To a Small Business, Your Employees Might Be Your Most Valuable Resource

A Home Business Article Contributed by Elizabeth Fox-Wise

It is important that the small business owner realize his employees are a valuable resource

Perhaps the most important resource for the success of your small business is your employees. I have known many of small business owners who have had to close their doors because of bad employees. I have also known some, although a much lesser amount, of small business owners who tell everyone that they meet that they owe the success of their small business to wonderful employees.

The issue of bad employees and bad bosses can become one of those which came first like the chicken or the egg. But whether the boss is bad and that is creating the bad employees, or the employees are just all under qualified or unreliable, the fact of the matter is, good employees can be most valuable resource to your small business and bad employees can be your worst nightmare.

Small business should not treat employees like a disposable resource

It is not uncommon for small business owners to get frustrated with employees that are not performing well and fire them. After all, it is assumed with most small business that the job does not require a lot of skill or special training and that by running a help wanted ad you will get job applicants better than what you already have.

While there is no problem with firing an under performing employee or two and hiring someone knew in the hopes of getting better performance, it does become a problem when the small business owner hires and fires so much that he starts to view employees as a disposable resource.

It is easy to become discouraged if you have gone through several employees and not been happy with the results. However, it is important not to become too discouraged and negative in your hunt for good employees. It can become a self fulfilling prophecy where you are habitually hiring the same type of poor employee again and again, turning your staff into a disposable resource. This type of work environment with high employee turn over makes the staff feel unappreciated by the small business and leads to bad employee morale.

When small business does get a good employee, cherish him as the valuable resource that his is

This is where the small business owner often goes wrong when it comes to managing their employees. A good employee with a good attendance rate, job performance and attitude is the most valuable resource the small business owner can have. It is important to let that employee know that your small business values and appreciates him.

If you want to keep the employee long term, and you should - he is a great resource for your small business - you will have to give him incentives to stay. Depending on the nature of the small business and how rewards are given, you might want to consider pay increases, control over scheduling, requested days off or hours worked, and other things that will lead to job satisfaction for the employee and keep him as a valuable resource for your small business for many years to come.