Putting employees first ensures the survival of any business

WORK to achieve an engaged staff because they are the secret to happy customers.

IT is estimated that nine out of 10 small businesses in Australia do not want to borrow money. From one perspective, that makes sense. If you have chosen a path that gives you the freedom to run your own show, why saddle yourself with a burdensome debt to a lending institution?

But to remain a very small or micro business is a dilemma that confronts many small business owners at one time or another, ­especially if remaining small ­undermines the sustainability of the enterprise.

You watch the marketplace changing and you want to keep pace. You realise that may mean investing in research and product development. And you come to accept that you may need to employ someone to do that.

You may also decide to employ someone to get the new product or service into the market, and you see the merit of hiring other people to meet the demand of increasing numbers of customers. You might need a marketer, a salesperson and customer service people.

As the head of a small not-for-profit enterprise with 42 employees in a constantly changing market, I can say with some confidence that it’s vital to keep a vigilant eye on revenue, costs and cash flow. I am in touch with my finance manager most days.

I keep regular track of how our products and services are travelling, and rely on my marketing and sales managers to keep me posted. I also get reports on how the R&D people are going in their efforts to improve the services we offer our members. Our members are our customers and our lifeblood. All my people know there is no more crucial part of the business than keeping customers happy. What I’ve described would be exhausting if I didn’t pay attention to a part of the business that many small business owners neglect. I refer to the leadership and management of my employees. I learnt my lesson on this by watching how successful big businesses operate.

They spend considerable amounts of time and money designing jobs that will advance the business, then recruit the right people for those jobs, and induct them into the culture of the organisation. The end result is staff members who are competent, highly engaged and productive performers. Their performance is monitored and training is offered to fill gaps in performance.

Many small business owners spend a great deal of time with the finance manager, the marketing and sales managers. If the wrong people are doing those jobs and are neither engaged nor loyal, it doesn’t matter how much they are paid. Those employees will not be working for the good of the enterprise.

As customers, most of us have come across employees who are incompetent, disloyal or surly. We know how badly it affects confidence in the organisation that employs them and it often stops us coming back. We go elsewhere. The business loses a paying customer.

The difference involves working to achieve an engaged staff because they are the secret to happy customers. If customers are satisfied and happy, they become loyal and spread the word. The formula is not rocket science, but it means doing what does not always come naturally. It means putting employees first.

Lyn Goodear is the chief executive of the Australian Human Resources Institute