HR Solutions Weblog

Over the next couple of weeks I want to focus on the “Employee Performance or Termination Conversations” for which every manager seems to struggle.

This week we start with the basics… Solid Employee Communcations!

Unless you are laying employees off, there is a way to put a positive spin on almost every employee conversation.  This is a critical aspect of these meetings.

No matter if you are discussing performance, attendance, attitude, lateness complaints etc.,

• Always bring the employee away from the work area to have the discussion privately. 
• Be sure your emotions are not running high!  If so, come back to this later in the day or the next morning.
• Speak calmly and with thought.  Do not rant.  Do not under any circumstances raise  your voice.  Remember, the minute you start yelling you have lost control of the meeting.
• State the issue and give your employee the chance to speak.

…….more to follow!

RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION IN THE WORKPLACE – HOW MUCH AND WHEN?

How should an employer respond when a religious accommodation is requested?   HR  Solutions, LLC suggests you discuss the employee's specific bona-fide  religious needs and accommodations options with them.  We also believe it is critical to completely understand the specific religious requirements of the employee’s religion – all easy information to access via internet or a phone call.  However, employees do not have to justify or prove their religious belief to the employer; but the employer is required to accommodate – subject to undue hardship – any of the employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs. When considering potential accommodations, you should evaluate any impact an accommodation would have on your company and determine whether it fully eliminates the conflict.   Let’s review the law:

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of l964 (“Title VII”) prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals because of their religion in hiring, firing, and other terms and conditions of employment. Title VII also requires employers to reasonably accommodate the religious practices of an employee or prospective employee, unless to do so would create an undue hardship upon the employer.  This means that:

• Employers may not treat employees more or less favorably because of their religion.
• Employees cannot be required to participate—or refrain from participating—in a religious activity as a condition of employment.
• Employers must reasonably accommodate employees’ bona-fide held religious practices unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer.
• Employers must take steps to prevent religious harassment of their employees.

But the burden to accommodate isn't always entirely on the employer!  A good-faith attempt to meet their religious requirements must be made by the employee within their religious guidelines first.  Note that employers aren't required to give the employee his preferred accommodation just to meet religious needs.  Often, a special request for religious accommodation is too burdensome for a small business and a reasonable “half-way” request may be all the company is capable of giving.  It is then the employee’s responsibility to be flexible as possible in a mutual good faith negotiation with the employer.  

Religious accommodations for work schedules
The most common religious accommodation conflicts occur over work schedules.  You may need to deviate from your standard scheduling practices slightly;  however, I wouldn’t do so until you have verified that this is a true bona-fide requirement of the religion.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that you need not violate a valid labor contract, force other employees to work undesirable shifts, or hire substitute or replacement workers if that accommodation would require more than a minimal monetary cost.

This past week has been an interesting one in the number of client issues all centering around the client allowing the employees to “run the show”.  Employees coming and going as they please with no regard to Business Needs, Policies and Procedures, disregard for Safety Policies, or inappropriate behavior in the workplace.  As I have talked about many times before on this blog, we come back to the question; “What Does Your Employee Handbook Say”?  It is critical for businesses to not only have a solid handbook in place but equally important to ensure that your business is enforcing those Human Resource policies consistently and regularly.  Often we find that our clients just need our guidance on either rolling out their Employee Handbooks or teaching them how to deal with disciplinary issues; other clients have HRSolutions, LLC come in and carry out all the disciplinary problems directly with the employees.  The real question for this week is:

Are you comfortable that you are recognizing and addressing employee disciplinary problems or do you need some assistance?  Did you know that unaddressed disciplinary issues can impact your business revenue by 20% or more?

Scenario:  An employee has been with you for 2 years.  In the past their work has just been so-so, but you felt it was better to have a body in the role than to start recruiting.  Lately, however, the employee’s work habits have steadily gotten worse and you want to just fire them.  You call us for assistance in this termination, here are the questions we will ask:

• What does the employee’s most recent performance review state about quality?
• What documentation do you have of subsequent conversations about performance?
• Are there employees whose performance is the same or worse than this employee?

If you do not have documentation on the above bullet points it is critical that you start to gather this data.   Documentation is the name of the game, and that is written documentation.  Even if you talk to an employee verbally you should have documentation of that conversation.  Systematically documenting poor performance, along with a solid policy on your disciplinary structure provides a solid and legal foundation for terminating a long-standing employee.

At least several times a week, we are asked questions about employees' breaks.  Every state is different, but in Maryland, there is no law that states you must give employees a break!  Yes, I said, “there is no law requiring breaks in Maryland.”  An employer who chooses to provide a break, however, does not have to pay wages for lunch periods or other breaks in excess of 20 minutes where the employee is free to leave the worksite (or workstation if leaving the workplace is physically impractical), in fact takes their lunch or break (whether freely choosing to leave or remain at the worksite), and the employee does not actually perform work.

If employees are told their pay will be reduced each day by one-half hour for lunch, and they are not free to take this lunch period without an expectation or reasonable understanding that they must work or be on hand to work, they must be paid for the time. A "reasonable understanding" that they must work or be on hand to work is a condition in which it is generally known, or the employee reasonably believes, that failure to perform work (or be available "on hand" to perform work) during their break will result in some negative effect on employment.

Consistency is the number one priority in managing your Human Resource issues!   We do strongly believe in solid employee handbooks for a reason….they are the number one foundation behind ensuring you are consistent in your HR Practices.

Here is a great example of why consistency is so important:  Consider a small business owner (less than 50 employees required for FMLA).  Employee #1, a 31-year-old white male that has been with the company for 9 months, Owner grants 12 weeks of FMLA so employee can buy a house and be home with his new baby.  Employee #2, a 63 year old female, has been with the company for 9 years puts in a two-week-in-advance request for a particular day off and is turned down by the owner because “we are too busy.”  When Employee #2 complained to the owner, we were called. 

Those of you who are our clients know what our first question was:  “What does your handbook say?”  In this case, since we wrote the handbook, I knew for a fact that this company’s policy stated:  PTO would be granted with two weeks advanced notice.  I also knew there was no policy for FMLA, as government regulations require 50 or more employees and I knew we had written a policy stating this company did not allow unpaid leaves of absence.  This employer has not set a precedent for any future unpaid personal leaves, despite what the company handbook states.  In other words, inconsistency in this case has potentially left the employer vulnerable to any employee claims that they may have been treated unfairly.

The lesson?  Being consistent with written HR policies (or at the very least, from situation to situation) will help protect your company, and help your employees know what is expected of them at all times.

Today I was thinking about all the businesses that will be dealing with employees developing “Spring Fever” and taking unscheduled time off work.  This wreaks havoc on production, schedules, deadlines and productivity because, as we know, someone has to pick up the slack.  I talked to 3 business owners this week who thought they had to let employees take time off without pay!  

As always, when addressing this issue, we ask the question “What does your handbook say?"  If your employee handbook does not address this issue, it should.  Still, there is no reason an employer should feel they need to grant time off work when an employee has used all their vacation, sick or - our preferred - PTO except in extenuating circumstances.  Allowing time off without pay prevents you from running your business according to plan and expectations when your employees will be present. 

If you don’t already have a policy stating the above, create one.  If you need assistance writing this policy or need a complete review of your handbook or one started from scratch, contact us anytime.

Have you ever stopped to think about how you’re communicating with your employees?

Chances are, you’re thinking that, yes, I talk to my employees every day. What are you talking about – the job, the task at hand, how the family is? What about the communication that’s NOT talked about? 

Everything you say, write, do, or DO NOT do, sends a message to your employees, so you should always be thinking, “What message do I want to send?” Every action, verbal or non verbal, directly or indirectly, sends some message.

Let’s look at some examples... 

XYZ Company has had employee performance issues with Jack.  Jack has received coaching and counseling on a regular basis for the past 5-6 months, but his performance has not improved. All of this has been documented in his employee file. Finally, the time comes to terminate Jack.

At the same time, other employees of XYZ Company have watched a number of employees get fired, and the rumor is that the Director has a ‘hit list’. The employees are always wondering, “Who’s next?” 

If XYZ Company now fires Jack, what message do you think management will send to the other employees?  Hopefully you can see that the wrong message will be sent – that the rumored ‘hit list’ might be true – even though there may be no direct communication to the rest of the employees. 

Take a different situation:  Jane is late to work on a regular basis. It is affecting her work performance as well as negatively affecting employee morale. Her supervisors have conversations with her to remind her that she cannot continue to be late, but nothing else happens and Jane continues to be late. What message is her supervisor sending to the other employees? The message is, “It’s ok to be late.”  The supervisor is not holding Jane accountable. 

So, what do you do? It’s really a matter of thinking before you speak, write, or take action (or inaction). Think about what you are doing or not doing, and the message it may send to other employees. Then ask yourself, “Is this the message I really want to send?”

If the answer is no, or that you’re not sure, explore some alternative actions before taking an action that could be misconceived.