Will the real business owner please put up their hand?

Are you the person in your business that turns on the lights in the morning and turns them off in the evening?

Do you feel like you are working long hours just to pay for your employees' salaries and bonus payments?

Do you long for some understanding from your employees?

If you have answered yes to any question, you are not a real business owner. You are a slave trapped in an inverse master servant relationship with your staff. And it is not fair - you have placed yourself in a business venture where your assets, reputation, marriage, sanity are all at risk and you are not having fun!

How did this happen?

Maybe, just maybe you should not be in business. Maybe, but more likely you have made one or two mistakes in your human resources area which can be easily remedied - so do not despair; it can be lonely at the top, however you can turn things round.

How?, I hear you plead - well, read on.

First; you are your employees' boss; not their best friend.

Second, your employees notwithstanding that they may enjoy working for such a nice and caring employer (who makes sure all the lights are on when they drift in) are there to earn dosh and improve and develop their career.

Now lets talk about the term "gearing" - in corporate terms gearing explains how a company finances its capital, either through outside lenders or through equity issued to shareholders.
We have all heard about "negative gearing" when it comes to investment planning - we use finance kindly lent by community minded and focused banks (yes, that was meant to be an oxymoron) and leverage our own funds into a rental property or shares. It is negative as the cost of the funds exceeds the direct investment income resulting in a tax benefit.

So why am I talking about gearing when we are concerned with our employees? Well, when we place a staff member in our workplace, we are essentially engaging in gearing however unlike investment planning, we want and aim to make staff gearing a positive outcome for all participants. When we put on a staff member, we think we know what we want them to do however in translation the employee may have a completely different point of view. We tend to inform the employee the start and finish time, breaks for lunch, nearest drycleaner; best and only AFL Club to support (the mighty Blues, of course) - this might be great for a harmonious work environment however it does not tell the poor old employee on why we are bloody paying them!

We are paying them a salary/wage/fringe benefit because we hope that they will produce something that we can spend on some material asset for ourselves!!!

The "something" that an employee produces is called an output and can be easily quantified. Do this quantification for all employees including yourself and hey, you have a budget. Do not like the number you forecast? Change the variables then!

Do this and you will be then in position to engage positively with your employees in establishing and agreeing performance goals and indicators. You can also implement a bonus or incentive program that rewards employees if they meet or exceed their goals. You should be happy to pay more as you are making more!

Importantly your employees now know something about your goals and expectations and know that they have a valuable stake in helping you achieve them.

It is a good bet that if you do this, you may have to get in even earlier to turn the lights on but I have a feeling you will not be rushing.