Marc Alifanz and Kate Bischoff are two of my favorite people. They also happen to host one of my favorite podcasts, Hostile Work Environment. I promise that I’m not just dishing out these high praises because Marc and Kate invited me to guest on this week’s episode to discuss the 10 nominees for this year’s Worst Employer poll.
You can listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you choose to get your podcasts. (And while you’re there do us all a favor and click that subscribe button if you already haven’t.)
This post also serves as your final warning to get in your vote for this year’s nominees. Polls close at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16. Over 1,000 of you have already voted (thank you!), and the margins (at least in the COVID-19 category) are razor-thin. A few votes either way could literally decide this year’s winner. Make sure your voice is heard. No whining about the results if you don’t vote.
Voting is available at this link. Remember that this year’s vote is different than years past in that we have two categories â Worst Employer and Worst Employer COVID-19 Edition. In each category, you rank each of the five nominees from 1 (worst) to 5 (least worst). Ranking all five is important because the relative rankings count in the final tally.
The polls are open until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16, and I’ll announce the winners (err ⌠losers) early next week. Continued bad luck to all of this year’s very worthy nominees.
“I wish I could see your pretty lips if they match ur eyes.”
“Come on, sweetie. Lemme see that pretty face under there. Take it off for me, will you? Just a quick flash.”
“I can be covid and make you short of breath.”
“I don’t wear a condom; I sure as hell aren’t going to wear a mask!”
“Social distancing? My pocket rocket can still reach you.”
“I’ll take your mask off and stick my tongue down your throat.”
These are just a few of the hundreds of awful and offensive comments to which service industry workers reported being subjected while working during COVID (report here).
As I recently pointed out, unlawful harassment is unlawful harassment, regardless of the alleged perpetrator. An employer cannot treat sexual (or other illegal) harassment of an employee by a non-employee any differently than harassment between employees. Indeed, in the words of the Ohio Administrative Code:
An employer may also be responsible for the acts of nonemployees (e.g., customers) with respect to sexual harassment of employees in the work place, where the employer (or its agents or supervisory employees) knows or should have known of the conduct and fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective action. In reviewing these cases the commission will consider the extent of the employerâs control and any other legal responsibility which the employer may have with respect to the conduct of such nonemployees.
What should an employer do when a customer is harassing an employee? Take the same five steps it takes when an employee is harassing another employee:
Separate the victim from the alleged harasser.
Promptly and fully investigate the allegations.
Evaluate the evidence and make a reasoned conclusion as to what happened.
Take prompt and effective remedial steps, if necessary.
Use the complaint as an opportunity to retrain employees about your anti-harassment policy.
“The customer is always right” still holds true for most things, but not if the customer is unlawfully harassing your employee.
Everyone has been hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic. Service industry employees, however, have been hit particularly hard. Many are out of work. And those who are able to work are working fewer hours and earning less in wages and tips.
Moreover, according to this survey (h/t: NPR), a majority of service industry workers are being forced to choose between earning valuable tips and staying safe by wearing a mask.
Consider these statistics regarding tipped employees:
78 percent report experiencing or witnessing hostile behavior from customers in response to staff enforcing COVID-19 safety protocols.
83 percent report that their tips have declined during COVID-19, with two-thirds reporting a decline of more than half.
58 percent report feeling reluctant to enforce COVID-19 protocols out of concern that customers would tip them less.
67 percent report actually having received a lesser than usual tip after enforcing COVID-19 protocols.
84 percent report being within six feet of at least one person who is not wearing a mask in every shift, and one-third report being within six feet of 30 or more maskless individuals on every shift.
The kicker: 37 percent of tipped workers reported that their employer had not conducted mandatory training on COVID safety protocols and 69 percent reported that their employer is not consistently following all COVID safety protocols.
This is unacceptable. Restaurant workers are on the front lines of this virus working inside one of this pandemic’s most dangerous spreading environments.
They shouldn’t have to be de facto safety sheriffs, enforcing mask mandates and other health rules. Yet, that is the position in which many of their employers have put them, which, according to the above survey, is often without training or the enforcement of COVID safety rules.
Employees should not be placed in the position of enforcing COVID safety rules with a customer, especially when they risk the loss of tips and revenue as a result. Employers, do your part. Train your workers and set up a system of enforcement that takes your front-line workers out of the enforcement equation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a curveball at businesses, but small and medium-sized organizations have found themselves in a unique predicament. With limited resources, smaller organizations need to realign their priorities given current market conditions and quickly do so.Â
A crucial part of the economy
As the pandemic continues, governments are focused on more stringent health and safety protocols. But at the same time, they try to keep the economy moving despite restrictions. SMBs are a crucial piece to doing this.Â
Governments have offered different forms of aid for SMBs. While helpful, such assistance is more focused on helping SMBs survive in the short term. Itâs essential to recognize that the speed of recovery will depend on the ability of SMBs to return to sustainable operations post-pandemic after current stimulus measures run out.Â
Here are some ways SMBs can quickly adapt and remain on track for recovery.Â
Reopen safely with technology
According to a Salesforce Research survey, 64 percent of SMBs have focused on safety and health policies due to the pandemic. Cleaning physical spaces is a huge part of it, but another way to promote health safety is to enforce social distancing and manage the number of customers coming in.Â
Reopen is a free tool that lets customers make appointments. Through the platform, businesses can set their operating hours and customers can book a time slot thatâs suitable for them to visit. With bookings set in advance, businesses can control foot traffic, anticipate demand and let clients know that they are safely open for business.
Make cost-efficient decisionsÂ
Cost efficiency is crucial for SMBs, especially when demand tends to shift depending on changing restrictions. They need a mechanism that will enable them to optimize quickly to save on costs.Â
Workforce.comâs live wage tracker enables small businesses and their managers to make cost-efficient decisions on the fly because it tracks demand and labor costs in real time. Managers can see staff count, exact costs and spot potential areas for overspending.Â
Create schedules that stay on budget
Scheduling for SMBs can be more challenging these days. There has to be a balance between having enough staff, ensuring team safety and staying on budget.Â
Workforce.com offers a scheduling platform that allows managers to input their labor budget to create a schedule that stays within a set amount. The platform can also pull in data from their POS, which can help forecast demand based on historical data.Â
Ensure staff safety
Health issues are detrimental to how SMBs operate, especially now. Creating rotational shifts to minimize contact is a good step. It also pays to conduct health check-ins during each shift where employees can declare any symptoms theyâre experiencing. This will help managers optimize operations, conduct contact tracing and assist employees should they need to be tested and isolated.Â
Workforce.com provides ways to keep track of these things automatically. Managers can create and track qualifications for safety processes such as COVID-19 test results and quarantine expiration dates within the platform. They can also set shift questions that remind staff of sanitation requirements or ask them if theyâre experiencing any symptoms.
Adapting to market volatility with technology
SMBs that utilize technology are better poised to overcome market challenges. According to the same Salesforce Researchsurvey, technology influences SMB operations in different ways, especially with customer interactions (51 percent), the organizationâs ability to stay open and in business (46 percent) and growth of customer base (40 percent).Â
The Workforce.com platform is designed to meet the workforce management needs of businesses of any size. It has different functionalities that can help SMBs thrive even in todayâs volatile market. See how it can equip your team to make cost-effective decisions and optimize operations promptly. See it in action and try Workforce.com for free today.
We are days away from the FDA approving two different COVID-19 vaccines, and it is being reported that the first people could start receiving the vaccine as early as Friday, Dec. 11.
The TL;DR: Employers can legally require that employees get vaccinated, subject to reasonable accommodation exceptions under the ADA for disabilities and under Title VII for sincerely held religious beliefs.
But can doesn’t necessarily mean should, and employers should be wary about requiring what employees do with their bodies; instead, employers should be strongly encouraging employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine when they qualify to do so.
Labor analytics and reporting are vital to making informed decisions for better efficiency and cost savings.Â
However, it might be easier said than done. Companies grapple with numerous issues surrounding labor analytics, from tracking the information they need to generating reports to making timely decisions that will actually impact their bottom line.
Lack of insight and failure to share analytics with frontline managers
It all begins with access to the right data. A common problem among companies is that they donât have enough information to help them run an efficient operation and save money.Â
âWhile most companies know how much labor hours theyâre scheduling, they face a challenge with comparing that with other vital areas such as budgets, predictable revenue and historical information,â said Travis Kohlmeyer, vice president of sales at Workforce.com.Â
Another issue is providing frontline managers with access to analytics, the very people who are creating the schedules and running operations. Itâs crucial to provide them the analytical information before the fact or else data can only help after the money has been spent.Â
âIf you donât give managers the tools they need to schedule more effectively, historical costs tend to repeat themselves,â Kohlmeyer said.Â
Inability to capture data in real time
Leveraging labor analytics has a lot to do with how timely it is acted upon. Most companies face difficulties with capturing data in real time.Â
âThis means managers and team leaders canât make game-time decisions,â Kohlmeyer said. âIf a company has to wait for 30 days to get their labor analytics, itâs basically useless. Yes, you can tell your employees to shape up here and there but not providing the insight to help them in the process tends to be less effective.âÂ
Managers can better optimize operations when theyâre able to see real-time costs and revenue throughout the day. With this insight available, managers can quickly see the peaks and valleys, decide whether to ask more employees to come in or let staff go home and ensure that the operation as a whole is cost-efficient.Â
Difficulty in generating and customizing reports
Reports out of data analytics provide a big picture view essential for labor forecasting and making organizational decisions. Sometimes companies fail to do this because generating and customizing reports tend to be a tedious task, automated reports donât match their needs or they donât have a mechanism for it at all.Â
âEvery company is different, even those in the same industry,â Kohlmeyer explained. âTypically, most solutions can provide basic cost reports, but you need more than that to better optimize your operation. Having the technology that generates reports specific to key components of your business is harder to come by and where the bottom line is lacking.â
Overcoming labor analytics and reporting challenges
Having the right technology can address pain points that come with labor analytics and reporting. âOne of the key advantages of the Workforce.com platform is its ability to give customers accurate labor expenses real-time. With the real-time alerts and advanced reporting, customers gain insights into their labor expenses and proactively plan ahead in the moment and in the longer term,â said Leon Pearce, lead software engineer at Workforce.com.Â
Being able to interpret labor expenses is helpful, but when youâre able to do so in real-time, itâs a game changer. With live insights, Workforce.com analyzes and interprets labor data even when staff are still on their shift. âIt empowers managers to make strong decisions on the fly, think like a business owner and keep staff levels optimal for demand,â Pearce said.Â
Labor analytics are also crucial to anticipating demand and staying on top of a budget. Workforce.com gives a strong projection in that regard, allowing companies to add in their actual labor budget in dollars.Â
âThis means that the platform can project real expenses of your schedule based on actual labor interpretation, giving you confidence that your labor expenses will be aligned with your budget,â Pearce said.Â
Employee scheduling validations can be configured into the platform to help managers avoid building schedules that can incur potential unnecessary labor expenses such as overtime and missed breaks.Â
Access to data and being able to get insights from it is vital to any business. For large operations, it can be harder with different areas and variables at play. Whether itâs improving clock punches, addressing understaffing leading to overtime, spotting missing breaks leading to compliance penalties, employers can handle such issues with full access to their data.Â
âWorkforce.comâs advanced reporting gives businesses access to all of their data and provides an easy to use tool for creating reports using exactly the information they need to make strong proactive decisions,â Pearce said.Â
Data only becomes powerful when it is properly interpreted; this aids in better decisions and cost savings. Workforce.com is built to do precisely that. See our reporting solutions in action and book a demo or sign up for a free trial today.
Since its founding in 2009,Hearing Care Solutions has become a leading health care company by understanding how hearing-loss technology vastly improves its patientsâ lives.
Knowing that hearing loss left untreated hinders communication and ultimately affects social interaction and quality of life, HCS is advancing hearing care through a variety of fully digital instruments at varying levels of technology from nine leading manufacturers.
As Denver-based HCS continues to implement new technologies to grow its hearing-solutions business, they also have embraced Workforce.comâs workforce management platform to improve the lives of its employees.
HCS already is reaping the benefits since introducingWorkforce.comto its employees in August 2020. HCS is saving 30 minutes per employee every two weeks by using Workforce.com, said Nallely Yearwood,executive director, operations at HCS.
Yearwood also cited three advantages since implementing Workforce.com.
Saving time on payroll days.
Saving time during onboarding.
Accessibility for all staff for schedules and time off requests through the app, which makes it easier for management.
Simplify the scheduling process
Yearwood discovered Workforce.com through research of workforce management applications, including reviews.Since its rollout,building schedulesfor its 100 employees has become more efficient and strategic with Workforce.com, Yearwood said.
âWorkforce.com relieves me of the handwritten schedules and saves me a lot of time pre-payroll as well,â said Yearwood, who has been with HCS for five years. âIt has also helped our payroll department save a significant amount of time.â
Efficiently onboard new employees
As an essential service, HCS is bullish on its plans for growth over the next 12 to 18 months as it adds new employees to meet business demand. Since the pandemic swept across the business landscape in March, Yearwood said candidate interviews have been held virtually via video calls.
Since its implementation, âHearing Care Solutions has been able to streamline the onboarding process in addition to giving us a more effective way of managing both remote and on-site employees,â Yearwood said.
There have been several lessons learned from operating a business during COVID-19, Yearwood said.
âWhile it is a new challenge to actually implement a full-blown pandemic policy, we welcome the challenges as it strengthens our internal community and our commitment to providing services to our clients,â she said.
Easy access for all employees
Everyone on the HCS staff uses Workforce.com, Yearwood added, both management and employees. âIt gives us the opportunity to ensure staffing and scheduling follows our business needs and also allows our employees to easily manage their schedules and PTO requests,â she said.
With an efficient staff management system in place, Yearwood and her team want to continue improving their online platforms and seek ways to provide the best service to their customers as they expand. Employees have endorsed several Workforce.com features, she said.
âThe(time clock) appis great, and it allows them to see their schedules ahead of time and to request time off,â Yearwood said.
Keeping employees healthy and productive will always be top of mind for HCS executives.
âOur priorities are always the safety and health of our staff and ensuring our policies and supporting processes are compliant and as staff-friendly as possible,â she said.
Hearing Care Solutions has made its workplace more efficient and productive.Book a demo and see how Workforce.com can help you.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the federal law that provides paid sick and family leave to employees for COVID-19-related absences, ends in 29 days. By its terms, the law sunsets on Dec. 31.
On Dec. 1, news broke of a new coronavirus relief bill that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will put forward. It will include important measures such as the extension of unemployment insurance expansions for another month, another round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) small business assistance, and additional funding for the USPS, schools, testing, and vaccine distribution.
What doesn’t it include? Any extension of the FFCRA.
COVID-19 isn’t going to magically disappear on Dec. 31. If anything, we’ll be in the midst of the virus’s current surge and the situation will be worse and more dire come January 2021 than it is now. You will have more employees needing time away from work because of their own illnesses, the illnesses of family members, and the closure of their children’s schools. Yet, they will lack any federal protections for this time off.
Congress needs to extend the FFCRAÂ now. Otherwise, millions of employees will be left without leave and without job protection as they and their families battle this virus.
Employers, you need to assume that the FFCRA is going away to start 2021 and spend some time over the next few weeks figuring out your own plan for your employees.
Will you grant your own paid sick and family leave in lieu of the federal benefit?
Will you merely rely on your existing PTO/vacation/sick leave benefits?
Will you grant unpaid leaves of absence but not offer any additional paid leave to employees?
Will you do nothing and force these employees out of your business?
These are difficult choices to make during difficult economic times. But you need to make them and you need a plan, as it appears that Congress will not provide one for you for 2021.
Since it is 2020, however, this can’t be a normal Worst Employer election. This year we have two categories: Worst Employer, and Worst Employer COVID-19 Edition.
Here’s how voting will work. Each category has five nominees. You’ll rank each from 1 (worst) â 5 (least worst). Simply drag and drop into your preferred ranking. You should rank all five because positions count in the tabulation.
The nominee with the most points wins (or loses, depending on your perspective). Polls are open until 11:59 pm on December 15, at which point I’ll count the votes, certify the results, and announce the winners.
Follow this link for a refresher on this year’s 10 nominees.
The poll is available via this link, or via the embed below. Happy voting, and good luck to all of the nominees. May the worst employers win.
While many industries have suffered through massive cutbacks in 2020 and were forced to make large-scale layoffs, at least one sector has weathered the economic downturn as hiring trends have blossomed.
According to Marijuana Business Dailyâs Annual Marijuana Business Factbook, U.S. medical and adult-use cannabis sales has climbed by nearly 40 percent this year to about $15 billion as industry employment in 2020 will jump by 50 percent over 2019 to almost 300,000 full-time jobs.
To lend perspective to that figure, a story in Forbes points out that the number of cannabis industry jobs is on par with the beverage industry and computer programming. And to add a bit more perspective, cannabis is a highly regulated industry requiring strict compliance measures. Just 11 states have fully legal adult-use markets withfour more states adopting laws following the November election.
Evaluating safety and hiring
Despite the industryâs growth, cannabis operators had to take a breath to evaluate their operations as the pandemic swept across the economy. Jushi Holdings Inc. remained operational at the pandemicâs onset, said Executive Vice President of Human Resources Nichole Upshaw, but company leaders assessed what actions needed to be taken.
Being a vertical operation with 450 employees (335 are hourly) in retail, cultivation, processing and manufacturing, there were certain logistical issues they had to address.
As an essential employer, Jushi immediately focused on the safety of their employees, patients and customers.
âWe worked together as a team to source cleaning supplies and PPE for all locations and employees,â said Upshaw. Currently Jushi has operations in seven states as well as offices in Denver and Boca Raton, Florida. âWe were early to provide N95 masks for our employees and start taking employee temperatures upon arrival to work.â
Prompt communication became key
Communication was immediate and urgent for this frontline employer. They established daily calls and senior management received regular updates to influence important decisions, Upshaw said.
Retail, corporate, and cultivation/manufacturing teams each had their own calls, she added. They also spoke with industry peers and constantly tracked health and employment law guidelines. Jushi also launched âBlazing the Trail,â a quarterly all-hands call where senior executives updated employees on company performance and initiatives.
Upshaw emphasized the importance of both executive and companywide calls. âMembers of the legal and HR team each attended weekly industry calls to discuss how we were all addressing the safety of our businesses,â she said. âWe attended webinars and read countless published articles to ensure we had the most up-to-date information and response measures in place. We reviewed the CDC website daily and communicated out each update that impacted our locations.â
Communicationalso was key to balancing employee safety and customer needs, she said.
âThe best thing you can do in the case of differing perspectives is communicate,â Upshaw said. âChanges that supported the safety of our employees created an environment of understanding. Reminding our employees of the responsibility we have to keep cannabis accessible to our patients and customers during these turbulent times also created an environment of understanding. These are the times when being a great listener is the best service you can provide to customers and your employees.â
Seeking talent from outside the industry
Jushi temporarily tapped the brakes on hiring at the outset of the pandemic, but itâs clear that has changed. A glance at Jushiâs careers site lists dozens of positions, from dispensary store manager and shift supervisor to HR generalist.
Upshaw said that Jushi enlists cannabis executive search and staffing company FlowerHire to assist its hiring. With its burgeoning employment numbers, the cannabis industry presents an opportunity for those who were laid off or looking for a career change to redeploy their skills. Cannabis could greatly benefit from leading professionals outside of the market, according to a release from FlowerHire.
âWhile we did have about a month when recruiting halted, that period of time didnât last long,â Upshaw said. âFlowerHire was ready to jump in like a member of the Jushi and (retail locations) BEYOND/HELLO team and be our talent scouts while we focused on keeping our employees safe.âÂ
Initially there was a lot of instruction to remind employees how important it was to follow safety protocols, she said.
âAfter months of adjusting to the pandemic, I believe that human behaviors have been forever changed,â she said. âPeople will continue to join the organization ready to work and adhere to safety standards because they have been doing so since March of 2020.â
Upgrading the onboarding experience
With the influx of new employees lacking a background in the cannabis industry, HR is responsible foronboarding employees with knowledge of what to expect before and after their first day, Upshaw said.
âMy desire is to build out a mature pre-boarding, onboarding and training experience that equips every employee for their role at Jushi and BEYOND/HELLO,â she said. âAlthough we have all adjusted to the new work order, there are many initiatives and projects that have taken a back seat to the main priority of keeping employees safe.â
Jushi has implemented pulse surveys to gather feedback on various topics, she said. During a time when health care is on everyoneâs mind, Jushi also increased the level of company contributions to benefit plans.
Adhering to compliance measures
Following governmental guidelines is nothing new to cannabis companies, Upshaw said. At the federal level, marijuana remains classified as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, while states and local agencies have layers of regulations and policies.
âWe are accustomed to operating in highly regulated environments and we have a culture of doing what we can to elevate the reputation of our industry,â Upshaw said. âThis opportunity has brought us together and allowed us to continue to reach our unified mission. I am proud of the way we have worked together, have had a bias for action, and have complied with all local, state and federal guidelines.â
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