How Do I Share My Business Information with My Employees?

The answer to the question, “How do I Share Business Information with my Employees”, has several parts. First, you need to decide if you want to share this kind of information. There are several reasons you might want to share your business information with some or all your employees.

First, many business owners want to “empower” their employees so they can perform at higher levels. Secondly, the employee can feel more a part of a team or business. Thirdly, once an employee understands the information you have more educated workforce whose input or feed-back is much more valuable. By sharing information, you enable your employees to exhibit one or more of these behaviors. Any one of these behaviors will improve the business and enhance its ability to increase revenues and profitability.

The main downside of sharing your business information is it’s now in the public domain. One of the main reasons many business owners keep their business privately held (versus publicly held) is to keep information private. Once you post business performance data on the bulletin board then everyone at the supermarket is going to know your numbers.

Once you decide to share, then you need to decide how, what, when and where you will share the information. A must first step is that you must build an education step into this process. The chances are slim that your employees, except for those that work in the accounting area, will have the background to understand the numbers. My encouragement is to hold classes that are led by an outsider such as an accountant or financial expert. Only when the employee group that will participate has the needed knowledge to understand your date should you share the data.

An important part of the sharing process is to determine the format and what numbers you are going to share. A “spoon-fed” approach might work best as it allows the group to get up to speed at a pace that fits the group. Your process should also have a feed-back system built in so that when an employee sees an opportunity for an improved or new product or a chance to cut expenses they know where and to whom to bring it. These types of positive improvements should be tied back to and quantified in the numbers. That way the employees see value in their participation.

Whether you share your numbers depends on your attitude as an owner and to a great deal on the culture you have created for your business. To share means taking on a simple but challenging task, but the rewards in building your business can be immense. Once you start down the sharing road you will never look back.

I will talk about whether sharing your business information with your employees if right for your business on my upcoming show on The Weekly Business Hour on Monday April 23^rd  from 11:00am – 12:00pm CST on www.irlonestar.com , the Lone Star Community Radio app, or on Conroe City Radio at FM 104.5 & FM106.1.

You can also find the podcast of the show (posted on Wednesday April 25^th ) by going to The Weekly Business Hour page on www.irlonestar.com  or on Facebook to The Weekly Business Hour page: https://www.facebook.com/theweeklybusinesshour. The podcasts are also posted weekly on Wednesdays on YouTube on The Weekly Business Hour channel and on other social media outlets such as Stitcher, Google Play and ITunes.

If you have questions or comments then please email me at [email protected]