12 Characteristics of a Good Employer You Should Know About

Good employers provide healthy and safe work environments for their employees. A good employer should respect you by valuing your work. If you recognize and can identify good employer characteristics, you can apply for jobs with companies that value your work ethic and dedication. In this article, we list the qualities of a good employer and provide tips for finding one.

What are the characteristics of a good employer?

A good employer is patient and understanding. Say, for example, you arrive at work late because of unexpected traffic. When you give a reasonable explanation, a good employer understands. A good employer's priority is creating a healthy work environment for employees. Here are 12 common characteristics of a good employer:

1. Visionary

A good employer thinks of innovative ideas that can move the company forward to expand its growth. They might arrange meetings with employees to present future projects for the company or plans to gain more clients. Ways to identify whether a company has visionary employers include:

• Researching how the employer prepares employees for professional development

• Looking for reports that describe how the company has evolved

Collecting such information can help you identify progressive companies and employers you want to work with.

2. Offers flexible work schedules

Living in a digital era, many employees can work nontraditional hours. A good employer might offer a flexible schedule that allows employees to decide when they want to work. Good employers should explain to you the company's hourly, daily and weekly schedules or requirements before you start your job. The advantages of a flexible schedule include:

• Having time to raise your family

• Freedom to travel

• Can commute a long distance

• Can balance other jobs

• Can attend important life events

Having a flexible work schedule can also improve your well-being and productivity.
Read more: What Are Flexible Hours and Why Employers Should Consider Offering Them

3. Great communication skills

A good employer should be an effective communicator. They should be great speakers who express their opinions and instructions in a meaningful and respectful tone. Effective communication can involve informing employees of coming changes or modifications to project or workflows.

Great communication skills help prevent minor misunderstandings or miscommunications in the future. Rather than making assumptions or vague statements, good employers should encourage employees to share their concerns or suggestions.

4. Financial benefits

Apart from basic wages, good employers offer incentive programs that reward employees with benefits such as salary increases or bonuses if their performance surpasses expectations. Providing financial benefits ranging from health insurance to pay increases based on merit offers employees a sense of satisfaction and job security.

Related: What Benefits Should I Ask For?

5. Promotes empowerment

Great employers create work environments that are motivational, inspirational and driven. Employers empower employees by sharing with them strategic outlines, such as the company's goals, mission, vision and feedback. This motivates employees to remain efficient, productive and committed.

Good employers should also offer employees opportunities to make critical decisions and find solutions to emerging problems. Good employers can identify advanced skills to cultivate in their employees. They might also assign big projects that demonstrate their trust in employees and motivate them to improve their skills. Employers should try to bring out their employees' strengths.

Related: How To Improve Employee Morale and Job Satisfaction

6. Active listener

Respecting others' thoughts and opinions requires self-awareness and humility. Good employers understand and respect employees' different perspectives. Good employers also listen to employees' ideas without dismissing them and respond with an acknowledgment. This helps build positive relationships and trust, because employees want to be heard. Having an employer who is open to ideas improves work morale that can lead to company growth.

Read more: How To Be a Good Listener

7. Supportive

A good employer assigns tasks to employees knowing they might need guidance and time to produce the desired results. An employer's role is to provide employees with guidance and mentorship. They might achieve this by sharing their knowledge and expertise until employees reach their full potential. Other examples of support include:

• Encouraging dialogue among employees

• Promoting teamwork

• Building relationships with employees

8. Personal growth

A good employer lets employees develop their skills. Employers can provide employees who have completed extra training or proven they can manage responsibilities with career advancement opportunities. Ways employers can cultivate personal and professional growth in employees include:

• Giving feedback to employees by arranging private meetings with them

• Providing employees with positive evaluations of their performance

• Publishing employee accomplishments in the company's newsletter

• Delegating major projects to employees

9. Respect

Good employers should show respect in the workplace regardless of the circumstances. Good employers respect employees even if their ideas are controversial or do not align with company values. Practicing respect reduces the possibilities of future conflict and tension in the workplace.

10. Integrity

Successful businesses show and encourage integrity. This is an important quality for a good employer to have, because it demonstrates successful leadership. A good employer leads with integrity no matter what hardships they encounter.

11. Fair

Good employers put aside personal preferences and favoritism. Fairness involves thinking and acting without personal biases. Tension can arise in a work environment if an employer gives one employee with more kindness or responsibilities than another. Good employers who practice fairness always acknowledge their employees' work and help them succeed.

12. Security and safety

Good employers should always provide safe work environments for their employees. These companies take steps such as:

• Creating company policies that help keep employees safe

• Having emergency plans and first-aid kits

• Training employees what to do in an emergency such as a natural disaster

• Having partnerships with occupational clinicians who can recommend ways to help prevent injuries and identify potential areas of risk

Tips for finding a good employer

Use these tips to find a good employer and make critical decisions before accepting a new job:

• Company culture: During the interview process, ask the hiring manager questions about the company culture so you can determine if the work environment is the right one for you.

• Company values: Research the company's values to find out if they align with your own. You might be more likely to build a positive relationship with your potential employer if you believe in the same goals and mission.

• Stability: Also research the company's performance to evaluate its profitability and growth. A company with good financial status and positive growth has the resources to provide you with the environment you need to succeed.