Employees, Staff or something else?

How do you refer to the people who work in your business?

Please also note I didn’t say people who work FOR you or people who work UNDER you.

Do you call these people your EMPLOYEES, your members of STAFF or something else?

This is just a perspective so I’m not saying I’m right, I’m just saying what I believe. The people who work WITH you are COLLEAGUES or TEAM MEMBERS. Whilst they might hold different positions with different titles and payscales, we are all a team working towards a common goal. Perhaps it’s just me but I wince when I hear people being referred to in any other way.

A few other ‘no-nos’ in my opinion are:

“he works BELOW me”
“she’s MY direct report”
“I’m his BOSS”

I tend not to like posts on Linked In that are rants….and perhaps this one could be construed as just that! If so, then it’s my first. I simply want to shine a light on the importance of referring to people as people and not as a lesser being, a cog or a resource.