Treat employees like partners and they act like partners.

– Fred Allen

Small business owners understand the importance of delivering quality products and/or services to their client base. Delivering excellence ensures repeat business, as well as the best kind of marketing – word-of-mouth referrals. An argument can be made that managing the human resources of the enterprise ranks as high as managing the expectations of clients, financial or inventory management for example. In other words, managing the expectations of employees has a significant impact on the success of an enterprise regardless of its size or focus.

The quality of work from the proprietor / CEO down the organizational chart to the security guard; has a vital impact on the quality and ultimately the growth of the business. While quality has a cost, we can all agree that clients have less consternation paying a premium for goods or services if there is a perceived added value in exchange for the incremental cost increase. This is evident in all the “premium” or “luxury” goods in the marketplace; after all “You get what you pay for.”

This maxim is applicable to the human resource activities of any business, as hiring and retaining qualified employees is also a critical factor in differentiating a business from its competitors. It is a function that requires careful deliberation, patience and vision. In the laborious task of advertising, reviewing resumes, and interviewing applicants, the CEO or HR Manager should be asking a few questions:

• “Is this individual capable of being a quality representative of this organisation?”
• “Do we want to fill a position with a qualified candidate who can conceivably help our business grow, or fill a position with a body with a ‘no’ in front, whose performance would be rote at best?”
• “Do I see this individual taking on responsibility and accountability for his / her work product?”
• “What are the expectations for this employee?”
• “Would paying for additional training for this employee be a wise investment?”
• “Would this candidate work well or be able to lead others?”

Let’s face it; discovering quality employees is neither easy nor cheap. However, the realisation that employees are a company’s most important assets and will require “investment” to develop is a significant point, mainly because most small businesses have the big challenge of revenue allocation. Some Proprietors have a penchant for pulling out large profits from their businesses rather than re-investing, (understandably so, after all, the initial capital and risk to establish the enterprise came from the proprietor), but consider this – investing in quality personnel while marginally more expensive, will impact the quality of a company’s work product and ultimately facilitate the continued growth of the enterprise.

This HR strategy will also allow for the inculcation of a few innovative ideas that could invariably help grow the small business from the inside out. For instance, the more qualified and better-paid employees an organisation has, the more likely accountability becomes the norm, not the exception – translating into enhanced risk management (i.e. employees understand the adverse effects of lackadaisical work ethics or fraudulent activities by others in the organisation on their personal well being) and in due course reducing the company’s overall exposure.

Furthermore, investing and reinvesting in qualified personnel also facilitates the creation of a Team of professionals with a singular goal, solidified by the fact that although all employees are not owners in the traditional sense, there is a sense of ownership all employees share regardless of position in the organisational hierarchy. Employees will see that the company values them, their contributions, and their development. Thus, having a good team will also translate into better efficiency, allowing the proprietor to dispense with micro-management, delegate rudimentary activities, and focus on business growth and development.

There is however a caveat. These intangible byproducts of innovative HR management will take time and commitment to develop. Making the commitment to diligently scrutinize applicants during the hiring process and set high expectations and standards for successful candidates, will require a concise list of traits employees will be expected to possess. It will also be necessary during the interview process to impart on the candidates that conscientious work ethics will be rewarded with upward mobility or monetarily.

If an Owner has long-term vision, patience and dedication, it is possible to find, retain, and cultivate, a quality cadre of employees. And so, depending on the approach, a small business may have a collection of unmotivated drones engaging in rote activity or a team of highly skilled motivated professionals poised to take the organisation to the next level.

Hence – you get what you pay for and you most certainly can’t win a horse race with a donkey.