Planning is the key to running an effective staff meeting, everything from deciding when to have it to what to say. If you do this correctly you will have the most to gain and the staff will be more receptive to what you say at the staff meeting.

Time and Date

Plan a staff meeting at a time that best fits your business and employees rather than yourself. This will mean your staff are not angry at being there at a time that is most inconvenient to them. As such the best option is to have the staff meeting during regular work hours assuming the line of work allows for this. Otherwise Tuesday mornings, or Tuesday evenings would be a better choice for a staff meeting rather than Friday evenings, if for example, your employees are all young and want to go out Friday nights.

Having a staff meeting towards the end of the day is better than before work, as if the staff meeting ends early you can let everyone go home early, for which they may be grateful. If you have a staff meeting first thing in the day it can be difficult for people to get into "work mode" after, particularly if the staff meeting was a difficult one.

Employees should be given ample notice of when a staff meeting will be (at least a 2 week notice), and most areas require that they are paid for the staff meeting under the minimum standards for pay. As such if an employees shortest shift can be 3 hours, they must be paid for 3 hours for the staff meeting, even if it was only one hour long, assuming they did not work other hours that day.

If you plan a staff meeting after hours and you know it will not take long, you might try making it a fun social time. Have a pizza, or meal, brought in for the staff before the meeting actually starts. This allows them to realize you appreciate them being their. Well fed staff are apt to be happier than ones that want to head home quick to eat.

Everything in Writing

Prior to the staff meeting you should have printed up a general guide of what you are going to be talking about. Everyone at the meeting should get a copy. You should write the names of everyone who attended the staff meeting on your copy. In such a way an employee cannot come back in the future claiming they didn't know something.

You need to file your copy for your records and should research what was covered at past staff meetings to see if certain issues are coming up over and over.

The Meeting

Always begin with a positive. Nobody is going to want to feel like the staff meeting is all negative so a few positive comments at the beginning get everything off to a good start and set the mood.

When you have things to say they should be general. If you have anything to say about a specific employee that should be done privately rather than in front of the group. Even if you do not name names or point fingers, it will be clear to the other employees who you are talking to when you make comments that are specific.

Be brief with each point, going on and on loses peoples attention. Ask after each point if everyone understood or has any questions to that point. If not you can go back and expand. Also regularly asking asking if each person understands helps the staff to feel like they are part of the meeting, not just being dictated too.

Control the meeting to make sure no single employee gets bullied, or takes over your staff meeting as can happen.

Ending the Meeting

Finish with a few more positive points, saying something like "In the future I hope we can...", to give employees something to look forward to. Such a point might be planning the staff Christmas party, summer bar-b-que or other event.

Before closing go around to each employee and ask if they have anything to add or any concerns they want covered.  Take notes as needed, and do not just dismiss your employees points as this will devalue future staff meetings.

Thank everyone for coming.

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Planning is the key to running an effective staff meeting, everything from deciding when to have it to what to say. If you do this correctly you will have the most to gain and the staff will be more receptive to what you say at the staff meeting.

Time and Date

Plan a staff meeting at a time that best fits your business and employees rather than yourself. This will mean your staff are not angry at being there at a time that is most inconvenient to them. As such the best option is to have the staff meeting during regular work hours assuming the line of work allows for this. Otherwise Tuesday mornings, or Tuesday evenings would be a better choice for a staff meeting rather than Friday evenings, if for example, your employees are all young and want to go out Friday nights.

Having a staff meeting towards the end of the day is better than before work, as if the staff meeting ends early you can let everyone go home early, for which they may be grateful. If you have a staff meeting first thing in the day it can be difficult for people to get into "work mode" after, particularly if the staff meeting was a difficult one.

Employees should be given ample notice of when a staff meeting will be (at least a 2 week notice), and most areas require that they are paid for the staff meeting under the minimum standards for pay. As such if an employees shortest shift can be 3 hours, they must be paid for 3 hours for the staff meeting, even if it was only one hour long, assuming they did not work other hours that day.

If you plan a staff meeting after hours and you know it will not take long, you might try making it a fun social time. Have a pizza, or meal, brought in for the staff before the meeting actually starts. This allows them to realize you appreciate them being their. Well fed staff are apt to be happier than ones that want to head home quick to eat.

Everything in Writing

Prior to the staff meeting you should have printed up a general guide of what you are going to be talking about. Everyone at the meeting should get a copy. You should write the names of everyone who attended the staff meeting on your copy. In such a way an employee cannot come back in the future claiming they didn't know something.

You need to file your copy for your records and should research what was covered at past staff meetings to see if certain issues are coming up over and over.

The Meeting

Always begin with a positive. Nobody is going to want to feel like the staff meeting is all negative so a few positive comments at the beginning get everything off to a good start and set the mood.

When you have things to say they should be general. If you have anything to say about a specific employee that should be done privately rather than in front of the group. Even if you do not name names or point fingers, it will be clear to the other employees who you are talking to when you make comments that are specific.

Be brief with each point, going on and on loses peoples attention. Ask after each point if everyone understood or has any questions to that point. If not you can go back and expand. Also regularly asking asking if each person understands helps the staff to feel like they are part of the meeting, not just being dictated too.

Control the meeting to make sure no single employee gets bullied, or takes over your staff meeting as can happen.

Ending the Meeting

Finish with a few more positive points, saying something like "In the future I hope we can...", to give employees something to look forward to. Such a point might be planning the staff Christmas party, summer bar-b-que or other event.

Before closing go around to each employee and ask if they have anything to add or any concerns they want covered.  Take notes as needed, and do not just dismiss your employees points as this will devalue future staff meetings.

Thank everyone for coming.

Related Links

10 Gift Ideas for your Employer

10 Gift Ideas for your Employee