Month: August 2015

Psycho Boss

Another update from the Jungle….
Sue hates her job because she works for a psycho. Sue was transferred into the psycho’s
department during a company-wide reorganization about six months ago and life’s gone steadily
downhill since.

Sue’s psycho boss loves to assign multiple projects with the same deadline, which pretty much guarantees that something won’t be done on time. During the first month, Sue asked which project should be given priority and psycho boss always responded that the projects were equally important. So Sue stopped asking about prioritizing the workload. Of course, psycho boss blames Sue when deadlines are missed.

Refusing to establish priorities is just a symptom of psycho boss’ favorite management technique. Psycho boss refuses to make decisions because she’s afraid to take responsibility. But she won’t allow her subordinates to make any decisions without her input.
Last month, Sue decided to fight back. She bought a doll that she treats as her boss’ avatar. Each evening, she sticks pins in the doll and wishes psycho boss would vanish. So far the doll looks like a pin cushion but the bad juju hasn’t worked because Sue still works for the psycho.

Sue knows that senior management is aware of psycho boss’ management deficiencies. But she also knows that they won’t take any action as long as the work is done and the grumbling doesn’t flare into an open revolt. After all, senior management doesn’t want to admit they made a mistake by promoting psycho boss in the first place.

Yesterday, psycho boss called Sue into her office to accuse Sue of incompetence. When Sue asked for specific examples based on her work, psycho boss started yelling and cursing, accusing Sue of insubordination. Now Sue is sitting at home, sticking pins in the doll and considering her options.

What are Sue’s options?

She can take an advanced course in black magic and hope it works better than the juju doll.
She can complain to HR about psycho boss’ unprofessional behavior (yelling and cursing) and request that an HR rep attend future meetings between Sue and psycho boss to serve as a witness.
She can look for another job either within the company or with another employer.

In the actual situation, the company reorganized their departments again and psycho boss lost supervisory authority in the changes. So in a weird way the juju doll worked because psycho boss vanished.

If your company is struggling with HR issues, Corporate Compliance Risk Advisor can help you create HR policies that are appropriate for your company’s size and then serve as a resource to your staff as the policies are implemented.

Download my FREE eBook today! Click here!

Click here to join the HR Compliance Jungle today.

3 Keys to Hiring the Right Employee

Another update from the Jungle…

Renee owns a small bakery that is growing rapidly but still needs to plow the profits back into the business to ensure its long term success. She knows the long term success of the bakery depends on the quality of the employees.

She learned through trial and error that she needed to be clear about what she was looking for in a new employee. One early hire, Debra, was great at baking muffins but seemed to hate people. Customers would dash out the door if they saw Debra at the counter waiting to serve them. Renee eased Debra out the door so that she could go be successful with a different employer. Then Renee revised her job descriptions to focus on all the skills, not just baking, that she needs.

Renee also realized that hiring the right employee is not enough. New hire Marta didn’t know how to use a convection heat oven and her first batch of cookies were harder than hockey pucks. After
the smoke cleared and the hockey pucks were trashed, Renee decided to assign an experienced employee as a mentor to train Marta on using equipment. Marta now bakes cookies using her grandmother’s recipes that are the hottest sales items in the store.

Of course, assigning a mentor was not enough either. Cherie had a mentor but wasn’t making progress in learning how to use kitchen equipment or the cash register. A quick investigation revealed that Cherie was intimated by her mentor and never asked questions. The mentor admitted that she is a perfectionist and isn’t comfortable trying to teach new hires.

This mismatch taught Renee that she needed to more closely monitor the progress of each employee. So every week she meets with each employee to answer questions and to ask for suggestions on improving the business. It’s a huge time commitment for Renee but in the past year, turnover among all employees has dropped dramatically and would-be bakers now beg her to hire them.

What are Renee’s 3 keys to hiring the right employee?

Know what you want and clearly state it in the job description so that you hire the right person for the job.
Have a good “onboarding” process to integrate the new employee into the workforce that includes training the new person on equipment and business processes.
Monitor progress of all employees to match skills to opportunities to increase job satisfaction and the chance of retaining each employee.

Download my FREE eBook today! Click here!

Click here to join the HR Compliance Jungle today.

What Does the Job Candidate See?

Another update from the Jungle….
Mandy is the HR director for her division of a national company. She’s trying to understand why it’s so difficult to fill open positions in the division. The candidates she screens have the qualifications and experience to do the job but many of them reject job offers.

She knows her company offers mid-range salaries compared to competitors but the benefits package is good. She decides to investigate the situation by talking to a few of the job candidates who turned down job offers. What she learns causes heartburn.

All job interviews were supposed to be conducted by Sam, the division head, in accordance with company policy. But Sam is socially inept and often misses cues for appropriate behavior. His staff can’t forget the lunch meeting where Sam launched into a diatribe about a lawyer who once represented the company, forgetting that his diatribe was aimed at the lawyer’s son, who recently joined his dad’s law firm. So there’s no way Sam’s staff want him to be the face of the company to prospective employees. They convince Sam to let them do the job interviews.

Candidates tell Mandy that these interviews were “weird”. Weird how, asks Mandy. Well, say the candidates, the senior staff interviewing them seemed more interested in talking to each other than to the candidates. This included exchanging a few inside jokes that left the candidates feeling as if the division consisted only of
competing cliques.

One candidate tells Mandy that the male interviewer, the one with the broken front tooth, assured her the company offered excellent health and dental benefits. Another candidate said that the office décor of gray carpet, few windows and tiny cubicles was do depressing that she needed an emergency session with her therapist.

What are Mandy’s options?

She can change the interviewing process by conducting the interviews herself and foisting her choices on the division; or attending the interviews to ensure the division’s staff stays on task during the interviews.
She can arrange training for the division’s senior staff on how to interview effectively.
She can suggest to her bosses that after ten years of grayness, they should budget a few bucks for freshening up the office decor.

Download my FREE eBook today! Click here!

Click here to join the HR Compliance Jungle today.

The Right Person for the Job

Another update from the Jungle….
Wanda owns a small company and she’s preparing for her next round of job interviews. She hates the interviewing and hiring process. It takes a lot of time away from running her business and the results can be iffy.

The last few batches of job applicants she interviewed left much to be desired. One job applicant said that if he was hired, he would need to take time off to fix a “mix up” about his probation. Another asked if a job offer was contingent on passing a drug test. Another applicant candidly admitted he didn’t want the job but had to perform a job hunt in order to keep his unemployment benefits. After that interview, Wanda tottered home and had an extra-large glass of wine
with her dinner.

In the last batch of job applicants the only one showing real promise was a biker dude with prison tattoos. Heshowed up on time, was polite and actually asked relevant questions about the job duties. Even though the biker dude lacked many of the job skills she was seeking, she immediately offered him the job because he seemed willing to learn.

But Wanda knows that she can’t continue such a hit or miss process. She needs to find a better method for hiring new employees.

What are Wanda’s options?

She can reconsider what she’s looking for by ensuring the job description accurately reflects the job duties. It’s difficult to hire the “right” employee with the wrong job description.
She can outsource much of the hiring process which will save her time. Of course, the staffing agency will need an accurate description of the job duties in order to find appropriate applicants for the job.
She can rely more on referrals from friends, family and current employees as they understand her business are more likely to refer suitable candidates for job openings.

Download my FREE eBook today! Click here!

Click here to join the HR Compliance Jungle today.

	Mae on Halloween Horror
	Mae on Freedom from Rules
	Genie Herron on Where Is He?
	Norma Shirk on Whose Side Are You On?
	Pat Brewer Hairston on Whose Side Are You On?

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: