No matter the size of your organization, managing a team along with everything else your company requires can be daunting, challenging, and downright stressful. The stress only makes your job a lot harder. As a business manager, it’s important to leverage the tools you have to run a successful business.
Therefore, to focus on what is important to you, you need to know that your staff is doing their job. On that note, here are some effective ways you can use to easily keep track of your company’s staff.
Pay Attention to Your Overall Profits
Before utilizing the numerous tools available, start old-school when it comes to employee performance. The best way to gauge how well your company is working is to take a look at the overall profits. After all, making money is the end goal. This, in turn, will help you determine where you need to step in and relinquish control in certain areas that you may have attempted to micromanage before. If you see your employees are meeting your targets, you can encourage them to find ways of working smarter rather than longer. If the profits start to take a turn for the worse, then you know that it’s time to make a change.
Install Security Cameras
One of the most effective management tools to consider is installing security cameras, especially in high activity areas. This will cross a lot off your list from keeping track of what your employees are doing to securing your equipment. Employees also feel safer in an environment with security cameras. As your business flourishes, you’ll be able to incorporate more security cameras and even hire a security team to monitor the live feed. Note that some places like the bathrooms will be off-limits when it comes to installing cameras.
Utilize a Monitoring and Management Software
There are flexible and customizable applications you can use to monitor your staff regardless of the size of your organization. Basically, this type of software keeps track of everything from the materials your employees use to their productivity. As a business owner and manager, you can’t supervise everything and everyone 24/7. Therefore, UK-based professionals from WebFletch field service management software recommend you choose a brand that can be tailored to suit your business and your staff. It’s important to assess whether a specific software can meet your specific requirements for business management so that you can focus on tasks that require your full attention.
Invest in Swipe Cards to Track Time
This is the modern version of a sign-in sheet. Instead of having your employees record the time they arrive and leave work as well as their lunch breaks, rely on technology to provide accurate recordings. Investing in swipe cards that employees must use whenever they enter or leave the building will allow you to make sure that everyone is adhering to the rules, from arriving to work on time to taking reasonable lunch breaks. This also allows you to keep track of the number of absences.
Organize Weekly Staff Meetings
Make your expectations for each employee very clear; lay down the goals you want them to meet and their deadlines. The best way to ensure your staff are fully aware of what their job entails is to organize weekly staff meetings. This allows you to catch up on their progress and create an open dialogue for them to discuss any issues with you. The more frequently you communicate with your employees, the less there is a chance of miscommunication or disappointment. Relying solely on technology to track your employees’ productivity will cause a rift and prevent you from having that relationship with them. Sometimes, the best gauge is to look people in the eye and hear them out. This also will allow you to determine which employees are pulling their own weight.
As you can see, making use of various tools will ensure the best results. Depending on your budget, you may have to favor some tools over others. However, all the aforementioned tips are surefire ways to improve employee productivity. Invariably, it’s important that, as a company’s boss, you check in personally every now and then and build relationships with your staff while relying on some of the tools technology has to offer. Furthermore, understand that you want to pay attention to both the long-term and short-term data you gather from your recordings. Sometimes employees need advice or need you to cut them some slack. Other times, you’ll need to be aware that some patterns of behavior are just not acceptable and you cannot allow your leniency to be taken advantage of.
