How to Treat Employees

[gordo]

 

[Possumgal]

Just have regular employee meetings in which you don't actually say anything useful, just some general crap about working together, lessening mistakes, maybe toss the same old bone about how the employees might just get a raise if they became more productive, same old, same old every time. Then you can tell yourself you're managing them.

 

[MailGuru]

To be effective, you gotta do both. Criticize, then praise, then criticize, then praise, then criticize, then.........
(It keeps them guessing. Am I getting a raise, or, am I getting fired?)

 

[tngcas]

Or just treat them like adults... hire people who can take criticism without taking it personally. I don't care how good someone is, if I have to walk around them on eggshells all day it's not going to work out. Life is too short to nurse egos all day long. We got stuff to do.

 

[Possumgal]

This is just a wild idea, but you could try being consistent. Like stop telling employees to take this action when a certain thing occurs, then yelling at them when they do it. (Been there, seen that, can't you tell?)

 

[Stickman42]

Is it just me, or are a lot of the weekly comics portraying management/owners in a bad light?

 

[MailGuru]

Is it just me, or are a lot of the weekly comics portraying management/owners in a bad light?

Dang Stick, can't slip anything past you!

 

[Possumgal]

It's probably because an inordinate number of people think it would be fun to own a print shop without having a clue about anything that goes on in such a business. Or a manager is hired because of a college degree, again, with no clue about printing. Guess how much fun the employees are having with this.

 

[Stickman42]

It's probably because an inordinate number of people think it would be fun to own a print shop without having a clue about anything that goes on in such a business. Or a manager is hired because of a college degree, again, with no clue about printing. Guess how much fun the employees are having with this.

You could probably substitute a lot of other businesses in place of "print shop", agreed? How about "baseball team" as a quick example? The divide between owners/managers and employees will in my opinion almost always be there. As an owner, I make an effort to treat my employees as well as I can, and ask them for feedback. Unless they're keeping silent, my staff is pretty happy here.

So, carry on with the management bashing, and high five each other afterwards.

Pfft...

 

[keith1]

Unless they're keeping silent

I generally found that those who grumbled & whined the loudest among their fellow staff members typically were dead silent during staff meetings with owners/management. I'll spare you what I think of people like that.

 

[Stickman42]

I'll add that mine is a small company - less than 15 employees. Bigger establishments may have a different culture.

 

[SheetSqueezer]

So, carry on with the management bashing, and high five each other afterwards.

Customers/Clients are also high on the list in many of these threads.

 

[SPECMON]

I generally found that those who grumbled & whined the loudest among their fellow staff members typically were dead silent during staff meetings with owners/management. I'll spare you what I think of people like that.

That's because over the years you have spoken up at meetings and had your input ignored over and over by so called owners/management.

 

[keith1]

That's because over the years you have spoken up at meetings and had your input ignored over and over by so called owners/management.

Sometimes the case to be sure. But if one has something to say it should be directed to those responsible, especially when that input has been requested. Whether suggestions are followed through with or not is not the point and ultimately not your problem. The point is to put your position out there and be understood. Also be prepared with a reasonable & workable alternative to whatever you want to see changed. Otherwise it just makes you a spineless hypocrite who badmouths behind people's back.
Most often these cowards are the first to jump on the bandwagon once/if changes do come about after someone else has spoken up — aka, done the dirty work for them.

 

[MacTwidget]

Being an owner or management does NOT automatically make you a Leader.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Being an owner or management does NOT automatically make you a Leader.

Not initially, but if you stay in that role long enough, for one reason or another, the odds of you becoming a leader increase.

 

[Possumgal]

There's always a first time. The trick is whether or not you learn along the way. Also, I think some people are just born leaders.

 

[tngcas]

I think the whole point of comedy though is to take uncomfortable truths and put them in writing. The things people don't want to say out loud but everyone agrees with internally.
Having said that I would probably find this more amusing if it had to do less with bashing management and more with bashing the crazy things customers send us.

Like the real estate agent who sends me postcards that have full graphics/text on both sides with no room for addresses and then gets annoyed when I ask her where she wants to put the address... 25 emails later (we tried everything, photos, giant neon lights and bolded text).
Let's just say, I wish I could put a warning out there in secret ink on the postcards... please don't buy a house using this lady. She can't read and has clearly never seen a piece of mail in her life. We should definitely trust her with a 300k-500k transaction.

 

[Stickman42]

I do appreciate humor. I go to comedy clubs and am fine with being the target of jokes because of who I am or how I look. I read the weekly RE: Print strip because I value a few seconds of laughter. I felt it was OK to stick up for the owner's/manager's side because we tend to not get a lot of support compared to employees' advocates. Fair?

I wish you ALL the Happiest of Holidays.

PEACE!