Although it isn’t always necessary, all business owners should know how to hold their employees accountable at work. From checking in on employees at the office to reviewing information from a GPS tracker concerning employees on the road. In a perfect world all employees would work with 100% efficiency however, whether for logical or illogical reasons this doesn’t happen. It is then up to the management team to act and hold their employees to a higher standard. Whether this is to improve time management, reduce laziness or to teach the workforce about best industry practices, it is essential that management take the lead and make sure that employees are held accountable.

Setting Rules

In many cases rules in the workplace aren’t properly laid out or they are highly ambiguous.  Employees can only be held accountable if they have first been informed about what is expected of them. For example, it may be that your office staff have to let you know when they will be out for meetings, or perhaps you decide to ban social media in the workplace. Whatever it is, it is important to layout the boundaries and make sure everyone is well aware of them.

Gathering Information

To keep staff accountable, you have to be able to gain reliable data on staff behaviour otherwise there is no way to determine if employees are acting appropriately or not. This could range from getting staff to clock in and out using a machine so that work hours can be monitored or analysing metrics from their computer activities. As briefly touched upon beforehand, if you have drivers in your workforce then you can even use a GPS tracking device on the vehicles to give you real time information about how they are managing the vehicle. This information can include a host of different metrics including general speed, braking & stopping behaviour. Helping to keep an eye on how staff are using company vehicles.

Taking Action

If the rules aren’t being followed, then action must be taken. For example, in the case of banning social media in the office, you can take direct action by blocking these websites so that they can’t be accessed by your employees. Now this may seem like an authoritarian step to take, but ultimately it may be necessary. While you can’t control everything, aspects such as internet access should be monitored and if need be restricted to make sure optimal efficiency is achieved and employees are held accountable for the work they do.

Discipline

Disciplining staff can be a tough job, but it is necessary if you want to hold them accountable and set an example for others in the workforce. Generally most businesses adopt a 3-strike policy to discipline staff, ensuring that the punishment fits the crime. Of course, this will change between businesses and the severity of the issue.

Holding employees accountable will not only increase efficiency, but it will also help to create an environment in the workplace where people know that the rules are there to be followed.