HR Solutions Weblog

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?

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.

In all business, small and large, we have to keep our eye on unnecessary loss and employee theft.  A few key areas where we see repeated theft are:

Time theft:  Employees that repeatedly come into the work area at exactly starting time, but then proceed to make coffee,  chat with co-workers, use the restroom and then eventually make it over to their work station.  We also have the issues of time spent on Facebook, the Internet, etc.  This is stealing time, and can easily be controlled through enforced policies and treating this, as it should be, a disciplinary issue.

Payroll theft: Often in small businesses one person is responsible for Payroll and there is not a solid backup and audit process.  No business should allow one person to be solely responsible for managing the payroll system without a backup audit system in place.

Office Supplies theft:  Believe it or not 67% of all employees steal office supplies! Post-it notes are the #1 item stolen by employees when it comes to office supplies.  We are not suggesting you micro-manage down to whether or not your employees are walking out the door with a Bic pen; however we are suggesting you pay attention.  Example:  Which employee orders your office supplies?  Do you ever conduct an audit or even look at the invoices as they come across your desk?  We once had a client whose Administrative Assistant was over ordering supplies, small amounts at a time, then would immediately return them and request a gift card for the credit.  As the gift cards piled up, she would trade them in for big items, such as a laptop, and then sell it on Ebay.  She did this for ten years before she was caught with a simple audit.  In the end, if your employees know you are (at a minimum) monitoring the office supplies, they are less likely to risk taking more than they need for their actual work. 

Full Product Theft: If your business produces an actual product it is very likely you have some type of theft occurring.  Often we find company owners that are making some small product that perhaps has pieces that can become something more valuable and they think “why would my employees steal these?"  If that is what you are thinking, run, don’t walk, to Ebay and do some searches on items similar to what your company makes. You will be surprised at the number of small items that are broken down for copper, stainless, etc. and are just sold in large lots to companies that manufacture something else.  

Why do employees steal?

  There are a myriad of reasons but some of the key ones are:  

• They feel the company owes them because they are not paid enough
• They are concerned about losing their job – for reasons other than stealing
• They feel the company is mismanaged and no one will notice

What can managers do to prevent theft?

• Have a solid disciplinary plan to address issues as they arise
• Monitor your workplace and processes for equipment and office supplies
• We believe in and suggest often to our clients to install Webcams in critical areas of your workplace
• Audit!  If your employees know there are random audits, they are less likely to steal

Recently we had a 40-employee client where a supervisor knew he had an employee that was bullying another employee.  The supervisor, rather than bringing it to the Manager’s attention or to us, thought he could handle it on his own by coaching the bully rather than protecting the employee being bullied.  By the time this came to someone’s attention, the victim employee had quit, was seeking legal damages and the company was negligent.  

This was a true form of harassment and should have been dealt with swiftly and specifically after the first incident. 

Questions that should have immediately been asked:

• How did the supervisor know? 
• Did he witness the harassment on a regular basis? 
• Did the victim bring it to the Supervisor’s attention? 
• Did all employees know if they brought an harassment issue to a supervisor and felt it was not resolved, they had recourse through another avenue? 
• Was there harassment training on a regular basis?

Are you comfortable identifying harassment issues?  Do you have questions that need answers for your business on all forms of harassment?  April 22, 2010 our monthly live Webinar will be on Harassment. Please join us.

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.

As I begin to post this week's Human Resource Blog, my mind reels with a myriad of  topics to discuss:  Difficult Employees, Performance Management, ADA, Compliance on Files, Posters, etc, Policies, Recruiting, Job Descriptions, EEO, HR Practices, Discrimination, Harassment- I could go on forever.  Every critical topic will be covered and a new post will be added each Monday afternoon.

Job Descriptions – Why do you need them?

• Specifics on expectations from your employees that they understand
• Key component for performance management up to and including termination
• Required for legal recruiting including, but not limited to:  Physical Requirements and Work Environment
• Set a standard for recruiting; ensuring questions are consistent and applicable to the job.
• Used to justify accommodations made or not made for an employee with a disability

Job descriptions should be reviewed once a year along with performance reviews by both the employee and the manager. 

Not sure you want to tackle this project alone or feel you need some guidance? Contact us today 443-356-4352