HR Solutions Weblog

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."

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 Communications!

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!

Every business, no matter how big or how small, has at least one person who seems to be constantly complaining and whining about something on the job.  Overall, I think most business owners think of this as only frustrating…but wait!!  There is a much larger impact. 

When employees are complaining to everyone around them they are not the only ones being non-productive.  Everyone they are talking to is either listening to them and making the problem bigger or are frustrated that you are not stopping this person.  Once it appears that the business accepts this type of behavior; it will only spread.

If you take the time to talk to the person, or if this has been a problem for a while, talk to the group of people, and encourage them to propose a resolution to the issue and they can hopefully use the time they were ranting to create a workplace that makes them happier.

Create an environment of open discussions.  Even a monthly meeting where employees are asked “what is going well” and “what could be better” can have a huge impact if you make the meeting about resolution and not just whining.  Encourage a meeting style that allows others to offer changes or suggestions to improve the workplace.

For decades, HR professional have been touting the results of National Employee Satisfaction Stations data.   The same top 5 have always remained the same: 

The only thing that changes through the years is the order, however, you will find it interesting that Compensation, through strong economic times and weak one, has always hovered around #5.

During these past few years, we have definitely seen a shift in where Benefits fall.  With so many dual-income homes down to just one working partner, benefits have become a critical component of job satisfaction due to the back-up benefits disappearing.

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.