Your direct reports assess the fairness of many aspects of their jobs. They evaluate whether they're being paid a fair wage, whether their benefits measure up to those of their peers, and whether the business culture supports their moral and ethical views. In the day-to-day work environment, they assess fairness in their workloads, interactions with coworkers, opportunities for advancement, and relationships with managers.

Treating direct reports fairly means being equitable in both the practical and emotional aspects of how you treat people, handle information, and apply standards. These are three key areas you need to consider when assessing your fairness as a manager.

Dealing with people

The first key area of consideration is dealing fairly with people and groups. Being fair isn't about equalizing or eliminating differences among your direct reports, but rather about responding to the needs and aspirations of individuals. As a manager, you need to identify any unfair behavior patterns you may have. This is important in your quest to make sure you're recognizing and rewarding direct reports fairly.

The first part of dealing with people fairly is to identify your own behavior patterns. This can be challenging because, like anyone else, you're subject to personal, intellectual, and cultural influences that shape how you think and act. And it's natural for people to be drawn toward others with shared values and characteristics. Sometimes these preferences can take the form of favoritism and bias. It's important that you're able to understand and assess how your own influences guide the many choices and decisions required to manage people fairly. As a manager, you need to be aware of attitudes and behaviors – including bias, prejudice, stereotyping, and labeling - that influence how you deal with people.

The second part of dealing with people fairly is to make sure you're recognizing and rewarding direct reports fairly. Recognizing and rewarding direct reports fairly means treating them in an appropriate manner that provides them with the motivation to perform.

Being fair isn't necessarily about being equal. Fair managers take into account differences in the characteristics, abilities, and circumstances of their direct reports. Fairness means making people feel as if they've been rewarded in line with the effort they've put in and the circumstances of the situation.

Handling information

Great managers have skills for being understood and for understanding others. When you manage direct reports, handling information fairly is crucial in building an environment where instructions and intent are clear and easily understood.

The ability of your direct reports to function and be productive in their work is a result of how well you communicate, interact, and exchange information with them. One of the more common complaints of direct reports is that their managers don't communicate well. They may complain that information was kept from them, that they were shut down or ignored in meetings, that important information was distributed unfairly, or that they had no input into decisions.

Communicating messages fairly entails explaining the reasoning or purpose behind your decisions. Don't be too directive or dictatorial in tone when you're communicating decisions. Instead, be sure to be polite and respectful - the way you expect your direct reports to communicate with you. And be careful not to alienate direct reports by selectively distributing information.

When you're planning a meeting to communicate an issue, make sure you include all employees that will be affected. Keep communication neutral. No one should be able to tell your personal feelings toward any one of the meeting participants. Make sure that each meeting participant has been provided with the information needed to participate in discussions and decision-making.

It's also important to be sensitive to cultural and personality differences that may affect participation in meetings. Diversity in language, culture, and etiquette may lead to differences in the way your direct reports participate. Ask the quiet or reserved ones for their opinions, or ask them if they would prefer to provide you with notes after the meeting. Keep control over the more assertive meeting participants and prevent them from dominating the discussion.

When employees believe they're being treated fairly – when they understand how and why important decisions are made, and feel they've been listened to and respected – they're more likely to respond positively. This is particularly important if you are faced with communicating serious, or even catastrophic, news.

It's a fact of business that sometimes managers have to deliver bad news to their direct reports. Perhaps an expected bonus hasn't materialized or a promotion hasn't come through. Or maybe a performance review is less than stellar. At worst, direct reports may be facing lay-offs or downsizing.

It isn't necessarily true that employees perceive bad news as unfair. If you're faced with communicating bad news to your direct reports, your primary goal will be to retain their goodwill and trust. Be open and honest when you present the news. Make sure to explain the logic behind the decision. Be available to answer questions, and, if possible, provide the direct reports with a path for improving the situation. In the end, if direct reports feel they've been treated fairly, they'll be more likely to perceive the situation as fair and work with you toward a resolution.

Applying standards

The third key area of consideration when assessing your fairness as a manager is the way you apply standards. It's a good manager's responsibility to create a workplace environment where direct reports feel fairly treated. But when defining or applying workplace standards, some managers fall into the trap of believing that there's only one way in which job duties can be effectively performed. They fail to take into account the diverse ways in which work can be accomplished.

In a well-ordered workplace, managers' assessments of direct reports begin long before any work is performed. They use job descriptions, policy manuals, and employee handbooks to understand performance standards, the scope and level of these standards, and the context in which they are to be met. But while strict work standards may be important for work areas involving finance, security, and safety, they don't work as well when you're applying fairness to your direct reports in a typical workplace.

Many organizations encourage a business culture that encompasses different social, cultural, and demographic groups. If your standards include objective criteria for reaching decisions amicably and efficiently, and for rewarding people fairly, it's more likely your decisions will be accepted.

When given equal opportunity, equal performance is the desired result. But accepting people's differences and allowing flexibility in interpreting work standards doesn't mean making excuses for poor or unproductive behavior. You shouldn't excuse a negative behavior in one direct report that you wouldn't accept from another. Treating one person especially favorably will be perceived to be just as unfair as treating someone harshly.

Ultimately, each of your direct reports will decide for themselves whether you've treated them fairly. But by assessing your behavior in three key areas you'll increase your awareness of how to treat direct reports fairly. First, you need to consider how you deal with people, taking into account cultural and other personal characteristics and identifying any negative behavior patterns you may have. You also need to consider fairness in handling information – how to communicate fairly and how to present information without alienating your direct reports. And finally, you need to consider how you apply standards.

It's your job to ensure an efficient and effective work environment – and that starts with you treating your employees fairly. Your direct reports' ideas of what is fair involves their beliefs, values, ethics, experiences, ambitions, and senses of self-worth. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to being fair.

Being fair is a delicate balance. On one hand, you have to ensure fair reward to direct reports that excel, providing the impetus for superior performance. On the other hand, you may need to provide extra support to disadvantaged employees, so that they can compete with others on fair ground.

There are three effective strategies that can help you achieve a fair and balanced approach to managing all your direct reports. You should practice open communication, treat people with respect, and follow a neutral decision-making process.

Open communication

The first effective strategy for managing direct reports fairly is to practice open communication. Being open with your direct reports means including them in decisions, and being transparent about your own actions and motivations.

No one likes to be left out of what's happening. This is particularly true when people work closely together, as a team or other work unit. If you close direct reports out of the information loop, it could make them feel disconnected and isolated. As a result, they lose their commitment to their work unit and to you as a manager.

An open communication style encourages acceptance of decisions and actions, even when managers are giving bad news. Open communication means sharing information, being clear and specific, and acknowledging and responding to employees.

Sharing information is the key to communication. In the absence of information, your direct reports may fill the gap with negative or erroneous interpretations of what's happening. Rumors, exaggerations, and suppositions may be perceived as truth, and worse, may spread throughout the entire workplace. Explaining and discussing the reasons for your decisions and the factors that motivate your actions gives your direct reports a sense of ownership in the process.

When you do share information, it's important to be clear and specific about you want to impart to your direct reports. Ambiguity can distort your message, allowing room for multiple interpretations of the real meaning.

Open communication also means you need to acknowledge and respond to your employees' questions and concerns. Employees who feel they aren't being heard and their concerns aren't being taken seriously are more likely to perceive procedures and decisions as unfair. Cooperation suffers in work environments perceived as having low levels of fairness, such as when employees believe their ideas or concerns will be ignored or dismissed.

Respect

The second effective strategy for managing direct reports fairly is to treat employees with respect. When employees believe their employer has failed to respect them, they'll perceive the situation as unfair.

Creativity, innovation, and motivation are low in work environments characterized by managerial unfairness and disrespect. Employees who feel disrespected may disconnect from cooperative work activities. Or they may be rejected or bullied by work peers who emulate the disrespectful attitude of management. This is particularly problematic when the disrespected employees are experts in their fields or have skills or training that are necessary to reach team objectives.

As a manager, you have a responsibility to show your direct reports the same level of respect that you expect to be shown by them. You can do this by openly demonstrating respect, using active listening, and being empathetic to feelings and concerns.

If you want to be respected by your direct reports, you need to openly demonstrate respect for them. This means respecting them as persons, and as members of your team. Because members of a team are potentially subject to exclusion and rejection by their peers, they're especially sensitive to signs that their status in the group is changing. It's important to make an effort not to marginalize direct reports or exclude them from group events, activities, or opportunities.

You can also show respect by using active listening. Active listening is a way of communicating cooperatively with your direct reports, making sure they feel you understand and respect their opinions. One active listening technique is to paraphrase what the speaker has said and then seek confirmation that your understanding is correct. By doing this, you demonstrate that you've paid attention to what they've said, and that you welcome their participation. Active listening is particularly useful for establishing trusting relationships with direct reports and resolving conflict between coworkers.

Active listening can help you develop empathy with your direct reports. This is one of the key skills by which employees judge their manager's sense of fairness. Being empathetic means understanding the emotional undercurrents of both individuals and of your team as a whole. Through active listening you'll be better able to build and maintain effective relationships with direct reports.

To be empathetic, you need to suspend judgment of the actions or reactions of your direct reports, while you try to understand them. You'll also need to ask questions to clarify what is going on. This all results in a better understanding of what your direct reports need. It means, for example, that you'll be able to set appropriate goals for them. And in the end, you'll have emotionally committed workers who are less stressed out and willing to go the extra mile.

Neutral decision-making

The third effective strategy for managing direct reports fairly involves a neutral decision-making process. Your direct reports' reactions to your management style are influenced not only by the results of your decisions, but by how fair they perceive the decision process to be. Employees are more supportive of decisions, and of decision-makers, if the process is neutral – meaning unbiased, honest, and based on evidence.

In neutral decision-making, assessing and implementing decisions is not influenced by personal motives or intentions. It uses facts, not opinions. If you want your decision-making process to be perceived as neutral, you need to be consistent, give employees input into the process, and share your rationale for decisions.

There are three effective strategies that can help you manage your direct reports fairly. The first is to practice open communication. The second is to treat people with respect, and the third is to follow a neutral decision-making process.

Strategies  to demonstrate fairness in managing direct reports.