Running a business isn’t easy, and usually, it’s a crash course in humility and work ethic for any entrepreneur looking to expand their initial idea. Once the initial success has been hard won and the team starts to grow, your business considerations only serve to become more difficult, as opposed to easier. Despite having a team under you who you can now delegate tasks to, this is paid for not only with salaries but with the responsibilities that come from being a competent leader.
If you have never managed people before, this can be a daunting prospect. While money is the golden capital that moves every operation you have, it’s also true that the human resource of your firm is essential to the entire smooth running of your firm. An unmotivated, disenfranchised or simply ineffective employee might lack in effectiveness in many different ways, and all the results of these attitudes are compoundingly negative. For this reason, it’s important to help optimize the happiness and health of your employees.
Luckily, this article is here to help you focus on the ‘do nots’ so you can then focus on imbuing team with inspiration in your own personalized way.
Irregular Or Unreliable Shift Patterns
If your team must take on differing shifts during the week, or work overtime, you need to have laser precision when crafting a working schedule for your employees to follow. Let’s say that you run a busy inner-city restaurant. Putting a chef on too many ‘early morning opens’ followed by ‘late night closes’ drains them of their sleeping hours, and while chefs are known for working hard, you need to be respectful of their time.
Even regular workers can quickly become drained, demotivated and even spread that attitude among the staff if working too much overtime. Conversely, even the opposite is true. An employee feeling as though you are not meeting the hours listed in their contract will only cause them to look for work elsewhere, robbing you of precious talent. Using shift planning software can help you plan around the nuances of employee commitments and availability, while also giving them a regular, calculated and easily amendable shifts to trust and plan around.
Neglecting Workplace Drama
Employees can butt heads from time to time. It’s just part of working in a confined area with other people for upwards of fifty hours a week. There might be times where you want to apply a sharp tongue to one of your employees. It is never, never, never worth it. Workplace drama and in-fighting serves to create a horrible working atmosphere that can suffocate a firm from the inside. You must also consider your relationship with your employees, and do everything you socially can (within reason) to improve it.
A strong workplace policy with a zero bullying tolerance and also open door acceptance to anyone wishing to voice complaints to you anonymously MUST be implemented. However, you must also remember that in this case, it’s not your job to try and govern the proper behavior of your staff. You are paying them, and they are required to bring professionalism to the role because of that. Whatever you do, keep a sharp observing eye aimed towards any difficulties that arise. Neglecting them can quickly turn into a much bigger.
With these two tips, you’ll be avoiding the most commonly found mistakes employers make in the business world.
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