12 Actionable Tips to Manage Employees as a First-Time Leader

Impact of Poor Employee Management

As a founder or small business owner, people are your greatest investment, but also your greatest risk. The wrong kind of management can slow momentum, stall growth, and damage culture in ways that are hard to recover from. That’s why it’s important to keep an eye out for early signs that you or your leadership team may need to re-examine your management style.

Let’s take a look at what these signs can manifest as:

• Employee burnout and fatigue
• Rising mental health concerns
• Increased absenteeism
• Higher turnover across teams
• Lack of motivation or ownership
• Stalled development and upskilling
• Confusion or lack of direction

For any businesses at any stage of their development, these risks rarely exist in isolation. They have a domino effect: high turnover leads to lost productivity, which accelerates disengagement, which in turn damages reputation. The good news is that by recognizing the signs early, you can correct course and build a healthier, more sustainable culture before problems escalate.

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12 Strategies to Manage Employees Effectively

These 12 tips on how to effectively manage your employees are designed with the modern workforce in mind: remote-first, tech-augmented, and globally diverse.

1. Hire the Right Global Talent

Hiring is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a founder. Every new team member shapes your culture, your trajectory, and your reputation as a business. In a global, remote-first workforce, that means looking beyond your own borders and finding people who can thrive in distributed environments.

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We’re paying people to tell us what to do. I don’t view that we pay people to do things. That’s easy – to find people to do things. What’s harder is to find people to tell you what should be done.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc

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Having to replace an employee can cost between 50% and 4 times that person’s annual salary when you factor in recruitment, training, and the loss of intellectual property. For a lean, early-stage company, that kind of financial knock can be crippling.

How to put this into practice:

• Assess Candidates For Adaptability: In remote teams, you need employees who are self-driven, communicative, and comfortable with some uncertainty.

• Hire For Diversity: Actively look for candidates from different cultures, with different experiences. It’ll help you build a team that thinks and therefore problem solves differently.
• Partner With the Right People: A trusted Employer of Record can take on the heavy lifting when it comes to hiring compliantly, managing contracts correctly, and paying employees on time, no matter where they’re based.

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2. Set Clear Goals and Expectations

In a growing company, uncertainty is a given, but ambiguity is dangerous. Without clear goals, employees end up spinning their wheels, duplicating efforts, or chasing priorities that don’t actually move the needle. Over time, that lack of direction can erode motivation and employee engagement, and you see your team looking for another job while they’re bored at work.

Employees who understand how their work connects to company goals are generally more engaged, simply because they can connect their work to a purpose. For a founder, aligning individual output with vision is an important part of scaling effectively and sustainably.

How to put this into practice:

• Use the SMART Framework to Create Objectives: Vague goals leave room for interpretation. So, when you’re planning out employee objectives or KPIs, make each one specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
• Connect Objectives to Company Strategy: Even the best-written goal will fall flat if employees don’t see why it matters. As a founder, it’s your responsibility to take the time to connect the dots for your team and frame individual goals as part of the bigger picture.  
• Review Goals Quarterly: A goal that felt urgent six months ago may no longer be relevant today. Review and refine goals every quarter to create space to celebrate progress, course-correct where needed, and re-align with shifting priorities.

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3. Create Open Communication Across Time Zones

When your team spans continents, effective communication isn’t limited to the flow of information, but also to culture. Misunderstandings multiply in distributed teams, and silence can quickly become disengagement.

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It's very important to create a safe environment where everyone, senior or junior, has the confidence to speak out and express their opinions. This is how you encourage discussions that really mean something and at the same time, optimize the decision-making process. I’ve found the best way to do this is to create a round table instead of a hierarchy.

Erez Golan, Co-Founder, Playroll

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On top of that, isolation and a lack of connection can exacerbate stress in global teams. Remote employees who feel isolated are twice as likely to consider quitting. For global employers, effective communication is a retention strategy as much as an operational one.

How to put this into practice:

• Listen More Than You Talk: Active listening takes time, patience, and trust. It means giving your team space to share their ideas, voice concerns, and take ownership of solutions. And it requires you to resist the urge to jump in too quickly and impose your way of doing things on your team.

• Prioritize Asynchronous Tools: Use platforms like Slack, Loom, and Notion to reduce the reliance on live meetings. This respects different time zones and avoids burnout.

• Set Norms, Not Rules: For example, “respond within 24 hours” is a clear expectation without forcing instant replies.
• Humanize Remote Work: Encourage non-work chat channels or weekly “coffee chats” to replicate water-cooler moments.

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4. Provide Regular Feedback and Recognition

Feedback and recognition are two sides of the same coin: one fuels growth, the other fuels motivation. Both skills are crucial for managers, especially in startups where speed is everything and appreciation is often left unsaid.

Regular constructive feedback gives people the clarity they need to grow, while recognition provides the motivation to keep performing at their best. Together, they create a culture where people feel supported, valued, and invested in your company’s success. It’s a simple strategy, but highly effective if you can ingrain it in your ways of working.

How to put this into practice:

• Institutionalize 1:1s: Weekly or biweekly 1:1s create a dedicated space for an honest chat where your team can raise concerns, share ideas, or talk about growth outside of project updates. More importantly, they show your team that you value them as people, not just as contributors to output. For first-time leaders, 1:1s also provide an early radar for issues like burnout, disengagement, or misalignment before they escalate.

• Be Specific and Actionable: Specific, actionable feedback, like “You handled the client’s objection calmly and secured the contract”, not only reinforces positive behavior but also builds confidence, sharpens skills, and sets clear standards for what success looks like on your team.
• Celebrate Wins Publicly: Private feedback builds trust, but public recognition builds culture. Calling out individual or team achievements in shared spaces boosts morale, motivates others, and reinforces the values you want to see repeated. You could do this through a dedicated Slack or Teams channel for exampl.

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5. Delegate with Intention

Delegation isn’t abdication, it’s empowerment. Many first-time leaders think managing staff means doing it all themselves, but this only burns out you and your team.  On the other hand, when you delegate, you gain time to focus on strategy – plus show your team that you trust them, giving them confidence to step up.

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I think that my biggest mindset shift as a leader has been from trying to be right, to trying to make the right decision. It’s not important if I come up with the right solution to a problem or someone else did, but it is my responsibility to choose the right decision.

Erez Golan, Co-founder, Playroll

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Many founders fall into the trap of trying to do everything themselves. That approach limits scale and burns out both you and your team. Remember that the people you delegate to today, may become the leaders who help you scale tomorrow.

How to put this into practice:

• Match Skills to Responsibilities: Assign work based on strengths, not just availability. When people play to their strengths, they not only perform better but also feel more motivated and engaged in the work.
• Clarify Authority: Be clear about what decisions someone can own versus what needs your input. Clear boundaries reduce bottlenecks and help your team to stop second-guessing themselves.
• Review Outcomes, Not Methods: Your team may approach things differently than you would. It’s important to trust in the result, not the process.

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Scale Your Team Effortlessly

When you’re building global teams, the last thing you want is to get bogged down in local labor laws, payroll complexities, or the expense of setting up entities in every country. Why not partner with a team that can handle it all for you?

Speak to an Expert

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6. Use HR Tools to Automate Admin

Your time as a founder is finite. Spending it on payroll, compliance, or admin is a distraction from staff management priorities like culture and growth. Founders who get stuck in operations risk losing sight of the bigger picture and that can create a lot of problems for both you and your team. By automating repetitive work, you create bandwidth for leadership and performance management.

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Check out our blog on the best HR platforms in 2025.

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How to put this into practice:

• Automate Payroll: Third-party payroll platforms can help you ensure employees across multiple countries are paid accurately and compliantly without you managing tax codes and filings.
• Centralize HR Data: Use one payroll platform for contracts, employee information, and compliance checks.
• Adopt Predictive Analytics: AI or predictive models can flag disengagement patterns or forecast turnover risk before they hit your bottom line.

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7. Invest in Continuous Learning

Great employees don’t want jobs; they want careers. If they can’t grow with you, they’ll grow somewhere else. Companies that offer upskilling opportunities retain 58% more employees than ones who don’t. Growth opportunities signal to your team that you care about their future, not just their output. It keeps effective employees motivated and loyal while continuously improving your company’s capabilities over the long term.

How to put this into practice:

• Create Development Budgets: Even modest allocations for courses, conferences, or mentorship signal commitment to growth. The amount matters less than the message it sends.
• Tie Learning to Business Goals: Link training directly to outcomes that matter for the company. A marketing manager could take a course on demand generation tied directly to revenue targets.
• Measure Impact: Don’t just fund learning, follow up on it. Ask your team what they gained, look for improvements in confidence or performance, and use that feedback to refine future investments.

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8. Promote Work-Life Balance

In high-growth companies, burnout can become normalized alongside a relentless pace. But overworked employees don’t deliver sustainable performance, they usually deliver sub-par results as burnout continues to build quietly. By the time you notice it, your best people may already be on their way out.

An estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety in the U.S. alone, costing the global economy a whopping $1 trillion annually.  Preventing it is a far cheaper and smarter management strategy than simply replacing talent.

How to put this into practice:

• Set Core Hours: Establish windows of overlap for collaboration while respecting flexibility.
• Model Boundaries: If you’re sending emails or requests out at midnight, employees assume it’s expected to respond. Clearly define your working hours and make sure that your team understands they’re only expected to respond in that timeframe.
• Support Well-Being: Offer access to mental health resources, wellness stipends, or simply encourage breaks. Sometimes it’s the small changes that have the most impact.

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9. Address Conflicts Early

Conflict ignored is conflict amplified. Left unresolved, it chips away at trust and slows growth. And for founders, small rifts can quickly become cultural cracks that are far harder to repair later. Healthy debate strengthens teams; silent resentment weakens them.

When you let issues linger, they resurface at the worst possible time, often in front of customers or investors. Tackling issues early signals to your team that you value accountability and respect, setting the tone for a culture where problems get solved, not buried.

How to put this into practice:

• Create Safe Spaces for Dialogue: Build structures like regular retros or open forums where employees feel comfortable raising concerns. Training yourself and your managers in mediation skills can make these conversations more constructive.
• Focus on Issues, Not Individuals: Keep discussions centered on actions, outcomes, and solutions. This avoids blame and helps people feel safe engaging in problem-solving.
• Document Agreements: Summarize resolutions in writing and share them with those involved. A record of what was agreed creates accountability and prevents misunderstandings later.

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10. Measure Performance with Data

In the early days, gut instinct works because you’re close to everything. But as you scale, relying on intuition alone creates inconsistency and bias. Data gives you the structure to grow the team fairly and transparently, while still leaving room for the human side of leadership.

For founders, this balance is essential. Without clear data, you risk managing on assumptions, which leads to uneven expectations and disengaged employees. With it, you create consistency and fairness that allows the business to scale without losing your people. If that’s not reason enough, research shows that companies that embrace performance marketing practices are 4.2 times more likely to outperform competitors.

How to put this into practice:

• Define Role-specific KPIs: For remote teams, focus on outputs (quality of work, deadlines met) rather than hours online.
• Blend metrics with feedback: Pair quantitative data with qualitative context from managers.
• Evolve Your Metrics as You Scale: The KPIs that matter for a five-person team won’t be the same at fifty. Revisit performance measures regularly to make sure they reflect your company’s stage and strategy.

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11. Build Trust Through Transparency

Transparency is an operational accelerator. When your team knows what’s really happening, they can get on the same page faster, execute more effectively, and stay committed through the inevitable ups and downs of building a business.

In early-stage companies, uncertainty is constant. If you’re not transparent, your team will fill the gaps with their own assumptions. Sharing both wins and challenges keeps people engaged and invested, even when things get tough.

How to put this into practice:

• Share the Full Picture: Be honest about both progress and setbacks so employees see the reality, not a filtered version.
• Involve Employees in Decisions: Ask for input on decisions that directly affect their work. Even if you can’t take every suggestion, involvement builds trust.
• Lead by Example: Admit when you’re wrong. It’ll be difficult but humility builds credibility.

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12. Lead Across Cultures

If you’re hiring globally, cultural differences are central to how your team collaborates. Leading across cultures requires intentionality: understanding differences, and respecting them. Global teams give you resilience and reach, but mismanaged differences can quickly turn into misunderstandings and inefficiencies. Done well, cultural awareness transforms those differences into a competitive advantage.

How to put this into practice:

• Educate Yourself: Admit mistakes and talk openly about what you’re learning. When leaders show humility, it gives others permission to do the same.
• Provide Inclusivity Training: Equip your whole team with the skills to collaborate across borders, whether that’s overcoming language barriers or navigating different work styles.
• Adapt Policies Fairly: Create flexibility where it matters, such as allowing holiday swaps for cultural observances, so every employee feels equally supported.

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Bonus: Managing Challenging Employees

No matter how strong your hiring process, every founder eventually faces a difficult employee. It’s not a sign of failure, it’s just a part of the game. What matters is how you respond. Handled well, these situations can strengthen your culture; handled poorly, they can drain you momentum and morale.

How to approach it:

• Focus on Behaviors, Not Personalities: Address specific actions and their impact instead of labeling someone as “difficult.” This keeps conversations constructive and solutions-focused.
• Go One-to-One: Private check-ins are where you uncover what’s really going on. Whether it’s a skills gap, unclear expectations, or personal challenges, a candid chat will reveal all.
• Be clear and consistent: Document expectations, goals, and follow-ups so there’s no ambiguity on either side.
• Use Structured Improvement Plans: A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) can give an employee a clear path to improvement and eventually success.
• Know When to Esculate: If progress doesn’t come, make the decision respectfully but decisively. Lingering issues drain culture and can distract the team.

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Lead with Confidence When You Partner With Playroll

Managing employees as a first-time leader is less about having all the answers and more about creating the conditions for people to succeed. By applying these 12 strategies, you’ll build a culture that retains talent, drives productivity, and strengthens your business foundation.

And with Playroll automating payroll, managing compliance, and simplifying global hiring, you’ll free up bandwidth to step away from the admin grind.  That’ll give you more time to focus on what only a founder can do – building vision, shaping culture, and driving growth. Book a demo with our team and start hiring, paying, and managing your people compliantly from day one.