商务英语

1 List each staff member and corresponding salary for the employee in a spreadsheet to get an idea of the total current staffing cost on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis.

2

Develop your staff budget in the same spreadsheet. After totaling up the expe nses, establish a firm ceiling for expenditures on staff. Make adjustments to the budget expenses over time to ensure compliance with that staff spending maximum. As the business grows, you can increase the limit to hire more people as needed.

3

Evaluate need in the department regarding staff periodically. Ask current workers if they need assistance with their work and monitor the work process to decide if more staff is necessary.

4

Monitor the productivity of current staff to make further decisions regarding the budget, particularly staff cuts if required. Y ou can keep tabs on the performance of workers using software and regular performance reviews (meetings to discuss each worker's progress). For instance, companies can keep track of the efficiency of data entry professionals with software that times and evaluated entries over a period of time.

5

Make additions or deletions to the current staff and corresponding budget based on your findings periodically. For instance, if you find that an employee isn't meeting productivity goals nor helping the firm operate efficiently, you might decide to eliminate that position and update the staff budget accordingly.

6

Set a date to adjust the staff budget each year after taking into account all factors (such as productivity and revenues) from the previous year. As staffing managers Gennie Justus and Joyce Siegele of Northside Hospital in Atlanta explain, budgeting changes are based on trends, historical numbers of employees and internal changes. Effective feedback is specific, not general. (Say, "The report you turned in yesterday was well-written, understandable, and made your points about the budget very effectively." Don't say, "good report.")

Effective feedback always focuses on a specific behavior, not on a person or their intentions. (When you held competing conversations during the meeting, when Mary had the floor, you distracted the people in attendance.)

The best feedback is sincerely and honestly provided to help. Trust me, people will know if they are receiving it for any other reason.

Successful feedback describes actions or behavior that the ind ividual can do something about.

Whenever possible, feedback that is requested is more powerful. Ask permission to provide feedback. Say, "I'd like to give you some feedback about the presentation, is that okay with you?"

Effective feedback involves the sharing of information and observations. It does not include advice unless you have permission or advice was requested.