Small business resources

The Five Traits of Successful Supervisors– Revisited

Here’s a post from over a year ago that I’ve pulled out of the archives and dusted off for your review based on visitor requests for management tips!

I’ve worked with dozens of supervisors over the last several years and have found the five traits that follow to be consistent behaviors with those supervisors whom I considered to be the cream of the crop.

These are the leaders who consistently receive high praise and respect from their employees, even when they make decisions that their staff do not agree with. Why are they so successful when it comes to managing employees?

Check the following five traits of successful supervisors to see if you are already incorporating these best management practice tips:

1. Understands that Communication is Key. Provides Ongoing Feedback

Successful supervisors regularly communicate with their employees by offering praise and appreciation freely for a job well done. These supervisors also provide direct feedback and outline expectations to employees who aren’t performing well or who need extra guidance and support.

2. Listens to Employee Concerns

Successful supervisors have an open door policy when it comes to their interactions with employees. Yes, they are busy, but they make sure that their employees understand that their concerns are a priority.

3. Deals with Difficult Employee Issues Immediately

Great supervisors don’t put off having difficult conversations when things go wrong, regardless of the issue.

4. Acts as a Mentor

Understands the importance of giving employees the opportunity to grow and take risks. A strong leader is not afraid to provide access to career development opportunities.

5. Is Fair But Firm

The best supervisors always treat employees fairly and respectfully and never show favoritism to some employees over others. These supervisors are not afraid to make difficult decisions even if their decision makes them unpopular.

If you recognize your management style in this list of five traits, congratulations! If not, we all have areas for growth or improvement. Use this as an opportunity to grow and develop as a manager.

Dianne Shaddock is the Founder of Easy Small Business HR, Employee Hiring and Managing Tips. Through the Employee Hiring and Managing Tips podcast, blog, and weekly ‘quick tips’ e-newsletters, Dianne offers expert advice on how to make better hiring decisions, manage difficult employees, develop employee policies, motivate staff, and so much more. No stuffy, corporate HR policy lingo; but straight forward, easy to understand and implement advice for businesses just like yours. Stay ahead of the curve and go to Easy Small Business HR for more tips on how to hire and manage your staff effectively.

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8 Tips for Hiring and Retaining Diverse Employees

Many managers and business owners understand the value of hiring a diverse group of employees, but aren’t quite sure of the steps that need to be taken towards reaching their goal of an inclusive and diverse workforce.

Finding and retaining employees that represent a wide range of diversity at all levels takes time and commitment. The following 8 tips should help towards developing a plan of action that over time, will help you to hire and retain staff that are representative of the community at large.

Finding Diverse Employees

1. Participate with associations or organizations whose primary focus is to work with underrepresented individuals. Participation may include attending networking events, sponsoring an association initiative, or providing helpful workshops or information sessions.

2. Take a look at your website and other marketing materials that represent your company. If these materials don’t highlight individuals from different backgrounds, you’ll likely lose many potential candidates who will view the lack of diversity in your marketing materials to be indicative of the lack of commitment or interest that your business has for staff that are different.

3. Reach diverse candidates early in the game by contacting administrators at high schools or middle schools in areas where the population is diverse. These types of events are the perfect opportunity to showcase your company and the type of work that your employees perform on a daily basis. Students will remember your company when they are looking for work.

Keeping the Employees That You Have

4. Make sure that you orient all new employees by ensuring that they are introduced to staff across the organization. Share with them the often overlooked, but important information on the mission and culture of the business.

5. Include your new employees in workplace activities and initiatives as appropriate.

6. Become more in tune to cultural and communication differences in the workplace. Research the impact that cultural and communication differences may have in the workplace.

An excellent article that goes into very interesting detail about cultural differences in the workplace and how to identify an overcome them is “Managing a Multicultural Workforce”.

Another great article to read is “Understanding Cultural Differences in the Workplace”. Although the article specifically speaks to international business, the advice is very transferable to the U.S. workforce.

7. Don’t be shy about interviewing all of your employees in order to get a sense of what they like about the organization, or what they feel can be done better. As employees leave your company, meet with them to learn about their experience and use the information to help you to recruit and retain employees.

8. Provide mentorship opportunities for employees so that they are exposed to individuals at all levels of the organization.

Do you have any tips based on personal experience for hiring and retaining a diverse staff? Share your comments.

Get your free 6 page report: Giving Your Employees What They Really Want

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New Hire Paperwork Checklist: Important Forms Not To Overlook

The following are a list of documents that you should have on file for every new employee. The amount of time that businesses should keep these documents may vary from state to state.

Resume or Job application
Federal and State Tax Forms
Employment Eligibility Form, (I-9)

Resumes/Job Application

Having a resume or a job application on file is not a legal requirement, but a best business practice as it will be important to have a record of your employees’ experience for the job that they were hired for.

Federal and State Tax Forms

Employers are required to submit federal tax forms to the Internal Revenue Service for employees on the staff payroll. State tax form requirements vary from state to state. To learn more about federal tax form requirements go to IRS.gov.

A handy site to review and download federal tax forms is Forms.gov.

The Federation of Tax Administrators, (FTA) is a great resource if you are looking for downloadable state tax forms for your specific state.

Employment Eligibility Form, (I-9)

Employers are required to verify that al employees hired in the U.S. are eligible to work in this country. The I-9 form meets this federal requirement by requiring employers to obtain verification of citizenship by asking new hires to provide specific documents like a U.S. passport. Learn more about these requirements and download the I-9 form at Forms.gov .

Depending on your business, there may be additional forms that you may choose to create that are specific to your company which will enhance your record keeping and employee tracking goals:

Direct Deposit Forms
New Employee Orientation/On-boarding Checklist
Confidentiality or Conflict of Interest Agreement
Performance Review Form

Don’t get overwhelmed by the idea that having a variety of forms will make your business more of a bureaucracy by adding forms that you don’t need. Start with the basics and only add additional forms if it makes sense for your business.

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Should Twitter and Facebook Be Part of Your Hiring Decision? What Do Job Seekers Think!

Should you be checking the references of your potential hires using Twitter and Facebook, or the myriad of other social media outlets?

This is an extremely controversial topic; especially for those looking for work or contemplating a job change.

A short time ago, I shared what I thought would be a helpful article with my Facebook friends and family, alerting them to the fact that more employers are using social media sources such as Facebook as part of their decision making process when hiring. The article highlighted the importance of not putting anything on a social media site that you would not want your current or potential employer to see.

Here’s what I wrote:

“Be careful how you use Facebook and Twitter. Hiring managers are checking social networking sites more often as part of their reference checking process. Any inappropriate or questionable content can rule you out as a candidate if you are looking for a job”.

Some of the comments that I received were fascinating:

…”you just can’t get a break, can you?”

…”isn’t there some sort of privacy infringement here?”

“Facebook and Twitter are social outlets and employers shouldn’t be trespassing on one’s personal life”

“…where do we draw the line?”

“If a company cannot solely use my cover letter, resume and how I respond during an interview as an apparatus to make a decision, than I really should think twice about wanting to working for that company.”

As you can see, some potential candidates view the use of Twitter and Facebook as “infringement” and “trespassing” on what is seen as a personal and private resource where they should be free to be who they are with friends and family. There is the strong belief that what is discussed on Facebook is no measure of the person that they are on the job, and therefore it should not be used to measure behavior when working.

Do we not take on a different persona depending on the audience or environment? Is the professional and focused person that we are when we are at work the same person that we are when we are interacting with our family and friends in an informal environment?

Some argue that is natural to have different personas depending on our environment and whom we are engaged with. Some may also argue that we should not be judged because we are letting our hair down through a medium that was set up for us to do just that. Essentially, a medium that in a very public way, allows us to share our everyday pleasures and disappointments with those we chose to share these feelings with.

Yet isn’t the information on the Internet public domain? If a person chooses to post on a public domain site, do employers not have the right to access the site in order to “see another side” of a potential employee?

I don’t profess to have the right answers on this subject but I do have some very specific advice. Employers should not use social media as the only source of reference information on potential employees. It’s important to get a rounded view of potential candidate’s by checking both current employer references and past references.

It’s also important for employers to weigh the content that they are seeing on the site and not make rash judgments with the exception of content that is clearly inappropriate.

For those looking for work, the new reality is that employers are using social media as part of their job reference process in order to get a “360” degree view of a potential hire.

The types of posts that can potentially rule you out as a candidate are posts with inappropriate language or pictures. Or posts that are derogatory or demeaning in any way. Employers are also looking for how you communicate online so be careful of grammar and spelling errors. Never use the Internet to post disparaging remarks about your current or former employers.

Delete anything that may be questionable before looking for a new job. Don’t lose sight of the fact that you are conversing on the Internet and not at the kitchen table. Remember that others have access to your information.

Make sure that you utilize all of the privacy options allowed with social media sites if you have concerns about who will be viewing your profile.

Use of social media sites are growing by leaps and bounds daily. Parts of our lives that were once very private really are available for all to review if you chose to participate in social media sites on the Internet. Both employers and potential employees need to be mindful of the power of this new medium and not abuse it. Proceed with caution.