Managing employees is one of the most challenging jobs while running a repair store. Your employees are the backbone of your store since they are the ones doing the repair jobs. In addition, your employees are technicians or engineers that are highly qualified to do the job. As a repair shop owner, you must have the confidence and skills to manage them. You should be meticulous in every step while dealing with your employees as too harsh behavior can lead to umbrage while leniency can cause laziness.

Every repair store owner faces many employee issues daily, such as payroll, attendance, task management, etc. However, it’s the attitude and the way you manage those issues that make the difference. Some repair shop owners try to solve these issues manually, which is hectic and a lot of work, whereas some have an intelligent approach like using employee management software.

You must make a suitable environment for your repair shop employees to manage them efficiently. This will motivate them to work hard and instill a desire for improvement. So, let’s dive into some ways of efficiently managing your employees.

Communicate with Your Team Members

You don’t want to be the owner with walls and barriers around him—the one who just speaks and does not listen. You might have heard nearly everyone talking about how effective a role communication can play in your business. Well, that’s true. But it is not only confined to one-sided talking i-e the owner/manager speaks and the staff only listens. In short, there is no room for employees to express their ideas or suggestions.

This is where communication is essential. Always welcome your employees with their ideas and suggestions because they are the ones doing the repairs. Probably your employees have valuable insight on the subject that might not have caught your attention.

Do not contain yourself to your office. Instead, show your face to the employees, ask them about their work and let them know that you are always there whenever they need you. Have an open-door policy and try to sit with your employees during working hours. Like my manager used to say, “If you want to share anything, I am just sitting two steps behind you.”

Take note of every employee. Some might need help repairing or while using a repair shop software. Be patient and train them at every step.

One of the best ways to communicate with your employees is to let them know clearly about your expectations towards them and where the repair business repair stands currently. If they know the maths of the business they are working in; they will definitely put their best efforts to take part in its improvement.

Hence, ensure your employees are heard well, and their feedback is important by creating a conducive workspace. This will let you connect with them on a personal level. As a result, you and your employee can eradicate the hindrance and hesitation in communicating that directly affects your work.

Evaluate and Measure Your Staff Performance

Whenever we say evaluation and measure, suddenly something too judgmental comes to our minds? Why? No one likes someone to evaluate their work or let someone decide how well they have performed. As offensive as it sounds, it is as beneficial as it means. It’s simply measuring up to how much extent your employee is performing. You can either do it manually or use employee management software for that. I suggest the latter one as it is more precise and less time-consuming.

The evaluation process can tell you clearly about each employee’s potential and what are its improvement areas. You can set and assign tasks to them according to their performance to help them grow and learn better. It is a very beneficial practice if someone takes it as constructive feedback.

How to Monitor Performance?

You can either set down their performance records on excel sheets, google docs, etc., or the easier way is using a repair shop software. It can help you keep track of the tasks assigned to your technicians, and in what time and frequency they are performing their repairs. The software will give weekly reports on an employee’s repairs and tasks. From there, you can also decide who needs a slight improvement and who deserves a promotion.

Just avoid micromanaging and excessive negative feedback, which creates a lack of confidence and irritation. Employees will feel an invasion of privacy and find the work environment toxic. He will eventually quit, leaving you to start with the employee hiring process again.

Appreciate and Reward Your Employees

After thoroughly evaluating your technicians’ performance on employee management software, you can easily decide who is the employee of the year or month. Appreciation is a must when your technicians work hard, putting in their extra effort and time in repairs and inventory.

Appreciation can be in the form of an appraisal, prize, promotion, bonus, or recognition award. Basically, it is a token of admiration for employees for giving their best to your repair business. It is one of the proven techniques to encourage your employees and make them faithful to you. This not only gives them a reason to work hard but helps you to manage them efficiently as they will have the motivation to work.

In A Nutshell ……..

Hiring the best employees is one thing; sustaining and managing them is a whole another level. Just have proper communication and evaluation process periodically to know their interests. By that, and with the help of tools like employee management software, you will connect with them on a personal level and can manage them efficiently.