If you are running a business, you are going to have employees at some point. How you handle these employees from performance reviews, to potential promotions to even helping keep your staff as happy and productive as possible is going to determine how overall happy your employees are and how high their productivity level is.

Employees who feel valued are going to put more time and effort into their job than those who feel they are being taken advantage of. This is an obvious fact that is perfectly normal; however helping your employees achieve their best is your job as a business owner and their boss.

Realize that one of the most powerful tools you have, as a boss is the performance review. This is your time to discuss with each employee their performance over the last six months to a year and discuss how they feel they have performed. It is a great time to talk about goal for the next few months or year as well and also a great time to talk about how to make their job more enriching for them. Never use a performance review as an excuse to beat up on employees.

A good rule of thumb is to only discuss problems in the performance review that have been addressed before. Never spring a new complaint on an employee before the review; this is a good way to make them feel as if they are being attacked.

Always ensure that you are clearly outlining a performance plan for each employee. This could include employees picking up an additional responsibility, or even outline any additional training that they will receive. This helps the employee feel as if they are being valued, rather than feel as if they are being abused by their boss. Having performance reviews in a place that is quiet and calm is also a good idea to help keep the tone calm and less formal.

For your employees that you are interested in keeping it may be a good idea to invest in some training for them to help them improve on their jobs. This can include communication classes, leadership skills, or anything else that can help them improve on their job and arm them with the skills and qualifications they need in order to do their job effectively.

Remember, it is much cheaper to pay for training for current employees rather than spend all of the time and money necessary to hire a replacement. If you are strapped financially but still wish to offer these types of courses, you may be able to contact a training consultant who can train your employees together to help you ensure that your employees still receive the training they need to be successful at a price that you can afford.

If you are looking for a new employee to fill an upper management or even a higher position, start looking within your own employees first. This can often be a much better solution rather than simply looking to hire from outside your company and hoping you select the right applicant. When choosing from the employees you already have it is possible to already know the person's strengths and weaknesses and help make the best decision, rather than simply hoping you made the best decision.