Monday, August 18, 2014

3 Worst Mistakes Managers And Supervisors Make

They say the perfect business has no managers, no supervisors, and no employees. Unfortunately, your business isn't perfect, and you have to deal with managers and supervisors who will make today's "worst mistakes" if you don't train them.

Here are the worst mistakes managers make:

Worst #1 — Failure to Be Honest in Performance Management

Supervisors and managers don't like to deliver bad news, so they just avoid it. They observe bad behavior, they accept poor performance, and they say nothing, then it's time to complete the performance appraisal. Since they've said nothing about the poor performance, instead of hitting the employee with the truth, the supervisor or manager simply awards a "satisfactory."

The manager thinks that he or she is sending a message, because "satisfactory" is considered a low rating.

This creates a double edged problem. First of all, nothing's being done about the poor performance, so it will just continue as a productivity drag.

Second, you're setting yourself up to lose a lawsuit—already, the manager's thinking doesn't match the written record.

And things are only going to get worse. Eventually, the poor performance is going to cause the managers or supervisor to take action.

The manager fires the employee, but, unfortunately, once again, the manager doesn't tell the truth. The manager says, "Sorry, due to budgetary restrictions, we had to let someone go."

Later, the employee sues, saying, "I found out there are no budgetary restrictions. The firing was because I am in a protected group."

Now the manager backpedals—"Well actually, the reason for the termination was poor performance."

Boom. The framework for the successful lawsuit is in place.

An employee with demonstrably "satisfactory" performance (as documented by his appraisal forms signed by the manager), was officially terminated for "budgetary restrictions." Now the manager is saying the real reason was poor performance.  Clearly the manager was untruthful at some point.

And unfortunately, the poor performance is not documented. The jury is going to side with the employee. Or, more likely, this case is going to settle.

Worst #2 — Making Snap Decisions When Responding to Employee Requests and Complaints

Certainly, many employee requests are annoying, or unreasonable, or even outrageous, but that doesn't mean that you can ignore them, or refuse them, or even react angrily to them.

That's not easy when, for instance, a key worker asks for FMLA leave with the busy season coming up. Or you had a very good shot at getting a proposal out on deadline and then the writer needs "bonding time." Or his "back is acting up" or her "migraines are getting worse."

Whatever the situation, managers and supervisors need to be trained to "keep their cool" and give the request due respect. Training managers to deal with these situations is relatively easy—Tell managers "If this kind of situation arises, say 'I'll get back to you,' and head to HR."

Complaints are similar in that they can be upsetting (especially if directed at the manager or supervisor in question) but must be dealt with respectfully. For example:

  • Allegations of discrimination, retaliation, or illegal practices
  • Questions about safety or a refusal to do a job because it is viewed as unsafe
  • A report of an illegal act or refusal to perform an act perceived to be illegal
  • Questions about wages, hours, overtime, etc.
  • Requests for workers' compensation
  • Requests for accommodation on the basis of disability or religion

Employees have rights in these areas, and they must be respected. In addition, be aware that your denying these rights will rarely look good in court. ("Even after being informed that the action was unsafe, you tried to force the employee to do it?")

As one expert says, "Don't let your managers and supervisors deal with these situations—they'll mess it up for sure."

Worst Mistake #3 — Basic Wage/Hour Stumbles

Employees will tolerate a lot, but start messing with their paychecks, and there will be trouble, guaranteed. Many wage/hour problems seem relatively small, but they can be magnified dramatically as class actions.

For example, say you fail to pay 5 hours of overtime per week to an employee. Call it 250 hours in a year, with a $10 an hour premium, and it's $2500. No big deal. Now multiply by 200 employees. Whoops, that's half a million. Double it and add in attorney's fees—yours and the employee's—and you've got a big number.

Here are the most common wage/hour failures:

Failing to Pay All Hours Worked

One common scenario is employees who put in unpaid hours willingly ("Don't worry, I'll finish that up at home."). That's thoughtful, but it doesn't relieve you of the obligation to pay. The other common scenario is when people are expected to do setup before clocking in (filling cash register, setting up tables) or do cleanup after clocking out. ("Do you mind just prepping for tomorrow after you clock out?")

Another increasingly common scenario is employees who are expected to take calls or answer e-mail on their phones or Blackberries (or home computers) off hours. If it's more then de minimis, it's probably hours worked.

Making Special Arrangements

Another wage/hour problem that crops up is that managers and supervisors make special arrangements with employees. For example:

Offering comp time in private sector. There's no such thing as comp time in the private sector. If employees work, they get paid. (Hours may be exchanged during a work week, however; a non-exempt employee can leave work early and make up the time the next day with no problem as long as both days are within the same work week.)
Lesser or no overtime rate. No matter what employees agree to, or even ask for, they must be paid time and one half their regular rate for overtime hours.
After clocking out. Before clocking in. Employees may want to "help out" and work some hours off the clock, but that is not permitted. If they work, they have to be paid.

Failing to Properly Calculate the 'Regular Rate'

The regular rate, the amount on which overtime is calculated, includes non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials, etc. If such bonuses are awarded after the pay period closes, you have to go back and recalculate.

Wage and hour, one of what, 20 things you need to train managers and supervisors on? Training is critical, but it's tough to fit it in. To train effectively, you need a program that's easy for you to deliver and that requires little time from busy schedules. Also, if you're like most companies in these tight budget days, you need a program that's reasonable in cost.

Thanks to Steve Bruce / HR Daily Advisor BLR / BLR Business & Legal Reports
http://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/archive/2011/06/01/FLSA_Wages_Managers_Supervisors_Mistakes.aspx?source=HAD&effort=113

 
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Sunday, August 17, 2014

3 Things We Can Learn about Compensation Communications from the News

The news is always a great place to learn about communications skills and methodology. How to keep things positive while you deflect charges like a "Teflon" president. What happens (or doesn't) when you don't build consensus. The list could go on and on.

Oddly enough, the teachable moments for me in the last few weeks have come from the Occupy Wall Street movement. I keep thinking that their words can teach people in our business a lot about compensation communications. After all, participants in Occupy Wall Street have a message to send that they hope will change behaviors in large groups of people, especially those in organizations. See what I mean?

Let's take a look.

  • Describing their purpose. They have told news sources that they are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed and corruption. The words make their efforts sound straightforward. But I've also been thinking about the impact on the listener. Even as you hear their philosophy, you may be thinking, "But it's not that simple." Or you may be thinking as I did, "Do they mean me?" As in, since I work in and around corporations, does your criticism apply to me, too?

Lesson? Neither of these reactions will encourage me to listen or act. I'm pointing this out to show that words really do have power and that there's a communications lesson here for us. If your audience doesn't "get it" the way you think they should, you have spoken but you have not influenced their opinion. This can easily (and regularly) happen if you don't audience-test your compensation communications. You can create communications that have no impact, or barely the impact that you want, because your audience doesn't get it the way you assumed they would.

  • Explaining how. As the audience for Occupy Wall Street over the last few weeks, have you learned how they would go about the change they are promoting? Any idea what they think your role should be? What the world will look like after they have achieved success?

Lesson? If Occupy Wall Street's representatives have talked about these things, the information has gotten lost. But we need these details to be vibrant and compelling if we are going to react in any way that would lead to change. We need to be able to envision what the changed world would look like, what we would be doing in it and what's in it for us to make the effort to get there.

  • Communicating best when something goes wrong. I live across a bridge from Oakland, so I have heard a lot about that location's story. If they weren't having problems, I would have heard a lot less even though I am in the neighborhood. We all may be the 99%, but we feel most comfortable talking to the guy next to us who is probably on the same wavelength.

Lesson? It's a nuisance to struggle to be  understood. It takes a lot more effort to speak clearly and understandably to those outside of HR and we put it off a lot. As a result we wait until we can't avoid it, like the end-of-year performance management and compensation activities. Then, we talk to those outside the department but rush back inside our own group -- where we can speak among friends -- as soon as we can. We've got to get out there more often if we want to be understood and achieve change.

It seems like such an complex and interesting time in our world. Interesting, I think, because there so much to learn from watching and listening. (As soon as I stop hyperventilating and get my fingers out of my ears!)

Margaret O'Hanlon is founder and principal of re:Think Consulting. She has decades of experience teaming up with clients to ensure great Human Resource ideas deliver valuable business results.  Margaret brings deep expertise in total rewards communications and change management to the dialog at the Café. Before founding re:Think Consulting, she was a Principal in Total Rewards Communications and Change Management with Towers Perrin. Margaret is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Pacific Plains Region. She earned her M.S. and Ed.S. in Instructional Technology at Indiana University. Creative writing is one of her outside passions, along with Masters Swimming.

Thanks to Margaret O'Hanlon / Compensation Café
http://www.compensationcafe.com/2011/11/what-you-can-learn-about-compensation-communications-from-the-news.html

 
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