The Top 3 Employee Complaints About You!

Here you are. A businessman or woman in the year 2013. You are forging ahead, employing people during a difficult economy, your personal life has suffered, and you've invested your own savings into a business. You're taking a huge risk. The payoff? Employee complaints. The problem is you don't know about these complaints because they aren't being shared with you- and rightfully so.

What you don't know, however, can hurt you. Here are the top three employee complaints and what you can do to advert them.

1. Pay. Yes, what you pay is being talked about. Even though you were straight-forward with the pay upon the job offer- and the employees are there working- pay will always be a complaint within your company. Don't worry about this complaint if you are paying within industry standards. If you're not paying within industry standards- expect turnover. Employees will always complain about pay because it is human nature to want more, up our own self-worth and to be liberal when spending other people's (your) money. The best way to address the situation is to stop it before it starts- well, becomes a point of contention in the office. When you hire someone make him or her sign a memo. Have the memo address what the pay is, the pay scale in your office, how raises are handed out and what happens to an employee if he or she gets caught discussing pay with another employee.

2. Who needs to be fired. Employees know who is the slacker in the group. This information actually could be vital to you but many employees are afraid to share it. Thus, employees complain to each other about who needs to be fired and can't understand why you are keeping that specific person- which is counterproductive because you probably haven't discovered what a bad apple he or she is yet. To advert this complaint set up a confidential hotline with a 3rd party. Let everyone know this hotline is to address complains on an anonymous level. It could help you weed out bad talent or avoid lawsuits.

3. Drop a client. Yes, clients can be dropped and should be dropped if they are ruining your business. But they make you money?! I know what you are thinking. Yes, we all need clients to survive- but good clients. The third biggest complaint from employees isn't health benefits or PTO time. It is the quality of your clientele. According to Inc.com, " All clients are hard earned and we all know it's easier to maintain a relationship than it is to go out and find a new client to replace them. But many businesses have at least one client that demands more than they are paying, causes more headaches than they are worth, and makes it difficult to meet the needs of the better clients." The website suggests asking employees, monthly, which clients are being pains. If there is a consensus, think about if it's truly worth keeping the client. Some clients are not worth the trouble. In fact, they can have you losing money or sleep over nonsense. Use your employees as the company's best advocate for what clients are worth bending over backwards for and which ones need to be kicked to the curb!

Addressing unknown employee complaints (before they become complaints) can help make your company successful.

Until next time,
Twyla