"As Harford Habitat for Humanity grew quickly, I felt a sense of urgency to implement important HR policies. Renee McNally did an excellent job evaluating our organization and helped to get policies in place in a timely manner. Renee is always able to provide great feedback and advising when an a situation with an employee comes up and we don't know which direction to take. HR Solutions staff is professional, friendly and responsive."
Joann Blewett, Executive Director
Harford Habitat for Humanity
Adding to the short list of employee retention tips for Maryland Human Resources professionals, this week emphasizes the importance of keeping your best workers happy and motivated. Their motivation could lead them right out the door if they are not satisfied with the current work place. Try these for human resource strategic planning:
Set up clear expectations - this goes back to having good supervisors. Company leaders should communicate the goals, making sure supervisors understand the goals and how to reach them. Goals should be clear and measurable. Supervisors, in turn, must communicate exactly what they expect from their employees.
Allow suggestions and constructive feedback from employees - this is not a complaint box. If an employee has a complaint, encourage him or her to suggest a solution. Foster an environment of openness and security for brainstorming and communicating ideas. Employees should feel that their ideas are valued and heard.
Offer growth opportunities for employees -- HR management development training and skill-building activities will keep employees challenged and learning every single day. Let workers try something new that might increase their productivity or help them contribute more to the organization. Positioning these opportunities as rewards for work well done will keep smart employees motivated. To do this, you need to know each person's skills, talents and aspirations. Learn this by talking to them and their supervisors.
Be visible to your employees - let your staff know that you know they exist. Don't be the "Undercover Boss." Your employees should recognize you and know your philosophies. That way, they can help you achieve the company's goals. Face-to-face, personal communications with employees also affords you the opportunity to implement those often-overlooked retention strategies. You can personally say thank you, demonstrate team work and share some humorous moments. You can get feedback first-hand and show employees that you value both them and their ideas.
This year, resolve to keep your most valuable assets -- your employees.
Are you feeling the pressure of that mountain of good-intentioned, proactive ideas called, "New Year's Resolutions?" Is your plan to increase sales, implement human resources management training, and streamline the organization? When do you start?
It's the nature of the New Year's resolution. It's usually more grandiose than we can handle and more time-consuming than we realize. At HR Solutions, our resolution is to give you usable, timely information about HR strategic planning in this weekly blog. We're planning topics from employee communications to social media tips that you can read quickly and use wisely -- helping you to reach your resolutions.
Just as you've resolved to make changes, it's likely that your employees have too. The highly motivated employee is the one who will make resolutions realities -- both theirs and yours. These are the employees you want to keep. Don't let those super star performers resolve to find new jobs this year because they're unhappy. Losing them can be costly and crippling. According to About.com Human Resources, losing a middle manager can cost the company up to 100 percent of the employee's salary.
Some of the most obvious and easy employee retention tips are often overlooked, even by human resources consultants. Make it a point to:
Show appreciation -- say thank you for a job well done or work that goes above and beyond expectations. Those two sincere words go a long way in keeping people motivated. Consider bonuses and incentives like monetary rewards, tangible gifts or extra time off, as well.
Show team work -- if the boss is leaving at the stroke of 5:00 every day and the team is working until 7:00, something is wrong. Supervisors are key in retaining employees. Make sure your star performers have good managers and clear direction. About.com Human Resources lists the top complaints about supervisors: unclear expectations, unclear earning potential, failure to give performance feedback, failure to hold scheduled meetings, and the perception that they will not succeed in the work environment.
Encourage humor -- let your employees have fun. Humor is a way to boost morale. It makes it easier for employees to come to work, even in the face of adversity. A good laugh can be a good motivator.
Next week, look for more retention tips for Maryland HR professionals.
Employee Recognition and Communication – over the next few weeks I will be posting on Effective Communications in the workplace!
I hear it at least once a week, “Why should I do anything special for my employee for doing the job they are supposed to do to receive their paycheck?”
How well your employees perform is based mostly on how well you communicate your expectations. We all like to firmly believe we are great communicators, but the truth is that very few actually communicate effectively.
Despite the age old statement of “no news is good news” is exactly what you do not want to have happen in your organization. Employees want to be acknowledged verbally – at least- when they are meeting your expectations.
Is one of your employees doing an exceptional job of meeting your expectations? Acknowledge them publicly! You will be amazed at how many of your employees will start doing the same thing so they get recognized.
Note this does not need to be monetary awards….the power of words are priceless. Something as simple as “wow, great job on that Ramsey project” or “Bob, I really appreciate the extra hours on meeting the deadline and coming in under budgeted hours”
Remember, you are not rewarding them for doing their job….you are acknowledging your employees for doing their job well!
Do you feel like your organization could use some help with communication? Give us a call for an assessment.
Employees will separate from your employment for a number of reasons: Resignation, Termination and Lay-off. If it is a termination and they attempt to get you to pay them more to stay, I’m not a fan of considering this option. If they are not happy….let them go. All the money in the world is not going to change their happiness level.
You should have a plan for exiting your employees. Here are a few thoughts to consider:
When the exit of an employee is unexpected….do you have a plan?
How will you immediately take back company property; i.e. keys, laptops, cell phones, building swipe cards, and very importantly removing their access to computer files. etc. Who is responsible for these items?
If an employee quits and provides one or two-weeks notice- what are the pros and cons of letting them work that time?
Pros – If needed, gives you the chance to ensure you have pulled any critical data that is either in their head, to understand their files, either paper or computer and to allow you to transition any open-ended projects.
Cons –
An employee that is quitting can cause disruption in the workplace. Often times they are spending more time discussing with co-workers “how wonderful their new employer is and perhaps those employees should considering applying with that company” or worse they are talking about the new employer while bad-mouthing your organization.
Are you concerned the employee is in a position to steal critical data or inventory?
Are they physically there, but mentally already checked out?
Sometimes is it in the best interest of everyone, to pay the employee through the week and immediately escort them out the door.
Do you have concerns that you are not prepared for these events? HR Solutions, LLC is just a phone call away and we can either come in to assist or advise you over the phone.
Are you feeling the pinch from having the wrong employees in the right job?
Did you hire someone into a position to help in an emergency and now you don’t know what to do with them since the emergency is over?
Did you know HRSolutions, LLC can help with an audit of your employee(s) skills sets, assess and write a performance management plan for an employee, or evaluate a termination need?
Today, being the celebration of Valentine’s Day, it seemed appropriate to discuss relationships in the workplace. Let’s face it; we spend more working hours with our co-workers than we often do with our families. So let’s look at a couple of scenarios of relationships in the workplace that can impact your business.
Bob, a married Supervisor, seems to be giving more and more attention to Stephanie, a newly hired and fresh out of college Coordinator that works in another department. You notice at first Bob is spending an unusual amount of time at Stephanie’s desk; then they are sitting together, but separate from everyone else during lunch and ultimately notice that they start leaving for lunch together every day. This is one that you need to treat delicately! It is not your business that Bob is married and “appears” to be fooling around with Stephanie. Where it does need to be addresses is the time, Bob as a company Supervisor and role model, is spending away from productive work, the disruption to Stephanie’s work and the overall message being sent to the other employees. I would talk to Bob about this non-productive time and your expectations that it will cease
Diane, Supervisor of 4 Warehouse workers, one of which is Joe. Recently Joe and Diane announced they were seriously dating. Diane has assured you this relationship will have no impact on her role as a Supervisor. Do you think this will work? The short answer is “no”. The biggest problem you will have here is that all other employees under Diane will always feel that their co-worker has a bigger say in disputes because he has “the ear of the supervisor”. Additionally, there will always be the perception of favoritism even if it is not opening shown. The best result for this situation is to move one of the employees. Hopefully this is part of your handbook policies as it may have to lead to one of the employees leaving your employment if you do not have another available position.
We often see small businesses that started with just a few family members or friends and over the years the business grows, employees have doubled or more and suddenly they realize that there is no rhyme or reason to rules. There is no structure to how they are being enforced and most importantly the lack of consistency is making them vulnerable to discrimination issues.
What to do?
Start by reviewing your current policies and procedures. HR Solutions suggests Employee Handbooks or Policies should be reviewed at a minimum every 3 years.
Do these policies, that may have at one time been viable, still meet all of your business needs? Do your policies meet all Federal, State and local legal requirements?
If you can comfortably answer “yes”, you need to reiterate your business expectations to your employees through the handbook.
“Re-Issue” the handbook and have your employee’s sign-off that they have received.
If you don’t have a handbook, now is the time to consider starting one. HR Solutions, LLC can assist by reviewing your current structure, employee status, and needs to assure you are running a fair, consistent, and compliant organization.
Picture this: You have an employee who has been with you since the beginning of your business. He/she, has always been a solid employee; dependable, loyal, a good manager and a solid worker.
Now your business is growing. You are introducing different lines/type of work, new technology and larger staff to manage and this employee is starting to struggle. Struggling with all of these changes and is just not being successful. What to do now?
There are a couple of important steps to consider when re-evaluating employee performance:
Document and be specific? Document the specific needs and how they are and aren’t being met.
Set up structured and specific coaching so both you and the employee understand if this person has the potential for being successful.
Be sure to encourage conversations with the employee about what they think. It is not unusual in this situation to find out the employee is very unhappy in the position but has been loyal to you for so long they don’t want to “abandon” you and the business.
Schedule regular follow-up meetings to discuss progress or decisions by either you or the employee. It may (and I use that word cautiously) feasible to move the employee into a lower-level position. I say cautiously because this option is not always successful; the employee may struggle with not being “in charge” or the employees, previous subordinates, may not be accepting.
At least once a week we receive a call that goes like this “Moral is really bad – what should I do?”
Let me start my assuring you there is not one single answer to a moral issue. Typically, we like to start by coming in and casually talking to the employees. Slowly, we can start to piece together what is REALLY going on in the workplace. Often times it comes down to one or two employees who are unhappy and want to bring everyone down to their level but constantly complaining. Other things to consider and work on changing:
Have you changed the way you interact with your employees? Are you terser, short with your conversation or maybe just not interacting with them as much.
Communications consistently show up in HR surveys as the number one issue making employees unhappy. We consistently see both positive and negative information being passed to employees in a counter-productive manner. You may think you are putting a positive spin on an announcement but unfortunately, we typically see the opposite happens.
Have you recently terminated an employee with no explanation to the rest of the staff?
Has there been less work and they don’t know why?
There are so many reasons why moral could be down in your organization. Not sure where to begin on fixing the problem? Give us a call, we have many years of experience with this problem and can offer guidance.
Employment law is a constantly changing field and your policies and practices must stay current to be compliant with those legal changes. Although a complete HR Audit is critical to all of your polices and practices, many lawsuits can be traced to four key practices in employment areas:
Do performance evaluators receive proper training?
Does your organization ensure performance evaluation changes have proper documentation?
Employee Discipline
As part of your Employee Handbook, is there a standardized disciplinary system? What do you do to ensure it is followed consistently?
Prior to an employee discipline action, how do you ensure the violation has been properly investigated?
Terminations
Has the termination decision been compared to other terminations?
Can you assure the termination is not a retaliation?
Are you comfortable that you have proper termination documentation?
The best way to avoid potential employee lawsuits is to conduct a regular audit – HR Solutions, suggests at least every 2 years an audit of all of your policies and practices should be conducted.
Give us a call at 443-356-4352 if you are concerned that you might need a Human Resource Audit.
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