How Much is it the Employer’s Responsibility to Ensure Employee Productivity?
Every business owner knows what’s expected of them when it comes time to onboard a new hire. When the training videos are all watched and the new employee is lined up to kick butt and take names, is that when your job as overseer ends, or is there more that you can do to get more productivity out of your staff?
It’s an intriguing question to ask because the answer will reveal a lot about your business philosophy and management style. When it comes to managing your personnel, the two extremes that you will fall somewhere between are 1) you are completely hands off and expect your employees to follow established policies and meet quotas, or 2) you are highly involved and listen to every employee need and concern so that they can get the most done possible for your business.
Looking at the first extreme, we can see that, in every job scenario, there is a minimum set of expectations that a manager must meet:
- Job training: A worker must know how to do their job before they actually do it.
- Tools to do the job: For example, the team requires functioning workstations in order to work properly.
- A working environment that fosters productivity: Is your office optimized for productivity, or does it suffocate innovation?
- A paycheck: Is your team getting paid the agreed-upon amount for their time?