Managing Employees

We often hear so much about company culture, but many entrepreneurs tend to not put enough emphasis on building and fostering the right culture within their companies.

Creativity can drive a company to new heights, but how do you get employees to be more creative? We've got a few ideas.

By managing your employee's break times, you can increase your productivity and reduce your costs.

Asking employees to work overtime is difficult. The key is to handle overtime in such a way that working overtime isn't a crisis but rather an essential yet temporary necessity.

Quarrelling employees can affect more people than those involved. Job satisfaction, quality control and customer service can all suffer. As a result, managing employee quarrels is critical.

Growing your best employees along with your company is a key component of long-term success. Don't stifle your best employees with unnecessary micromanagement. Find the happy medium between involvement and employee development.

Here are eight great ways to boost employee productivity and motivate employees to do great things for your business.

Wondering what to do with a problem employee? Despite our best efforts to hire smart, inevitably we entrepreneurs end up with a nightmare employee that puts our business at risk.

Dealing with a problem employee is never pleasant. But he worst of the many problem employee types is the employee who openly questions authority. Here's how to deal with an employee that has authority confrontation issues.

Planning social gatherings for your employees outside of work is one of the best ways to encourage a healthy work environment where teamwork thrives.

Creating a work environment that stimulates creativity and innovation starts with an understanding of two key drivers of innovation.

In order to get the most out of your employees, they need to be motivated properly. How well you motivate your employees can have seriously implications toward your bottom line.

We outline a very simple way to approach constructive feedback in the workplace. Follow this structure and your employees should be able to communicate much more efficiently.

Smart entrepreneurs have a secret weapon. They know how to motivate their employees. Now you can learn their secret as well.

There are certain common complaints among employees of most start ups. If these major employee complaints are taken care of, quite a lot of good will and harmony can be generated in the startup work place.

One aspect of Human Resources is improving employee performance. It turns out that a good way to do this is by improving employee self-esteem and confidence.

Talent attraction and retention is a hefty problem at all start-ups. Thankfully, there are some prime motivators that attract and keep start up employees hooked to the company. This article on employee motivation is a must-read for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Building a High Performance office is everybody's dream. This is may be simple, however, takes time and nurturing a culture of work, participation and appreciation. Here are four simple ways in which you can turn your office into a high performance zone.

Small enterprises usually start out as one-man operations but as the business grows the owner finds it imperative to hire extra hands to lighten the workload. How does a business owner get to hire the right persons, what does it take to delegate duties and responsibilities, how best can staff be managed?

Your employees can help you make or break your business. This is because they are your biggest investment throughout the course of your company. So how do you get the most out of your employees so that you can get the most out of your business?

One of the hardest tasks for management is identifying causes of performance problems. Any actions taken to rectify the problem will be based on diagnosis, so precise evaluation is vital. Here we outline the factors that may influence your employees' performance.

How do you effectively lead and manage strong personalities in your organization? In the course of being a manager or supervisor you will inevitably encounter a number of different personalities, some of which will be easy for you to manage and some which will be very difficult best on your leadership-style and personality-type.

You might think that someone who likes to be in control would be the ideal type of character to run a business. Not so. When the need for control is severe the individual actually makes a burden of all duties by refusing to believe anyone else but they could carry them out to a high standard.

That sour-faced sales rep isn't doing your company any favors. Unfriendly seeming staff account for a lot of client fall away. Are your staff members long-faced?

She's grinning like the Cheshire Cat of Alice in Wonderland fame. She's always cheerful. Why then do your clients find this particular staff member of yours irritating and rather disconcerting.

Even in small businesses, entrepreneurs may come across an employee who is lying. There are certain steps to take when you believe this is happening in your company.

After the entrepreneur has identified and selected the required number of persons to staff the business, the next thing will obviously be to manage this team. Being able to direct the team successfully will largely depend on the entrepreneur's management skills and leadership abilities. What techniques of motivation and management can the business owner summon?

Creativity and innovation is a critical pair that should be embraced by any business that seeks to be successful in the modern global economy that is not only fast-paced but fiercely competitive. While not all creative entrepreneurial efforts will be a resounding success, sustained attempts at creativity will constantly result in equally creative solutions to a plethora of problems. The successful organization is one that proactively seeks to dissuade any barriers to creativity.

Reward systems are a critical fundamental of the entrepreneurial organization. This is because they have the ability to shape the behavior of the employees and the overall organization culture in the same way as the attitude of the business owner can. It is therefore imperative that management look into the organization's various reward systems with an aim to establishing whether these are working for or against the desired enterprising culture.

Organizational creativity does not come by spontaneously but rather it is developed through sustained encouragement. The entrepreneurial manager is the one who sees to it that the organizational environment is befitting for the flourishing of creativity, both within him/her and for the employees as well. Creativity can be enhanced in the same way as innovation.

Hiring relatives? Running a family business? Conflict in a family business is perhaps one of the most unpleasant things one can experience.

If employee cohesiveness and company loyalty are lacking within your organization, this article is a must-read. We offer tips to make your company culture stronger.

Do you have systems to back up your operating procedures or is that knowledge embedded in your employees' brains? Tribal knowledge can be a dangerous way for a growing business to operate. Make sure you have systems and back-up plans to avoid future headaches.

Can your employees seek help above their direct supervisor? Make sure your employees can discuss issues with someone outside of their supervisor.

Have you ever wondered why and how some individuals manage to influence more than the formal leader? How they become so influential? And how do you manage them?

Every business needs metrics, not only to measure, but to set the precedent and direction of the business and its employees. Metrics are not always as easy to establish as one might think, but with out the right metrics in place, you may not be steering your ship in the right direction.

Conflicts are constructive if they do not happen due to personal ego clashes or fierce competition. Proper communication and a fair discussion to understand and solve the underlying issue can solve conflicts without leaving a scar behind.

When you own a business, it is inevitable that you will have the occasional conflict. You will have conflicts with all of those involved with the business, so how do you resolve those conflicts?

Employees leave and this can result in the business falling into disarray. Luckily, you can take the time to create guidelines and manuals that will help other employees deal and will help the business to run smoothly.

While there are a host of external support structures that can be used to kindle innovation within the organization, it is agreed that the best way forward should first be to develop the organizational capacity innovation from within first. Stimulating innovation within the organization calls for the use of various strategies and tactics that are part of the managerial acumen.

Different theories of motivation have been posited by various scholars and they have really proven to be effective in helping to get others motivated. These theories have a great role to play in any business organization and of course the effort must be initiated from the top i.e. by the entrepreneurial owner/manager. It is he or she that must start putting motivation into practice within the organization.

While there are a host of external support structures that can be used to kindle innovation within the organization, it is agreed that the best way forward should first be to develop the organizational capacity innovation from within first.

Employee discipline is never an easy process. But there's only one way to document the event, protect your business and establish a foundation for improvement - and that's with a disciplinary action form.

Employee problems rarely resolve themselves. Sometimes it's necessary to intervene by issuing a disciplinary notice. Here are some things to consider when a disciplinary notice becomes an unavoidable next step.

Does it seem like you're constantly reinventing discipline letters and procedures? If so, you're wasting a lot of time unnecessarily. A simple employee discipline kit has everything you need for effective and consistent employee discipline.

Employee warning notices are an important first step in employee discipline. With the right approach, you can use them to stop minor issues from becoming major problems in the workplace.

You've had to bring a problem to the attention of an employee, but you're not sure how to document it. The appropriate vehicle is a First Warning Letter to Employee - and here are of the things it needs to accomplish.

An individual development plan can be a powerful tool for achieving workplace goals and objectives. We've got the info you need to help your employees create the kinds of Individual Development Plans that have a lasting impact.

Your company needs a plan for managing employee attendance. An attendance manager can be just the ticket for documenting and recording employee attendance and other workforce issues.

You're responsible for employee scheduling, but your current system isn't working. Maybe it's time to review a few best practices for a small business weekly work schedule.

The field hates the office and the office hates the field. It doesn't have to be that way. Here's how to fix field versus office tensions and get the departments to work together.

As a small business owner, you need to shut down office gossip before it does serious damage to your workplace. Here's how to do it.