There are plenty of great reasons and ways to increase your value as a business for yourself and your employees. When you have employees that are happy to be at your business working, you will typically see better performance out of these people.
It is important to create the kind of environment that employees value, and it is also important to your business that your employees are returning the investment.
Many employees come through the gates that are all-stars from day one but generally you will have good employees that have up swings and down swings, but are basically quality employees overall.
Every once and a while, you get an employee that is absolutely beyond all help, and can't be employed by your company anymore. Unfortunately, all business goes through this, but it is doubly hard on every entrepreneur.
There is a class of employee that does enough to keep their job, but will not really be a profitable addition to the company. These are usually the ones that are at the bottom of the totem pole.
So how do you get behind these employees and help them succeed and turn into valuable assets to your organization?
One of the most obvious things you can do is to redesign an incentive program for this specific department.
Stop rewarding under-performers and go out of your way to create incentives for those that hit reasonable goals. Far too often employers tell their sales guys if they hit "xyz" astronomical number, they will get a 15k bonus.
This does nothing for the underperforming employee, in fact, they will typically end up just deciding it isn't worth it and fly under the corporate radar.
Restructure incentives and goals that are actually achievable, will help employees be interested in reaching farther than they currently do.
The underperforming employee needs all the ammo and firepower that you can give them to do their job well. If they are a salesperson, pair them with your most valued and motivated salesperson as a mentor. If they need special equipment to do their job, get it for them. If you show them that they are an investment, then they will start to feel like contributing more.
Sit down with this soon to be achieving person and explain to them what value that they have (as a performer.) Catch them doing something great and comment on it. How much more you can pay them if they are able to perform well? Is this a motivator for this person? Let them know they are an integral part of the team.
When an employee has the impression that they are disposable, they will not be driven to succeed and over perform.
Lastly, make sure the employee knows what is expected of them in the job. Sometimes, this may include giving them more incentive, but often it is just a matter of setting clear expectations for this employee and helping them set goals.
When you can adjust these different variables, you can expect your employee who needs help to start turning the corner to success.