HR Solutions Weblog

Having the conversation with a Gossiping Employee.  First and foremost, it is important to note:  If you don’t address these workers, your best people will leave. Gossipers are poison to an environment and will scare other employees with their falsehoods.

Manager hate having these conversation the  most, I’m not sure why, as these are the employees most likely have the worst impact on morale and productivity. 

• Gossipers – Be sure to have a policy that states this behavior will not be tolerated and treat it as a disciplinary issue.
• Be sure to reinforce this policy in groups, so everyone hears the same message – give examples of how disruptive and hurtful gossip can be to co-workers.
• Ensure you're giving solid, clear communications about the work place.  Gossip starts because employees are not given enough information to make clear decisions.  If your organization is going through a rough financial patch, have open group conversations; ask the employees what ideas they have to cut costs.

Today I thought we would talk about the Conversation of Performance Reviews!  They come around every year and if you have a plan for the discussion, it should be a positive interaction.  Here are some key points:

• Make this conversation useful – it is an opportunity for your employee to grow
• Be honest, but kind – remember, if you are not being honest with the employee you are not helping anyone. Remind them that the honesty is to help them grow.
• Be specific!
  • Example:  Don’t say “you are not meeting production goals”, instead say “our production goals are 130 units per day, you are doing 98 – What do you think you could do to improve that number?”
  • Make sure you discuss how you will help the employee improve and specifically how often you will meet to discuss progress.
• Be sure to have the above specific conversations about the whole year, not just what they need to improve from the past few weeks or months.
• Focus on behavior and results.
• Give the employee time to absorb your comments and then to comment.
• Don’t allow the employee to bring other employee’s into the conversation, remind them you are there to discuss their specific performance.
• Be sure to end the conversation with positive re-enforcement on the things they are doing well.
• Set up a specific time and date within 30 days to review the progress.

Things to avoid:

• Hostile Questions “Why did you do that?” Ask behavioral type questions.
• Doing all the talking.  Allow the employee time to talk about specific points.
• Don’t interrupt the employee

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.

We are coming up on that time of year when many businesses start thinking about year-end performance of their business and their employees. We hear it over and over again from our clients “but performance reviews take up so much time”.  They really don’t have to and they are critical.  Let’s start with your handbook…what does it say about performance reviews and when they will be completed?  Your employees are counting on you to formally let them know how they are doing.  It is also your opportunity, now that you are looking at business performance too, to set up new goals for the business and your employees and help them to understand how their performance, whether positive or negative  impacts your business. There are many performance review options to help you be as consistent as possible while conducting a process that has the opportunity to be subjective. 

Top five performance review issues to avoid:

1. Overemphasizing Recent Performance—This is why it is so important to keep a mini record on each employee
2. Not Giving an Employee Specifics – This is an opportunity to help the employee understand specifically how their behavior contributes to or hurts the business.
3. Being Overly Positive or Overly Negative—Be sure to find a solid balance, remember, performance reviews are meant to motivate,  not discourage them.
4. Waiting for Appraisal Time to Give Feedback— Employees should not be surprised when they receive their performance review.
5. Talking without Listening— Be sure to come to a mutual decision on how/where the employee can grow.  Without their buy-in, you were talking in vain.

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.

The key to stopping absenteeism abuse is to have an attendance policy that clearly defines not only what absences are allowed, but also what is unacceptable and will be subject to discipline. 

We are often asked:  “Is there any type of incentive I can use?”  It has been proven over and over again – cash incentives do not work!  However,  there are a few options that have had some success, but as a rule of thumb;  rewarding good attenders with cash bonuses generally has been ineffective. Sick-time abusers value time away from work more than money, so they are not motivated to modify their behavior.  Employees either have a good work ethic or they do not.  That is why a solid absenteeism policy won’t necessarily cure the employee but will allow you to discipline them out the door and bring in someone new with a better work attitude.

Absenteeism not only impacts your overall productivity numbers as an organization, but also breeds dissent in the workforce.  It is critical not only to have the policy but to insure it is enforced consistently.  Experience shows that better attendance is synonymous with better quality, lower costs, and greater productivity. 

The subject of web surfing doesn’t come up weekly from our clients, it comes up daily!  What are you employees doing while they should be working?  The numbers are staggering:

• 70% of all web traffic to Internet pornography sites occurs during the work hours of 9am-5pm.
• 64% of employees say they use the Internet for personal interest during
  working hours
• 37% of workers say they surf the Web constantly at work.
• 77.7% of  U.S. companies keep tabs on employees by checking their e-mail, Internet, phone calls, computer files, or by videotaping them at work.
• 63% of companies monitor workers' Internet connections and 47% store and review employee e-mail.
• 90% of employees feel the Internet can be addictive, and 41 percent admit to personal surfing at work for more than three hours per week.
• 60% of Security Breaches occur within the Company - behind the Firewall
• 30-40% of lost productivity is accounted for by cyber-slacking.
• 32.6% of workers surf the net with no specific objective; men are twice
  as likely as women.

Can you really afford to not be monitoring your business internet and e-mail usage?

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?