4.1. HR - Managing your employees

People need policies

Managing people takes time and resources. You can save yourself a lot of effort simply by having a clear policy on many everyday issues.

Employees need to know where they stand, especially when starting a new job. Problems quickly arise if it is unclear what the 'policy' is on any one of a hundred seemingly minor matters - for example, making personal phone calls.

This briefing looks at the most common problem areas, excluding employment law issues.

It covers:

• Setting up a new employee in a job.
• Inappropriate conduct.
• Office rules.
• Absences from work.

Full contribution

Maintaining employees' focus and motivation is essential if they are to make a full contribution to your business.

Performance appraisals actively involve employees in understanding what is expected of them. By setting agreed objectives - and later reviewing the results - each employee is made responsible for his or her own performance.

This briefing outlines:

• The benefits of using performance appraisals.
• What to include in the self-assessment form you give to employees.
• How to prepare for the appraisal meeting.
• How to conduct, and follow up, the meeting.

Leaders add value

Whether you are the managing director or the office supervisor, the way you lead is the biggest success factor for everyone you work with.

Leaders change the organisations around them. They make a difference to the business, rather than just making the business work.

Leadership is about what you do, not who you are. It involves learnable skills that can be applied to the tasks that occur in every business.

This briefing tells you how to make leadership work in practice. It covers:

• The leadership functions of a manager - and those of a managing director.
• Leading a successful team.
• How to achieve more as a leader.

Take the initiative

All businesses face change all the time, driven by internal or external influences.

The rhetoric of change always includes words like growth, innovation, reorganisation, computerisation, redundancy, relocation and diversification. But most changes in business are minor and incremental.

Making the necessary changes before they are forced upon you will bring competitive advantages. Creating a culture of innovation can transform your business.

This briefing outlines:

• How to identify key areas of change.
• Preparing for change.
• Implementing change.
• Creating a culture of change.

You can't afford not to

Most employees spend less than half their time at work being genuinely productive. For the business owner, this is frustrating and expensive.

Ironically, though, the employer is usually the major cause of the problem. Almost all employees will be highly productive if they feel enthusiastic and motivated.

This briefing explains:

• How to make people want to work well.
• How to align employees' goals with those of the business.
• How to handle disagreements.

Pulling together

Small businesses rely on teamwork, just as much as their bigger counterparts.

When a small group of people starts working towards shared goals and producing results that add up to more than the sum of the parts, it becomes a team.

Successful teamworking gets results in all areas - including sales, IT, resolving problems and managing new projects. People work more productively and their motivation, problem-solving capacity and loyalty to your business are also increased.

This briefing covers:

• Forming and briefing the team.
• Leading teams.
• Successful team meetings.
• Problem solving.

Mixed messages

'Poor communication' is one of the most common criticisms employees have about the businesses they work for.

They complain that their managers give poor instructions, which leads to misunderstandings and wasted time. And they feel uninformed about what is happening elsewhere in the company, which leads to all sorts of problems.

This briefing looks at communication to and from management, and communication within the workplace generally.

It covers:

• Preparing the message.
• Making meetings and presentations effective.
• Using meetings and information systems to keep people informed.
• Achieving two-way communication.

The confidence to win

Developing assertiveness can be the key to getting the best out of your people - increased sales, better customer service, higher productivity and more ideas for improvement.

It encourages those who are shy or short of confidence to become more involved and helps the more extrovert or volatile to fine tune their dealings with customers, suppliers and colleagues. An assertive person is a positive, resourceful presence in your business.

In particular, people can learn to avoid unproductive behaviour patterns, to focus on goals, solve problems and feel more at ease with themselves and their work.

This briefing covers:

• The principles of assertiveness.
• Assertiveness techniques.
• Which parts of your business will benefit most from assertive people.
• How to encourage assertiveness.

Time is money

Time is like money. If you control it, you can create a satisfactory and productive working environment. If you do not control it, you can spend your working life in an exhausting and depressing muddle.

This briefing explains how to make time work for you. It covers:

• Prioritising and planning.
• Creating routines and systems.
• Handling information and minimising distractions.
• Using time management aids, and analysing your use of time.

Stress is bad for business

Stress affects employers as well as employees. It can cause illness and absenteeism. It can also be the cause of bad business decisions, poor workplace relations, and loss of productivity.

This briefing covers the following points:

• The cost of ignoring stress.
• How to recognise stress.
• The major causes of workplace stress, and what to do about them.
• Relaxation techniques.

Teleworking can work

New technologies and social change make working from home – sometimes called teleworking – an increasingly cost-effective and attractive option both for individuals and the organisations they work for.

This briefing outlines:

• Which jobs and individuals teleworking suits best.
• The key management issues.
• The benefits and risks.
• The technology involved.

Recent changes in legislation make it absolutely vital that you now follow the correct procedures in disciplinary and grievance matters. If you fail to do so, you could find yourself automatically judged to have dismissed someone unfairly.

If you have not revised your disciplinary and grievance procedures recently, this is the moment to do it. Good procedures will not only enable you to stay on the right side of the law; they will also enable you to deal with disciplinary and grievance issues consistently and fairly, with a view to sorting them out before they become serious.

This briefing covers:

• The legal requirements.
• Where the new procedures apply.
• Drawing up disciplinary rules.

More and more businesses are using email to improve their communications. It can be a quick, convenient and effective way of contacting both customers and other members of your team, without the disruptive effect of a phone call. But if you use email or plan to introduce it, you need to set up a clear email policy. This will help you prevent timewasting, protect the security of your systems and data and minimise the risk of legal problems.

This briefing outlines:

• The key elements you need to include in your email policy.
• How to implement and enforce the policy.

The Internet is a powerful tool for improving your business’s efficiency. But it can also be a great way for employees to waste time, damage the security of your IT system and give you legal headaches. If you do not already have an Internet policy, you should actively consider putting one in place.

A well-thought-out policy can help you enjoy the benefits of the Internet while reducing the pitfalls. It encourages employees to use the Internet effectively, states what you consider to be acceptable use, and sets up procedures to minimise security and legal risks.

This briefing outlines:

• The main elements you need to include in your Internet policy.
• How to implement and enforce this policy.