Complying with employment legislation and managing teams effectively are part and parcel of being a manager.
Sue Baird of SABOC says: "For SME owners/managers who must wear many hats within their business, this can be a little daunting! Legislation is in place for the joint protection of both employer and employee and as such, it’s important that both parties clearly understand the expectations, entitlements, and procedures that makes up the contractual agreement.
"Having in place a defined working framework (contracts of employment, handbook, codes of conduct, supporting policies and procedures ) and explaining these to your team provides clarity and understanding of the contractual agreement.
"Employment agreements are a two-way commitment and in offering / accepting employment, both parties are committing to these terms – so isn’t it better everyone understands exactly what they are?!
"Problems arise when these commitments are not fulfilled by one or other party or where an issue isn’t handled appropriately - when this happens, matters can escalate very quickly causing significant upset amongst parties. When it comes to people management, real communication can often be neglected."
Sue Baird ccontinues: "By real communication I mean, talking to your team members face to face, taking time to get to know them, what motivates/frustrates them, what their aspirations are, taking time to include, explain, discuss, question, coach, guide, applaud and correct so to enhance greater understanding from all perspectives.
"We live in a world where technology has enabled us to reach out to people near and far through texting, email, zoom/teams, social media platforms etc.
"In many ways, technology has been a blessing especially through recent Covid times as it has enabled us to see and talk to people. Yet, if you ask anyone who has been apart from their family and friends what have they missed most; nearly every person will say, they’ve 'missed seeing and being with people' or 'technology can never replace human contact’.
"Talking to people, face to face or voice to voice enables us to explain how we expect people to behave at work, what they should do in various circumstances (eg running late for work, being absent, needing a day off ), what their entitlements are in respect of maternity, paternity, parental leave etc and equally what employees should expect of us, their employer, when they join our company.
"Talking to people face to face also enables us to ‘read between the lines’ – to instinctively sense when someone is happy, sad, frustrated, worried, excited or hesitant about something or perhaps when something is bothering them which mightn’t have anything at all to do with your company, but it’s affecting them in work.
"Talking to our teams, engaging with them gives us the opportunity to show how much we’re interested in them and genuinely care about them as individual people and not just about how well they perform within their role. How people feel is key to creating a happy team.
"In the workplace, it starts with explaining your contract of employment, handbook, policies etc. When we don’t explain, there is a distinct danger of elements being misinterpreted."
Sue Baird of SABOC has over 30 years of experience partnering with companies, assisting clients, putting in place HR documentation, providing advice and training to management teams and supporting HRM best practices within organisations.
She says: "If you have a question or need assistance, why not get in touch – it would be my pleasure to speak with you." Call (087 ) 2394927 or email: [email protected].
