Treating Employees like Customers
It was a dark and snowy night in Chicago. She stomped the snow off her feet as she walked through the expansive lobby to the front desk, clutching her dad’s hand. She stood on her tiptoes to look over the desk as her dad handed me his ID and credit card to check in. I welcomed them to the hotel and asked what they were in town for. Her dad mentioned he was here for a conference and this was his little girl’s first time to the big city. He hoped they would have time to visit Navy Pier and go to the top of the Sears Tower. He asked if there were any fun restaurants he could take her to and celebrate her birthday.
My mind set in motion. This is her first time to the big city. AND she’s celebrating a birthday. What a special weekend! Her dad and I made more small talk as I went through the motions of checking them in and handed him their room keys.
I had a surprise to create for the birthday girl. I went back to my desk, sat down, took out a piece of hotel stationery, and wrote a happy birthday note to a little girl. I went back to room service and filled out an amenity card. The amenity card was filled with different items we could send up to guests. We could send them a bottle of wine or fruit and cheese plate or other grown-up foods. Nothing seemed suitable for a 5-year-old.
“AHA! I know what a 5 year-old would like.” I wrote in “Chocolate Chip Cookies and a glass of milk”. I signed the order, attached the handwritten note with it, asked the kitchen to rush the amenity, and thanked the room service server.
Later in the evening, as I was finishing up my paperwork and getting ready to leave, the little girl and her dad exited the elevators. She ran through the lobby to the desk and jumped so she could see over the desk. I’m surprised she didn’t leap over the desk like she was jumping hurdles. She stood on tiptoes, her little fingers clutching the desk, she wore a big smile as she shouted “THANK YOU!”
Her dad was beaming as he said “You have no idea what your gift means to her.”
All through the weekend, when I saw the little girl and her dad, she would smile and say “HI!” or tell me it’s her birthday or that her dad was taking her to work. One didn’t have to ask if she was having a great weekend.
I loved working in hospitality, finding opportunities to delight guests and create special moments they’d remember for a lifetime. When I moved into Human Resources, I wanted to find the same opportunities to delight employees because they were, after all, my internal customers.
What It Feels Like to Be an Employee
I've been an employee, a manager, and an HR leader across many years in hospitality and I've learned something valuable from each role. This is a glimpse into what I've seen, felt, and learned about the employee experience. From Day One to the last.
Onboarding: The First Impression You Can't Take Back
The best onboarding I ever had started with a phone call. Someone took five minutes to tell me what to expect, what to wear, and where to park. That's it. And it made all the difference. Then came a follow-up email with the same details in writing so I could find them when I was nervous on day one. My manager reached out personally to say she was glad I was coming. I was flown to another location for training. My first week had a real plan — orientation, training sessions, and a team lunch. I knew where to be and what was happening. I felt like I could ask questions without looking foolish. I felt like I could do the job I was hired to do and make an immediate impact.
I've also started jobs where nobody knew I was coming. No one had my start time written down. I had to guess about the dress code. There was no plan, just a collective shrug. I left one of those jobs after six months, not because the work was bad, but because every single day felt like starting over. That feeling is exhausting, and it's completely preventable. Those jobs where I showed up on my first day of work and was a surprise? I didn’t last very long.
Good onboarding gives someone the information they need to stop worrying and start contributing.
What great onboarding gave me
A phone call before an email
Answers before I had to ask
A personal welcome from my manager
Training with senior leadership
A structured, human first week
A team lunch, not cold soup alone
Safety to ask questions
What bad onboarding looked like
No one knew I was starting
I had to chase my own start date
No manager introduction
No training plan — improvised daily
Self-taught from day one
Hunting down people to learn from
No clear path forward
Training: It's Not a One-Time Event
The best training I experienced was ongoing, not just the Orientation Day. There were classroom sessions, online modules, and chances to shadow people who were experts in their jobs. Training covered two kinds of skills: the ones you need for the job (scheduling, budgeting, operations) and the ones you need for the work (leadership, communication, how to handle a hard conversation).
Providing opportunities to learn from mistakes and environments of trust is key to learning. I once tried to mediate a conflict between two employees without any real training in how to do it. It did not go well. I walked into that meeting thinking I could fix things. I walked out knowing I needed to learn about leadership. My manager could have embarrassed me. Instead, she enrolled me in conflict resolution training and moved on. My manager turned my mistake into my curriculum. That moment made me a better leader than any course I could have chosen on my own.
The best companies don't just invest time and resources in people when things are going right. They invest in people when things go sideways, too.
Management: How You're Treated Day to Day
One of my favorite managers never sat behind a desk when we talked about my performance. She'd walk with me instead. On one walk, she told me I got a promotion. On another walk, she gave me a raise. On a third walk, she gave me another promotion. We'd cover the same ground we would have in a formal feedback meeting or performance review, but it felt like a conversation. The way she approached the conversations changed everything about how I received feedback.
Great managers make growth feel possible. They give real feedback, both praise and critiques, and they create space for healthy, honest conversation. The way a manager treats people on any given day means more than any annual review.
Compensation: People Remember How They Were Valued
Let’s be real about what employees are actually asking when they wonder about their compensation. There are really three questions beneath the surface. Am I paid fairly and competitively? Am I paid for the work I do and not my gender? And do I know what I need to do to earn more? Many companies don’t have a clear answer to these. The best ones answer all three.
Pay transparency isn't just about posting salary ranges. It's about trust. When I know how pay is determined, when I can see the path to a raise, when I'm not left guessing whether the person next to me doing the same job earns more simply because of who they are, that's a company that respects its employees.
I've fought for employees' raises and won. I've also watched managers wait until someone resigned to offer them more money. The pattern is always the same: the employee resigned, the manager gave them more money, the employee stayed for six more months and left anyway. The employee was already one foot out the door. A raise offered at resignation is about panic. We didn’t know they were unhappy here. Why didn’t they say something? Who’s going to pick up their work? We need to pay them more so they’ll stay. Money might buy time, but it doesn’t buy back trust.
Offboarding: The Part Most Companies Get Wrong
The way you treat someone on their way out says just as much as how you treat someone when they’re just starting.
When someone resigns, they deserve clear, timely information, such as when to expect their last paycheck, what happens to their benefits, what does the transition look like? They deserve to be treated like adults who made reasonable decisions, not defectors.
The best company I ever worked for treated departing employees as ambassadors. Not deserters. Not liabilities. Ambassadors. People who would carry the story of that place into the world and tell it to others. The employees who leave become part of your story whether you want them to or not. How you treat them on the way out determines what they say when someone asks where they used to work.
I've also experienced the other version. I turned in my notice, and the response was “thank you for your service, there's the door.” No conversation. No acknowledgment of what I'd contributed. No human moment to close the chapter. Just transaction and exit.
On the other hand, one of the most meaningful offboarding conversations I ever had wasn't about someone leaving for a better opportunity. It was with an employee who was stuck. He wasn't performing. He knew it. We knew it. We had a few conversations, and one day I simply asked him: do you like working here? He said no. We kept talking. He wanted to resign but didn't have anything lined up. He didn't want to give up the security of a paycheck. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do next.
We figured it out together. I helped him find a path forward, identify what he actually wanted in his next job, and move toward it with intention.
The Bottom Line
The best experiences I've had at work weren't because of a policy or a benefits package. They happened because specific people made specific choices to invest in me. A manager picked up the phone. A company that bought me a plane ticket before I'd earned it. A boss sent me to training instead of writing me up.
I've tried to help others as I’ve been helped. I’ve tried to lead with a “People-First Philosophy”. I hope the people I've managed would say the same about me — that I showed up for them the way someone once showed up for me.
