I have currently gotten a supervisor position and I want to be a good boss and have my subordinates happy to work. To preface it is a state government job, not a business so its not like I need to keep things running at 100% to insure profit margines, and I don't have a labor profit margin to worry about. The guy before me use to create essentially an itinerary of what people would be doing for certain hours of the day. I dont agree with this because i dont think it is good for moral. However, if someone wanted that i would be happy to waste my time in makijg one for them. Either way, I still want to be a good boss and create a work environment that my people are excited about.
I am in a unique position where the upper management has retired and now it is up to me to create the work flow and environment these people will work in. As I said it's a government job, and i dont want to go too far into detail but it is mostly physical, manual labor. I have thought about making a task board so when people report to their shifts they can pick from the task board for which task they can work on that day. The more immediate tasks would take precedent and I depending on the severity I would explicitly delegate those tasks to whom I think would do the best at.
I want to ask you guys though, how best you would work in a situation like this. Environmental factors such as heat is a big problem this time of year and I've told my employees that if they need time in the shade to drink water and chill out I would rather them get less done than die of heat stroke. I have also explicitly expressed that if they need a day off to take care of personal matters or get a break from work, they can with no questions asked; since studies have proven it will make them more productive.
The main jist is that I am trying to create a relaxed work environment where they can balance their personal life, not feel overwhelmed, but still get tasks done on time. So far many of my employees have expressed a struggle where they feel like they need to overwork themselves even though I'm not breathing down their back, it's just not something they're use to.
How can I insure my employees understand they're cared about? What would be the best way to delegate? And how can I be an overall good boss?
I know that in my position my employees will likely talk shit about me either way, since I'm their manager, but I still want to improve and give them the best working environment I can.