Are Your Employees Working As Hard As They Should?

In an ideal world, you’d put out an ad for a position at your company, hire the best candidate, and then sit back as they help to take your business to the next level. Alas, when is life ever that ideal? Hire enough people, and you’ll end up with a few duds, employees who, for one reason or another, just don’t click with your company. Those employees can be forgiven. What can’t be forgiven is the conduct of employees who happily take their pay, but who don’t work as hard as they should. So how can you prevent that from becoming a big issue in your company? We take a look at a few ways below.

Open Dialogue

The only downside from having open communication channels with your employees is that you might become too friendly with them, but even that’s not a disaster. By encouraging open dialogue, you’ll be able to gain an insight into your working culture that would otherwise be inaccessible. If someone’s not pulling their weight, another employee will, sooner or later, bring it up with you. Conversation fosters trust, which is a crucial aspect of the employee/boss dynamic.

Out of the Office

If you’re sitting opposite your employee in the office, they’re unlikely to take things too easily. Even when you’re not there, the presence of others will likely be enough to get them to do some work. But what about if they’re not in the office? Your remote workers and delivery drivers have no-one looking over their shoulder. That doesn’t, however, mean that you just have to take a leap of faith and trust they’re acting professionally. You can install tracking cameras for trucks in your vehicles, which will (hopefully) show that your drivers are operating the vehicle safely. There is also software available that can detect computer activity; if your at-home workers are supposed to be online but their log shows no activity, then you’ll know something is amiss.

Send In Your Friends

If you’re a shop owner, then you’ll know just how important customer service is to the success of your business. Yet, while you can tell your employee the importance of acting professional, you can’t know for sure if they’re doing all the right things when you’re not there. As such, it’s a good idea to send in one of your friends, who your employees don’t know, to see how they act. If they’re friendly and helpful, then you’ll know that they’re not just turning on the charm when you’re looking over their shoulder.

Be a Presence

By far the most effective way to get your employees to work hard is to be a presence at the worksite. If you’re never there, then they’ll probably realize that they can take it a bit easier – they’re only human. You’ll also be setting an example by working hard in the office. If you’re not there, they may reasonably ask why they’re working so hard if you’re just relaxing at home. Set the standards!