Engaging & Retaining Employees #2 Challenge
Day 2 of our Challenge is to identify and recognize the TOOLS needed for employees to do their jobs. Technology is constantly changing and depending upon your business or trade, outdated tools can slow down efficiencies, causing multiple levels of frustrations. Can you imagine the stress levels an employee experiences when working with a slow internet connection or an old computer that constantly crashes?
The fastest way to learn if your employee has the right tools to do their job, is to ask their feedback! It's really that simple.
The difficult part of this Challenge is what you need to do next. Take an inventory of all computers, printers, software programs, and other tools you currently have to run the company. Determine how old these items are. Determine if you have the latest updates available. As an example, accounting software programs are updated throughout the year. Most of these types of programs will require paid upgrades; which in many cases, will require additional employee training.
Larger computers and printers require continual maintenance to ensure everything is in working order. Do you have a maintenance contract on these items? Do you keep maintenance logs? Do you have a Plan B if one of these tools becomes inoperable? Not having a plan in place, can have an expensive consequence with loss of business and/or loss of a good employee.
Employees need to feel valued and appreciated. When you engage employees for their feedback to a potential problem or solution, you are providing value to that employee.