What is People Management?

People management is a broad topic that covers what it means to develop, organize, problem-solve, and grow the employee side of a company. It handles a multitude of challenges. The topics range from a personality clash between team members and their lead, to an unhappy employee feeling undervalued, to an employee overwhelmed or plain burnt-out from an excessive workload.

Moreover, a key feature of People Management is treating employees as internal clients, and managing them well. You want your people to be after their best work and not after a paycheck. So, the focus switches away from allocating tasks and focusing on labor/hour management towards empowering employees. Besides, helping employees acquire new skills, grow, and keeping motivation high to drive their productivity are key tenets of people management.

Furthermore, you’ll need the social skills to adeptly manage internal relationships in the office. More so, you need to be able to build a clear process that employees can rely on when issues arise. People management is about building a company culture that builds its employees and sets them up for growth.

People Management’s role goes beyond simple human resource management. It focuses on keeping employees happy, satisfied, and empowered in their day-to-day work life and provides the support they need.

What is a people specialist doing?

People specialists focus on building a successful and productive company culture through employee empowerment. By empowering your employees and keeping their motivation levels high, you’ll see a clear increase in productivity. Whereas your operational and revenue teams focus on company clients, your people department focuses on your employees. So, the people department focuses on providing a clear path for growth and nurtures the company-employee relationship. Some of the most common tasks for a People Specialist include:

1. Communicate. The most important action a people specialist can take is to constantly communicate with key stakeholders – your employees. Having open and honest communication channels allows employees a channel to enhance their work environment. Also, this allows your company the room it needs to be proactive and drive its culture forward.
2. Nurture long-lasting employee-company relationships and treat employees as internal customers. Your employees are key stakeholders in your operations. Keeping them satisfied, empowered, and motivated increases your teams’ productivity. With each member focusing on producing their best work, you acquire teams producing more effectively and efficiently.
3. Support employees on a day-to-day basis and answer questions about benefits and company policies. So, be available to provide the knowledge and support your employees need when trying to clarify processes and handle disputes. This is indispensable when building trust and credibility.
4. On-board new employees and ensure they have access to the necessary resources, tools, and support to hit the floor running. Make an impact on new hires’ careers and build a strong foundation for the company with its newest stakeholder.
5. Organize joyful and fun company events, gatherings, outings, and team-bonding events to increase employee motivation, team and departmental cohesion, and nurture a successful company culture.

Common Issues People Management Faces

Consider some of these common employee concerns that a people specialist  might want to watch out for:

1. Employees finding themselves unhappy with the projects they’re on or work they’re handling and wanting to change.
2. Dissatisfied teams who are facing an underproductive or disruptive member
3. Employees finding it difficult to adjust and adapt to company processes and procedures
4. Employee burnout due to an eagerness to perform, especially when coupled with a high-expectations manager.