Modern workplaces have evolved drastically to provide employees with autonomous working options. They can make responsible choices regarding how to approach their work when to undertake it, and how to accomplish their tasks on time.
Hence, employee management in the modern workplace has transformed from simply administering staff members to actively engaging them and keeping them satisfied with their organization. To accomplish this goal, modern HR teams need to strategize innovative employee management programs.
So, let us check out the concept of employee management a gain a renewed perspective on how to manage your staff in a modern work environment.
What is Employee Management?
Employee management is the process of using a strategic approach towards helping employees achieve organizational goals. There are different aspects of employee management which keep them engaged from their recruitment to their retirement. Hence, it requires the organization to develop personal bonds with their staff through effective strategies.
Successful employee management enables your organization to retain staff for longer through engagement initiatives and efficient administration. It increases employee loyalty while helping them resonate with your employer’s brand. As a result, employee management initiatives focus on developing employee-employer relations through effective administration and strategic schemes.
Basic Categories of Employee Management
Employee management is a comprehensive process which can be divided into multiple factors. However, if you were required to categorize them into types, you would be left with 5 types that include all the processes undertaken to manage your employees well.
These 5 basic categories of employee management are:
1. Recruitment
Recruitment is one of the most crucial aspects of employee management as it acts as the first step in guiding the employee towards a successful career in the organization. Hence, recruitment must be undertaken with utmost precision with a laser-focused strategy. As it involves multiple tasks from sourcing the right candidates to onboarding the ideal employee, hiring is critical for the successful creation of a well-rounded employer brand.
Additionally, hiring the right candidates impacts your organizational productivity positively, leading to increased sales and profit. Combined with robust employer branding, you will be setting your organization on an excellent cycle where good talent results in enhanced employer branding, which further attracts better talent towards your organization.
2. Performance
Once an employee is hired, you should also monitor their performance to ensure that they work according to the quality and quantity standards set by your organization. Managing employee performance also requires you to set goals for them and track their progress to ensure their accomplishment. To ensure this, employees are armed with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and key Responsibility Areas (KRAs).
Based on the observations, you can decide whether they should be recognized and rewarded for their achievements or whether to upskill them to improve their performance. Both of these aspects of employee management further enhance employee satisfaction as recognition motivates them to work harder, while upskilling enables them to understand their importance to their organization.
3. Communication
Communication is essential for any modern organization as it is comprised of different teams working together towards achieving organizational goals. While managers need to communicate with their staff for allocating work, the organization should also ensure that communication happens both ways. They should also accept the feedback shared by their employees and work on improving their work culture.
Employees feel included and a ‘part of the family’ only when transparent communication is present in their work environment. Hence, open-door policies, compliant boxes, idea boxes, etc. are essential in the modern workspace. While communication can be complex in a work environment, especially considering the legalities involved, you should strive to remain as transparent with your employees as possible.
4. Recognition
Recognition not only motivates your employees to deliver results but also instils the realization of how much you value them. It helps them understand their relevance for their organization and the magnitude of the tasks they undertake daily. This realization helps them strive to be the best in their job, leaving you with loyal and engaged employees.
Hence, rewards and recognition are critical factors, that ensure the success of employee management strategies. It can be as small as a heartfelt ‘thank you’ or a small felicitation in front of their team; employees will remember the gesture which got them recognized in front of their teammates. Hence, recognition should always be prioritized in your employee management strategies.
5. Discipline
Discipline is often overlooked, but still an essential component of effective employee management. Disciplining is required to improve different kinds of issues related to employee performance, attendance, behaviour, etc. It is also required to enforce organizational policies, which help maintain the office decorum and ensure that work is undertaken efficiently.
Discipline can be implemented in several ways, starting from deploying office policies to undertaking one-on-one meetings with those who default, to firing repeat offenders after an adequate number of premediated warnings. Even legal action can be taken in case of serious offences like fraud, sexual harassment, etc.
Benefits of Employee Management for Organizations
Understanding the various categories of employee management helps you realize its scope. By deploying successful employee management initiatives to administrate and engage them, you are also able to enjoy multiple benefits, ranging from better employee experiences to lower costs.
Hence, let us check out the numerous benefits of employee management for organizations:
➔ Improved Productivity
The most significant benefit of employee management is the increase in organizational productivity. If you manage your employees effectively, they will remain satisfied with their jobs and actively engage with your company. As a result, it will lead to improved productivity as your employees find their role meaningful for the business.
➔ Enhanced Employee Experiences
Similarly, employee management also helps enhance the employee experience. By managing your employees, you are helping them realize how much you value their contribution and association with your business, which helps enhance their job satisfaction. Additionally, as training and development is a part of employee management, employees can gain knowledge through upskilling initiatives which further increases their professional value.
➔ Increased Engagement
Employee management also results in engaged employees since effective management ensures the fulfilment of their requirements in the organization. Once your employees realize how well you treat them, they would want to stay in your company for longer, while also trying to accomplish their tasks on time. It results in increased job satisfaction which translates to increased engagement.
➔ Efficient Working
Effective employee management also involves planning your employees’ workflow, which results in efficient working. Combined with enhanced productivity, efficient workflow helps in the development of better products and services, which increases the brand value of the organization. Hence, managing their employees effectively is essential for any organization.
➔ Reduced Long-term Costs
With a productive and engaged workforce, you can easily cut down on long-term expenses such as the additional costs required in hiring new staff. Additionally, streamlined workflow results in enhanced efficiency, which further reduces the costs required in developing products and services. Moreover, it also reduces costs associated with human errors as they are reduced due to a highly skilled workforce.
Best Employee Management Practices for Modern Workplaces
Employee management, especially for modern workplaces is more complex, given the changing dynamics of modern organizations. Given the recent changes in workplace dynamics and the growing relevance of remote and hybrid work, we are sharing the best employee management practices for modern workplaces:
1. Set Clear Goals
It is crucial to set clear goals for the HR department before strategizing employee management initiatives. Clear and measurable goals will provide you with a clear idea of what factors you need to work on to accomplish them. It will also provide you with a time-bound target, enabling you to take specific steps to ensure its accomplishment.
2. Provide Autonomy
Similarly, it is essential to provide your employees with complete autonomy when allocating tasks. By providing them the freedom to undertake their tasks as they deem best, you are essentially displaying your trust in your staff members. Hence, they will be motivated to give their best to the tasks at hand, improving organizational productivity.
3. Helps Employees Grow
Another factor for effective employee management is providing them with the tools and opportunities to grow professionally. It will not only help them improve themselves but also motivate them to stay longer with your organization, once they realize that you value them as valuable assets for the company.
4. Stay Consistent
By staying consistent, you can develop a sense of security among your staff. It helps them set basic expectations that you can easily fulfil. Similarly, as employee management is a continuous process, staying consistent will help your employees get accustomed to the work culture.
5. Communicate Clearly
All other efforts that you undertake for managing your employees will be wasteful if you do not communicate relevant information with your employees. It is essential to set an ethos of transparent communication throughout your organization, as it results in clarity, accuracy, and honest interactions among your staff, leading to an efficient workplace.
6. Recognize Talent
Everyone loves being recognized for their hard work, and the same applies to your employees. If they are rewarded and recognized in front of their peers, they will be motivated to work harder and improve themselves to achieve better goals. Hence, you should also reward and recognize your staff members periodically.
7. Support Employee Wellbeing
Employee well-being is another facet of employee management which should be prioritized in modern organizations. It is especially relevant for employees working in remote and hybrid environments, as they are constantly at risk of burnout. Given the stressful nature of modern job roles, companies must provide physical and mental well-being options for their employees.
8. Encourage New Ideas
Since ideas are the cornerstone of progress, you should encourage new ideas and explore all possibilities by brainstorming with them. It is healthy to discuss new ideas openly since you will gain different perspectives from different individuals, leading to better prospects for the company’s success.
9. Build Personal Connections
By developing personal connections with your employees, you develop a sense of belonging in them. It enables them to identify with their organization and work for its betterment. By being a part of the team which they identify with, employees will also help each other grow and prosper, leading to a healthy work environment.
10. Develop Remote Staff Initiatives
Since remote and hybrid working is on the rise, you should also focus on developing initiatives for your remote staff. For example, you can invest in technologies that make their life easier, while providing them with any kind of support. Similarly, you should ensure that their managers check on them periodically, to ensure that they are satisfied with their work and company.
11. Strategize DEIB Programs
Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Belonging (DEIB) are major aspects of modern employee management. Hence, you should ensure that its philosophy is included in all your employee management initiatives. Additionally, you should ensure that your managers and supervisors are aware of the tenets of DEIB, and ensure that it is always upheld.
Best Tools for Employee Management
As with anything in the modern age, technology can play a major role in enhancing your employee management and engagement initiatives. There are dedicated systems available that can streamline and automate your administrative and clerical tasks, making them highly efficient for any company looking to improve its strategies.
Here are a few tools that positively impact your employee management initiatives:
➔ Human Resource Management System
The Human Resource Management System (HRMS) is a highly complex solution that simplifies the task of employee management using the latest technologies. HRMS can act as a single system that helps you undertake all HR tasks ranging from hiring to the retirement of your employees. Being a versatile software, it is often customized according to the organization’s requirements before being deployed.
➔ Recruitment Management System
The recruitment management system is a software that enables you to hire the right candidate, by streamlining related processes such as candidate sourcing, interview scheduling, etc. This system helps you to keep your candidates up to date about their progress in the interview process while enabling you to quickly shortlist and hire them.
➔ Payroll Management System
The payroll management system enables organizations to process and pay accurate employee salaries on time. This system helps the payroll team to gather monthly inputs, add bonuses and incentives, deduct taxes for statutory compliance, generate payslips, and disburse employee salaries through their chosen mode of payment.
➔ Performance Management System
The performance management system enables organizations to set performance goals for their staff members and define their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Based on their performance, companies can take further action such as recognizing the contributions of their performers, while scrutinizing underachievers and taking corrective measures. It also helps in employee appraisals as the system enables unbiased appraisals based solely on employees’ performance.
➔ Project Management System
The project management system enables organizations to manage their projects by creating and allocating projects and tasks to teams. It provides multiple options such as estimated time to completion, setting task priorities, project and task deadlines, etc. These options help the management keep track of the projects currently being undertaken by the organization, and make any changes, if required, to ensure the project’s completion on time.
➔ Employee Survey System
Employee surveys are used to gauge employee sentiments and understand how effective are you in keeping them engaged and satisfied with your organization. These surveys provide deep insights into employee mentality, helping you understand what changes are required to keep them from leaving the organization. Hence, employee survey systems are an essential tool in the HR arsenal for effective employee management.
Conclusion
Employee management in the modern workplace has transformed into ensuring employee engagement with their organization. Hence, HRs are required to take the help of technologies such as HR software and the numerous modules it comes with, to ensure the prolonged association of their staff members with their business. Utilizing the different kinds of systems at hand, HR teams can effectively manage their staff members, while automating the different aspects of employee management through these systems.
