The Complete and Epic Guide to Successful Employee Management in 2020

Those in a leadership position know that employee management will make or break the success of their organization. When you keep your employees happy and inspired, it reciprocates as success to your company. Otherwise, when your employees are disgruntled and lazy, it can result in the crumbling of your company’s goals and aspirations.

But employee management is easier said than done — we know that. For managers and HR employees, managing employees is the most challenging part of a manager’s daily responsibilities. Despite that, employee managers need not fall short in that responsibility. After all, a functional and efficient workplace instigated by motivated employees can bring fortune and triumph to an organization.

What is employee management?

Employee management is a manager’s responsibility to help employees do their best work to achieve bigger goals for the organization. Various tasks fall under employee management, but they can fit into six core principles:

Selection. The process of choosing the right candidates during the hiring process.
Measurement. It involves measuring and identifying whether an employee is meeting their goals and has an outstanding performance.
Monitoring. The process itself of measuring an employee’s performance.
Interaction. This is the part where you and your team communicate effectively on a daily basis.
Reward. The result of outstanding employee performance. As an employee manager, you have to compensate for that by giving them recognition and merits.
Discipline. When an employee exhibits poor performance, you must act immediately by suspending or even terminating them.

The 4 Key Benefits of Employee Management

When employee management is implemented effectually, you’ll be able to reap many benefits for the company. The key benefits include:

1. Improved workflow efficiency

When you manage your employees effectively, you’ll have no trouble streamlining workflows.

How? Well, effective employee management can help you hire the right employee for a specific role. You can easily monitor their activities and ensure that the progress is moving well. Additionally, you’ll be able to effectively communicate with them to guarantee that they understand the project’s demands.

2. Amplified employee productivity and motivation

Managing your employees with the right level of concern and appreciation can help you connect with your employees to a personal degree. As a result, you’ll be able to make them feel valued which can significantly improve employee productivity. At the same time, it will be easier for you to get their feedback on various business processes and policies.

3. Lower employee costs

Employee turnover is one of the most expensive costs for organizations. Luckily, employee engagement can help you avoid such a problem. With the right employee management, you can keep your employees happier and dedicated to their job.

4. Ensured data security.

With the growth of remote teams, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, data security becomes more important for companies with a remote workforce.

Strong employee management can help you supervise documents and important data. Since each employee is linked to the documents they are responsible for, you can reduce inefficiencies over data handling. Plus, it can help you improve the company’s data security.

So, how does employee management work?

Robert Morris University Professor Dean R. Manna wrote in the Journal of Diversity Management, “employee management is based on ideas and procedures developed to increase worker motivation, productivity, and performance.”

From that statement alone, we can conclude that employee management as a key role of an employee’s lifecycle starts during the hiring process. Managers must bear in mind that to manage employees successfully, they need to build and maintain healthy relationships with employees.

To do just that, you can follow all these tips to manage employees effectively and successfully.

The Guide to a Successful Employee Management

1. Choose the right people.

Employee management is important even during the hiring process. And just as it is substantial, hiring is a tricky business. For one, you have to follow the laws and deal with the people without prejudice. Additionally, you have to be vigilant when trying to find and hire the right employee.

There are a lot of reasons why you need to have some people-reading skills. At times, the job market isn’t in your favor. There are also times when the person fits the qualifications, but there’s something about them that makes you feel uneasy. According to Blogger Michael Hyatt, these are the list of qualities you need to keep an eye out for.

Humility
Honesty
Hunger for knowledge and success
Intellect — not just IQ, but also good mental focus.

When considering an applicant, you need to ask yourself first: Are they manageable? Will they take criticism and praise well? Bear in mind that it’s not enough to be skillful; personality is also a substantial factor when hiring the right employee.

2. Be an effective communicator.

In a survey of over 1,000 employees, they found that 81% of employees prefer working for a company that values open communication over other perks and benefits. From the same survey, they were able to assess that only 15% of employees were satisfied with their company’s way of communication.

The bottom line here is you can’t manage employees if you don’t know how to communicate with them. And sending messages to them is only half the battle — actively listening to your employees is just as important as delivering your messages.

To become an effective communicator and employee manager, you must set up a system where employees can voice out their ideas, opinions, and complaints while you are actively listening to them. Don’t forget to apply the following:

Transparency. Be sincere when addressing employees. Always update your employees with new company information and announcements. Don’t encourage grapevine communication. All company news must strictly come directly from you, so you can avoid misinformation and company gossips.
Visibility. When at all possible, your team must implement face-to-face communication rather than through emails. As a manager, you need to be around, especially at times when employees need you the most. Let employees see you around the office, and encourage them to approach you if they need to talk.
Open feedback. Don’t shy away from criticisms. Use their feedback as a guide when identifying problems that could cause a risky ripple effect.

We recommend you to send out employee engagement surveys regularly so you can assess the level of your employees’ satisfaction and where possible issues lie.

3. Facilitate Employee Growth.

Monster polled that 72% of employees felt like their manager doesn’t care about their job growth. This shouldn’t be the case as employee development is a crucial part of employee management. By giving them the chance to grow in their roles, you can keep them engage and help them build their skill set which is relevant to your company’s success.

Create a learning culture. As a leader, it is your job to encourage your team to dare to be innovative. After all, a team that is always learning is always growing. Let them attend training and conferences. Create a safe place for a constructive discussion instead of humiliating them.
Be a mentor. The best leaders are those who lead by example. To become a good mentor, you need to have the following qualities: integrity, emotional intelligence, professional success, availability, and of course — the desire to mentor.
Know the right time to reward employees. Be sure to reward and recognize your employees for their hard work, loyalty, and desirable behavior.

4. Build trust in the workplace.

Putting your employees under the microscope is something you should avoid at all costs. According to a study, 54% of employees are not satisfied with the level of trust managers have in them. So how can you avoid this?

Avoid constant feedback. While it is necessary, you don’t want to flood them with feedback on every move they make. Let them do the task their own way, and only give feedback when necessary.
Don’t micromanage them. Avoid telling them every little thing — you are only adding stress to them and yourself.
Give them physical privacy. Let them work without forcing them to have their computer screens where you can see them.

5. Delegate tasks effectively.

To successfully lead and manage your people, you must master the art of delegation. In this way, you can manage your time wisely while making your employees feel that you trust them with major tasks.

Plan the delegation process. Identify which tasks are the most suitable for an employee. This can help them improve their skills in the area of their expertise.
Be clear about what is required. Give clear instructions and let them ask questions if needed.
Discuss the results. If the tasks were completed successfully, recognize the employee by praising them, or even giving them a small token of appreciation. Otherwise, discuss with the employee how they can improve in the future.

6. Create goals as a team.

Every effective team has one thing in common: collaboration. For them to work together, they need to work for something together. While individual goals are great, it can lead to the contradiction of ideas and disputes. Instead, strive to reach goals by working together on a focused goal.

To do this, you need to set SMART goals.

Specific. Be as specific as possible with the goals you want to achieve. The more narrow the goal, the easier for you to understand the steps to achieve it.
Measurable. Include a metric to determine whether you are making progress toward your goal.
Achievable. Set goals that you can reasonably accomplish within a certain timeframe. Decide if the goal is easily achievable or if you have to take preliminary steps to become better prepared.
Relevant. Is your goal aligned with your values and other long-term goals? Does it contribute toward your broader objectives?
Timely. Make sure to provide a specific time-frame. This can help you prioritize the important tasks and put the low-priority tasks below your list of agenda.

7. Interact with your employees.

Be honest, how do you behave as a manager? Are you a dictator, the lord of the castle, or a college frat boy? Well, I hope that’s not the case. Be a manager whom his employees can rely on. Master these skills, and you’ll be praised for your outstanding employee management skills.

Conflict resolution. Resolve conflicts within the workplace — don’t feed them. Solve the problem by diving deep into its deep cause. Instead of shaming them in front of others, respect your employee’s privacy by talking to them behind closed doors.
Empathy. Try to put yourself in your employee’s shoes. Before assigning them to work overtime, ask them if they don’t have other important plans to cater to. Ask for their feedback regarding their tasks and how well you delegate.
Intuition. Some employees are going to give you excuses and lies to save themselves from trouble. Of course, empathy is important, but have your intuition detector always on. There’s nothing wrong with putting your trust in them — but don’t forget to verify.

8. Use employee management software

By using employee management software, you can ensure that your employees are putting their all every single day.

Find the right tools to make it easy to communicate and measure project completion. Here are some of our suggested tools:

For communication: Slack, Campfire, Google Drive
For measuring project completion: Redbooth, Basecamp, Asana, I done this

As for HR employees, you also need to manage your employees by making sure that they are getting paid right for their skills and hard work. Make sure to choose the best payroll software to streamline your payroll tasks and avoid possible errors.

The Bottom Line on Employee Management

The right way to managing employees is by considering individuals and the team as a whole. Bear in mind that everything starts with you. By choosing the right people in the first place and giving them clear expectations, you’ll be able to effectively manage your employees and reap the success that comes along with it. Remember that effective employee management is not just about pushing everyone to work. At the end of the day, the best way to do it is to create a healthy and understanding company culture.