Whether you employ a small team, you just have one assistant, or you’ve got an office (or more than one) filled with staff members, you need them. You can’t do your job without them. If you could, you wouldn’t hire any in the first place. Your team members are the people that keep your business going. They take on menial tasks, they speak with customers and clients, they spot areas where you could improve, and they are, without question the heart of your business. Treat them well, and you’ll go far. They’ll be loyal and hard-working; they will push your business forward and come up with new ideas. They’ll stick with you through tough times and grow along with you. Treat them poorly, and you’ll waste money on staff recruitment and training with a high turnover, your business will never run at it’s best, and your employees will be unhappy. Fortunately, looking after them doesn’t have to be complicated. Generally, most employees only want a few things from you.
Flexibility
Offering flexible working hours can get complicated, and as an employer, you might not be able to give people everything that they ask for. But, it won’t hurt you to try. Understand each person’s needs and try your best to accommodate them, and they’ll be more understanding if you ever have to say no.
Training
Your staff members need training. They need to be taught how to do their jobs correctly, and safely when they first start work. They need refresher training throughout their employment, and courses like employee workstation DSE training to help them look after themselves. Without regular training, they won’t improve, they won’t feel challenged, and they’ll get bored.
Fair Treatment
All of your staff should be treated fairly. But, this doesn’t always mean equally. To treat them equally would assume that they are the same, and they aren’t. They have different needs, skills and personalities. Offer fair employment, fair pay, fair treatment in the workplace and fair chances to advancement.
Freedom
The best teams come up with ideas. They don’t just sit and get on with their work. They come forward with new ideas and ways to do things. To be able to do this, they need the freedom to think creatively, but also to come to you comfortably with their thoughts, without worries about judgement or rejection.
Clear Expectations
One of the main reasons that employees aren’t able to meet their employer's expectations is that they don’t know what they are. So many people are pulled into meetings because they are underperforming when they had no clear guidance beforehand. If you want your staff to work well, and to give you what you need, they you need to provide them with clear and well-explained expectations.
Goals
Expectations and goals aren’t the same things. Expectations are what you want from them. A level of performance that you expect them to be at. Goals are what they want. Sit together and come up with some long-term goals, for their future development, but also some smaller targets to help them to get there.
