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Hiring employees ranks near the top of challenges business owners face. In today's competitive markets, the quality of your staff will often be a major factor in the success of your business.
So how do you recruit and keep good employees? For starters, you have to recognize their contribution to your business. You also need the largest pool of potential employees possible to choose from and interviewing/negotiation skills so you can make the best decision and secure the employees you want to hire. Plus, you must know how to motivate your employees to keep productivity high and reduce turnover.
Importance of Good Employees in the Workplace
Good employees do make a tremendous difference in the workplace, regardless of your business or their position. They are the face of your business…on the front line representing your company to the customer.
Just think of a restaurant's employees. If the host/hostess is not friendly and outgoing, customers feel slighted. The initial greeting sets a negative tone for the rest of their visit. If the servers are not efficient, customers will become aggravated. If the cooks perform poorly, the quality of the food goes down and customers never return. If the managers are not scheduling employees appropriately or are not dealing with customers' complaints effectively, the result will be a steady reduction in business.
What's true of restaurants is true of any business – your employees are the driving force of your success . . . or your failure. That's why you want to work hard when making hiring decisions.
Recruiting & Screening Employees
When hiring employees, you start with a well-written job posting. The quality of your posting is directly related to the number of applicants end up with. Remember more is always better when it comes to screening potential new employees, even though it may mean more work for you initially.
Your job posting should be concise but descriptive. Keep the posting down-to-earth and avoid making job duties sound more glamorous or more complex than they really are. If you need someone to file papers, he or she is not going to be a data organizer. You should also minimize jargon and industry buzzwords in your postings, particularly for low-level and entry-level positions. Finally, squeeze as much in the ad about the employee benefits as possible. A job posting is really just a short sales letter and the most effective sales letters lure in buyers by focusing on what benefits are in the offer for them.
Once you begin receiving responses, you should immediately begin sorting those responses into three piles: Definitely no, Maybe, and Definitely Interview. As you read through the resumes, keep in mind the qualities you see for the ideal employee in this position in terms of education and work experience. Having this image in mind will help you categorize the responses more easily.
Interviewing: The Third Degree
Interviewing is the most important part of making hiring decisions. But knowing what to ask, is less important than knowing what to look for during the interview process. First, pay attention to their attitude. Potential employees who show up looking professional, arrive on time, smile and shake your hand confidently, who make eye contact can articulate their thoughts comfortably should receive high marks. These folks are clearly eager and self-assured – two critical components of any good employee.
Second, pay attention to the questions future employees ask you during the interview. These questions will tell you if they have done their homework about your business already or not. You want someone who took the initiative to study your business prior to applying for the job and coming to the interview.
Finally, trust your instincts. You will be working closely with this individual, so if something just does not feel right during the interview or if there is no personal connection, you might be better off passing even if the potential employee has strong qualifications.
Negotiating: Snagging the Employees You Want
Once you go through the interviewing process and select a new employee, you will need to start negotiating with that individual in order to seal the deal. Before entering negotiations, have a maximum package you would offer to secure this employee. Do not go over that maximum package in negotiations. Be sure you select a runner-up from the pool of candidates in case negotiations with your first choice go sour. By having a second choice, you'll be less tempted to offer too much and you'll have leverage in the situation.
Make sure the interviewee understands the full benefits package including all of the fringe benefits. Draw the candidates focus away from salary and toward the all of the benefits. These can be financial items such as covering health insurance premiums and matching retirement plans. Or, it can be non-financial benefits like opportunity for promotions, flexible work schedule and autonomy/empowerment of the employee’s position.
Employee Manuals: Why You Need One
Although hiring employees may seem like the toughest part of the process, keeping employees content is much more challenging in most cases. Disputes between management and employees are a fast way of lowering morale not just for that one employee but for the entire office, so keeping those disputes to a minimum is vital.
The best way to do that is by having a comprehensive employee manual. The manual should include the detailed description of each position in the company, including specific responsibilities. The manual should also include the chain of command so employees know who they answer to at all times and who to go to with problems/concerns. Explanations of office policies, such as taking vacation time, being absent or late, and keeping desk areas tidy should also be included in the manual.
By having these rules and descriptions in black and white, disputes are less likely to occur because each employee knows where he or she stands within the business. Even if disputes do arise, they are easier to settle because the answer can be found in the manual itself.
Knowing How to Keep the Good & Eliminate the Bad
Once you have your employees, you need to learn how to keep the good ones and to say good-bye to those you regret.
Motivating good employees is easier than you might think. Like anyone, employees want to be treated with respect and given credit for their hard work. Complimenting them on a job well done, giving them opportunities to provide feedback that is heard by management, and opening up opportunities for advancement are important ways of keeping your best employees happy in your company.
Of course, money plays an important role. Once you secure good employees, don't let them slip away simply over salary or benefits packages. A valuable employee who is contributing to the success and growth of your business is probably worth the cost of these financial incentives.
Not all of your employees will be worth keeping around. Bad employees are easy to spot either because they miss too much work, not completing their work, making too many mistakes, or they have a bad attitude. But usually it is not spotting the bad employee that is difficult; it is bring yourself to make the move to let them go.
Firing an employee is an emotional experience, particularly for a small business with few employees in the first place. Firing a single employee will cut 20% of the workforce from a five person firm. But you have to keep in mind that the habits and attitude of bad employees is contagious. That “virus” can infect other employees, even the good ones, bringing down the moral and productivity of the entire business.
Before dealing with these employees, make sure you have a plan laid out in writing (preferably in your employee manual) covering the discipline process. Generally, you should give employees at least two warnings – one verbal and one written – before discharging them. Keep records of the reasons for firing them and of the warnings. When inform the employee that they are being let go keep discussion to a minimum, bring a box to help them clear their things and do not allow them access to sensitive computer files and documents.
Summary
Although hiring employees can be time consuming, starting with a well-written job advertisement and knowing how to screen candidates so you end up interviewing only the ones with the greatest potential will ease the burden and reduce the likelihood of ending up with an employee who just doesn't work out. Remember your employees are integral to the success of your business. Taking the extra time and effort to choose the best new employees will pay off for you in the long run.
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