10 Great HR Ideas

1. Find out your numbers – Use the HR That Works Cost Calculator and get to the bottom line of your HR practices.
2. Create a rolling 90-day game plan – You must plan to succeed and without a plan, you plan to fail. Focus on one strategic objective per month and update your 90-day game plan every 30 days. Make sure the leadership team knows what you’re up to.
3. Reinvent performance management – First of all, realize that most managers and employees will be glad that you finally ditched the old system. Then, watch the Performance Management Training and the ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) recorded webinar and then conduct a workshop to see how you can generate a performance management system that works organically for your company.
4. Introduce the Creativity Checklist and Employee Suggestion Form and require that people use it  The ideas you generate should help pay for the HR That Works program for many years to come.
5. Create a social media policy that works – Involve the head of IT, marketing, and a group of employees to fashion an approach that works for all parties.
6. Use the HR That Works Compliance Survey every six months – Doing so will ride you of unwanted claims in the process.
7. Conduct an HR survey of your management team – The HR That Works Management Survey will let you know how the management team views the strength of your contributions and where they need more help from you.
8. Bring your employee handbook to life – Fact is, most employee handbooks are boring at best. On the Employee Handbook page is the contact information for our graphics expert, Summer Bonne, who will help you getting your handbook act looking right.
9. Ask yourself this when you hire: Am I more interested in creating the future or preserving the past?
10. Have some fun! Be creative! Get out of the box! HR has a real opportunity to generate some positive dramas at your company- and we all know we need those!

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Video

Watch this brief video of Don discussing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

March 2010 Compliance and Culture Newsletter

 

“It’s easy to do good, it’s just hard to do good well.” – Ram Dass

This issue discusses:

• Editor’s Column: Keeping Your Employees Motivated
• Getting the Biggest Bang for Your Motivational Buck
• The Employee Free Choice Act – Dead or Alive?
• Will Your Company be in the Next EEOC Press Release?
• The 1099 Time Bomb
• Working ‘on’ HR
• Top Tip
• Frequently Asked Questions of the DOL

We have also provided you with the Form of the Month.

 

Editor’s Column: Keeping Your Employees Motivated

During my recent workshops, a number of employers have asked me, “How do I keep my folks motivated?” What they really mean is “How do I keep them focused on growing the bottom line?”

 

I remind them of two things: (1) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and (2) the formula for using our motivational dollars effectively. I mentioned Maslow last month. This column will have more to say about Maslow. Another article in this newsletter will discuss the retention formula to consider.

 

In 1954, Maslow wrote a paper entitled “The Hierarchy of Needs.” As I like to kid: Peter Drucker referred to it, Peter Senge refers to it, and everyone else named Peter refers to it. The reason: There’s no room for improvement – Maslow nailed it! The paper laid out five levels of need, as shown below. Let’s review each in turn.

1.  Survival – This is the greatest need of many employees and many companies given today’s economic stress. This stress is largely self-induced, due to poor financial acumen and practices. Having said this, the most important question becomes “What money am I earning today?” That’s what it means for an individual or company to be in survival mode.Smart companies such as In and Out Hamburger (an incredible California-based private business) and Costco realized the value of paying entry-level employees at a rate above their competition. Consider how paying a few dollars above your competition will affect who you attract, how hard they work for you, and how long you retain them.
2. Security – Unfortunately, many folks still believe that the only form of job security is a union. Just ask the people at United, Delta, American, GM, Chrysler, and Ford. In fact, there’s only one form of job security: Doing a positive job, in a positive manner, where there’s a positive cash flow. Our responsibility, as leaders, is to make sure that our employees understand this by opening up the books and sharing the numbers. I encourage you to watch the Webinar we did with one of Jack Stack’s trainers on the Great Game of Business.
3. Belonging – You might as well substitute the words “company culture” here. Are you trying to maintain a positive attitude in tough times? Are you trying to make the work fun? Are you taking the time to brand your company to your employees? One low-cost way to do this is through company uniforms — whether work clothes, sports teams, or recreational clothing. If I walked into your company today, would I be able to define your company culture just by walking around? If not, why not?
4. Ego Gratification – The biggest mistake I see employers making here is ignoring the ego need, especially those of their superstar employees. Here’s an example: “Bob brings $200,000 to the bottom line every year and causes me no drama. I am so glad I don’t have to worry about him.” What an incredible mistake! Unfortunately, most organizations spend 80% of their time on the 20% of employees who don’t bring it every day and ignore the breadwinners; when in fact they should be doing just the opposite. The ego needs stroking. Give these folks awards, get them in the Business Journal or other industry publications, highlight them on your Web site, upgrade their titles, and so on.
5. Self-Actualization – Although I realize that it’s hard to worry about being self-actualized when you’re in a survival or security mode, this need still remains. I believe that self-actualization has to do with knowing that “you make a difference.” Do this by engaging your clients or customers in the conversation. How do you make or break their day? How does it affect them when they receive good or bad service? Have you brought some of your clients and customers and perhaps even prospects in for a focus group with your employees? Do your employees understand the “precessional” impact of their daily work?

For example, when I finally realized the precessional impact of my litigation career, I had no choice but to quit. Now I know that the work I do makes a positive difference.

This is what it takes to motivate employees. This probably won’t be the last time I mention Maslow. Within each of these categories, we have to be careful about how we spend our money. The next article will address this issue.

 

Getting the Biggest Bang for Your Motivational Buck

Much of what I share with HR That Works Members comes from my study of marketing. Take any marketing book, replace the words “client” or “customer,” with “employee” and you’ll learn a lot about improving the HR function. Consider the time-tested marketing formula: Cost, ease, and impact (which you’ll find in the Form of the Month spreadsheet) and ask yourself, “What’s the cost of this item, how easy is it to implement, and what’s the bottom line impact?”

For example, a hand-written thank-you note provides a low-cost, easy to implement, high impact motivational tool. In Harvey Mackey’s “Swim with the Sharks,” he shares how he built his business from thank-you notes. This raises two questions: (1) How many thank-you notes to your employees have you written lately? and (2) Have you mailed these notes to their homes – which shows the employees’ families that you acknowledge the contributions they make at work?

The Retention Program Possibilities (Form of the Month) document offers dozens of ways to show your employees that you care. How you do this is secondary. A final bit of advice: The greatest benefit is the one that’s least remembered. It’s usually the frequency of showing you care that matters the most.

 

The Employee Free Choice Act – Dead or Alive?

Although many employers might believe that the Employee Free Choice Act (“EFCA”) is dead, it isn’t. As with many other legislative initiatives, Congress pushed EFCA aside to focus on two other major pieces of legislation: Health care reform and “cap-and-trade.” Although EFCA appears headed for some compromise, it remains organized labor’s top legislative priority and a major objective for the Administration and Congressional Democrats.

EFCA was introduced in the Senate (S. 560) and House of Representatives (H.R. 1409) in March 2009. Since there were more than enough votes to pass it in the House, the focus of debate was in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed for cloture. Last spring and summer, a number of conservative Democrats expressed concern over a union’s ability to organize an employer without a secret ballot election. This is the so-called “card check” provision, which would force an employer to recognize and bargain with a union if a majority of employees in the bargaining unit sign cards supporting it. The opposition to card check by five or six Democratic Senators, together with the focus on health care reform and energy legislation stymied EFCA’s passage, which many commentators had thought would happen by the August recess.

Unfortunately for employers, it would appear that EFCA has been waylaid, but not forgotten. Although unions still are pushing for a bill which includes card check, a group of Senators, including Senators Brown (D-Ohio), Carper (D-Delaware), Harken (D-Iowa), Prior (D-Ark.), Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Specter (D-Pa.), have been working on a compromise, which they reportedly “think will bring 60 votes for cloture.” Indeed, Senator Specter reported the existence of such a compromise to AFL-CIO convention delegates in September.

Although the details are still sketchy, what appears to be emerging is a bill that would replace “card check” with a “quickie” election. Employers now normally have 42 days from the date a petition is filed with the NLRB to the date of the election to run a campaign. This period reportedly would be changed to just seven days under the compromise, which in most instances won’t be enough time to run an effective campaign. For sake of comparison, unions usually win a little over 50% of the elections in the U.S. (but only about 30% where the employer mounts a strong campaign opposing the union), compared with a win rate of more than 70% in the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and British Columbia, which require elections within five to 10 days. The EFCA compromise also reportedly includes a provision permitting union access to the employer’s premises during the campaign under certain circumstances, which currently is prohibited.

Perhaps even worse, the compromise in the works continues to require binding arbitration for a first contract. This means that if there were no contract agreement within 120 days, an arbitrator would impose a contract of two years duration. This is a huge change from current law, under which neither party can be forced to agree to any contract provision, and would prevent an employer from even attempting to remove a union until after the contract has expired. Under current law, if there’s no contract, a union can be removed one year after its certification as a bargaining representative.

Thus, while employers might have dodged the card check bullet, something almost as bad appears to be on the horizon. This means that employers desiring to remain union-free need to implement such measures as: (1) Effective group and individual communications mechanisms; (2) understandable and consistent personnel policies and procedures; (3) supervisory training on how to manage employees and avoid unionization; and (4) confidential employee surveys designed to measure objectively the effectiveness of an employer’s human relations program and uncover issues that could lead to unionization. Although you now have the ability to uncover and correct such issues, the law severely restricts your ability to do so once union organizing activity begins.

Article courtesy of Worklaw® Network firm Millisor Nobil (www.millisor.com).

 

Will Your Company be in the Next EEOC Press Release?

To get an idea of the types of cases being pursued by the EEOC, click here.

They have been busy, for example issuing 20 press releases on Sept 30, 2009 alone!

 

The 1099 Time Bomb

We’ve been advising HR That Works Members to get their independent contractor act together. This is an exploding risk exposure driven in large part by the need of federal and state agencies to make sure that they collect all their taxes. The IRS estimates that the 1099 misclassification problem, due primarily to poor controls, has led to more than $8 billion in unpaid taxes.

As we advise members, “If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck — it’s a duck, no matter what you call it”. If you have any independent contractors and you’re an HR That Works Member, look at the new Independent Contractor Training Module, which includes a video, IC agreement, analysis worksheet, and a guide to many state and federal resources in this area.

Don’t take this lightly! In November of 2009, the IRS launched an audit of 6,000 companies, essentially to prove the value of hiring more auditors to collect more money. I can tell you what their conclusion will be: That they should hire more auditors because there will be a greater return on investment given the amount of unpaid taxes out there. This exposure is significant, not just from a taxation perspective, but as a liability and risk management issue. Bottom line: It’s far better to pay the additional taxes, workers comp premiums, and medical expenses than to run afoul of the misclassification analysis.

For more information, click here, and visit the Independent Contractor Training Module on HR That Works.

 

Working ‘on’ HR

Companies nationwide are struggling to survive. One of the greatest mistakes they make while in this mode is to stop working “on” their business and think that the only answer is to work harder “in” it. This is a classic entrepreneurial error. Just ask Michael Gerber, author of “The eMyth.” The competition is intense today and if you don’t distinguish yourself from your competition, how can you expect to recruit clients and customers from them? To succeed, we have to work not only on improving our sales and marketing acumen, but our workforce management acumen as well. The greatest “variance” at any company involves sales and marketing. If one salesperson outsells another salesperson two-to-one, that’s a 100% variance. What many companies fail to realize is that the second largest variance has to do with how well they manage their workforce. As the HR That Works Cost Calculator shows, it’s usually 10% or more of payroll. For example, if you have a $1 million payroll, a variance will cost at least $100,000 — the revenue equivalent of more than $400,000.

Here’s the point: This is no time to give up on improving HR practices. Doing so is a huge mistake! This doesn’t mean that you need to make an overhaul overnight – it means that you should engage in constant and never-ending improvement, taking at least one proactive step a month. In today’s economy, I’d recommend working on improving productivity, motivation, making proper termination decisions, and stepping up your compliance effort. Given the doubled rate of unemployment, workers are filing more wrongful termination, sexual harassment, ADA, FMLA, and similar claims than ever. The average employee win-rate is the highest on record, as is the average verdict. Failing to get your compliance act together literally can put you out of business.

Top Tip

Companies that impose automatic time deductions for meal breaks risk exposure to class-wide liability under the FLSA if they end up “shorting” nonexempt employees for hours worked due to interrupted or skipped lunch breaks. A recent spate of lawsuits against healthcare employers for alleged failure to pay wages due to such policies demonstrates this.

Companies use meal break auto-deductions for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s because automated timekeeping systems require a default meal period to be input. In other instances, the time expended getting to and from a remote time clock might be so great to make a default deduction preferable. In still other cases, employees might view punching in and out for lunch as motivated by employer micromanagement, making auto-deduction a “kinder and gentler” method of accounting for time. The FLSA risk arises when the employer fails to adopt practices that account for actual variation (i.e. the shorted lunch hour interrupted by work). If auto-deduction is the only practical method available of accounting for unpaid lunch breaks, companies should be able to help avoid FLSA liability by taking these steps:

• Inform employees that they’re required to report any variation in the length of their lunch break to their supervisor so that their time record can be adjusted.
• Require supervisors to review and sign off on time records to ensure that they reflect actual hours worked.
• Make sure that the employee handbook advises employees that they should report any improper deductions or errors in their pay to their supervisor or to human resources promptly so that appropriate corrections can be made.

Finally, if you’re only using auto-deduction to avoid the “micromanaged employee” syndrome, consider explaining that punching in and out is not required for punitive reasons, but to ensure that employees are fully and fairly compensated.

 Article courtesy of Worklaw® Network firm Shawe Rosenthal (www.shawe.com).

 

Frequently Asked Questions of the DOL

The Department of Labor has done a good job of improving its Web site. Here are the top questions employees are asking the DOL. Make sure you know how to answer them!

• What is the current status of COBRA premium reductions under ARRA?
• When is overtime due?
• When must breaks and meal periods be given?
• How are vacation pay, sick pay, and holiday pay computed and when are they due?
• What is the minimum wage?
• If an employee suffers an illness and the doctor writes a medical certification that the employee is sick, who pays for this sick leave?
• What is ERISA?
• More Frequently Asked Questions

 

Form of the Month

Retention Program Possibilities Worksheet (PDF)

Use the time-tested marketing formula: Cost, ease, and impact to ask yourself: “What’s the cost of this item, how easy is it to implement, and what’s the bottom line impact?”

(HR That Works Users can access this form in Excel format by logging on to the site).

  

Podcast

Please click here to listen to the March 2010 Compliance and Culture Podcast.

Nurture Your Best Employees

Unfortunately, most managers spend a lot of their time with the poor performers in an organization and often ignore their top people. Just because your best workers cause the least amount of drama doesn’t mean that you should ignore them! In fact, they might be capable of even more effective performance if you give them just a modicum of attention. Stroke their egos. Let them know you’re proud of the work that they’re doing. Find out if they have “best practices” that they’d be willing to share with others in the organization. If necessary, carve out time on your schedule to nurture the best. Whatever you do, give them the attention they deserve.

Motivate the Demotivated

Employer after employer is faced with hiring low wage earners who are seldom motivated toward high performance. Except for workplace newbies, most low wage earners are there precisely because of their lack of motivation, creating a classic Catch-22 for employers. If it’s true, as the saying goes, that “I’d rather have ignorance on fire than knowledge on ice,” how can you turn up the burners on low wage earners without increasing turnover? Here are three suggestions:

1. Pay them a bit more. There’s no better example than the In-N-Out hamburger chain located throughout the Southwest. They attract the best in terms of low-wage talent largely by advertising that they pay at least a dollar per hour more than their competitors. Because low wage earners are motivated by survival, security, and the need to belong (in that order) the extra pay makes far more difference to them than it might to someone earning three to five times that amount. Pay them the extra money with the understanding that they’ll be excellent employees. Take a look at their web site www.in-n-out.com.
2. Show them that there’s a way up. Whether it’s a landscaping business, a retail operation, or telephone bank, every company needs managers and supervisors. Show employees that there’s a career path for them if they follow guidelines and expectations, including training and experience. Offer examples of other employees who have climbed the corporate ladder and the path they had to follow. Have those employees act as spokespeople for career motivation.
3. Help them belong to something larger than themselves. A classic example is Service Master: They don’t just clean buildings; they provide Service. A sense of belonging enhances cohesiveness and communication, whether it comes from a corporate theme, company uniforms, team sponsorships, or community activities. By the way, don’t assume that you know what your employees want to belong to: Ask them.

Playing Team

According to former America’s Cup Captain and Oxbow Corporation Presdient, Bill Koch, “The problem of competition is primarily a management problem.” According to Koch a few guidelines are steadfast reminders of the dynamic impact of the teamwork-technology-talent relationship.

• Develop team players according to the 80/20 rule: 80 percent attitude, 20 percent talent.
• Management’s job is to keep the team focused, not perform subordinates’ jobs.
• It is the team that wins. Management must be part of the team, along with customers and suppliers. Team members must have compatible goals and agendas.
• Everyone is equally important. The only ego that counts is the ego of the team.
• Along with teamwork, technology is the most effective tool to achieve your organization’s goals. Technology can be especially effective when used in areas in which others are convinced it does not apply. This is how an organization can make tremendous gains over its competitors.
• Always improve. Mistakes are fine as long as you learn from them, and you “don’t bet the farm.”

Timeless wisdom for any team.

Help Alleviate Your Employees’ Financial Stress

It’s not just employers who are feeling financial stress today. It’s every one of your employees, too. According to a January 2009 poll reported by SHRM, more employees are finding wages garnished, asking for advances on 401(k) and wages, and reporting losing their homes than any time since the early 70s. The fear of survival is real today, but we often find ourselves dealing with it alone. Smart companies will take the bull by the horns by taking these steps:

1. Open up your books. Read Jack Stack’s Great Game of Business. We recommend that HR That Works users see the Webinar on Open-Book Management.
2. Teach employees about the numbers. Most employees have a horrible understanding about accounting. Watch this month’s webinar: The Accounting Game.
3. Finally, make sure employees get their personal financial act together by offering lunch-and-learn education. Have your benefit broker discuss all the ins and outs of 401(k) and health plans. Bring in a financial planner to help employees understand basic financial management. Have your managers watch the Dave Ramsey Organization Webinar on Financial Peace in the Workplace.

Where’s Your Business Card?

Imagine that you’re leaving a restaurant at lunchtime with a group of your friends and all of them put their business cards in the fish bowl for the free contest. Unfortunately, your company doesn’t give you a business card. Makes you feel rather unimportant, doesn’t it?

The fact is that every one of your employees should have a business card that states your company’s vision, mission, or values on the back side. This will have a reinforcing effect on the employee, and will help acknowledge and reinforce their loyalty — not to mention providing a great “plug” for the organization. Best of all, you can get 500 cards printed for less than $25 at many online vendors.

You can train your employees and sales representatives on how to use business cards by distributing the inexpensive “How to Get More Business from Your Business Cards” brochure available at http://www.bizbooklets.com.

Generation Me

Much has been written about the newest generation to hit the workplace. Of course, generalizations and a one-size-fits-all mentality have their limitations. Given the reality of the nature and nurturing of this generation, employers may wish to consider the following:

• Get very clear about what “privacy” and discretion means. Don’t assume they will think about it the same way you do. Up to the point they came to work for you, they’ve always been “on” from a technology standpoint. Text messaging in class, laying out their personal lives on MySpace, and so on. If you intend for them to keep something private or secret, make sure they agree to do so in a contractual document. For example, HR That Works users should consider having employees sign the Email/Internet Policy and review the Cell Phone Agreement.
• Half of this generation grew up with over-supervision (having their lives totally scheduled) while others were raised by one or two parents who had to work full time. Either way, they are going to expect or need supervision. They may not be as independent or responsible as you’d like. Being very clear with job descriptions and career paths is a must if you want them to perform.
• Much of this generation expects to get rich tomorrow. They have very little patience and have been told they can have something because they want it bad enough. It is important for leaders and managers to identify both short-term and long-term goals. Let them know that there will be no instant gratification and that they can expect to pay their dues. At the same time, let them know that if they do what they agree to do, you will live up to your promises as well and their future is bright.
• Many a Generation Me employee has grown up with parents who are over-worked and stressed out. It’s no club they want to be a member of. Unlike during the dot-com boom years, with its promise of instant gratification, Generation Me employees are not going to see an instant quid pro quo in working the extra hours. Whether they are right or wrong in their perception of a balanced life-style, employers are going to have to come to grips with this reality.
• Lastly, we have to be aware of their communication abilities. Many can’t write a decent business letter. They also have difficulty communicating in more than three sentences at a time. Employers may be wise to have them attend training sessions that improve communication skills.

Generation Me employees are arguably smarter, and more talented than any entry-level workforce in history. As we all know, someone’s emotional intelligence has as much to do with their IQ when it comes to business success. In the end, the greatest challenge for managing these employees won’t be in terms of high-tech, but rather in terms of high-touch.

Change: A Place to Start

Change is inevitable. If you need proof, just look at where you were 10 years ago.

Fast Company magazine sees change management as one of the three essential components for survival in today’s economy (with learning and leadership being the others). Although changing with the times makes sense, there can be a great amount of emotional resistance in getting people to “move their cheese.”

The word “change” evokes images of a distant past. For most people, their first experience with the concept came when their parents told them to change one of their behaviors. Since early on, “change” has been associated with control, the threat of punishment behind it, and rebellion.

We were resistant to being told to change then, and we remain so today, even when it makes sense to do so! That’s why managers and leaders have to be very understanding when going about the process.

Before implementing “change” in your workplace, start by asking team members to describe an experience in their career that involved change. Ask them how going through the process felt and what the eventual outcome was. Acknowledge that not all change is positive: Things often change for the worse.

Telling stories allows us to connect emotionally with change by expressing our fears and anxieties, as well as our hopes and desires. We can build on past lessons, including successes and failures alike. Going through this type of group exercise allows team members to have some ownership of the change that will affect them. Once these emotional fears and anxieties are on the table, they will disappear in the light of understanding — and big changes can happen!