How productive are your employees? Having employees usually means a business owner is focused on increasing sales and profitability. But having employees means you have to focus on something else, too: managing employees and getting them to be productive.
Working with people is an art—not a science, and getting the most out of your employees probably won’t happen without the skill of a superior manager—one that knows the balance between managing and trust.
1. What’s Your Pay Scale?
If you pay low wages, expect lower quality employees, in general. The better employees will go where they can make more money and you’ll be left with the people who couldn’t land the higher paying jobs. Want great employees? Pay great wages and expect more.
2. How Does Your Office Look?
People don’t want to work in a dungeon or some office that looks like it hasn’t been cleaned or decorated since the early 80s. How about your office furniture? Do they have a comfortable chair, a computer that works well, and a desk that’s in good shape? All of this contributes to morale. You want them to be excited about coming to work.
3. Is There Reason To Work Hard?
It’s your business and you want to see it grow. Your employees should have some buy-in to that vision but they have families to feed and the costs of things like food keep rising. They want to work for somebody that offers advancement opportunities and they’ll work hard to get there.
4. Do You Have a Culture?
Great companies have a culture or DNA. Only certain people will fit in to the culture regardless of their skill level. They use certain words and phrases, and they love the culture so much that it becomes just as important as their work. Your employees will work to protect the culture. Successful companies always have a culture.
There will always be employees that resonate with you better than others but keep your treatment of all employees consistent. Morale will plummet if your employees see you developing a stronger relationship with one over another.
6. Be Direct
If you care about your employees, you won’t want to hurt their feelings but when it’s time to have difficult conversations, be direct and clear. Don’t try to come up with the flowery language that will lessen the sting. They might not like it at first, but they’ll grow more if you’re direct while still being respectful.
7. Minimize Meetings
Sometimes meetings are important but when your employees are sitting at a conference table talking, they’re probably not doing what you hired them to do. Let your workers work and only hold meetings when it’s absolutely necessary.
8. Time Management is Key
Just like at home, there’s plenty of stimuli for employees at the office. Side conversations with other employees, social media, and phone calls are the more common ones. Encourage your employees to manage their time well and set deadlines and benchmarks that keep them busy throughout the day.
9. Hold Annual Reviews
Each year you should have a one-on-one employee review where they’re eligible for a raise. Spend a lot of time focusing on the positives while intermixing the negatives.
If you’ve given warnings, worked with them to improve, and tried everything else you could, say goodbye. This not only gives you the opportunity to hire a better performer, it sends the message to your employees that you care enough about them to protect the company and their work environment. It also shows them that underperformers won’t have a job for very long.
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