Layoffs, buyouts and hiring freezes have left employees in many workplaces picking up the slack of former colleagues, writes Hanah Cho in the Chicago Tribune. But if those left don’t all shoulder their burdens appropriately, resentment can grow and productivity can decline.
If you’re a manager, it falls to you to set expectations, establish policies, and tackle the issue before it becomes a problem. Ten ways to do this:
- Create specific, attainable, and measurable goals and objectives
- Communicate expectations and deadlines clearly
- Recruit the right people for the role
- Lead by example
- Hold regular staff meetings
- Conduct performance reviews and provide feedback
- Provide adequate training, including training on time-management skills
- Create a policy manual
- Encourage two-way communication by providing a suggestion box — and respond to all concerns filed
- Don’t ignore poor performance, which can spread or even cause other employees to leave
And if all else fails, here are 30 creative ways to fire someone who’s not pulling their weight.
(image by littledan77 via Flickr, CC 2.0)
