Often entrepreneurs start their companies doing most of the work themselves. However, as their businesses grow, they have to take on employees to handle some of the workloads. Hopefully, you will find sincere and steadfast employees with good work ethics who can remove some of the burdens from your shoulders, but in the event that you inadvertently hire some slackers, here are some tips on how to handle them.

Set a Strict Schedule

A certain type of employee makes a habit of disappearing mysteriously without notification. They may take extended breaks, enjoy long lunches, or manifest extreme flexibility with arrival and departure times. Handle this form of laziness by enforcing a schedule with clearly defined hours.

Keep Track of Infractions

Some employees are highly creative in explaining the reasons why they could not fulfill work responsibilities. These excuses may range from sick kids or flat tires to more inventive tall tales. One or two emergencies can be overlooked, but if they begin to happen on a regular basis, document the time missed along with the justifications so you can confront the employee when it seems appropriate.

Assign Work to Specific People

To avoid effort, some employees think nothing of passing their work on to others, even if they don’t have the position of a supervisor. Prevent this behavior by monitoring the workload of the errant employee and specifically assigning work to them and to no one else.

Impose Deadlines

Procrastination is second nature for certain types of employees. They will postpone work until the last moment, causing unnecessary stress for the rest of their team. To thwart procrastinators, set strict deadlines for each stage of a project, and have regular short meetings to assess progress.

Communicate with Troublemakers

Some employees do not cause outward problems or break explicit rules, but instead, cause trouble through gossiping and sowing discord. This can be debilitating to others and has to be dealt with. Consider communicating one-on-one with them to find out the source of their discontent. You may have to let them go if dealing with them is taking too much effort and impeding productivity.

For more advice on handling employees, contact First Source Capital.