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get to know your employees wednesday may 2 1984 mre3 it could pay off for you by john kane it s a wellknown fact that personnel costs represent the single most impor tant resource and biggest expense of most companies however too many business owners simply arent getting the most of their sizeable investments in their employees why mainly because theyre not fully aware of everything that the people who work for them have to offer lets consider a simple analogy if you were planning the acquisition of a major piece of equipment for your business would you complete the purchase with out getting informed first wouldnt you take a close look at your own needs and then carefully checkout all the available alternatives on the market once the new equipment was in service wouldnt you try to learn as much as possible ab out it so that you could take full advan tage of its capabilities in all probability you would but if youre like many business owners you dont give the same attention to finding and maintaining this kind of information on the people who work for you and because employees represent such a sig nificant investment the odds are that lack of personnel information is costing your money for example how well qualified are your people for the jobs they are doing now their experience may have matched their job descriptions when they were hired but all jobs change in their requirements over time if an em ployees qualifications and abilities ha vent kept pace with the growth in job responsibilities he or she may not be doing the job at the level you require an investment in retraining could pay off handsomely in terms of better perform ance or consider the other side of the coin the underemployed worker in todays depressed job market many companies have people on staff with hidden skills people who may be well qualified in areas outside the job they are holding its up to you to search out these people and find ways of applying their hidden skills to raise their productivity in crease their job satisfaction and help your bottom line below we have assem bled some suggestions to help you im prove your knowledge of your em ployees consider how to apply these suggestions in your business they could pay off for you 1 keep a skills inventory your person nel records should be used for a lot more than annual salary increases to use re cords for longterm personnel planning you need to know exactly what skills your people have now and what skills improvements must be made for their future development 2 perform an evaluation take a hard- nosed look at your whole workforce to find out who is performing up to stan dard then take action hiring a good new employee where necessary or opening up promotion opportunities through termination and early retire ments of poor performers 3 find out employees interests what do your people want to do find out where their interests lie and direct their future development along these lines 4 get to know your people if you can speak to all your employees on a first- name basis youre in a good position to know more about them how they feel about their job and what could be im proved in their work environment editors note john kane ca is a resident of markham and a partner in the toronto office of thome riddell chartered accountants prestigious unionville ld v custom build your own home in our small enclave of 23 estate lots 1 v acres average size architecturally controlled 13 lots remaining beautifully treed some ravine lots 1 from 9700000 j use our recommendeo if builders or choose your own 8839160 many claims are made but there is absolutely n t with fiurorfl highlands golf and country gab estates and no one fairway ravine lots 60 to 70 ft frontages right on one of canadas prettiest golf courses else offers all of these advantages you dont just border a golf course of the fu ture your new picture home is right in the heart of one of canadas most beautiful golf and country clubs where from the day you move in you enjoy the 50 years of groomed nature that surrounds you its your country club every day of the year as the purchaser of a picture home you re ceive a 2year clubhouse membership your familys gateway to yearround swimming squash racquetball tennis health fitness centre saunas whirlpools and more plus seasonal golf and crosscountry skiing 218 acre estate the area is truly prestigious with exclusively single family residences of distinguished design rigidly controlled to befit this idyllic setting destined to become highly appreciative in value exclusive builder there are many home builders but because of the limited number of homes to be built on this golf course the builder had to be chosen with great care he had to provide executive luxu ry timeless design spaciousness quality materials superior craftsmanship the fea tures of homes costing 250000 or more a reputation for customer satisfaction and all at an affordable price after much consideration we were selected as the exclusive builder the previous purchasers of a picture home would not be surprised introducing our new hogarth 2619 square feet choice of 19 elevations up to 3200 square feet affordably priced from 134900 to 181900 among our many features high efficiency furnaces greenhouse kitchens circular oak staircases heatolator fireplaces all clay brick ceramic floors roman tubs wet bar c aurora highlands golf and country club estates d just off yonge st only 20 minutes north of hwy 401 going north on yonge street turn left at 3rd traffic light in aurora golf links drive or going north on don valley parkway continue past highway 401 on to highway 404 to bloomington side road just opened turn left to yonge st turn right on yonge to 4th traffic light golf links drive enter across from highlands gm deal er go past clubhouse on golf links drive to murray drive the picture homes sales information centre is on your left phone 7736564 after hours 4945903 information centre open monday to thursday i pm to 8 pm fridays 1 pj to 5 pj saturdays i sundays ii junto6pjn guaranteed financing from 9 threeyear term fc dont build the most homes only the best