Taking the time to develop effective communication with your employees is crucial to a running a successful business. Your employees can help you grow or fail, and which road you take often depends on how well you communicate with them. With so much at stake, you should take the time to improve your skills. Here are 4 tips for effective communication skills you should be using to engage your employees:
Tip #1 – Build Relationships
Your employees are people with real lives, issues and concerns. You don’t need to set out to be their friend in order to build relationships. You don’t want to take the other extreme and be a distant and uncaring person who is not attuned to their concerns and needs. Find opportunities here and there to build a rapport with them while still maintaining your professionalism. For example, if you know they have children, it’s okay to ask how they are doing every once in a while. If they hint at personal problems that you have solutions to and they are not the sort of problems that can entangle you in a legal or professional web, then take the time to be helpful. It’s harder for employees to underperform for bosses that they have relationships with.
Tip #2 – Practice Active Listening
Effective communication with your employees must start with active listening. Don’t dismiss the issues and concerns that your employees raise because they will stop saying anything at all. Ask them questions for clarification and get as much information as you can. Your job is to solve the problems they face, so that they don’t become frustrated with their jobs and helping your business grow. If you engage in passive listening, then you’ll miss opportunities to solve their problems and build relationships. You can also end up hearing the wrong message and a misunderstanding of what the employee is trying to communicate.
Tip #3 – Choose the Best Method of Communication
You should not fall into the trap of relying on one method for all of your communications. For example, if your employees work from home, it’s easy to become reliant on email for all of your communication. There are times when it’s more appropriate to pick up the phone and call. Face to face meetings may also be the best solution in some instances, especially if there is a communication problem. The verbal cues that you send with your body language are lost in phone and email communications and you may need that information for some situations.
Tip #4 – Provide Full Descriptions of Tasks
Sending short emails with vague details about new tasks that you want your employees to complete is not effective for communicating with them. It backs some employees into a corner, because they don’t want to seem incompetent or incapable of performing the tasks you assign by asking a lot of follow up questions. You can save yourself and your employees pain by providing full descriptions of the work you want done, either verbally or in writing, and encouraging them to ask questions if they are confused.
Communication can be a pleasurable experience for you and your employees. Use these tips to become effective when communicating with your employees, and you should see improved results in many areas of your business.
Before you hire an employee, you have to get your legal and financial house in order. You can’t afford to make many mistakes, because you could end up in significant trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Your employees may also sue you for your actions as an employer, if you’re not compliant with the employment laws and regulations in your state. Here’s what you need to know before you bring someone on board as a part time or full time employee:
You Need to Excel at Record Keeping
There are a few key areas where you must keep good records, including when you hire an employee. You can invite an IRS audit and end up with tax liabilities if you don’t obtain the necessary documents required by tax laws and regulations. Some of the paperwork you’ll need in connection with hiring includes:
W-2s for your employees
W-4s that your employees will sign and give to you
State income tax forms
Federal income tax forms
Form I-9 to verify your employee’s ability to work in the United States
One thing you should consider doing before you hire an employee is to hire someone else to take care of your payroll. There are affordable payroll services, but you can also hire an independent contractor with human resources experience.
You Need to Buy Insurance
You need to purchase workers’ compensation insurance, and you may need to purchase unemployment and disability insurance on behalf of your employees. The exception is that it may not be mandatory to purchase unemployment insurance for your business depending on the type of business you have and the number of employees. You need to contact the agency in your state that oversees business taxation to see whether you have to buy it. You may also need to purchase disability insurance by law if you live in a state that mandates it. Otherwise, there is no federal law that mandates employers to purchase disability insurance for employees.
You Need to Understand Employment Laws
An employment lawyer can help you to avoid legal pitfalls and to institute best practices to ensure that you are in compliance with local, state and federal laws and regulations. You also have to understand the legal obligations that accompany your role as an employer, no matter how overwhelming it is. Some of the key areas where you should learn as much as you can before you hire an employee are:
Equal employment
Wages and overtime pay
Family and medical leave
Employment contracts
Immigration and workers’ permits
Workplace conditions
You don’t have to become an expert in these areas before you hire an employee, but you should get an overview of your responsibilities in each.
There are other alternatives to consider before you hire an employee. You can hire someone as a freelancer, consultant or independent contractor. These may be better options for you if you’re not ready to take on the responsibilities of an employer.
You must be excellent when it comes to money management for your graphic design business, because most small business owners are feeling squeezed by a global economy that continues to spiral downward. It will cost you more to run your business and you may have to prepare to earn less. The number one cause of business failure is poor money management. If you don’t shore up your finances, you may find yourself another statistic.
Begin with You
If you do a lot of freelancing, consulting and contract work, then your business and personal finances are for all intents and purposes the same. You should avoid comingling your personal and business monies so that you don’t run into problems with the Internal Revenue Service. At the same time, how you handle your personal finances will have an impact on your ability to stay on the freelance path. If you don’t manage your money well, then it’s time to get help.
Tips to Improve Your Personal Finances
Consider these tips if you’re not already doing so in your household expenses:
Get out of debt sooner rather than later
Live on a frugal budget
Check your insurance plans to make sure you’re not overpaying
Buy homeowners or renters insurance so that you don’t have to pay out of pocket to replace damaged items if there’s a fire
Downsize to another apartment or home to help you achieve your financial and business goals
There are no guarantees in the freelance world for the source of your next paycheck, even if you’ve been hired over and over again to date by the same person or organization.
Trim Your Freelance Expenses
You may have to invest in a few top technologies to deliver the best products and services to your clients, but freelance graphic designers sometimes go overboard. Buying the newest, latest gadget can be addicting for some, and you have to distinguish between what you need to remain competitive and what you want to have. Keeping your business profitable is at stake, so do what you can to trim your freelance expenses. If you must make capital investments, then look for other ways to trim your expenses.
Tips to Lower Your Freelance Expenses
Here are some ways that some freelance graphic designers use to lower expenses:
Change your cell phone and home phone plans to cheaper ones
Use the web and the library to research trends and learn how-to information
instead of purchasing books
Bundle your services to pay a cheaper rate for your Internet service
Arrange web and phone meetings with current clients whenever possible instead of
traveling to their site
Use free (with permission) graphics when possible, but don’t sacrifice quality work for it
It can be a tough balance between keeping costs down and delivering quality work that can lead to more sales. Even though it’s a challenge, the freelance graphic designers who find that balance are the ones who survive tough economies and end up with profitable businesses.
You may need to make an investment in personal and business financial software to improve your money management skills. Ask established freelance graphic designers for advice to help you figure out what system works best for you.
