When discussing hindrances to growth, most business owners point me to their inability to find and keep good help. All these business owners, it seems, are finding people that don’t show up for work, fail to do projects on time, and cause conflict in the workplace. Where do all the "good" employees go?

I will tactfully suggest that if you have a track record of bad employees, the problem may not be *just* with them. It is unlikely that every single person you hire is a bad employee; more likely, you need to work on being a better boss. In keeping with the list theme, take these nine tips to your company, and see if anything changes.

1. Give a thorough interview. If you want to KEEP good help, you have to do your best to hire the best. Even for the smallest job, don’t just take the first guy willing to do the job you described. Have a well written plan of exactly what the job will be, and what it will take for the potential employee to be successful. Many people spend more time at work than they do with their own family, so have some good questions lined up to make sure you know a little bit about the candidate. Also use the time to get the personal information and conduct at least a basic background check. You can also use Google to make sure they don’t have some crazy alter ego on the internet (myspace, facebook, etc.)!
2. Offer a way to progress. No matter the size of the company, any good employee wants to be able to move forward. Better pay is only one way. More responsibility, more vacation time, bigger benefits, ownership in the company, etc., are also important. Another part of this is to allow employees to compete for recognition and rewards. This helps to keep things interesting around the company and lightens things up. All of these things make sticking around more appealing.
3. Provide an employee handbook. Don’t have one? Make one. It puts in writing what is expected of the employee, and what is expected of the company. The boiler plate information can easily be downloaded. All you have to do is customize it to your needs, but spend a significant amount of time and do it right. In the handbook, include the job description/accountabilities, company rules, and benefit information.
4. Skip the yearly evaluations. What?! Yeah, skip them. You won’t be needing the yearly evaluation since you will have clear, open dialog with your employees year-round. Be friendly, open, and available. If you are approachable, little problems you don’t know about can be stopped before they become big problems. Also, you need to work with employees to correct problems right away, not in six months. If you must have an annual meeting with employees, use it to set some goals, not harp on what they did wrong.
5. Listen more than you talk. Listen to the difficulties your employees are having. If jobs aren’t getting done or deadlines are missed, don’t just assume it’s a bad employee. Find out what they need to be successful. Listen to what employees say to you, and what they say to each other.
6. Be their boss, not their best friend. In contrast to some popular thinking, keep the relationships professional. This keeps things from getting weird when you have to enforce a rule or reprimand someone. Stay friendly, but avoid going out for a beer after work with everyone or being the one at the Christmas party with the lampshade on your head.
7. Learn how to resolve conflict. Books, seminars, and classes are great resources to improve on this skill. Bigger companies have people throughout that are “experts” in conflict resolution. If you have at least one person working for you, there are bound to be conflicts. As the one in charge, it’s up to you to get things resolved peacefully. When the time comes, you will need to be able to make the difficult choices regarding letting employees go.
8. Follow your own system. If you expect employees to be there at 8:00 am, get there early. Finish your part of projects on time, every time, and be a good all around employee of your company. This will set the example you want them to follow.
9. Conduct Exit Interviews. When en employee leaves, make sure you know why. If it is something do to the work environment, find ways to keep the same thing from happening again.

No, there is nothing groundbreaking in any of these ideas. However, if you spend time thinking on each one and jot down some notes on where you might improve, you just might have some better luck keeping good help.