What are employee expectations?
Employee expectations are the tasks, guidelines and structures a company expects its staff members to abide by. While expectations for company staff members can cover a broad spectrum, usually employee expectations refer specifically to job-related tasks and goals. Most employee expectations fall into one of these categories:
- Responsibilities: Job responsibilities are the specific tasks the company expects the employee to perform as a part of their position.
- Work hours: Work hours are the hours the employee can expect to work. Depending on the position, work hours might be consistent or may change from day to day to meet the needs of the company.
- Leadership: Leadership expectations include what the employee can expect from the company in terms of mentorship, supervision and performance reviews.
- Advancement: Advancement expectations describe the path the employee can take to rise through the ranks of the company.
Related: New Hire Packets: Three Surprising Things to Include
Why it’s important to set employee expectations from the beginning
It’s necessary to clearly explain all facets of employee expectations as early as possible in the professional relationship with a new hire. When employees have inaccurate expectations for their job, they’re more likely to initially struggle to meet expectations and to feel disappointed with the position in the long-term.
Ensuring that employees understand exactly what their new position entails, what their work hours will be, how supervisors will review their work and whether they can expect to continue their career long-term with the company can help employees feel empowered to do their best work. Empowered employees are generally more satisfied with the work that they do and are more productive than those who feel confused about what they should be doing on the job.
Related: Interviewing Strategies for New Hires: Best Practices
How to set clear expectations for employees
Follow these five steps to establish clear employee expectations for better staff engagement and increased productivity:
1. Establish expectations
Before you can share expectations with your employees, you must establish clear and specific expectations for each position. Write out a list of employee expectations for the four categories — position responsibilities, work hours, leadership and advancement — for all positions.
2. Share expectations
If current employees don’t have a clear idea of their employee expectations, share the list you established with them. Field any questions and clarify details as needed. For new hires, introduce expectations as early as possible. Consider including key details, like main job responsibilities and work hours, in the job posting. Address all employee expectations explicitly during the job interview. Confer with employees currently in those positions and with human resources to ensure you fully understand the position’s responsibilities.
3. Include expectations
Add the employee expectations to your employee handbook. Make a review of the expectations a part of the onboarding process for new hires. Ensure that all employees, both old and new, are aware of any updates to employee expectations and know where to look to find the employee expectations for their position for reference.
4. Follow up with new hires
After a new hire’s first few weeks on the job, ask them how the employee expectations provided during the job interview and onboarding align with the actuality of working for the company. Make sure they feel comfortable with the expectations. Answer any questions they might have and clarify any uncertain employee expectation details.
5. Assess and update
Periodically, sit down with your human resources team to review all employee expectations and update them as needed. It’s prudent to poll your employees prior to meeting with human resources to help identify any specific areas that might need adjusting.