Archives for October 2015

As we approach the end of the calendar year, I start to think about all of the things I’ve accomplished, or, more to the point, have not yet accomplished. It allows me take stock of where I am, both professionally and personally, and set goals for the upcoming year.

The same holds true for businesses. One area often in need of improvement for many organizations is the employee handbook. Walk over to whichever file you keep your handbook, look for the date it was last updated, and if it is anything earlier than 2014, it’s time for a deep review.

A handbook should be a set of guidelines for the company to follow. It should not be intended to account for every situation that could arise, nor should it be written in stone. Companies should write handbooks to leave enough flexibility to change policies when the situation dictates. Here are some thoughts about reviewing and updating your company’s handbook.

1. Illegal overtime policies: For example, “All overtime must be authorized by a manager or supervisor and the company will only pay authorized overtime.” Such a policy is illegal if it is applied as written. All overtime, whether its authorized or not, should be paid. A better rule to control unauthorized overtime is to prohibit unauthorized overtime and discipline those who violate the rule.

2. Vague Family and Medical Leave Act language: The FMLA is rife with traps for employers who do not specify certain eligibility requirements. Otherwise, a company leaves itself open to be sued by otherwise ineligible employees. A handbook should also be clear on the interplay between FMLA leave and other paid-leave policies and to make sure that employees cannot double-dip by first exhausting paid leave before turning to unpaid FMLA leave.

3. Missing harassment policy: An anti-harassment policy is necessary to take advantage of the certain affirmative defenses to harassment claims. It is one of the most important policies a handbook should contain, and no handbook is complete without having such a policy. Also, don’t forget strong anti-retaliation assurances.

4. Bans on salary and other work-related discussions: The National Labor Relations Act makes it unlawful for any employer, whether union or nonunion, to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees exercising their right to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. One such protected activity is discussing terms and conditions of employment, such as wages. A policy that could be construed to prohibit discussions of wages or other terms and conditions of employment would violate the NLRA. A safer rule would limit confidentiality to information about corporate information and customers, and would not interfere with disclosure of information about employees’ terms and conditions of employment.

5. Unnecessary probationary periods: Probationary periods are typical in union contracts, but have no place in a nonunion setting. Such a policy is counterintuitive to the at-will nature of the employment, and could set an unreasonable expectation of continued employment after the 90 days expire. A better policy would simply reaffirm that employees are at-will and can be terminated at any time for any reason, and that all new employees’ performance will be evaluated after 90 days.

6. Missing no-solicitation policies: These policies are necessary to try to limit union solicitations in the workplace, but cannot be specifically directed at union activities. Instead, companies can draw any reasonable line, so long as the line drawn is not specifically tied to union solicitations. Moreover, the rule should include the use of bulletin boards and corporate computer systems (email, intranets, etc.). Be warned, however, that the NLRB just mandated that if corporate email systems are open to employees, they must be open to those employees using those systems to communicate about labor unions during nonworking time.

7. Lack of an at-will disclaimer and signed receipt:In litigation, a handbook is only as good as being able to prove that an employee received it on a certain date. The best proof is a signed, dated receipt in all employees’ personnel files, with enough information in the receipt itself to link it to the handbook. Also, handbooks should clearly state that employees are at-will, that the handbook is not a contract and that employees should not rely on any statements in the handbook.

An employee-handbook review is the low-hanging fruit of the HR world. Dust it off, give it a read or two, take a stab at revisions, and pass it off to your employment lawyer for his or her blessing.

Perfection does not exist.

It’s one of those phrases you hear when someone’s trying to self-motivate yet remain realistic in a personal context, but the words have significant meaning for those in the workplace as well.

Some might say, “Oh, I want perfectionists on my team. They’re great with details, won’t miss deadlines, and the quality of their work will be excellent.”

But that may actually be far from the truth for one simple reason: Perfectionism, when taken to the extreme, can inhibit all of those things because it distracts from the work at hand.

Jane Bluestein, president and CEO of Instructional Support Services Inc. and author of “The Perfection Deception,” said a perfectionist is more likely not to admit mistakes or to ask for help, neither of which is conducive to learning or to high performance. Further, perfectionism can manifest in a tendency to procrastinate or in a sharp focus on details with a limited view of the major pieces or big picture in a project or task.

“They tend to miss deadlines, or they never finish things because they’re always improving it,” she said. “Something may look really nice — they spend hours formatting it — but the content is really weak because they’re focused on the wrong thing.”

At the top of the house, perfectionist leaders tend to overextend themselves, taking on more than is realistically possible to achieve because they’re afraid to say no. They fear a loss of credibility, status as ‘can do’ person, or even a bonus or some other reward.

Someone with these tendencies in a development scenario might be easily distracted by the wrong things, depending on how the material is presented. Bluestein said when learning content is too hard and participants feel they don’t have the necessary ability to absorb the information, they’ll panic. “When we’re in panic mode, we don’t do well in learning anything,” she said.

If there are time constraints and the learner is pushed to learn something faster than they can digest the information, if the material is under challenging or if there is pressure to perform without making a mistake, all of these scenarios trigger stress that inhibit a perfectionist’s ability to learn.

Bluestein also pointed out the perils in working for a manager or leader with perfectionist tendencies. It’s often extremely difficult to please such people, and senior leaders may notice a high level of turnover in the employees under them. They may issue one set of instructions, and when the task is completed, they express dissatisfaction or disappointment because now they want something completely different. Or “there’s one typo, and that’s all I hear about,” Bluestein said. “That puts a lot of stress and anxiety on me, the employee, and when I’m under stress, my cerebral capacity is diminished.”

This can result in absenteeism, quitting and wasted training investments when talented employees opt to take their skills elsewhere because the work environment under a perfectionist regime is not supportive.

Good leaders want employees who cross the T’s and dot the I’s, and they don’t want to stress out or drain away discretionary effort and engagement via a crappy work environment. To get that, Bluestein said managers have to be clear about their expectations for work projects. “A lot of times, we have these unexpressed expectations or the idea that ‘they should know.’ And even though you may be correct, maybe they should know. Tell them anyhow. We need to let people know up front what is important to us. Otherwise we work in a vacuum.”

It’s also important to provide the kind of work climate where it’s OK for someone to do something wrong and ask for help without fear of reprisal. “A lot of it is about how we communicate what we need and what we want,” Bluestein said.

Essentially, curtailing the downsides of perfectionism is about examining behaviors closely, appreciating what people are doing right and helping to steer them appropriately when they go wrong.  Also, Bluestein said to never, ever underestimate the power of encouragement. A lot of perfectionist behavior is related to an individuals’ belief system. For example, someone may believe their self-worth is attached to their ability to make top sales or to execute some other work task. If they fall short, without the right support, problems will be magnified and productivity and confidence may suffer.

That said, Bluestein said sometimes problems with perfectionism may be rooted in behaviors and systems that are outside the leaders’ scope of responsibility or ability to handle. Extreme perfectionism is actually a mental health issue  If someone is wrapped up in a self-worth equals achievement equals self-worth kind of equation and suffering from high levels of stress and anxiety on the job, it might be best to refer the individual to an organization’s employee assistance program.

Reprinted from Chief Learning Officer

When human resources software started to emerge, it was created simply to capture who was in the organization, when they joined, the role they played and how much they needed to get paid.

In essence, the software automated historically paper-based processes. The paper produced from such processes were placed in employees’ files and kept in drawers. Retrieving and looking at the contents of a file often felt as if it took an act of God or the removal of a sword from a stone.

Other information, like performance history, learning history and personality assessments were added, making the insight into an individual more valuable, as well as potentially more misleading. Incomplete information with imperfect data without much context often led to misinterpretation.

Even so, organizations are still compiling data on people without a clear approach to what they want and why they want it.

Right now, I will focus on a trend that’s very positive, exciting and that will certainly endure. Why? Because it’s focused on the employee’s self interest as well as that of the organization — something that has been grossly missing in the history of HR software.

HR software has been built in most cases to benefit the organization. After all, they’re the one purchasing it and using it to their advantage. Software is needed to make money or reduce costs by elevating productivity, quality, customer satisfaction or some other measurable benefit. While this still holds true, what’s now emerging also has a real and lasting benefit to the employee.

What I’m referring to is how software providers are now creating, publishing and recording learning activity over time. Historically, in-person training and online training required a lot of time. Content retention was frequently low, if not very low, and the immediate application by the employee in their day-to-day job even lower.

This has changed radically. It’s changed because millennials demand it, leading software providers provide the platform for it, and leaders understand the benefits.

What’s new is that information is now being sewn together into short video segments, with most under five minutes. The body of content is searchable. Employees can choose the learning modules that’ll help them do what they’re being asked to do.

They can also choose modules that will help them develop in ways they feel appropriate. In most cases, there is little incremental cost to the organization for the employees’ proactivity.

Employees can grow according to their own goals and ambitions, and on a timeline that suits them. This also provides a platform for ongoing tracking, which then provides a searchable database of what people within an organization have learned.

As important as anything, much of the learning happens in real time. The lessons are learned when they’re needed. It’s analogous to searching for a YouTube video to find out how to use your GoPro Camera or to tie a necktie.

Who has time to read a physical manual or even a website when a short video is faster and more visually appealing? This is what people have grown used to.

These videos can also be used by supervisors to help facilitate the development of direct reports. Hiring managers and recruiters, too, can search internally for staff with appropriate skills and behaviors — or at least those developing on a certain path.

Now a few points of caution, some you’ve likely already thought about: Who creates the content? Should it be done internally, externally or both? Is there such thing as too much content and choice? Shouldn’t employees be focused on their work as opposed to watching videos? What about performance measures when ascertaining who’s fit for a certain role?

A host of other questions could arise. Even so, the essence of the trend and its staying power is certain. It’s how curriculum is now being organized and supported from grade school through college. The employees of tomorrow, like the young professionals of today, will likely use this mode of learning.

Will there still be room for books, longer-term focus and collaborative projects? Absolutely. This doesn’t diminish the fact that the appetite for this mode of learning needs to be fed by employers, as it has now long been fed by the academic institutions that supply the talent.