"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
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.
We are coming up on that time of year again where clients are questioning what to do about the holidays.
Should we have a party?
Can we have a party?
Can we call it a Christmas Party?
Can we serve alcohol?
How do we show our appreciation without spending a lot of money?
Will we offend some of our employees if we do or do not have a party?
I would love to say there is one perfect answer but obviously there is not.The best way to handle this is to ensure whatever you do you are being all inclusive.“How do I make that happen when I don’t know all of my employee’s beliefs” you ask?Great question!There are a number of ways to handle this and I can list a few here.There are way too many variables to be able to address all and we encourage you to call us for some assistance if you have specific ideas not addressed here.
To ensure you do not exclude any particular group – You certainly can call your party whatever you want. However, if you are not absolutely positive of employee’s beliefs (and no, you cannot ask) we suggest you find another name to ensure you are being as all inclusive as possible. We suggest things like, Year End Thank You, Winter Festival.
How about an opportunity to allow for your employee’s families to see where they work and have a potluck? It is a great way for people to get to know each other.
You will always have some employees who really have no interest in attending these events….you can’t change that and no employee should feel this is a required event.
If you can afford a party, you can afford to save money by giving gift cards for a Grocery Store or a Visa/MC gift card they can use anywhere.
As for alcohol…have a plan. If your employees are drinking, how are they getting home? Who is monitoring this? How/who will handle the “ugly” drunk? You really must consider the liability issue of serving any kind of alcohol at a company event.
As we moved through 2010 Facebook has been a major subject of contention in the workplace for a number of reasons:
Employees addicted to posting and reading even during working hours – Average number of hours people spend on Facebook during working hours is 2.5.
Workers “friending” each other and then using Facebook information against each other at work.
Company owners “friending” their employees (always a bad idea) and then discovering discriminatory remarks and beliefs that have the potential to be abrasive in the work place.
These days, bad employee behavior is no longer confined to cubicle walls. Some workers are now sharing disparaging opinions and even proprietary information about their employers on social media – Web forums that in many cases can accessed by anyone, including a company's clients, investors and competitors.
Business owners may be able to protect themselves by instituting a written policy outlining what kind of content is and isn't acceptable to post on social media.
Since we get so many questions about how to make employees happy, I thought I would pull data from an employee survey conducted at a company voted “one of the best places to work”.If you take a good look at these comments you will see a theme - all of the items that made employees happy at this particular company cost the owners nothing but a little time.
Credibility
Your boss is not above doing any job. She will work any job level, thereby gaining respect and loyalty of other team players."
"The door to management is always open. They listen."
Respect
"I am not afraid to make mistakes, which allows me to be a risk taker. I am able to explore my ideas at this company."
"Management truly encourages and expects individuals to care for themselves before work. They understand personal lives are more important than jobs."
"This company is mainly concerned about the people within this company. We are obviously in business to make money, but the people come before the profits. The company takes care of the people first, and the people in turn take care of the profits."
"Personal and professional opportunities here are endless. The company is always striving to improve itself and at the same time giving individuals the motivation and encouragement to achieve their desires. I have never worked anywhere else that I felt so comfortable and confident that I can achieve anything."
Fairness
"I know that when I have a concern or difference of opinion with my supervisor, I can count on him to give me unbiased feedback and a different perspective. Whether he supports me or not, I know that he will give honest opinions and offer as many solutions as possible."
"My boss is a great leader. She can make hard but fair decisions, and she always seems to do the right thing. She values differences in people, which is a great asset."
Pride
"I feel as though I make a difference. My job allows me latitude to make decisions and implement them in order to get the job done. At the end of the day I can look back and see what I have been able to accomplish with a great feeling of satisfaction."
"Every morning I wake up I am more than excited to get to work and do the best I can for a company that really appreciates it."
"I spent most of my career in a company which focused on efficiency and profits - employees were a "means to the end." However, I have had the fortunate opportunity to join this company late in my career. This is truly a place that puts people first, manages from the heart, cares for the community."
Camaraderie
"This is a great place to work because people care about each other. It doesn't seem so much like work when you are surrounded by people that care for you as an individual."
"Because this company's managers try to make its workplace and its work activities fun, the whole company gains a very positive attitude leading to good performance."
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