In every organization, there are employees who make things difficult for everyone. It may seem like ignoring them makes the situation manageable, but really, doing this makes things worse. If you continue ignoring a difficult employee, you could be putting the success of the company at risk. Worse, that person may influence others to follow his lead.

Rather than pretending that there isn’t a problem, you should learn how to handle difficult employees.

Face the Problem

Ignoring the problem isn’t going to solve anything, which is why you need to face it head on. If the problematic employee is an asset to the business and has redeeming qualities, then there’s still hope for him. You just need to find out why he is acting differently. Once you find the main reason for his change of attitude, then you can solve the root cause of the problem.

Interfere Right Away

In most cases, the employee causing problems doesn’t know that there is something wrong with his behaviour because others just tend to put up with it. When this happens, it is the manager’s job to address the problem and fix it. The manager must obtain information from other employees and make his own observations while the employee is interacting with co-workers, suppliers, and clients, after that, this information obtained must be used to coach the problem employee privately. Use this information as evidence to prove your point, and to help the offender realize what his co-workers think of his actions.

Don’t Judge before You Personally Learn more about the Problem

Managers will definitely hear all sorts of stories, left and right. This is why it is important to do your own research to get to the bottom of things. To do this, managers must talk to the difficult employee and ask if he is aware of any on-going problems, he may be associated with. If an employee doesn’t know what is going on, it is the job of the manager to explain the situation. At the same time, the manager must also give the employee a chance to explain himself.

When You Need to Let an Employee Go

Having difficult employees in an organization is always tough, and as much as possible, you don’t want to let anyone go. However, if nothing has improved with the employee’s behaviour, then it’s time to let him go. To avoid any legal issues, you should document the entire process and have a trial period to give the employee a chance to improve. If he doesn’t then don’t be hesitant to give him the pink slip.

In most cases, many employees will realize that they have been behaving negatively after being coached by their superior. They will try to improve their behaviour and work output. After all, no one wants to lose a job, especially during these difficult times.

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Even the most convincing SEO experts often find it difficult to discuss the merits of SEO to c-level executives, mostly due to the fact it is a complex and highly technical field that can easily alienate those that are not adept in it.

It’s difficult, but you can’t skate around this topic forever. The time will come when marketing managers and execs will meet to discuss quarterly operating budget or when the marketing team needs funding for a project that will boost the company’s online presence. While it could be quite nerve-racking to face COOs, FOs and CEOs and discuss about page ranks and improved visibility, there is a way to win them over without making it too hard for both sides.

All top company managers know how to do money talk, yet not all of them are adept with the minute intricacies of SEO. Hence, you should keep one thing in mind: talk to the executives in the language they are familiar with, the language of the financial system – statistics. Talk numbers, percentages, and add a couple of graphs just to drive your point.

Helping Executives Appreciate SEO

No matter what industry you’re in, everyone knows that every major decision in the company must pass through c-level executives. If you can’t prove succinctly how SEO translates to better sales and profitability, you may risk suffering from budget cuts, as top-level management always have fiscal prudence in mind.

Steer Clear of SEO Jargon

Packaging relevant information is also important. Submitting a report, for example, to the top level management saying that your company’s website currently has an Alexa Rank of 200,000 and a Google PageRank of 4 doesn’t mean anything for them. Top rank managers will regard this as useless technical blabber, unless you guide them through it.       

You see, it’s all about putting the stats into context. If, for example, you contextualize the Alexa and PageRank stats above by explaining that as a result, your competitors are getting 20,000 more visitors, and more chances of getting a sale; than your company website, then all of a sudden the statistics makes sense. Be prepared, however, to explain the reason behind such statistics, to help executives digest its relevance to other segments of the company. In the example above, you can explain that this may be caused by:

• Lack of good content: Just like in a brick and mortar shop, people who pass by won’t give your store a second look if it doesn’t look appealing or exciting. No need to go into the details of good articles, links and keyword density.
• Buzz words or keywords- Explain the importance of keywords, and how these words help land customers to the website. Give it to them straight- if the website doesn’t have the phrases customers are looking for, then no one would be able to find it.

The hallmark of excellent SEO stats reportage is when you are able to compel top management to act on the situation. If the correct data reaches top execs, they will also be able to understand why there is a need to pour in more funds for a particular strategy.

Providing consistent and easily-digesting reports to top management about the online performance of the business might prove to be challenging at first. However, if you are able to bridge the communication gap early on, you can initiate c-level executives to the fine craft of SEO bit by bit.

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Starting the New Year right will reflect on your business’s profits. This is why it is important to start the year with a bang and continue on to the rest of the year. One way to do so is by knowing what corporate reward strategies will help ensure company profitability for the year. In addition, it would help you to know what changes to make in your employee benefits programme in order to boost productivity.

3 Corporate Reward and Employee Reward Strategies for 2013

1.     Trust in Your Employees

It is understandable that you would want to micromanage everything, but you have to remember that you hired those people because you believed they could do the job they are tasked to do. Tell them the results you’re expecting, and that’s it. Don’t hover. Keeping them from doing their jobs isn’t going to be good for business, so you need to have a little faith. One of the corporate reward strategies to focus on this year is to place trust in your employees and reward those who perform and deliver.

2.     Focus on Retaining Your Top Performing Employees

Hiring new people is always a costly and tedious process. Why waste a lot on this when you have top performers in your company? Employee retention is one of the most important strategies that you need to concentrate on this year. To keep your top talents happy, it is important to have an effective corporate rewards programme in place. Let your employees know that they are valuable to the company and that you appreciate all the work they do. This will push them to work harder and will prevent them from jumping ship. Give irresistible incentives and challenging goals, such as a cool gadget, spa vouchers, or a holiday trip. Just make sure the rewards you give will be worth the extra elbow grease.

3.     Wellness Programmes are Booming

Your employees must be fit and healthy to do their job. You know that, right? The question is how can you do this? Well, there are numerous ways you can keep your team healthy! Health and fitness programmes are all the rage now, some applicants even prefer companies that offer this type of incentive. Offer yoga classes, incentives for people who ride a bike to work, quarterly check-ups and stack up your pantry with healthy goodies. Whatever your budget is, you can find a perfect wellness programme for your company.

Focusing on these corporate reward strategies will help you start your year right. Just as your customers are important, your employees are too. They are the backbone of your business and without their hard work, your company will not be as profitable. Don’t forget to give rewards to your employees, especially if they have earned it.

Photo Credits: Flickr Creative Commons