Case Studies
Situation:
Jason is a manager who supervises 5 staff members. He has 2 star performers, but the others usually lag behind. He doesn’t understand why Lisa and Jennifer seem to get so much work done while the others are marginal. He has tried talking to them to motivate them, but he never sees any improvement. All 5 employees have been at the company for over 5 years. Why do Lisa and Jennifer excel and the others don’t?
Resolution:
Whenever you have a performance issue, you need to ask yourself a question. Is it a ‘don’t know’ – maybe they weren’t trained properly, did you clearly communicate expectations; is it a ‘not capable’ – does the employee have the right skill set to successfully do the job; or is it a ‘don’t care’ – you’ve seen them do it correctly in the past, you know they’ve been through training, you know they understand the job and expectations, so they just don’t care and/or are being lazy. You need to determine this first. You cannot appropriately remedy the situation unless you can answer this question with certainty. They each have a different course of action, but they all are part of the performance management cycle. HR Solutions was able to work with Jason to develop performance management tools and training that assisted him in communicating expectations, coaching and counseling his employees, and holding his staff accountable for their performance. As a result, Jason’s team was able to increase their productivity substantially.
Situation:
Rita owns a chain of retail stores. At times, some of her hourly employees work overtime. Sometimes it’s a necessity and she asks people to work extra hours and sometimes she doesn’t even know they’ve worked overtime until they turn in their timecard. Paying overtime is expensive so if the time hasn’t been approved in advance, she will not pay the employee at all for those hours. As long as it’s approved or requested in advance, she offers them comp time. Lately however, some of the employees have requested they be paid the time and a half instead of comp time.
Resolution:
By law, you MUST pay an hourly employee who is not exempt from overtime regulations, time and a half – in cash. Comp time is not permitted under the law. In addition, you must also pay them overtime whether or not the time has been approved. If the time wasn’t approved, you may then handle that with disciplinary action, but not paying them is not an option. HR Solutions has done assessments with many small businesses and is able to determine whether or not your employment practices are in compliance with employment regulations. There are many laws out there that you may not be familiar with, but you are still required to comply with them. FMLA, FLSA, ADA, ADEA, EEO, Title VII – do you know the in’s and out’s? Why pay exorbitant attorney fees? Let HR Solutions advise you on the do’s and don’ts of the laws.
Jason is a manager who supervises 5 staff members. He has 2 star performers, but the others usually lag behind. He doesn’t understand why Lisa and Jennifer seem to get so much work done while the others are marginal. He has tried talking to them to motivate them, but he never sees any improvement. All 5 employees have been at the company for over 5 years. Why do Lisa and Jennifer excel and the others don’t?
Resolution:
Whenever you have a performance issue, you need to ask yourself a question. Is it a ‘don’t know’ – maybe they weren’t trained properly, did you clearly communicate expectations; is it a ‘not capable’ – does the employee have the right skill set to successfully do the job; or is it a ‘don’t care’ – you’ve seen them do it correctly in the past, you know they’ve been through training, you know they understand the job and expectations, so they just don’t care and/or are being lazy. You need to determine this first. You cannot appropriately remedy the situation unless you can answer this question with certainty. They each have a different course of action, but they all are part of the performance management cycle. HR Solutions was able to work with Jason to develop performance management tools and training that assisted him in communicating expectations, coaching and counseling his employees, and holding his staff accountable for their performance. As a result, Jason’s team was able to increase their productivity substantially.
Situation:
Rita owns a chain of retail stores. At times, some of her hourly employees work overtime. Sometimes it’s a necessity and she asks people to work extra hours and sometimes she doesn’t even know they’ve worked overtime until they turn in their timecard. Paying overtime is expensive so if the time hasn’t been approved in advance, she will not pay the employee at all for those hours. As long as it’s approved or requested in advance, she offers them comp time. Lately however, some of the employees have requested they be paid the time and a half instead of comp time.
Resolution:
By law, you MUST pay an hourly employee who is not exempt from overtime regulations, time and a half – in cash. Comp time is not permitted under the law. In addition, you must also pay them overtime whether or not the time has been approved. If the time wasn’t approved, you may then handle that with disciplinary action, but not paying them is not an option. HR Solutions has done assessments with many small businesses and is able to determine whether or not your employment practices are in compliance with employment regulations. There are many laws out there that you may not be familiar with, but you are still required to comply with them. FMLA, FLSA, ADA, ADEA, EEO, Title VII – do you know the in’s and out’s? Why pay exorbitant attorney fees? Let HR Solutions advise you on the do’s and don’ts of the laws.