Are You Happy With The Return On Your People Investment?

By Michalle Faulkner – Managing Director
EastCoast Human Resource Group

If I was to ask any business owner who employs staff what one of the major financial cost centres to their business is, you can pretty much guarantee that their response will be – labour cost, or the cost of paying wages and employing staff.

For that reason alone, it’s imperative that you ensure that you maximise the return on your “people investment” and have a clear understanding of and communicate effectively with your staff members as to what you expect and need that staff member to achieve and what  expectations you have of the staff member in delivering on that investment.

When staff do not have clear guidelines and understand the employer expectations, they are like a Pilot flying aimlessly with no real flight plan or destination in mind.  They might be skilled in their respective area of expertise and you’re clearly employing them for that skill but every business is different and every role within your team may well have different expectations and focus goals to achieve your desired outcomes – i.e. marketing, sales, administration etc.

I don’t know about you but when I engage someone to do work (say around my own house or engage someone for a business project that’s being undertaken) I prepare a bit of a briefing document or list of needs, tell them exactly what I want, I ensure that I receive a quote so I know the cost and I also ensure I get details on how the works are going to be delivered and by when!  After I select someone, I monitor the quality of the work to ensure that I am satisfied that they are delivering to the brief and my expectations and that I am essentially getting exactly what I paid for…..

In the workplace or your business arena, we need to put the same investment of time and focus into ensuring the team members you bring on board in the business, have the best and clearest directives of what you require in your work environment and to be able to satisfactorily deliver their best work and complete the tasks to the your expected standards.

Position descriptions or role and responsibility statements are perfect for communicating this in the workplace however where many business owners and managers go wrong, is that these documents are not clear enough on the expectations/deliverables and or have some measurability to ensure that the works are being delivered exactly as required.  For example, I can direct a finance administrator to ensure that invoices are sent on a weekly or fortnightly basis but if I don’t have some measurability around my expectation of adherence to payment terms and unacceptable debtor days are coupled with what my expectation is for chasing up invoices that aren’t paid, I could find myself very quickly with a cash flow problem.

Not every task has to have measurability assigned however you need to be clear and transparent. If you want a ‘weekly’ report, your statement says that you want it weekly – don’t just ask for information to be reported regularly.

To monitor the results and how your investment is tracking to expectation – regular check in’s with team members or performance reviews/assessments (honestly it doesn’t matter what you call them) are the best opportunity for you to check in on how the staff member is going at delivering their role and have a conversation or make necessary adjustments where you notice they may not be ticking the boxes.

Whilst I know in some circles, managing performance of staff on a regular basis such as this or having performance reviews is seen as being a bit old fashioned, I find that if my Clients do this, and they are consistent, their staff are engaged and keen to deliver because they are not confused and they know exactly what their employer wants.

Most staff, if you select the right people for the right role and for the right reason, they want to come to work and do a good job for you, their employer!

Let’s help them be the best that they can be, by ensuring we provide great guidelines and expectations which then set them up for success as well as ensuring that the business reaps the reward of a fantastic and successful people investment!