Managing Employees

In today’s shortage of talent, managers are working hard to find solutions to recruit the talent they need. There are many ingredients in the “art of recruiting.” In the world of recruiting, knowing what the essential responsibilities (functions) of the role is paramount.

The job description is a tool that serves many functions within a company, but this post will be on its effectiveness in recruiting.

Being in Human Resources I know that creating a job description is tedious. I also know that managers groan when thinking about doing them. I understand…managers have a lot of their plate in order to meet the business objectives.

The Seasoned Employee

The final section on the retention series is the seasoned employee.   This employee performs efficiently and at a high quality level.  They are an expert in their role within the company.  A manager’s dream…an employee who knows what to do and just does it.  Enjoy it!  

Yet…keep an eye on this employee because you can lose them without knowing you are vulnerable.   Employees have different styles when dealing with their careers.  Some are quite vocal about needing additional challenges or if they are not happy, while others quietly decide to look elsewhere when they are bored.   The cost of losing an experienced employee is up to 150% of their annual salary (Ernst & Young, 2003).  That includes a lot of time and money.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I’ve selected three very broad stages of employee development: 

• The New Employee 

• An employee in their role for about one year        

• Seasoned employee…knows how to perform their roles

Most employees start out as a new employee, develop competency in their roles, and then move forward to the expert stage.  As you work with employees on development, it can be helpful to look at the stage they are in to appropriately plan with them their career development.

Keeping your talent is one of your main responsibilities as a manager…you are measured by your ability to handle this important function within the company. Losing people doesn’t have to be inevitable even for positions that traditionally have large turnover.

This is such a broad subject because each person has different needs within the work environment. So how do you as their manager satisfy all those needs in order to meet your business objectives? I’ve broken this topic down into three main topic areas:

· The New Employee
· In their role for about one year
· Seasoned employee…knows how to perform their role and is contributing successfully

The work force has several different generations functioning side by side. Each generation has diverse needs which means you will have to manage them differently. So not only do you have individual styles to deal with, you also have the employee’s generation to include in motivating the employee.

Given the requirements for great talent and the limited talent pool, it’s likely you will have an “older worker” as part of your team. Retention of knowledgeable and productive employees, no matter what generation they reside in, is one of your primary functions within the company.