How to Manage Business Employees

Video Transcript

"Managing employees is a tricky subject. This is Clayton Christopher, with Sweet Leaf Tea Company. Managing employees can be more like babysitting, than running a company, if you don't do it well. Especially if you have a lot of low paid hourly employees. We're real lucky here at Sweet Leaf Tea. We've got just great employees, but even if you have wonderful people that you've attracted to your business, you have to retain those people, and that's part of management. The most important basics of managing employees, is setting very clear, and communicating very clear objectives, to your employees, on a very regular basis. The more open, honest communication you have, the easier it's going to be for you. Setting goals, we set goals on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. Those goals have to be mutual goals. It can't just be the boss, the manager, forcing that down the employee's throat. They have to buy into it, and they have to be adjusted if there's circumstances that are out of everyone's control, that keep those employees from hitting those goals. The goals don't mean a lot, unless there's compensation, employees compensation is tied to those goals, so I highly suggest, having the employees compensation, whether it's through bonus, whether it's through commission, some percentage of their base salary, tied to those goals. That way it has everybody really aligned, and it has that employee really wanting to shoot for those goals, in order to get that extra compensation, and then we meet yearly with all of our employees, to have an annual review. How can they do a better job? What are they doing right? What are they doing wrong? and then getting feedback from those employees. That's an important part of management. Some of the best ideas we've ever had here at Sweet Leaf, come from our employees. They give me feedback on how I'm doing as a manager, so managing goes both ways. It's a good place for you to get feedback on the kind of job you're doing, and how you can be a better manager, as well. This is Clayton Christopher, with Sweet Leaf Tea, on how to manage employees."