Good communication skills are crucial for a business to grow and thrive. However, what is equally important are interpersonal skills, which include knowing how to interact with people in the workplace. A happy workforce will help your enterprise boost productivity and performance, while a disgruntled workforce might quickly bring it down.
Therefore, employers and HR professionals need to know how to interact with employees positively. If you’re an HR manager interested in boosting workplace performance, here are some vital HR tips for avoiding things when interacting with employees.
Act. Don't React
Keeping calm during a tough situation is one of the best HR tips to follow. Employees can become frustrated and lose their cool for various reasons. Consequently, they’ll usually direct their frustration to the HR department through lengthy emails or in-person rants. A good HR professional should know not to react when interacting with employees. Taking things personally does not get both parties anywhere, nor does it de-escalate the situation.
Don't Write Lengthy Emails
Writing lengthy emails is not the best communication strategy. Additionally, it will also affect a employee’s behavior. If you’re known for sending long emails to the workforce, they’ll start dreading their luck as soon as your ID shows up in their inbox. This can lead the staff to begin putting off replying to emails, and they will become apathetic.
Therefore, it’s important to write emails in a way that doesn’t exhaust you or the employees. Important HR tips for following good email etiquette include:
- Write concise, to-the-point emails that are easily understandable. Employees have a busy schedule and find it challenging to keep up with lengthy emails. You should only include the necessary information to ask questions or make requests.
- Don’t hit “reply all” for large group emails. You might receive a large group email concerning a particular query. You should carefully consider who requires a response and who doesn’t. If an email is meant for only one person in the group email, avoid hitting the “reply all” button.
- Give more thought to email subject lines. They’re great for summarizing the main point or purpose of the email. Moreover, they can help the employer know what to look for in an email or quickly skim through it.
Don't Interrupt Employees
It’s the little things that can make a difference in how employees behave in the workplace. One of the essential HR tips for interacting with employees is practicing listening. An HR professional needs to be an excellent listener to facilitate the staff in any way.
Therefore, don’t interrupt employees in meetings or conference calls, and let them finish what they’re talking about. Interrupting someone is very rude, and in a workplace environment, it will show your employees that you feel self-important and entitled to cut other people off in conversations.
In contrast, choosing to not interrupt employees when they’re speaking shows your professionalism in the workplace. The company staff will feel respected and heard, and sometimes that’s how little it takes to improve workplace behavior and resolve grievances.
The “don’t interrupt” rule can also be applied outside conversations. For instance, you need to reach out to an employee to discuss their leave request, but they’re busy with work. In such cases, you shouldn’t interrupt the worker until they’re done with their task. When interacting with employees, acts like these can help create a friendly and understanding work environment.
Don't Overlook Honesty
The truth can sting sometimes, and that is especially true for workplaces. Sometimes employees get put down because of honest remarks or suggestions regarding how something might be done. The same can be said of HR departments that must be transparent when interacting with employees to boost their performance. However, a brutally honest critique of an employee’s work might demotivate them and become counterproductive to the original purpose. So, consider cushioning challenging remarks with positive comments to motivate employees to do their best work.
Don't Belittle Employees for Asking Questions
It’s human nature to ask questions about things we don’t understand. In fact, that’s how the scientific method works. However, oftentimes employees are made to feel incompetent for asking questions about specific tasks, instructions, or even company policies.
Allowing for questions is one of the best HR tips to create a productive environment. HR professionals need to encourage workers to ask questions whenever they feel confused. The same goes for one-on-one meetings with workers. You shouldn’t proceed with a conversation without ensuring the other person understands what’s being said. This can help increase productivity and elevate employee satisfaction.
Don't Make Employees Ask for Every Little Thing
While allowing for questions is a good thing, it’s not okay if employees must reach out to HR for every little thing. For instance, employees must be able to apply, track, and get approval on their time-off requests without making multiple visits to the HR office.
A proactive HR staff facilitates employees quickly and efficiently, so workers don’t have to constantly ask for every little thing. It shows employees that their HR also has compassion and that they’re here to help them.
HR Management with Microsys
If you’re a small or medium-sized business owner or an HR professional, one of the best HR tips for efficient management is to consider purchasing an HRM software application. At Microsys, our expert team has fast yet lightweight software solutions for efficient HR management.
SimplyHRMS by Microsys is a software application that helps HR professionals in interacting with employees. The program can help manage a plethora of tasks and reduce the number of times employees need to visit the HR office.
