Do you recognize this slogan? “Our product is steel. Our strength is people” Or, how about this old adage, “people are our most important asset”.  As superficial as these words sound, they are absolutely true and the sooner businesses recognize this and start doing something about it, the better off they’ll be on many levels.  How is your company doing?  Are people your most important asset?  Are your employees truly engaged in their work?  Find out by completing the checklist below, or downloading the pdf version.  And, unless you’re completely satisfied with the results, you need to take action.  That’s where we come in.

Maximizing Employee Performance Checklist

• Do you have a clearly defined corporate mission and goals?
• Is your organizational structure clear?
• Is your reporting structure clear?
• Are your corporate goals and objectives well defined?
• Do you have written job descriptions for all positions in your organization?
• Do your employees know what they are accountable for?
• Do they have personal objectives?
• Do you have a consistent hiring process?
• Do you have a good orientation process for new hires?
• Are your training programs well advertised and adequate?
• Do you have a coaching or mentoring process for employees?
• Are all of your supervisors and managers well trained in “people management”?
• Does important information always reach all of your employees?
• Is there good communication in your company, top-down and bottom-up?
• Are your policies well defined? Do you have an employee handbook of policies?
• Are your procedures and work processes well defined?
• Are your compensation packages competitive?
• Are your wages competitive? Are your benefits competitive?
• Do you have a good bonus or pay-for-performance system?
• Do you have a good performance management process?
• Does your performance appraisal process focus on positive, continuous improvement?
• Have you ever been legally challenged on an employee termination?
• Is your company equipped to manage through a union organizing attempt?
• Do you have a confidential counseling program for troubled employees and their families?
• Do you have a process for successfully resolving employee conflicts?
• Do you have a process for dealing with management–employee conflicts?
• Do your employees use very few “sick days”? Do you have a lot of long-term employees?
• Is employee turnover minimal?
• Is your employee output/production at maximum?
• Are all of your employees reliable and rarely absent from work?
• Is your morale high?
• Are your customers regularly satisfied that you meet or exceed their expectations?
• Do your employees participate in various office gatherings or events?
• Are your WCB costs as low as they can be?
• Do you have a Privacy policy?
• Do you have social media workplace policies?

If you answered “NO” to any of the above, it may be time to look at your organization with the objective of improving employee engagement and maximizing your employees’ performance to improve business results.

Written by: Barry Chapman, Senior Partner, TwoGreySuits