this change is not only in its processes, but also in the concepts that circulate in its corridors.

How can a company demand flexibility and adaptability from its employees if its institutional attitudes do not demonstrate these same qualities?

Here is also a great opportunity to stimulate the development of the soft skills necessary for good teamwork, especially in the post-pandemic period.

4-To humanize it is first necessary to lead

The former boss, little by little, made room for the leader to take up space. But for this to be clear, we need to revive these concepts in our minds.

The leader‘s role is to encourage his team to do what is necessary within the company of his own free will, that is, the role of this individual is to print his vision and make it unison among the members of his team.

This individual involves his employees, learns from them and uses this knowledge to encourage them, always in accordance with the company’s objectives and goals.

The leader is also concerned with communication, always trying to help the execution of the shared vision, pointing out mistakes and successes in a constructive way .

In general, this professional differs from the boss, especially because of his democratic position.

The boss, on the other hand, has a much more authoritarian view and is commonly seen as “lazy”, as he delegates all tasks to his employees and, when fulfilling a goal, acts as if he had conquered it alone.

In this way, it is clear how the leader is a key player in the humanization of management, after all, he treats his employees in an empathic way and also seeks to understand what generates job satisfaction for each of them, for example.

Why implement humanized management in your company

There is no company in which its employees are not the engine and mind behind the organization.

Therefore, actions that encourage teams are always welcome so that everyone can deliver the expected results.

A company’s human capital is always its greatest asset, so leveraging and investing in this capital tends to generate several benefits for the company, as we will discuss below.

Not only, this also tends to improve the professional attitude within the company, boosting its productivity.

The benefits of humanized management

We have already seen that humanized management has the power to increase employee satisfaction in relation to their activities and the company as a whole.

However, it is necessary to analyze all the points that contribute to effective management. Here are the six main benefits of this model.

1. Increases productivity

It’s not the day-to-day pressure that makes a team productive. In fact, the excess of collection and tasks tends to undermine the productivity of the team and still cause several other problems, such as the evasion of talent.

But regardless of the strategy chosen, they all tend to value the employee.

Creating a healthy work environment that values ​​employees is one of the first steps towards humanized management.

We don’t even need to say that more productive professionals bring a greater financial return to the company, do we?

2. Improves talent retention

The search for talent through selection and recruitment processes is one of the main tasks of HR.

But it is useless to be able to attract these professionals if the company is not able to keep them.

Give your employees reasons to think twice before leaving your company.

Salary issues may be important, but they increasingly lose weight when the other factors are quality of life, work motivation and professional recognition .

Attitudes that aim to value these workers tend to motivate employees and give a purpose to their daily activities, after all, they are integrated into the company and their opinion starts to have more weight in guiding the company towards the future.

3. Encourages work ethics

Ethics is fundamental for any human relationship, not only in the work environment. It is not by chance that several companies use this concept in their mission, vision and values.

Very common examples of ethical behavior is not taking equipment home without authorization or using the company’s infrastructure for personal purposes.

When management is humanized, leaders are the main example of this type of ethical behavior at work .

It is very clear in this advantage that leaders are a key part of humanized management since employees tend to follow the example of this individual.

4. Brings balance between personal and professional life

Something that some companies need to be constantly reminded of is that their employees have a life outside the company’s premises.

Therefore, it is important that the company encourages professionals to live it in a full and healthy way.

Leaders also play a key role in serving as an example of healthy habits such as physical exercise and a balanced diet, for example.

An excellent idea for this is to formulate an internal marketing campaign in order to stimulate these habits.

Another important point is to encourage leisure during weekends and holidays, avoiding bringing tasks and projects with deadlines that compromise this precious moment of rest.

5. Improves the organizational climate

Professionals who are dissatisfied with their workplace tend to generate more conflicts, have a drop in productivity and even be pessimistic about the company’s growth.

This all negatively affects not only those around that individual, but the entire company.

The humanization of management processes is very important from this point of view, promoting communication as a tool to improve job satisfaction.

6. Reduce absenteeism

With a better balance between personal and professional life, added to the constant encouragement offered by institutions and leaders, employees will be more attentive and will avoid unjustified absences .

Not only, a good work environment also tends to reduce the incidence of occupational diseases such as stress and anxiety. This is an important role for HR.

Humanized management during the pandemic

The covid-19 pandemic meant that HR sectors around the world had to reinvent themselves to enable actions in the home office structure.

How to transform a virtual meeting into a welcoming and supportive space during a situation as tough as this one?

Fear of the virus coupled with fear of unemployment leaves anyone on the brink of an abyss called disillusionment.

Thus, it is up to HR and leaders to assure teams that everything is ok and provide what is necessary so that they can adapt to remote work .

But in addition to ensuring that everyone is comfortable in this situation, there is also the issue of productivity and profitability.

Companies are being pressured by the market , even though this same market is losing strength with the closing of many businesses.

They, in turn, put pressure on leaders to find a solution to this situation. And that comes in the form of more charges.

Not only, companies that had not yet gone through the digitization process needed to run after social isolation took all the productivity of employees with it.

An invisible agent and a palpable challenge

Despite all these challenges for management, the focus on employees does not disappoint and there are companies that have grown during the pandemic due to this approach.

The startup grew by about 10% in 2020 while the construction sector grew by only 1.2%. And much of this is attributed to humanized management.

Some of the actions taken by the company were:

• organize carpooling among the 800 employees;
• perform active and empathic listening measures;
• sign the “No Fire” in order to give employees peace of mind.