Employee Relationships

How to cultivate good employee relationships in a small business environment

When you're running a small business, you need to run a 'tight ship' in order to succeed. You don't have the slack – in terms of time or money – that a large corporation enjoys. Given that, it's important that you correctly identify and address the various components of the small business environment that affect your bottom line. Employee relationships are one such component which we discuss here.

In the small business environment, employee relationships are more akin to a family than in the large corporate setting. While you may have several departments, your employees usually know each other fairly well, with regular interaction and an awareness of how their own responsibilities impact the entire organization. How your employees relate to one another thus becomes more critical to your success or failure. Cultivating good relationships between employees and departments can provide an effective solution to a host of problems. Let's see how this works.

When hiring new employees, it's likely that you assess personality characteristics as well as competence factors to help assure a good match between them and other employees in your organization. Candidates with a positive attitude, friendly demeanor and who are teamwork oriented possess qualities you look for in choosing an employee who will enhance your business – and your bottom line.

Once you've screen new employees for qualities that suit your business objectives, you're ready to begin efforts to cultivate good employee relationships that stand the test of time, rewarding both you and your employees. The initial employee orientation helps set the stage for success. In the orientation phase, employees should become familiar with the organization, departments, responsibilities and resources available to help them meet company objectives. Issues related to compensation, such as pay scale, raises, bonuses and the like should also be discussed during the orientation phase. This initial introduction to your business goes a long way towards nurturing good employee relations.

Adopting an open door policy is an excellent next step. Employees who know they can resolve disputes with the next level of management are thus empowered, knowing they will be treated fairly. Ironically, employees in an 'open door' environment tend to be judicious in their use of this vehicle of resolution, making every effort to resolve the issue equitably with their peers or management before going to the next level.

Playing favorites is one way in which you can sabotage good employee relationships. Be sure your management staff understands the pitfalls of the favorites game.

Competition can be a two-edged sword in establishing and keeping successful employee relationships. A competitive attitude is, on the one hand, necessary in order to meet deadlines and achieve company objectives. However, employees should not undercut the efforts of another employee in order to curry favor for themselves. Using the employee orientation venue to convey this concept helps set the right tone, from the beginning.

Following these summary guidelines will help you gain the many benefits of good employee relationships.