Supervisors play a vital role in the success of any business. Their presence is crucial for making sure activities run smoothly, employees are performing their duties effectively, and team performance is at its optimum. Supervisors are at the front line of a business and are key when training new employees. Additionally, they have the huge responsibility of ensuring that any issues that pop up are able to be resolved.
With this in mind, it makes sense to provide supervisors with adequate training to prevent problems rather than having to fix them. Unfortunately, supervisor training is often overlooked because it is seen as too expensive, or simply because there doesn’t seem to be enough time in the workday. That same supervisor training, however, could prevent much larger costs by minimising the businesses liability.
Effective training
As the primary contact with employees, supervisors are often responsible for implementing company policies and procedures. With that said, policies and procedures can only be effective when supervisors know what to do when issues arise or are reported, and meeting legal obligations and complying with workplace laws and regulations is critical.
Without effective training, supervisors may not understand how to recognise when employees are not being treated fairly under the law, and could be beneficial in the following areas:
Discrimination and harassment – Workforces are more and more diverse, meaning employees will work side by side with people of different races, genders, ages, national origins, and religions. Generally, employees work together without any issues but if discrimination or harassment does occur in the workplace, supervisors are in the best position to recognise and stop any inappropriate conduct.
Discipline and termination – Most businesses have policies on appropriate behaviour in the workplace. Training supervisors on how to implement the disciplinary policy helps ensure consistency and fairness in the process. While discipline and termination are not enjoyable tasks, both must be handled properly to avoid any ramifications for the business.
Entitlements – Different employees have different entitlements such as leave, wages paid, overtime and other compensation obligations and benefits. Supervisors may be required to be familiar with these entitlements in order to provide advice to employees.
Employee Engagement
Supervisors have a crucial impact on employee engagement, and those who fail to keep employees engaged by creating positive relationships can lead to a departure of top talent. Having the skills to foster a team of energised and committed employees is a key driver to increase productivity, innovation, retention and competitive advantage, and investing in supervisor training will see the business reap the rewards.
Just as supervisors are in the position to ensure compliance and implement best practice, they are also in the position to make mistakes that could lead to serious consequences. By providing supervisors with the skills and knowledge to deal with important employee matters, businesses can avoid risk and ensure the success of the business in the future.
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