If I Ignore It It Will Just Go Away. Entrepreneurs and Employee Relations

If I Ignore It It Will Just Go Away.  

Entrepreneurs and Employee Relations

Small business owners have to wear a lot of different hats they may not be comfortable with.  When you have a small company with just a few employees, you have to handle things you may have never thought about.  Things like employee relationships.   

You may have come from a large organization that had its own human resources department to handle these types of things.  But now, it’s just you and your employees aren’t getting along.  So, what do you do?  Bury your head in the sand and hope it goes away?  Listen politely when employees complain but never do anything about the issues? 

All the head in the sand tricks won’t help your employees or your company.  It’s important to listen when employees have issues with each other and try to understand what might be going on in the office.  Now, this doesn’t mean you need sit and listen to gossip; I’m talking real employee relationship issues.  There could be issues of disrespect, or of an employee who is not performing their job.  These issues need to be handled and you, as the owner are the one who needs to get a handle on the situation. 

If you feel you are getting in over your head, you can look to human resources consultants who might charge you to come in and listen to your employees to understand what is going on and then make recommendations to you on how to proceed.  You can also try to understand what is going on yourself and have some honest discussions with your employees. 

The bottom line is not to ignore the issues and let things progress until good employees leave your company.  As uncomfortable as it may be, dealing with these issues may save you more money than having to replace good employees.  


Suzanne Cormier
Executive Director
BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)
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Policies and Procedures...Know Before You Need to Know

So, you’ve moved your business along and now it’s time to hire employees.  It’s important that you think about how your employees will behave (the rules) before you actually hire them.  In other words, you need to put something down on paper.  You don’t need a 50 page manual when a simple Word document will do.  Make sure you think about the types of employees you will be hiring and what is important that they know about your company. 

Things like what time to arrive, how long the work day will be, are holiday and vacation pay going to be part of their package?  Do you need a dress code?  What kind of disciplinary procedures will you need?  Because once you hire you might have to fire.  Always have that plan in place before you have to use it.  Do some research on the web, there are lots of materials out there you can use.  Also, talk to a small business human resource person.  They may give you a great rate to help you write the policies you need and to keep them updated. 

The bottom line is, have the plan in place to hire, train and discipline employees BEFORE you need that plan.  

Follow Suzanne Cormier on
Facebook and
Twitter @BizWorksCenter

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