We’re coming to the conclusion of our articles on dealing with the frustrations of owning a small business. Today we’re going to review the last frustration, employees.
Yes, you may depend on employees to make your small business run, but as the owner you provide the energy to make that happen. Sometimes frustrations crop up with employees, so it’s important to know how to deal with them. Here are the top three frustrations with employees and how to deal with them.
Employees who complain: Do you have an employee that is constantly complaining about their position, job or duties? Do they make it worse by complain to customers? If this is a valuable employee you need to take care of this right now. The best thing to do is have a private meeting with the employee and explain your expectations. After that make sure they understand that their attitude reflects on the business. If this fails you have no other option that to terminate their employment.
Employees who aren’t reliable: Do you constantly wonder if an employee is doing their job? Do you have to follow-up on every single task? Running a small business is hard enough work without having to micro manage your employees. If you have an employee whose reliability is less than optimal take action. Make sure you have documented work processes and goals, and that the employee understands them. Create situations in which your employee can succeed and make sure you praise the effort.
Employees who have bad habits: Someone sings. Another hums. One smells bad. Another is always late. These are small things that add up to frustrations for you, especially if they are customer facing. The best way to handle this is private meetings followed by feedback. Remember, once you set the policy you have to follow-up and let the employee know if they’re hitting the mark.
Most frustrations can be handled by having an organized employee handbook for your small business. I know it sounds like more paperwork, but in the end it’ll save time. If you document everything and ensure your employees know, you can save time and frustration.
This week we’re going to look at building that employee handbook.
