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Employee Relations: December 2009 Archives
Tim Ferriss, in his book The Four Hour Workweek, talks at length about focusing more on the customers and people who bring you in the greatest good for the least amount of work. Likewise, this concept can be applied in our dealings with our human resources, and with our customers.
Those who are in high skilled positions can be counted on to provide companies with the greatest good and greatest productivity. It is important to have more "pay-tience" with these people because they are highly valuable to the organization. On the other hand, that doesn't mean entry level staff are less important. In fact, there may be people on the part-time pay grade who make a great impact on your company. But one thing must be made clear through your organization - the patience we have with you is generally directly correlated with what you do to add to the bottom line of the company.
Similarly, with customers, if a customer brings you $6000 a year in business, you probably are going to have more patience with them than with someone who brings you in $100 on a one-time basis. Having the ability to give the extra service and support to the higher-end or more frequent clientele makes a world of difference.
Too often, we focus too much on satisfying the needs of everyone, while sacrificing the greatest good in helping those who are providing the most return on our investment in our time. In the coming days and year, look at your staff (and your customers), and determine if the pay-tience you have with them is worth your time, or if it is time to focus more on others.
A new year is upon us later this week, but why wait until the new year to begin your resolutions?
Between Christmas and New Year's Day, many are off from work, but many aren't. It's a great time to put into place new processes, new ways of doing things, and new approaches before the year comes to end.
Personally, I went to the gym three times last week (something I hadn't done in a while), so I won't be one of those people who start working out in January when I could be doing so now.
In the workplace, new processes can be put into place to get out those last few reports, sell a few more products, or to bring on board a few employees before the new year begins.
What "Old Year Resolutions" will you put into place this week?
It never ceases to amaze me what people have on their answering machines. This past week alone, I heard three voice messages of people who really need to change their approach. Two of the voice messages said "please hold on while you enjoy this music", followed by loud and unprofessional sounding songs. The other voice message sounded like someone saying "hello", then "what", they "sorry I'm not here". I told these people that if they wanted to be taken seriously, they need to have a standard, professionally sounding voice message, because you never know who is going to call you.
Secondly, I have in the past several years seen more email addresses than not that have some type of ridiculous, unprofessional sound them, and in many cases these emails were used on people's resumes!
To give you an idea of what I mean about these email addresses without implicating those who have them, no email should contain sexually suggestive comments, sports affiliations, or other descriptors that will cause employers to not take you seriously.
Keep your email address simple, like your first and last name @(insertemailprovider).com. Or use your initials and your last name, or some combo of both.
A difficult concept for many managers to understand is how to manage the flow of people and resources during the holidays. This is especially true in retail, where the ebb and flow of business over the holidays is critical to monitor and manage to maximize revenue and minimize disruption in service.
Some ways to manage this tough time include:
1. Split shifts - those working in retail know they are going to be expected to work long hours during the holidays, so by splitting a shift into 2 five-hour blocks with an extended break in the middle can work to maximize productivity and minimize over coverage in non-peak times. This may not be effective if you have employees who live far from the store location, but for those who live close by, having them work 8am-1pm or 9-2 and then come back from 5-10 or 6-11 can help you manage coverage and minimize burnout.
2. Not extending holiday hours unreasonably - does it really make sense to stay open until 11pm every night of the holiday season? Certainly, some shopping centers have rules that require stores to all be open at the same time. But if your property allows for flexibility, consider closing early when possible, especially on weeknights.
3. Having minimal staff on New Year's Day. Typically a slow shopping day, minimizing staff on this day can allow you to let staff recover from the long holiday season without wasting resources. Again, if you are open from 10-6 New Year's Day, you can probably afford to run with a minimal crew working 5 hour shifts instead of 8 hour shifts.
Best of wishes to you all this holiday season!
In baseball, the Rule 5 draft allows teams to pick up players from other teams who have high potential but aren't getting the opportunity. Wikipedia states that " The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor league affiliate teams when other teams would be willing to have them play in the majors."
Smart organizations can use the Rule 5 draft premise in their company when they have several highly qualified managers-in-training or high potential employees in one location. Rather than keep all the high talent in one place, and organization can put in place a requirement to shift employees to new locations when they have reached a certain amount of service time. This will allow for the employees to grow in situations where seasoned professional staff isn't moving or being moved to new locations.
It's important to move high-potential employees around the company if they have reached a point where they can no longer grow where they are at. Companies who adopt this policy generally are those who are happy to allow this to happen, and who have managers who are willing to develop talent and see them move on to bigger and better things.
In talking with several members of the local community, a common theme emerged around certifications and credentials; they are becoming even more valuable than ever before.
Once you finish a Bachelor's, Master's or PhD program, education doesn't have to end. Many go on to get certified in HR, Project Management, and other fields.
I have incorporated an HR certificate award program into my HR class at SUNY Delhi through NRAEF. Students take a standard test and earn a certificate in HR at the end of the course through NRAEF.
Recently, I joined PMI and am planning to attain a Project Management Professional certification.
An old friend said "there is a time for learning, and a time for earning", and I believe that is true, but learning always should be continual.
As the old adage goes, "when you stop learning you stop living."
Here is a submission from the writer of Monday's submission, WK, who also wanted to share his worst experience in the hiring process.
"My worst experience was for my first job (at a retail store). The interview was set up when I received a phone call asking if I could come in for an interview in 15 minutes. Me being a 16 year old kid at the time, anxious to get a job, and finally make some money of course, I agreed, got dressed appropriately and rushed over.
When I arrived to the store, I was led to an office where I was told to sit and wait for the manger. It took almost 20 minutes for someone to come to the office. The assistant manager conducted the interview, asking the necessary questions and giving me the information on the job. After the interview was completed, I was informed the general manager wanted to see me as well.
10 minutes or so later, the manager finally arrived, and at this point, I was quite disappointed and upset at the process, and I was sitting with my elbows on the desk and my chin on my hand. The manager pointed out my posture and added it wasn't very professional of me.
He then went on with his own interview process, asking me the same questions and telling me the same information the assistant manager had already gone over. I informed him that we just went through this already, and that I understood everything that had been explained to me. He replied that "that's how we conduct interviews."
By the end of the process, my view of the company became one that was of negative nature and I didn't care much about the job once I started it. The worst part of it all was the job only paid $6.15 an hour which was minimum wage at the time." WK
Here is a submission from one of my readers on his best experience in finding a job. Later this week, I will share his worst experience.
"My best experience involved in a hiring process was when I was hired to work at Friendly's Restaurant. When I arrived there for the interview, the manager, Alice, greeted me personally with a smile and escorted me into the office. She made small talk with me, and then began the interview immediately.
I felt welcomed from the moment I entered the door, and she was also very up-front with me. She told me at the beginning of the interview that she was strict and ran a "tight ship". She explained how she expects all her employees to be working as long as they are on the clock, and that she would accept nothing less.
Alice also explained to me that those who work hard and put in the effort to do the job would be rewarded with the ability to choose days off and be given raises when they have good quarterly or yearly observations.
I feel like that this was a good way to conduct an interview, and out of all of the interviews I've had, it was the best." WK
I used to lose my Chapstick and loose change all the time. I'd go maybe a week and it would disappear in the car (or worse be left in a pair of pants and go through the wash). Finally, I decided one day to just keep it in the ashtray of my car along with any loose change that came along, and lo and behold, I haven't lost a Chapstick in a year.
What could this possibly have to do with HR? Well, what processes to do you have in place that keep you from being organized in the workplace? Is there a central area or way of doing things that can prevent you from losing important data time and time again?
It's always important to have backups in places you will never lose them. I am a big believer in backing up in triplicate. Much like Chapstick, the USB drive has a way of walking away from me if I don't keep it secured to something like my keys. I have found a much safer way of backing up is always emailing myself a copy of the file I have been working on, and also storing it on my FTP server and computer, so I have three copies.
Sure enough, this past semester, a few of my students fell victim to the lost USB drive, and had no backup anywhere else.
So if you don't keep your Chapstick or USB drive in your ashtray, look for other ways to store your information that are safer and will result in less data loss.
How much communication is too much communication in the workplace? Are you using tools just for the sake of using them?
A worst case example I can recall was over email. I sent out an email indicating I'd be away from phone and internet service for 3 hours, and that any issues that needed to be addresses would be taken care of upon my return. This email was not read, and a 40-50 email exchange took place between several members of our project team that could have been resolved by 1 phone call if I was within service range (or if anyone had bothered to read my out of office message.
Sure enough, once I arrived after being unavailable for three hours, I made one phone call, and the entire situation was resolved.
Something to reflect on for any workplace - before you communicate, be sure you have all the necessary information before starting off a flurry of unproductive communication.
Well, here we go again! This time of year is the time where we get the "end of the world" storms where the bread and milk aisle are bare and so are the streets.
As I plan my day tomorrow, I look at this as a great day to work from home for part of it, and take the mass transit for the other part of it.
For those unaware, the Route 50 bus is one of the great connectors between Saratoga and Schenectady. You can check out the route here. $1.50 each way beats driving in the foul weather!
In positions where work can be done from home, it's always better to err on the side of safety. With telecommuting becoming such an easy option, no operation can do without a sound telecommuting plan for inclement weather.
A smart HR team will put together an action plan around how to handle absences/working from home on days like tomorrow, and work to keep the business rolling without playing favorites or risking injury.
Today, I proctored the NRAEF Human Resources Management and Supervision exam for my students in Human Resources II at SUNY Delhi @ SCCC.
After 10 weeks of class, the students in this course at my college take receive a certificate in HR from NRAEF with a score of 75 or above on the certification.
For those seeking a way to promote their staff through recognition, I can proctor these exams and teach these courses in many different topics.
http://managefirst.restaurant.org/
If you are interested in having a group taking a Managefirst course and exam, contact me for more information at
robert@galaconcierge.com
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