Even though employees are classified under expenses in your company's income statement, they are your most important asset. They can singlehandedly make or break your company. Even with the influx of machinery that is automating many office functions that were once done solely by human labor, your workforce is still important. There are several ways you can ensure that your workforce is a happy one. Why would you want to do that you ask? Well, because of several reasons.

First, whether you are in middle or top level management, you need to have a finger on the pulse of what is going on in your company and who better to tell you than your workforce? Secondly, employees that love their jobs seldom call in sick or miss work for other excuses thereby increasing your productivity and saving you money. Below are some ways to make your workplace a dream location for your staff:

Communication

An employer must have a clear line of communication between his or her staff and himself. The communication must be two-way where your employees feel that they can voice their opinions without the threat of negative repercussions. This not only spurs creativity, but makes your employees feel valued. Once they feel that you care about them as individuals and as employees, they will take their job more seriously and are less inclined to disappoint you in the performance of their duties.

If you use any employee tracking software, be sure to inform your staff so that they know how to stay out of trouble. If it is a question of internet usage policy, let them know which sites they may visit and which ones are prohibited. If you must install web tracker software, let them know the repercussions for any behavior that is prohibited.

You must also give them information on how their performance is and whether it is in line with your expectations. Performance reviews are a great way to do this and they can be done quarterly or every six months. You can have smaller team reviews done weekly or monthly.

Give them the opportunity to be responsible

Most employees are adults and must be treated as such. Micromanaging may work in certain fields but almost always breeds resentment from those being micromanaged. When you are constantly watching the actions of your employees, they feel like you do not trust them to make decisions on their own and this stifles creativity.

If you feel the need to keep an eye on them, find subtle ways to do so. For example, security cameras may be a great way to keep track of employee behavior even though their main purpose is security. Keylogging software is also a good way to be watchful of your employees for many of them are inconspicuous and work in the background. This is also a good way to find out if any of your employees are trying to gain unauthorized access to classified files or financial data and potentially damage your reputation.

Pete Newman is a young entrepreneur and runs a software firm named Web watcher. His firm deals in developing office security softwares and is the leader of the pack in providing office security softwares. As an entrepreneur he has to handle his employees and so fully understands the need to communicate effectively with them for better performance and in today's post he speaks on the topic.