Employees are the backbone of business. Therefore, for continuous growth you need better performing employees. This may look simple at first glance but it is complex. Better performing employees are always in demand. Due to this, the cost of hiring employees is more and impacts the profitability in business. As a result you may not grow even after hiring the best employees in business. Therefore, I recommend you to find other better ways to earn money rather than being dependent on hiring the best talents. The problem is not good talent, but the cost of talented staff. So, the best approach is to work on existing resources and improve employee performance. This will not only generate more revenue for you, but also save you from unwanted hassle.
How to Improve Employee Performance at work
There are many ways to improve performance. Just go through the list and use whatever fits best for your business. All these are simple techniques of performance improvement.
- Start with mapping employee skills
- Use skill based work allocation for better results
- Try to create healthy competition among implement and do not look biased
- Organize Trainings for Skill Development and Improvement
- Introduce Employee Scorecard and Track Employee Performance
- Implement Reward and Recognition System
- Always be a resource provider rather than a boss
- Its business so do not get be emotionally attached with employees
- Invest in Trainings
- Implement Strict Rules and Terminate People to Set an Example
- Employee Retention is Important
Let us now understand everything in more detail and other related factors linked with this. Start with mapping employee skills.
1 – Start with mapping employee skills as first step to Improve Employee Performance
Employee skill mapping is important. You should know what all skills your employees carry. If you do not work on mapping employee skills it is possible that wrong people will work on wrong profiles. As a result the overall performance of the company will go down. As a business owner, this should be your top priority.
2 – Use skill based work allocation for better results
Skill based work allocation reduces the timeline. On the other hand, if you do not focus on correct work allocation the overall result will be poor. Understand this with an example: you hire a sales executive and ask him to work on a software application. You can expect the result as nothing because sales executives are not supposed to do development work. Additionally, instead of improving employee performance, you may lose some potential employees. Therefore, skill based allocation of work is very crucial for any business.
3 – Try to create healthy competition among implement and do not look biased
Healthy competition among employees results in self motivation. There are studies to prove that self motivated employees perform the best. If your employees feel that the company cares about them then it boosts their morale. This one feeling itself can also improve employee performance. Skill based work allocation and company policies play an important role here. Working on winning employee trust to get better results. Additionally, your employees should never feel that the company is biased about someone or something. If you give more than needed value to one of the employees, others will feel neglected. This is sufficient to scatter your dream of improving employee performance.
4 – Organize Trainings for Skill Development and Improvement
No matter how hard the interview process is there are chances that your employees do not have enough skills to perform the job. Additionally, there are low performing employees. Many believe that training is expensive and do not want to spend money on training. Therefore, they miss a lot of opportunities. Understand this with an example. You need a software developer with a specific skill which is more in demand. The cost of hiring an employee will be more if you go for an urgent hiring. Therefore, training an existing employee is a better idea.
5 – Introduce Employee Scorecard and Track Employee Performance to Improve Employee Performance
An employee performance tracking system plays a key role in business stability. But the first step is to introduce the employee scorecard in the company. Additionally, tell your employees clearly about how you will track performance. You should always know what is happening in the business and who are the best performing employees. An employee scorecard is the right tool to know and understand this. If you find any non performing employees, you can take timely action. Small training can also improve employee performance and fix this issue. You can use an employee scorecard making software or performance tracking system for this.
6 – Implement Reward and Recognition System
Employees work really hard to meet their monthly targets. Especially in the sales department, the pressure is very high. It is the responsibility of the management to recognize talent and reward performance. Rewards and recognition systems keep employees. This is also an inspiration for many. If you set a meaningful reward for achieving a target the whole team will work towards it which is good for the company as a whole. You will see an instant improvement in employee performance and dedication.
7 – Always be a resource provider rather than a Boss
As a business owner, your behavior motivates employees to work. If you let them feel good they will perform better. your vision becomes their vision and this is the turning point. Employees can make or break an organization. You may start a business alone but the success comes with collective effort. Therefore, always behave like a service provider and keep supporting employees. Over the period of time you will not only build trust but also ensure employees stay with you for a long time. This is one of the best tricks to improve employee performance.
8 – Its business so do not get be emotionally attached with Employees
There are many situations where you feel connected with the employees. But you are running a business. Therefore, always be practical and make decisions that make the business profitable. We can understand this with an example. You run an organization and there is an underperforming employee. The employee has an amazing behavior (professional), achieves 100 percent attendance and comes everyday on time. There is absolutely no complaint but even after spending more than required time at work, fails to achieve results. The best deal is to get rid of these employees. Remember that you are here to make profit in business. You can do charity only when you have something extra than you need. Keep the personal and business life separate and make decisions that are good for business.
9 – Invest in trainings to Improve Employee Performance
If you belong to the software industry, technology upgrade is normal. Not only software but there are many industries which undergo regular change. Therefore, you must invest to ensure your employees are skilled enough to adopt change. Sharpening the axe reduces cutting time drastically. Similarly, if your employees are trained to perform they will deliver results. Additionally, if you are working on the latest technology your demand as a business will always be on top. As I mentioned above, improving employee performance directly impacts the company performance. Training can do wonders for your business.
10 – Implement Strict Rules and Terminate People to Set an Example
Fear of getting a termination letter is also a motivation at work. Here I do not want you to be unethical in any way. Just implement strict policies. If you want to be successful then the standard company policy draft is the only solution. You cannot have different policies for different employees. For example: a male employee misbehaves with a female employee. Go with the company policy document without worrying about the importance of the employee. If the policy recommends termination, do it. This is just one example, there are other issues also. If you take action as per policy then this will work in your favor. Trust in the company also works as a great factor to improve employee performance.
11 – Employee Retention is Important
Every company faces employee resignations and many of them are unexpected. You simply do not want to lose these people. Work on the employee retention policy and improve if required. Employees are an asset for an organization and you should keep them as long as possible. If an asset wants to leave the company try to give them a better deal to stay back. This way you will save a lot of money involved in hiring and training new employees. Existing resources are more connected with the company’s long term vision than new recruits. Everything depends on your current business requirement.