To an outsider, working in fashion could easily be considered a laid-back career. There are rarely strict uniform requirements, you socialize with some of the most interesting people around, and perhaps most importantly, you and others in the field are most likely working for a love of the subject rather than cash and profit alone. However, if you are a business owner or work in management, you need to make sure that this image doesn’t prevail.
When you slack on your management of employees, they can often become overly comfortable in their roles, reduce their levels of professionalism and not get their work done on time. Perhaps this was the original cause of the uptight, harsh and unforgiving fashion editor that pervades films such as The Devil Wears Prada or Ugly Betty. While you may not need to rule with an iron fist, it’s important that you keep all aspects of your business in check, including your fair treatment of your employees and their reciprocative hard work. Here are a few ways to ensure you strike the right balance.
Remember Your Responsibilities
First things first, you need to remember that your role is to ensure that all of your employees are content in their positions, happy in the workplace and appreciated. This is relatively easily achievable. A good idea to gain feedback in regards to workers’ praises or complaints is to have them complete a short, anonymous survey every week or every month. Make this a space where they can suggest improvements, raise issues or generally give feedback. This will allow you to make the changes necessary to culminate a productive and proactive workforce. Next, you need to ensure that all employees are paid on time.
Most of us are familiar with the frustration of working for a small business and being paid incorrectly or missed from payroll completely. It disrupts our lives outside of work. So make sure that everything is processed correctly. Make use of helpful tools like this pay stub generator too. This will reduce the amount of time that you have to spend dealing with payroll, allowing you to focus on other areas.
Keep Things Professional
You want your employees to be able to feel comfortable approaching you, and you also want the workplace to have a positive and friendly atmosphere. But you need to ensure that you still keep a professional distance from your employees. You don’t want to become overly familiar with them, as this poses problems down the line where personal lives and professional lines intertwine.
So keep all relationships in the workplace professional at all times. If you do feel that socializing outside of the workplace could be good for your business, organize work nights out for meals, or to visit exhibitions or films. These can provide bonding and team building experiences without crossing any lines.
These simple steps will help you to maintain a positive, professional and productive workforce that will reflect well on your company from an outsider’s perspective as well as creating the ultimate workplace for everyone involved in your company. What more could you possibly want?