Author: Max Mihelich

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Finding Your Way Through ‘Nemo’: How to Prepare for a Storm

Just three months after Hurricane Sandy hammered the Northeast, a winter storm dubbed “Nemo” is expected to deliver another pounding to the region, plunging businesses into yet another state of emergency.

Peppercomm, a New York-based public relations firm, said it cautioned employees to stay informed about the approaching blizzard—up to 3 feet of snow is predicted this weekend along with widespread power outages lasting into early next week—and use their best judgment when deciding to travel to work.

“First and foremost, our employees’ safety is our No. 1 priority,” the firm said in an email on Feb. 8. “Almost every employee is equipped to work from home, and many of our employees are doing this today.”

If the storm does go down as one of the worst blizzards in New York’s history and business is affected after the weekend, Peppercomm said its disaster plan, which effectively guided the firm through Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath, is ready to be implemented. The firm uses a text message service that allows it to communicate with employees in the event of an emergency.

It also has a private Facebook group where employees can provide personal updates and have the necessary conversations that would allow client work to continue from outside the office. And in case the Tri-State area loses power, Peppercomm has employees in San Francisco and other locations that could manage the workload of the New York office.

The Society for Human Resource Management suggests companies have disaster plans similar to the one Peppercomm created. SHRM encourages companies to regularly update contact lists as communicating with employees is critical. “Through effective communication … employees know about not only what is expected but also what resources they can turn to for support during the crisis, and others can know about their role in the emergency,” according to the organization.

In anticipation of losing telephone service, employers should consider using their website as a way to effectively communicate with employees during an emergency. Things like expected hours of operation, when facilities will be reopening or the location of a temporary work site could be communicated through a company’s website, according to SHRM.

SHRM also recommends employers have a comprehensive understanding of their obligations under laws like the Family and Medical Leave Act because “employees who are physically or emotionally injured as the result of a natural disaster also may be entitled to FMLA leave.”

It is also important for business to understand which employees it is required to pay if inclement weather causes work sites to close, SHRM says. If a work site is closed and an employer is unable to offer work to a nonexempt employee, the employer is not required to pay that employee when the work site is closed. Employers are required to pay exempt employees’ full salary if a work site is closed or unable to open for less than a full workweek. However, employers may require exempt employees to use allowed leave time in such a situation, according to SHRM.

Max Mihelich is Workforce’s editorial intern. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com

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A Poor Dating Policy Could Break a Company’s Heart—and Wallet

Matthew Ciccone recalls a budding romance between two co-workers several years ago at a New York financial company despite its policy against such relationships.

A year into the relationship, says Ciccone, a Wall Street financial analyst, the company’s management determined it had become an issue. Instead of letting the dispute play out, one employee quit to pursue her MBA, while the other continued working for the company. And, Ciccone says, the two employees later got married and now have children.

A CareerBuilder.com survey reveals marriage is a common outcome for dating co-workers as 31 percent of office romances end up in matrimony. Still, if nearly a third of all romances started in the workplace result in marriage, it also means two-thirds end in a breakup.

An office fling can pose a risk to an employer, as it could open the door to possible sexual harassment or discrimination lawsuits, says Steven Loewengart, a regional managing partner at Columbus, Ohio-based law firm Fisher& Phillips.

Loewengart says companies should be realistic when it comes to employees dating. Office romances are “bad for business, generally, but they are inevitable. Companies that try to ban it may not find the workforce that they want. It’s a necessary evil.”

A Workplace Options survey published last year reinforces Loewengart’s belief that companies should be realistic when it comes to their dating policies: 84 percent of millennials said they wouldn’t have a problem with dating a co-worker. What’s more, the study also demonstrates how employee attitudes about dating co-workers are changing, as 36 percent of Generation X workers think dating a co-worker is acceptable.

Considering the potential risks when employees date, Susan Heathfield, a management consultant and the writer of the human resources page at About.com, says she has been lucky to have avoided any major romantic relationship issues with her employees. Her thoughts on office dating have changed, she says. She now believes it’s acceptable for most employees to date. “Have a romance. If it impacts the workplace or your performance” disciplinary action will be taken, she said while speaking about her own employees.

Heathfield says a dating policy is mostly necessary because of “outliers,” the minority of employees who may not be able to handle acting professionally around their significant other while at work.

Workplace romances make sense, according to Heathfield, who cites more women being in the workplace than in years past, a more “modernized” workplace with relaxed company expectations of employee fraternization and longer working hours for reasons why office romances are almost inevitable for some companies. Co-workers often live near or within driving distance of each other, and they already share a major common interest: the company they work for, she says. “Where else do people meet now? At work. It’s better than meeting somebody random at a bar.”

The most effective way for a company to protect itself from the risks of office romances is to have a clear sexual harassment policy, Loewengart says. Companies should also be especially careful if they allow romantic relationships between managers and subordinates, he says.

In such a situation, even if both parties are acting professionally in the workplace, a third party could argue there is favoritism. Loewengart says that perceived favoritism could potentially lead to a sexual discrimination lawsuit. If an employee of the same sex as a subordinate dating a manager thinks his or her career is being impeded by the relationship, that person could claim sexual discrimination against the employer, Loewengart says.

Heathfield argues that the best way to avoid perceived favoritism is to have a dating policy that forbids managers from dating subordinates all together because she sees “too much potential for problems” with that kind of relationship. Even if favoritism isn’t taking place, other employees will still be looking for it, which can have a negative effect on morale and productivity, she says.

According to CareerBuilder’s survey, 38 percent of workers have dated a co-worker at least once in their career. And in the same survey, which was published in 2012, 37 percent of respondents said they had to keep their relationships secret.

Instead of forbidding employees from dating, Loewengart recommends employers discourage, though not necessarily ban, subordinates dating superiors. If such a thing is to happen, he says, both employees should have to go through counseling sessions and sign a document that states both parties have read and agree with their company’s sexual harassment policies. However, disclosure agreements like this don’t eliminate the threat of a lawsuit, he says. “Formal contracts can’t always shield you from a claim” because an employee can always claim they signed the document believing it was necessary in order to avoid termination.

Both experts believe that the best way for a company to protect itself is by making clear to employees its sexual harassment policies, and by establishing expectations of professionalism. If an affair begins to negatively affect an employee’s productivity or workplace behavior, the company should take disciplinary action.

Heathfield says a company should keep it simple when developing its dating policy, believing a company needs to inform dating employees to “act professionally no matter what. Be private and discreet about your relationship. I’d hate to have thousands of words for outliers and subject professional people to more rules.”

Max Mihelich is Workforce’s editorial intern. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

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Study Touts the Benefits of Internal Social Networking Sites

While some companies search for ways to limit employees’ access to social media, a recent study by Baylor University suggests businesses may want to embrace the relatively new cultural phenomenon as a way to improve employee morale and reduce turnover.

The study followed efforts by United States Automobile Association, a San Antonio-based insurance provider with nearly 22,000 employees, to acclimate new hires into their organization through participation in an internal social networking site, according to a statement from the Waco, Texas, university.

Hope Koch, associate professor of information systems at Baylor and co-author of the study, said the social networking site developed by the auto association was modeled on Facebook. Employees were encouraged to use the company site just as they would the popular social networking site as a way to “facilitate a network of acquaintances and help build emotionally close friendships,” according to the statement.

Koch and her colleagues found that participating on the site led employees to feel a “greater sense of well-being and organizational commitment and better employee engagement.”

The association’s new hires, who mostly were millennials, received the new site positively. “For millennials, mixing their work life and their social life via an online social networking created positive emotions for the employees who use the system. These emotions led to more social networking and ultimately helped the employees build personal resources like social capital and organizational learning,” Koch said in the statement.

The study found such sites can be particularly beneficial to a company hoping to reduce its information technology employee turnover rate, which is typically higher than most other turnover rates, Koch says.

Koch believes the historically high turnover rate in the technology industry is in part attributed to the American education system’s failure to produce enough tech workers to fill all the jobs available. Once those employees gain a certain level of experience, they become highly sought after by other companies she says. A recent Dice Holdings Inc. salary survey of tech professionals corroborates her claim, reporting 64 percent of respondents felt confident they could easily find another favorable position within a year.

The effectiveness of the auto association’s internal social networking site came from its gradual evolution to both a place of social interaction and use as a mentoring tool, Koch says.

The site gave new hires “access to people who could provide useful information and new perspectives and allowed them to meet more senior new hires and executives. These relationships set the new hires at ease during work meetings, helped them understand where to go for help and increased their commitment to the financial institution’s mission,” she said.

Through the organization’s site, new hires were able to seek advice and receive performance feedback from more senior new hires. They also were able to organize company events that were then sponsored by senior executives. Koch said as a result many new employees established connections with upper-level executives.

Despite the association’s success with developing an internal social networking site, Koch does not believe it would benefit all companies. Companies should consider how willing it is to integrate its employees’ professional and private lives before implementing its own social media site. Koch added an organization that “doesn’t stigmatize social media as a waste of time” and has a young workforce would benefit most from developing a site.

Max Mihelich is Workforce’s editorial intern. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

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Average Salary for Technology Professional Rises 5.3 Percent: Survey

Last year turned out to be a good one for technology employees in the United States, as average salaries for those employees jumped 5.3 percent to $85,619, according to a Dice Holdings Inc. salary survey. The 2012 figures were the largest increase in a decade for such employees recorded by Dice.

According to the survey’s report, 36 percent of respondents indicated company actions like merit or companywide raises and internal promotions as the cause for the increase in compensation. Likewise, 19 percent of respondents cited changing jobs as the reason for their salary’s increase.

The survey shows that the salary increases are coming at a time when employers are doing more to retain and motivate their employees through things like more interesting or challenging assignments and the ability to telecommute.

Rising pay and more flexibility may be due to the high level of competition for top tech talent. Sixty-four percent of respondents feel confident they could find a new favorable position in 2013, the report states.

“Employers are recognizing and adjusting to the reality of a tight market,” said Scot Melland, Dice’s chairman, president and CEO. “The fact is you either pay to recruit or pay to retain and these days. At least for technology teams, companies are doing both.”

The average salary for tech employees with two years or less experience increased 8 percent to $46,315. This is the first increase for such employees in three years, according to Dice. And for the first time, according to the survey, tech workers with at least 15 years’ experience earned a six-figure salary of $103,012.

There were seven markets across the country where the average salary for tech employees increased by a double-digit percentage, according to the report. Tech professionals in the Pittsburgh market experienced an 18 percent increase in salary, the highest in any market. Tech workers in San Diego and St. Louis saw their salary increase by 13 percent, whereas Phoenix and Cleveland-based workers saw 12 and 11 percent gains, respectively. Salaries for Orlando and Milwaukee-based tech employees rose by roughly 10 percent last year, rounding off the group of seven markets with double-digit percentage increases.

Despite the significant gains made in other markets, tech professionals in Silicon Valley still earn the highest average salary in the industry at $101,278.

Max Mihelich is Workforce’s editorial intern. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

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No Joke: Stand-Up Comedy Training for Employees Can Improve Workplace Culture

When Steve Cody was in the midst of a midlife crisis, he turned to performing stand-up comedy to help him shake it.

After his first time on stage, he was encouraged to continue his new-found craft by comedy coach Clayton Fletcher. And after two years of doing stand-up comedy every week, Cody, co-founder of New York-based public relations firm Peppercomm, realized his newly developed hobby was having a positive impact on his professional life.

Believing his entire organization could benefit from the communication skills required to do stand-up comedy, Cody pitched the idea of having all Peppercomm employees go through stand-up training to his senior management team. At first his idea was met with resistance, but soon Cody’s colleagues saw the potential benefits stand-up comedy training could have on their organization. And thus, Peppercomm’s Comedy Experience Program was born.

The Comedy Experience is “a workshop intended to be a management training and development program and a cultural change agent,” Cody said. The program “really comes in handy for companies that are having morale issues, departments that aren’t working together very well, or they’re in a post-merger/acquisition situation where there are two different cultures that are trying to get along.”

Peppercomm holds two to three internal Comedy Experience workshops per month, and one external event for clients per month, said Fletcher, now Peppercomm’s (and likely the world’s only) chief comedy officer. A single workshop can last a half-day or be as long as an entire day, depending on how many participants there are.

Workshops are broken up into three different segments. The first segment consists of talks from both Cody and Fletcher on the importance of comedy and how it can benefit business performance; in the second segment individual participants give their own three to four minute stand-up routines, which are taped, and in the final segment Cody and Fletcher sit down with every single participant and review their taped performance to offer constructive criticism.

Susan Heathfield, Management Consultant and the writer of the Human Resources page at About.com, views the Comedy Experience as a mostly beneficial training tool. “Anything like these kinds of activities where people become more comfortable presenting are positive. Plus, even if you don’t make presentations it can help you be more comfortable speaking up at a meeting,” she said.

The goal of the Comedy Experience, according to Cody, is to create better listeners and storytellers.

“At Peppercomm we’ve been doing [the Comedy Experience] for six or seven years and it’s really changed our culture in a positive way. We had a good culture to begin with, but now we’ve got a culture where self-deprecating humor is a way of speaking and our way of emailing to one another,” said Cody, who believes poking fun at yourself brings a certain level of humility and humanity to Peppercomm’s workplace culture.

Although that style of humor works for Peppercomm, it doesn’t work for every corporate culture, said Fletcher. “I feel like a sense of humor is like a fingerprint: no two are exactly alike. What we try to do is figure out what makes you funny, and then figure out how to use that in the workplace,” he said.

Heathfield believes the biggest disadvantage of this kind of program is the anxiety and fear employees may have in the days leading up to it, which may outweigh its benefits. “The way in which you approach this can make all the difference. I am a fan of helping people move out of their comfort zones, but you have to be really aware of the fact that something like this can really traumatize certain individuals.”

One of most important benefits of having employees go through a Comedy Experience workshop, Fletcher says, is that brings them closer together. “The group, invariably, they bond. They become like a team rooting for each other. … Because we come from a place of vulnerability and authenticity, people are encouraged to tell true stories. They end up learning things about their co-workers they may have never known.”

As a result of the strong team-building through the frequent comedy training, Peppercomm enjoys a low turnover rate, said Cody. “I think it’s because [the employees] have all been through this comedy thing and they’ve heard each other talk about their neurotic moms or their insomniac boyfriends or whatever. And it’s a different way of getting to know your cube-mate. It’s broken down all sorts of barriers for us.”

Max Mihelich is Workforce’s editorial intern. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.