My guest this week is the incredibly talented Natasha Hawker, director of Employee Matters. She is an author, trainer, speaker and mother of 3. Her book, From Hire to Fire and Everything In Between is a handbook for business owners of the ‘how tos’ of managing staff and even having those difficult conversations.
As chance would have it, we spoke on International Women’s Day which saw us discussing some important topics for women in the workplace. We got to speaking on women’s empowerment, both professionally and personally and the lack of strong female role models. That’s not all we had to talk about!
We also cover:
- The home/work balance – juggling home and work life, the flexibility, the advantages, the challenges and the guilt
- Business management – learning how to manage without being taught how to manage
- The time-consuming task of managing people – factoring in time to nurture, develop and support your team
- Fear of HR for business growth – engaging contractors and part-time employees for the first time
- The importance of timing in hiring and job descriptions
- Improving interview techniques – the interview process, reference checks, background checks and understanding the 3 different interviewing types
- Celebrating milestones – the importance of reflection and how Natasha celebrates hers
- What she is most proud of professionally
- Environment vs. Productivity – surrounding yourself with the tools you need to be successful
- How she came to write her book, From Hire to Fire and Everything In Between
- The 9-step employee life cycle – what is it?
- Performance Management – why is it important and what it means to manage an employee’s performance
- “Staff” – why Natasha thinks it’s a dirty word
