Uncategorized

Tis the Season

Another update from the Jungle….

Nicole, the HR manager, is making one more effort to boost morale among her fellow employees this year. So far her efforts have had mixed success, to put it mildly. After scantily dressed people at the Halloween party and a near race riot for Veteran’s Day, the Thanksgiving luncheon was a damp squib. But there’s still time to rescue morale with a Christmas party.

Actually, it won’t be a Christmas party because Nicole doesn’t wish to offend the religious sensibilities of any employee. It’s a holiday party. She buys generic party favors to decorate the break room. Then she asks management to pay for the party to show their appreciation for their employees. Management counters with the bill for the Thanksgiving luncheon and says the company president won’t pay another red cent. The president is upset after hearing a rumor that his company is running a prostitution ring based on leaked photos from the Halloween party.

So Nicole decides to have another potluck lunch. She posts a sign-up sheet on the refrigerator in the break room and waits for the inevitable disgruntlement to ooze through her office door. She doesn’t have to wait long.

Ruth darkens her doorway to object to the generic decorations. She insists the holiday is about the baby Jesus and offers to contribute her personal Nativity scene to make the scene more authentic. The Nativity scene involves burning candles to illuminate the manger. Nicole says no. The candles will likely set off the sprinkler system and besides the workforce includes observers of several faiths.

The day of the holiday party arrives and Nicole inspects the potluck which includes chicken burritos, no-meat chili, pecan pie, and snickerdoodle cookies. Then Nicole notices Steve sidling up to the buffet table with a couple of desserts and hurries over to inspect his contributions. His key lime pie looks delicious but the fumes indicate that it’s half rum. His other contribution is bourbon balls.

What should Nicole do next?

She can confiscate Steve’s desserts and remind him of the company’s no-alcohol policy.
She can pretend not to notice Steve’s contribution and allow the seasonal cheer to go on. After all, it would boost morale until the alcohol wore off.
She can encourage the company president to indulge in dessert and, when he’s feeling mellow, hit him up for pay raises for the workforce.

Nicole’s year of trying to boost morale is winding to a close. Nicole plans to enjoy the remainder of the year in solitude and meditation while preparing for next year.

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.

School Zones Made Me Late

Another update from the Jungle….
Jane is the HR manager for a company with about 200 employees. The company runs a lean operation which means that Jane is the sole HR person and handles pretty much every situation that arises. Jane likes the variety of issues that she faces because it keeps everything fresh and interesting.

A major problem for the company is time and attendance. The owner of the company is obsessive and compulsive about details and it drives him nuts to see a few employees chronically showing up late. He told Jane to fix the problem.

Jane reviewed the time and attendance policy which clearly states that chronic tardiness may subject an employee to progressive disciplinary action. The policy is included in the employee handbook. Jane checks the personnel files for each laggard employee and finds that each of them has signed the acknowledgement form. That means that each employee received a copy of the employee handbook and promptly tossed it aside without actually reading it.
This week, Jane began meeting individually with each employee who is chronically late. Jane tries not to yawn as she hears the usual excuses. One employee says she was stuck in traffic due to an accident. Another says his dog got out of the fenced-in backyard and he had to find the mutt and lock him in the garage before leaving for work.

Jane’s favorite excuse of the week is the employee who says she was late due to the school zones. The employee recently moved so that her children could attend a more highly rated school. This means the employee must now travel through three more school zones on her route to work. That caused her to be late.

What should Jane do next?

She can explain to each employee that the excuse du jour doesn’t make up for chronic lateness. She can then move to the next step in progressive discipline.
She can encourage each employee to make a greater effort to arrive on time and let them off with a verbal warning.
She can ask herself why she never thought up so many creative reasons for being late to work.

Time and attendance issues are a perennial problem. Perhaps it’s time to think about the underlying reasons for tardiness. Employees who enjoy their work tend to show up on time.

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.

What are you wearing?

Another update from the Jungle…

Bob enjoyed his July 4th holiday so much that he hated to come back to work. Today he showed up still dressed for vacation. Cindy, the HR manager, was aghast and choked on a mouthful of coffee when she caught a glimpse of Bob passing in the hallway.

Bob is the star salesman for the company and an all-around good guy. He’s an extrovert who tells good jokes. He has a way of talking to people that makes each individual feel valued. But he’s also a bit of a rebel and he’ll stretch the rules because he knows he’s privileged due to his sales ability. Cindy likes Bob and she usually cuts him some slack when he bends the rules.
Now she’s having heart palpitations, not in a good way, because she just saw Bob walking down the hall looking like an episode of Magnum, PI. He’s wearing a very loud Hawaiian shirt, flip flops, and very short shorts.

Cindy spent two years convincing the socially conservative company president that relaxing the dress code during the summer months would be good for morale. The president only recently accepted the notion that women’s work attire can include pants suits or slacks, a concept most companies adopted in the 1970’s. To convince him to loosen the rules, she had to create detailed lists of clothing that is appropriate as business casual.

Cindy suspects the president will have an apoplectic fit if he sees Bob’s current wardrobe choice. Cindy drops her coffee mug and chases Bob down the hall to invite him into her office for a quiet chat.

What are Cindy’s options?

She can ask Bob where he bought his clothes so that she can upgrade her husband’s wardrobe for their August vacation.
She can send Bob home with instructions to change his clothes. Of course, there is no guarantee Bob will follow her instructions or return later today.
She can review the business casual definition with Bob and ask why he is not complying with it. She can always hope that he has an acceptable excuse for ignoring the rules.

Has your company struggled with the business casual conundrum? I’d love to hear your stories and how you dealt with employee lapses.

Download my FREE eBook today! Click here!

Click here to join the HR Compliance Jungle.

A Salute to 1776

Another update from the Jungle…

Back in the days before air conditioning, the founders of our country met in Philadelphia at Carpenter’s Hall (also called Independence Hall). They were afraid their discussions would be overheard so they closed all the windows and sat every day in a hot room with no air circulation.

The men who met at Philadelphia that summer of 1776 were planning a revolution. They didn’t start out with that goal. Originally they wanted to tinker with the existing political and economic system to make it work better for them. (This isn’t a tale of altruism; it’s a tale about businessmen who wanted capitalism to work for them.)

Today we call this type of gathering an executive retreat. A company’s senior management team gets together and tries to figure out how to tweak their company’s products or services to gain market share and make a profit. Occasionally the management team realizes that tinkering with the status quo isn’t good enough. They need radical change.

That’s what happened at Philadelphia. Those men decided they needed a revolution and issued the Declaration of Independence. They didn’t get everything right. They ignored women. They failed to end slavery. They never even considered the rights of Native Americans. But for all that they got wrong, they got a lot of things right. They revolutionized citizen expectations: non-responsive governments will be replaced.

Those expectations apply to companies too. Companies or their managers are replaced when they can’t deliver a product or service that customers want to buy. Unhappy employees vote with their feet and leave.

After a long hot day the Philadelphia men would unwind at nearby taverns. They’d quaff some ale or beer, listen to some music, and talk about their favorite sports. They didn’t have designated drivers in those days, but a man who imbibed too much had to worry about slipping on the cobblestones on the way back to his hotel room.

So on this July 4th weekend, raise a glass of your favorite adult beverage to salute the Spirit of 1776. We enjoy so many things today because a group of men were willing to sit in a hot room to plot a revolution.

Download my FREE eBook today! Click here!

Click here to join the HR Compliance Jungle.

An Obnoxious Co-Worker

Another update from the Jungle…
Tilda is a senior manager for her company and a year ago the owner asked her to lead a team to find ways to improve internal processes to increase efficiency and profitability. For a year her team read workflow manuals and interviewed employees. It was a tough year (in many ways).

In every department, her team members had to overcome suspicion, fear, and occasionally outright hostility. Some employees feared change because they thought it would be difficult to learn new processes. Many employees were afraid it was a secret management plot to eliminate their jobs.

Tilda is now presenting her team’s findings to the senior management team and the owner. The recommendations include software upgrades, revising workflows to streamline processes, and reorganizing some departments. Her recommendations include training employees on the new software and retraining employees who are displaced in the department reorganizations.

As the meeting proceeds, one of her peers, Amanda begins to pout and squirm in her seat. She’s the first person to speak during the Q&A after Tilda’s presentation and she’s a massive downer. Amanda finds fault with almost every recommendation. She knows plenty of reasons why none of them would work, but has no alternatives to suggest.

Amanda’s whiny voice rasps on every nerve ending in Tilda’s body. Tilda remembers that Amanda’s department was the most hostile to her team during the review process. Tilda also remembers the extra work she put in and the family events she missed during the past year. Tilda wants to slap Amanda for being so obnoxious.

What are Tilda’s options?

She can slap Amanda, which will cause short-term pleasure but long-term consequences, namely termination of employment for violating HR policies on workplace violence.
She can ignore Amanda’s negative comments, knowing that Amanda irritates many of her peers, and look to the other managers to vote in favor of the recommended changes.
She can politely address the more sensible objections raised by Amanda and remind the management group of the consequences of the status quo.

In the actual situation, the senior management team fought (with words, not fists) about costs and loss of prestige (for the managers of the reorganized departments) before approving about half of the team recommendations.

Download my FREE eBook today! Click here!

Click here to join the HR Compliance Jungle.

Can Free Beer Motivate an Employee?

Another update from the Jungle…
Justin owns a company that has been stagnating during the past year. They make enough money to stay in business but haven’t been able to expand into new markets. At first, the lack of growth was fine with his staff because they were working through a back log of orders.

Now the back log is gone and employees are bored and disenchanted. They want pay raises, better opportunities for promotions, and a new ping pong table in the break room. They also want free lunches every day and free beer at the weekly office meeting on Fridays. Justin’s not convinced that free food and beer will motivate his staff to be more creative in a way that’s good for the company’s bottom line.

A few months back, Justin divided his employees into teams to work on different projects but the teams seem to be in a rut. Last week, one team was busy shooting spit wads at the conference room’s whiteboard (to see if they’d stick to a slick surface) instead of brainstorming ideas for new services. Justin got the team back on track (he confiscated all the paper in the conference room) but he was furious about the wasted time.

Justin worries that some of his best people will leave for higher pay and better benefits packages at larger competitors. He’s already lost two key people who were lured to greener pastures. Now Justin’s sitting at home sipping some single malt scotch and wondering what he can do to motivate his employees.

What are Justin’s options?

He can buy more toys for the break room and a keg of beer for the Friday meetings. But that’s rewarding a lack of productivity by his employees.
He can offer incentive programs, such as a bonus, to any employee who dreams up a new service offering that can increase revenue. This may not offer gratification to employees quickly enough since they could not receive the bonus until the new service proved marketable.
He can reorganize the teams and the projects they work on, hopefully rejuvenating the employees and their creative processes.

In the actual incident, the employer decided to reorganize the teams to provide new challenges for the employees. As added benefits his employees were cross-trained so that it was easy to replace employees who left and this created a promotion track for the retained employees.

Download my FREE eBook today! Click here!

Click here to join the HR Compliance Jungle.

Flying Solo.

Another update from the Jungle…
Doris is the HR director for her company. She’s studied diligently to obtain several certifications from SHRM and she goes to plenty of training seminars, and not just because she needs the HRCI credits. She genuinely wants to learn so that she can help her company avoid employee problems.

But sometimes Doris wishes she had a colleague at her company to help with HR questions, especially when she can’t find answers to her questions. She misses her co-workers from her old job, even the obnoxious self-absorbed ones, because at least there was someone with whom she could share the responsibility for ensuring the company “stayed legal”.

Now when she has HR questions, she has to do all the research herself. She starts with the resources available on the SHRM website. If she can’t find answers to her HR questions in those resources, she uses the on-line HR library provided free by the insurance broker that sold her company a group health plan. Most insurance brokers offer on-line HR resources such as Zywave/MyWave or HR360.

The on-line HR materials provide general information but not always the details to answer her questions. These are the days when Doris wishes that she had a colleague to help her puzzle her way to an answer.

What are Doris’ options?

She can continue going it alone, occasionally asking a question on SHRM’s on-line forum for HR professionals.
She can ask the insurance broker’s staff for assistance, but they look at the same on-line resources as her. Or they may ask the insurer’s compliance staff for help if her question relates to the group health plan.
She can consult an employment law attorney but she’s usually asking questions involving established law; not asking a question that requires legal advice.

The above scenario represents dozens of situations faced by my company. As an HR consultant to an insurance broker, I helped their employer-clients understand established legal issues related to their employees. This often meant helping their HR people dig into the details of employment law regulations. If a question could not be answered based on established law, I referred the client to an employment law attorney. If you’re the solo HR representative for your company, Corporate Compliance Risk Advisor can help.

Join the HR Compliance Jungle today. Click here!

Visit us: http://www.complianceriskadvisor.com/

	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:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: