elevating your workforce.
WORKFORCE INSIGHTS NEWSLETTER

July 2010




IDEAS FOR A MORE POSITIVE WORKFORCE
Employees tell you what they think you want to hear.  So you may THINK morale is good.  But every survey shows that more than 60% of employees are dissatisfied with their jobs.  What can you do to improve this situation and reduce employee turnover?

  • Express appreciation. Every employee is asking for more feedback.  Some managers are so conditioned to look for employee mistakes, they forget that a simple, “You’re doing a great job” means a tremendous amount to your rank-and-file employees.

  • Focus on teams. There's a tendency in many organizations to reward individual performance. But team success can generate tremendous positivity.

  • Give skepticism its due. It's hard to overstate the importance of positivity in personal and organizational success. Let's remember the lesson: Skepticism is a crucial counterpoint to positivity, and it's not the same thing as negativity, which destroys rather than nurtures.

  • Empower your employees to make a difference. When you give your team members the ability to take advantage of opportunities and address issues on their own, you send a powerful message: You trust them. They, in turn, will return that trust in spades, serving as top-flight ambassadors to your customers.

  • Involve employees in a higher purpose. Employees need to understand what the organization is trying to do and clearly see their role in this objective.  Which employee would you want working for you? Three brick-layers working side by side are asked what they are building. One says he is laying mortar, another says he’s building a wall, and the third says, proudly, “I’m building a cathedral.”

Workers like the third employee don’t just happen. Just like the invincible brick layer, every employee needs to understand the company’s mission and where his or her job fits in to accomplish it.

TO PAY OR NOT TO PAY: WAGE AND HOUR IS HEATING UP
Wage and hour lawsuits are coming hard and fast. Here are a few examples of recent suits:
  • January 29, 2010—Department Of Labor announces "Workers to recover more than $1 million in overtime back wages for 789 former and current employees" ($1,267 per plaintiff).
  • January 14, 2010— Department Of Labor will recover more than $1.8 million in back wages for more than 500 employees ($3,600 per plaintiff).
  • December 15, 2009— Department Of Labor recovers nearly $1 million in back wages for 206 security company workers ($4,854 per plaintiff).
  • December 9, 2009— Department Of Labor recovers more than $1.7 million in back wages for about 4,000 healthcare workers ($425 per plaintiff).

The Feds Are Coming on Stronger
In addition to bringing and winning the high-dollar lawsuits, the federal government has beefed up its enforcement operations:
  • Wage and Hour Division has a 28 percent increase in its 2010 budget for 1,558 full-time employees versus 1,283 in 2009.

Department Of Labor Not Stopping Here
Department Of Labor's plans may encourage even more wage and hour lawsuits. Wage and Hour Division recently hired 250 new investigators to boost the division's ability to ensure compliance with wage and hour laws. As the new staffers are trained, the division will target industries in which vulnerable workers are employed, and it will work to respond to complaints in a timely manner.

Industries that employ vulnerable workers include agriculture, restaurants, janitorial, construction, and car washes, among others. Department Of Labor is also rolling out a new public service campaign, "We Can Help," to inform workers of their rights under wage and hour laws.

Unfortunately, expensive wage and hour mistakes are all too common, and there's a throng of lawyers waiting to take you on when you make them. What’s your best defense? An HR audit is really the only way to dig down and see what’s happening.

PERFORMANCE & TERMINATION ISSUES
In court, an inadequate or inaccurate performance evaluation can be used against you with devastating results. Many's the company that has fired for poor performance and then found out too late that its appraisal documents didn't support the defense.

We often don't think of appraisals as legal challenges, but they often figure prominently in lawsuits. Juries tend to come down hard on employers who
  • Don't appear to have told the employee what was expected.
  • Don’t appear to have given an employee a chance to improve.
  • Say bad performance as the reason for a firing, but awarded the person a "satisfactory" or "good" rating.

Here are 10 tips for building a solid defense so it’s there in case you ever need it:
1. Carefully document how all employees are performing
You might be tempted to document only your problem employees. A better practice is to keep performance records on all of your workers. This means carefully recording your observations, praise, counseling, and warnings—in writing—in clear, objective language.

2. Make sure employees know what’s in their files
Don't slip negative information into files without letting employees see it. Ask workers to initial a summary of your discussions and the goals that have been agreed to. (Note that in some states, employees have the right to inspect their personnel files.)

3. Be candid and explicit
Although many managers are uncomfortable with this, it’s important to be frank. Don’t use euphemisms, such as, “There's room for improvement," or duck out of giving an employee strong, but necessary, constructive criticism. Be specific about what’s gone wrong and offer concrete steps for improvement. It is unfair and unrealistic to expect an employee to improve unless he or she knows exactly what is amiss.

4. Don’t give raises to marginal employees
Some employers give poor performers a raise in the hope it will motivate them to improve. Without counseling an employee about his or her inadequate performance, however, this strategy is doomed to fail. What’s more, if the employee is terminated and sues, he or she can point to the history of pay raises to show that he or she was doing a good job.

5. Don’t mention age, gender, race, etc.
This means, for example, not telling a 45-year-old, “The younger salespeople seem to grasp our new products better than you do,” or “We need some young blood around here.”

6. Don’t let marginal performers slide
When an employee’s poor performance goes uncriticized for several weeks or months, negative comments in a performance evaluation lose credibility and are likely to trigger complaints of unfairness or bias.

7. Use relevant, objective standards
Look at the job and how it is being performed, rather than the person. Some examples of objective criteria are:
•Maintaining or increasing sales volume
•Handling customer complaints
•Operating within a budget
•Meeting deadlines
•Writing reports
•Complying with certain company policies (such as those regarding absences)
•Reducing costs
•Overall productivity

8. Back up judgments with facts
Use production records, disciplinary reports, attendance records, examples of work quality, etc., to back up your assertions, and be clear about how you arrived at your conclusions.

9. Make sure employees understand all performance standards
If they don’t fully understand their obligations and how their work is being judged, the performance appraisal system will be of little use, either as a performance management tool or a defense in a lawsuit.

10. Keep all performance evaluation materials in a confidential file
While employees should have access to their performance appraisals, others’ access to such information should be strictly on a need-to-know basis.

12 THINGS WE'D TELL OUR BOSSES IF WE COULD
As employees, we are told to be diligent, to follow through, to be “self-starters,” to have a good attitude, to be flexible and patient and dependable and loyal and respectful. We’re told there is no “I” in “team.” We’re told, “You should just be grateful you have a job.” But surely bosses have obligations to us just as we do to them. And surely one of the biggest of those obligations is to seek out their employees’ point of view.

Of course, not all employees feel free to say what they’re actually thinking. You know who you are! That’s why in today’s column, the employees of the world get to speak up. What would you say to your boss if you could say absolutely anything at all? This is your chance, people!

Here are a dozen to get you warmed up:

  • “Give me the tools I need to do a good job.” If you’re unsure, ask me. But, basically, time, materials, information, maybe even a little authority—these are what I need to succeed.

  • “Admit it when you make a mistake.” It shows you’re not afraid and is the best way to earn my respect. Whatever you do, don’t act as if you never make mistakes. That’s just ridiculous.

  • “Don’t treat me like a cog on a wheel.” I’m an individual. If I screw up, tell me. If someone else in my group screws up, tell him. Don’t blame the whole team.

  • “Ask for my opinion from time to time.” I might be able to offer some good ideas if you listened to me even half as much as you expect me to listen to you.

  • “I truly need frequent feedback.” Please don’t wait till the year-end performance review. I can do a better job for you if you let me know what I’m doing wrong, and what I’m doing right, on a regular basis.

  • “Don’t leave me hanging out to dry.” When things go south I need you to be a leader and back me up. If you are not loyal to me, it is impossible for me to be loyal to you.

  • “I can’t hear you when you shout.” Maybe someone once told you intimidation is a good management tool. But seriously, yelling at employees just makes you look weak and ineffectual.

  • “Don’t make me work with idiots.” I realize it’s not easy but if there’s a problem person in the group it’s your job to resolve the situation. Don’t let it drag on and on. It poisons the whole workplace.

  • “Have a clear agenda.” If you don’t know what you want, how do you expect me to? I need you to understand your own goals, and communicate them to me clearly.

  • “Don’t lie about deadlines.” There is no better way to lose the trust of your people than to set “fake” deadlines. Trust me enough to be honest with me and I’ll do a good job for you.

  • “Be predictable.” If you behave erratically I will spend more time and energy worrying about what you’re going to do next than working.

  • “Mentor me.” Ask me my goals. Give me projects that help me develop and grow. I will do a fabulous job for you if you take an interest in me and my career. And that’s a win-win.


Resources:
Karen Burns (www.karenburnsworkinggirl.com)





























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