Talent

Train Managers to Balance Employer/Employee Needs With Communication

The information in today’s Advisor is from BLR’s 10-Minute HR Trainer session entitled "Balancing Employer and Employee Needs."

Anticipate Employee Needs and Concerns

Communication is key to striking the right balance employer and employee needs. Train managers and/or supervisors to convey employee needs and concerns to employers. Here’s how managers can stay in touch with employee needs:

  • Work to anticipate and respond to employee needs by obtaining your group’s fair share of available funds, equipment, training, and other resources.
  • Stay tuned to employee needs and concerns by:
    • Discussing work issues often in informal groups and one-on-one.
    • Encouraging workers to share thoughts about their jobs.
    • Taking employee problems and worries seriously.

You know your managers could do a better job if they were trained, and now there’s a convenient and reasonable way to get it done—BLR’s Leadership Library at the online, 24/7, TrainingToday. Get More Information.


Let Employers Know Employee Accomplishments and Concerns

Managers need to keep employers in touch with what is going on with employees. Here’s how managers can convey employee accomplishments and concerns to management:

  • Credit and reward employees for special achievements and consistent strong performance.
    • —Report to management on group and individual accomplishments.
    • —Share positive management feedback with employees.
  • Report employee concerns to management.
    • —Point to the potential impact (e.g., safety problems, productivity, heavy turnover).
    • —        Focus on concerns management can address (e.g., benefits packages, layoff numbers, equipment upgrades).
    • —Suggest solutions (e.g., equipment upgrades, more training).
  • Work to obtain resources and information employees request and need.
    • Represent employees to top management, other departments, etc.

How are your managers doing handling this balancing act between employer and employee needs? Are they making mistakes? Do they have time for training? Sure, but training’s a hassle—authorizing, planning, delivering, tracking—and it’s easy to let this critical priority slip.

To solve this problem, BLR has created a unique and helpful solution called TrainingToday.

This turnkey service requires no set up, no course development time, no software to install, and no new hardware. Your employees can self-register, and training can be taken anytime, anywhere (24/7) with nothing but a PC and an Internet connection. Courses take only about 30 minutes to complete.

Just as important, TrainingToday automatically documents training. As trainees sign on, their identifications are automatically registered. When the program is completed, the trainee’s score is entered. So, when you want to see who has or hasn’t yet trained on any subject or look at the across-the-board activity of any one employee, it’s all there, instantly available to you, your boss, an inspector—even a plaintiff’s attorney.

These are all motivational, actionable programs—for both employees and supervisors—in such key areas as sexual harassment, FMLA, diversity, communication, USERRA, recruiting, and many more. The courses are kept up to date to reflect federal and state regulatory changes and, what’s more, we add new programs continually.

The Leadership Library, for example, provides you with a sensible (and economic) solution.

The Leadership Library for Managers and Supervisors allows you to:

  • Train on demand. Employees can complete training anytime from anywhere. All they need is a computer and an internet connection.
  • Reinforce training topics with engaging graphics and quizzes to test their knowledge.
  • Monitor and track the results of your training program with the built-in recordkeeping tool.
  • Save costs. The more you train, the more cost-effective the training becomes.

The Leadership Library for Managers and Supervisors is a Web-based training tool that can be utilized by any organization. All you need is a computer and Internet access, and the library is open 24/7.


Trying to get your employees trained to show leadership? It isn’t easy to fit it in—schedulewise or budgetwise—but now there’s BLR’s Leadership for Employees Library. Train all your people, at their convenience, 24/7, for one standard fee. Get More Information.


The Leadership Library trains your managers on the fundamental skills required for successful team management and organizational communication.

The courses cover a range of leadership and managerial topics, including the following:

  • Business Writing Skills for Supervisors
  • Dealing with Change: How Supervisors Can Help
  • Motivating Employees: Tips and Tactics for Supervisors
  • Effective Communication for Supervisors
  • Conflict Resolution and Consensus Building
  • Workplace Ethics for Supervisors
  • Encouraging Employee Input
  • Negotiation Skills For Supervisors
  • Time Management for Supervisors
  • Professional Behavior: What Supervisors Need to Know
  • Performance Goals for Supervisors
  • New Supervisors’ Guide to Effective Supervision
  • Problem Solving for Supervisors
  • How to Manage Challenging Employees
  • Coaching for Superior Employee Performance: Techniques for Supervisors
  • Effective Meetings: How-to for Supervisors
  • Leadership Skills: What New Managers and Supervisors Need to Know

This turnkey service requires no setup, no course development time, no software installation, and no new hardware. Your employees can self-register, and training can be taken anytime (24/7), anywhere there is a PC and an Internet connection. Courses take only about 30 minutes to complete.

TrainingToday automatically documents training. As trainees sign on, their identifications are automatically registered. When the program is completed, the trainee’s score is entered. So, when you want to see who has been trained on any subject, or look at the across-the-board activity of any one employee, it’s all there, instantly available.

Course certificates can be automatically generated from within the training center and are automatically retained for recordkeeping purposes.

Get started today on helping your managers and supervisors be the best they can be!

Start your Free Trial Today!

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