5 Elements of Effective Employee Management

(From FindMyWorkspace)

Some people think that managing employees of a company is not all that hard. Managers only need to ensure that the deadlines are met, employees are clocking in on time, and they are receiving the right compensation and benefits.

What most people forget about, is that managers also have the responsibility to effectively bring out the best from their employees and improve their productivity. Most of all, they also need to keep the employees constantly motivated and happy with their work and the company culture itself.

It all still seems so easy on paper, but the reality is that employees are a mix of people with different personalities, motivations and backgrounds. For that reason, each employee could respond differently depending on the reward or punishment that is placed before them by the manager.

However, employee management can still be relatively successful as long as the five most important elements are present:

1. Feedback

Feedback is a two-way channel: managers can give feedback about the performance of each employee, while employees can also give feedback to the managers about how the company’s processes and systems can be improved.

However, it is not as easy as sitting with the employee one-on-one. To give comprehensive feedback, managers need to measure employee performance more efficiently – not just through mere daily reports, but also through peer to peer performance reviews and supervisor feedback.

Feedback is one way of communicating, and communication is the very first step towards better employer-employee relations, higher productivity, and awareness at work.

2. Clear Expectations

After gathering and giving feedback, it is also important to convey what the management needs to see from the employee. In what areas do they need to improve? What does the company need from them at the very moment? What do they need to change in the process of creating their output?

3. Compensation-Driven Performance

Of course, an employee’s performance should be commensurate to the compensation that they’re getting. Managers, however, need to remember that they should not just look at the present performance of the employee, but also the improvement and progress they made within a certain period of time.

4. Professional Support and Coaching

Performance-driven compensation may lead to unhealthy competition in the workplace. Employees who are also consistently rated with low performances might develop lower self-esteem and even potentially breakdown due to pressure.

So to level that out, a professional support and coaching system should be in place. This can be tasked through the supervisors and employees who enjoy high performance ratings – they should be the first in line to motivate and coach the others and help them improve along the way, and promote healthy competition.

5. Efficiency and Fairness

Again, the last thing a company needs is unhealthy and toxic competition among its employees. Establishing a fair system is essential to that. Managers need to ensure that employees can air out their concerns freely without any retaliation, and that the company is always working towards improving productivity and performance, and not just to reward a few chosen ones.

Everyone benefits from an effective employee management system. It makes employees happier and fulfilled at their jobs, and the company benefits too because of better productivity rates and higher output quality.

Featured image courtesy of Pexels.