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Dear Workforce How Should We Go About Re-Evaluating Our Employee Benefits

Dear Contrarian:

Research always is a good tool, but you should think carefully about the kind of research you need. We suggest that you first evaluate the firm’s financial situation and consider what can be afforded. Next, determine the impact of the benefits package on retention and recruiting by talking to human resources, including the compensation and benefits staff, to find out what they hear and know about your program from the people they are recruiting. It is crucial to include senior management to determine organizational strategy and goals.

We would suggest two additional approaches to fact-finding—conduct employee focus groups as well as a benchmark survey of companies with which you compete for talent.

The focus group charter can be clearly stated as exploratory in nature. The groups might examine employee understanding of their benefits and what employees value—why they come to work at your organization rather than going across the street—beyond the benefits you offer.

You might position this research as a way to determine whether your employees see the various people policies and programs (your total rewards programs) as linked to their professional and personal growth. The areas to discuss beyond benefits would be affiliation, career, work content and compensation. You might say that the information gathered through the focus groups will be used to define and articulate an employee value proposition for your organization.

In addition to focus groups, conducting a survey of those companies with which you compete for talent, especially when in growth mode, will help senior management decide where you need to be in light of the competition, and how to position yourselves. Benchmarking your company’s offerings against those of the competition is an important step in determining how to position benefits as part of your overall employee value proposition. Do you want to provide benefits that are richer than your competition, in line with the competition, or less rich than the competition? You may want to consider making up for any benefits shortfall in other areas (e.g., compensation, paid time off, richer affiliation, etc.)

It’s always tempting to just call your vendors and ask for a new “package,” but if you really want to align your benefits programs with your organizational goals, it is worth taking the time to do the research, and it’s worth doing the right research.

SOURCE: Nenette Kress, Segal/MGC Communications, New York; John R. Povinelli, Sibson Consulting (a division of Segal), Tempe, Arizona; and Chris Calvert, Sibson Consulting, New York, October 30, 2007.

LEARN MORE: Please read Diagnosing the Workforce to find out how and why companies are gauging the health of their employees.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Intergenerational “Humor” Has Its Risks in Age Discrimination

Issue: Following a bitter proxy battle, X Corporation is taken over by Jim Smith, a 30-year-old entrepreneur who made $500 million by developing violent video games.

On his first day as CEO, Jim calls into his office all persons over the age of 50, all of whom have been superb workers, and says: “My old dad told me I was nuts wasting my time playing with computer games. Hah! I really don’t believe people that old have any sense. You will have a tough time proving to me that you can fit in with my 21st century philosophy. Time to get some new blood into this stodgy business!”

For the next few months, Smith constantly made disparaging remarks about the ability of older workers to do the job. At one meeting, he presented the 55-year-old supervisor of the loading dock with a cane and a walker, called another older executive “Methuselah,” and suggested an afternoon nap time for all of the “old codgers.” In addition, the younger employees and supervisors, egged on by Smith, regularly taunted the older workers with ageist remarks. At the end of four months, all the workers over the age of 50 had quit. Was the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) violated?

Answer: Obviously. The work environment at X Corporation made it very difficult for older workers to perform their duties with skill and dignity. The constant harassment by Smith and the younger employees and supervisors resulted in the constructive discharge of every employee over the age of 50. A constructive discharge is when an employee quits in order to escape illegal and intolerable employment practices or conditions.

As an HR professional, you know that the ADEA protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from discriminatory conduct based on their age. While courts have held that isolated remarks by supervisors might not rise to the level of discrimination, any employer who permits or encourages—even in jest—conduct similar to that related above is actively seeking a lawsuit. More importantly, however, employers who do not implement procedures to prevent harassment because of age or correct any harassment that occurs are also at risk of being found in violation of the ADEA.

Source: This egregious example is taken from “Age Discrimination,” part of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Technical Assistance Program. May 1999 (Revised).

Source: CCH Incorporated is a leading provider of information and software for human resources, legal, accounting, health-care and small-business professionals. CCH offers human resource management, payroll, employment, benefits, and worker-safety products and publications in print, CD, online and via the Internet. For more information and other updates on the latest HR news, check our Web site at http://hr.cch.com.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion.

 

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Short Smoking Breaks are “Hours Worked” Under FLSA

Issue: You are an employer who permits your employees to take a series of short smoking breaks that do not exceed 15 minutes. Are you required to compensate your employees for the time spent smoking?


Answer: Yes. A U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage & Hour Administrator determined that the employer was required to compensate the employees for that time since such short breaks are “hours worked” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA does not require an employer to provide its employees with rest periods. However, if the employer decides to permit short breaks, then the time is compensable hours worked.


Smoking breaks are like other “short breaks.”
The Administrator observed that employees have always taken short work breaks, with pay, for a myriad of non-work purposes—a visit to the bathroom, a drink of coffee, a call to check on children, attending to a medical necessity, a cigarette break, etc. Thus, the DOL has consistently held for over 46 years that such breaks are “hours worked” under the FLSA, without evaluating the relative merits of an employee’s activities. This position is based on the proposition that short breaks are common in industry, promote the efficiency of employees and are customarily treated as work time by employers.


What you should do:
Attempts to curtail costs by withholding employee compensation for smoking breaks should be carefully scrutinized before implementation. The FLSA is a comprehensive law and includes a myriad of regulations that require close examination. The employer in this instance thought wisely and, in advance, contacted a Wage & Hour Administrator for advice before taking any action. Thus, the possibility of litigation, and its accompanying cost, was avoided.


Cite: Wage & Hour Opinion Letter No 2007, 99-02 CCH WH 32,841.


Source: CCH Incorporated is a leading provider of information and software for human resources, legal, accounting, health-care and small-business professionals. CCH offers human resource management, payroll, employment, benefits, and worker-safety products and publications in print, CD, online and via the Internet. For more information and other updates on the latest HR news, check our Web site at http://hr.cch.com.


The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion.


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Dear Workforce How Do I Design a Survey

Q

Dear Workforce:


We have done a number of surveys in the past. Our last one was done in 1996with a recommendation that we not complete another one for three years. Before1996, we used to complete surveys annually.


In part, our decision to delay surveying again was based upon our inabilityto process the data, analyze it and effectively communicate to employees theresults and recommendations/changes stemming from the survey each year.


Since 1996, we have had top management re-structuring (more than one!) andthe survey process has been left languishing. Recently, a renewed interest hasbeen shown and I and my executive are charged with making a recommendation. Theold survey instrument does not seem to fit with our new organizational structureand I would like to develop or find a new one. Have you any criteria fordefining the purpose of a survey?


It seems to me that I could survey with a focus on organizational climate,employee opinion, job satisfaction, employee attitude and so forth. I need someway of assessing what I should focus on so that the scope is not as broad as inpast years’ and we can obtain clear evidence of issues which we can then tackle.What approach do you suggest I take?


— Vicki


 


A Dear Vicki:


An organization such as yours which has experienced more than one topmanagement restructuring over the past few years is bound to have a number ofimportant issues (e.g. high turnover, lack of clarity about the organization’sstructure, low employee morale) for which you may want employee feedback.


A survey can be a very effective tool to measure employee attitudes regardingthe critical issues currently facing an organization. The first step indesigning a surveyto address organizational issues is to define the purpose of the survey. To dothis, consider the following criteria:

  • Determine the key issues
  • Define how each issue is impacting the organization,
  • Identify which issues are the most critical,
  • Prioritize the issues based on critical impact, and
  • Determine what information is needed to support the issue.

Using this criteria, you should take an approach which will help focus yoursurvey on one or two main themes. For instance, if job satisfaction/turnover isa common theme in your most critical issues, you can design a survey instrumentspecifically centered on that issue.


Targeting the survey in this way also helps to ease the processing of thesurvey responses, analyzing the data and communicating the results,recommendations and changes. After you determine the purpose of the survey, youneed to establish the goals of the survey, determine the sample and developquestions to specifically elicit the information you want to obtain.


Finally, if you’re looking for a way to improve the efficiency ofconducting a survey and communicating the results, consider using availabletechnology. Today, many leading-edge companies are using e-mail surveys. Theyoffer some distinct advantages over traditional survey methods. An e-mail surveyoffers:

  • Speed — you can gather responses quickly within a day or two,
  • Economy — once the set up has been completed there are no printing or distribution costs,
  • Greater response — the ease of an e-mail survey generally stimulates higher response levels than ordinary mail surveys, and
  • Quicker turnaround — you can tabulate data and communicate results faster.

Hopefully, these ideas will be helpful to you in making your recommendation.


 


SOURCE: Gerard Nazzaretto, Strategic CommunicationsConsultant, Teaneck, NJ, PricewaterhouseCoopers Unifi Network.


E-mail your Dear Workforce questions to Online Editor Todd Raphael at raphaelt@workforce.com,along with your name, title, organization and location. Unless you stateotherwise, your identifying information may be used on Workforce.com andin Workforce magazine. We can’t guarantee we’ll be able to answerevery question.

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Dear Workforce How Do We Rein In a Touchy-Feely Employee?

Dear Trapped:

Communication and awareness of organizational policy are keys to successfully dealing with this and similar situations.

First some background: The idea of personal boundaries in the workplace is not new. Look at traditional office space here in the United States. Traditionally, the higher you go on the corporate ladder, the more personal space you are given. That corner office is desirable to employees in large part because of the privacy it offers. Culture also plays a part in a person’s comfort level regarding personal space, both in one’s personal life and in the workplace. People intuitively know that the level of trust and intimacy in a relationship dictates how much physical space should be maintained among colleagues, friends and family. Finally, studies have revealed that women tend to need less personal space than men do, and some women touch a colleague in order to make a closer connection with the person to whom they are talking. The touching is not necessarily a sign of physical attraction. However, it is always improper to touch someone if it makes him or her feel uncomfortable.

There are several steps that should be taken with the employee in question. The situation needs to be dealt with without regard to the employee’s job performance or seniority. In policy matters, all employees need to be treated equally and consistently. The employee’s professional abilities or executive standing do not make inappropriate actions any more palatable.

The following actions have proved successful in these situations:

• Train employees to understand and respect the clues given to them by co-workers. For example, have you ever watched two people talking and noticed Person A constantly taking one step closer while Person B keeps taking one step backward? Body-language clues can be addressed during employee training sessions.

• Communicate to employees that getting too close for another person’s comfort is easy to do, and can happen before they realize it. Associates, supervisors and customers may take close talking and innocent touching as a threat to their emotional or physical well-being. Also communicate that if it’s not corrected, this behavior can cost employees their jobs. Finally, employees must understand that such behavior with customers can also affect the company’s business relationships.

• Communicate and train your employees on the firm’s generally accepted behavior, and include those behaviors in your employee handbook. Such policies should, however, recognize that everyone expresses themselves differently, and we should not confuse differences with bad behavior.

• Encourage your employees to ask colleagues and supervisors to speak up if certain actions offend them.

In summary, communication and awareness are keys to resolving this situation in a manner that keeps all employees focused and working effectively together.

SOURCE: Rania V. Sedhom, principal, Buck Consultants, New York, October 30, 2009

LEARN MORE: Employee misconduct needn’t be a problem. Learn what should be tolerated and how to handle behaviors that can spell legal trouble.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Dear Workforce Do People Offer Only One Kind of Noncompete

QDearWorkforce: 


   Can you do two kinds of noncompetes in one company? Management is requestingone type for the support people and another for thesales reps. (The support people have a stricter policy…fashion that!) 


 -Denise 


ADear Denise: 


    In today’shighly competitive, job-hopping market, forging noncompete, non-disclosure andnon-solicitation agreements between employer and employee are certainly commonpractice. The purpose of such agreements is to bolster an employee’s”duty of loyalty” to their employer. In general terms, these agreements are an attempt to quell employees frombecoming unrestricted, “job-hopping” free agents armed with proprietaryand/or protected information. 


    With thatsaid, you may wish to consider agreements tailored to an employee’s jobfunction. As employees have varying degrees of access to company information andexposure to clients, your company may find it necessary to use two, three, oreven more types of noncompete agreements. 


    Case inpoint, an employee in an engineering management position may have greaterexposure to proprietary company information compared to a sales representative,and conversely, the sales representative will have greater exposure to clientsand the protocols and intellectual property associated with the company’sclient relations programs.


    Therefore, per this example, each employeewould warrant a different agreement to best protect the company’s assets.What’s more, as a person changes positions, you should consider whether newresponsibilities require a change in the noncompete. 


   As you draft a noncompete agreement, ensure it is obvious what interests yourcompany is trying to protect and why. The agreement must give the employee clearand unequivocal notice of what post-employment activities are restricted. Tofind out if the noncompete clause that you signed is enforceable, consult withan attorney who has experience with employment or business law. 


 


SOURCE:Benchmark HR, Salem, New Hampshire. 


E-mailyour Dear Workforce questions toOnline Editor Todd Raphael at raphaelt@workforce.com,along with your name, title, organization and location. Unless you stateotherwise, your identifying information  maybe used on Workforce.com and in Workforcemagazine. We can’t guarantee we’ll be able to answer every question.


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Dear Workforce What Are Some Techniques to Hire People Whose Personal Values Best Fit Our Company

Dear Fixated:

 

You are correct: The cultural fit between employee and the organization is an extremely important consideration. We have all had a job for which we had the skills and experience but were just not a “good fit.” Such situations often result in poor employee performance and/or turnover, both of which are costly for the employer.

During a down economy, employees who are a poor fit are way less likely to jump ship–and while this may reduce turnover, it also may perpetuate lower performance that eventually shows up in the bottom line.

So what steps can you take to ensure you hire employees whose values and interests jibe with the company? First of all, it is critical for your company to clearly understand its own culture. This requires a bit of soul searching.

This effort can be complex if yours is a larger company with many divisions and geographic locations. Each group within the organization may take on its own unique culture. In your search for a cultural identity, look at the enduring and stable things that the company values as a whole—and identify meaningful differences in these values across various branches or divisions.

Organizational culture has been studied by many different groups and has been defined in many different ways. Industrial psychologists have conducted decades of research aimed at defining organizational culture, the result being a set of relatively stable “work values” that define the aspects of work that are meaningful to an organization, based on the values of the individuals who constitute it.

Some of the most useful work has been performed by Jennifer Chatman, whose Organizational Culture Profile (OCP) identifies the following major dimensions:

• Innovation

• Stability

• Orientation toward people (fair and supportive)

• Orientation toward outcomes (results-oriented, achievement-oriented)

• Easygoing vs. aggressive

• Attention to detail

• Team orientation

The OCP uses these dimensions to measure fit via the following process:

First of all, a baseline for the organization’s culture is established. This is done by having members of the organization make ratings based on their opinions regarding which of the above dimensions they feel are most and least characteristic of the organization. These ratings are then aggregated to provide a profile that defines the organization’s culture in terms of these dimensions.

Second, an individual’s “personal value profile” is created. This process involves having individuals rank their own personal values (using the dimensions listed above) in terms of their most and least preferred work environment.

Finally, the individual’s ranking of the above work values is compared with the aggregate values profile created by the organization to summarize its culture. This comparison process yields detailed information about the overlap between the values of an organization (or one of its many groups) and those of an individual. These outcomes provide a data-based estimate of the fit between an individual and the group or organization.

As you can imagine, this information can be very useful for helping organizations make all kinds of important decisions. Perhaps the most important is within the hiring process. The work values that underlie cultural fit are relatively stable and enduring within individuals, so hiring people and trying to change their values does not often prove to be an easy task.

There are a number of different “fit” inventories available from pre-employment assessment companies, and it makes sense to look into these. When doing so, make sure to ask for the technical documentation that will demonstrate the measure has been created and evaluated using the proper scientific techniques.

SOURCE: Charles A. Handler, Rocket-Hire, New Orleans, August 13, 2009

LEARN MORE: Post-hire introductory periods provide a way to ensure people’s behaviors, attitudes and attributes actually dovetail with those of a company.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Dear Workforce How Do We Capitalize–and Recognize–Intellectual Capital

Dear Discouraged:

You clearly have a few issues to consider here that revolve around recognizing the individual’s problem-solving skills and willingness to contribute his expertise.

The first step is getting the right stakeholders together to discuss the issue. This group should involve some key business leaders or managers, as well as a human resources partner. Use this situation to review your organization’s overall ability to manage and effectively share employees’ knowledge and expertise. Doing so positions the conversation in a positive light and avoids pointing fingers at managers who fail to recognize an individual’s contributions.

Positioning the conversation in this light is positive versus pointing out the failure of some mangers and leaders to recognize an individual’s valued contributions.

Questions to address to develop a solution

  1. Does the organization currently have formal or informally designated subject matter experts (SMEs) whom people rely on as “go to” players for deep technical expertise?

  2. If there is no formal program or designation of SMEs, consider this: Is your organization at risk in terms of highly qualified experts leaving the business, taking with them valued knowledge that is difficult to replace?

  3. Which types of technical knowledge and expertise are most highly valued? Who has this knowledge and how often does the organization rely on it?

  4. Is it imperative that you designate SMEs/technical experts in key areas, functions and levels across the business?

  5. Does your employee competency model reference deep technical expertise—and willingness to share it—as a valued behavior? If not, can this be added so that contributions are recognized in the performance management process, for example?

  6. How do you foster improved collaboration and knowledge sharing through recognition?

  7. What are the required leadership behaviors to support a collaborative environment and recognize effort and valuable contributions?

Finally, it should be stated that recognition for individuals who play the technical-expert role (as described in the question) doesn’t necessarily saddle your organization with financial or other costs. Simple recognition tools (such as designating the individual as an SME, inviting him/her to coach others, or inviting the employee to present their ideas or solution to company leadership) go a long way to ensuring the person doesn’t walk to a competitor—and take expertise your organization relies on to make important decisions.

SOURCE: Garrett Sheridan, managing partner, Axiom Consulting Partners, Chicago, June 18, 2008.

LEARN MORE: Please read about strategies on formalizing approaches to cross-training for key employees.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Dear Workforce What Are the Steps to Grooming Successful Mentors

Dear Teaching the Teachers:

First off, I’d like to acknowledge that managers need to play a role in driving employee engagement and performance. I would not recommend that you replace manager-employee coaching or try to make up for bad managers with a mentoring program.

Clarify your objectives. An effective mentoring program supplements coaching from managers, and it should be positioned as a way to make the business, not just individual employees, more successful. From there you can add a more specific goal, such as helping new employees get up to speed quickly.

Define your mentor selection criteria. Mentors need to be more than willing. They need to have a coaching attitude and ability. Describe these characteristics in writing—and other traits, such as particular business knowledge or specific skills.

Equip your mentors. Provide tools and training to help mentors fulfill their role. This process goes beyond basic coaching skills to include an emphasis on:

  • Individualized partnerships. “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” may serve people well most of the time, but it can actually get in the way of successful mentoring. Effective mentors understand their individual mentees’ needs and work with everyone differently. What works great for one person can derail another.

  • Career coaching. Although employees may look to their mentors for career “navigation” advice, our research indicates that few are clear on what’s important to them. Mentors need to help people get behind the core values that create job satisfaction for them. What do they like to do and why? What would enrich their work each day? Only then can mentors help employees create a plan for professional development, career progression or job enrichment.

Reinforce mentoring. To reap the benefits that mentors provide, you need to make mentoring a way of life. Senior leaders must be role models and discuss with employees the impact that mentoring has on business and personal success.

Leaders experience success as mentors through practice. The more they mentor, the more successful their mentoring becomes. A virtuous cycle will then take hold: They believe in mentoring, they’ve seen how it works, and they’re motivated to build their own competence.

And don’t forget to build in accountability, metrics and recognition systems. Without these, mentoring can fall by the wayside as a “nice to do that we don’t have time to do,” instead of remaining a core strategy for building an engaged workforce and thriving business.

SOURCE: Cathy Earley, BlessingWhite, San Francisco, November 27, 2007.

LEARN MORE: Please read Mentoring Matters to learn how and why corporations are ramping up efforts to pair seasoned managers with promising talent.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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