Category: Staffing Management

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How to improve manager effectiveness

on-demand workforce, benefits, freelancers, collaboration, communication

As the link between front-line workers and company leadership, managers have a key role in making a company run smoothly. But due to the nature of their job, they also have the potential to negatively impact business in terms of reputation, employee relations and business results. That’s why leaders must pay attention to how to improve manager effectiveness. 

Some 32 percent of employees do not feel that their immediate manager acts as a coach and mentor, according to a 2019 Mercer study.  Furthermore, 23 percent do not feel inspired by their boss and 29 percent do not think their manager evaluates their performance fairly.

Organizations may struggle with how to improve manager effectiveness, but it doesn’t have to be a struggle. Here are some basic guidelines for managers and company leaders to address this.

Also read: Employee communication how-to’s during a crisis

Advice for management

1. Build trust: Not cultivating team trust is where many teams fall apart, said Sari Wilde,  managing vice president at Gartner, whose areas of expertise include recruiting, current and future leadership, and critical skills and competencies.

Managers can build this trust several ways, she said.  They set out to build personal relationships with their team members. They can run their team in a way that embraces and celebrates individual differences.

Also read: How technology can help your employee engagement strategy

One exercise Wilde’s team uses to build trust and strengthen the relationships between employees and managers is called “Each One Teach One.” Each team member takes turns saying something they want to learn and something they’d be willing to teach someone else. This gives everyone the opportunity to get to know each other more and learn from one another.

2. Ask questions: Good managers don’t make assumptions about their employees’ work, Wilde said. They ask questions.

Ineffective managers may assume they know everything and tell employees how to do their jobs to a microscopic level. But it’s much more effective to ask questions, understand employee needs and realize the context in which they are working.  From there, they can break these assumptions or misconceptions and manage more accurately. 

Advice for leadership

1. Define effectiveness: Create key performance indicators for managers and specific, measurable objectives around those KPIs, said Andres Lares, managing partner at Shapiro Negotiations Institute. What do you want you managers to do, and why are those objectives important to the organization?

KPIs vary among supervisors. For sales managers, they include average sales per employee or this month’s sales compared to previous months. For other managers, they include evaluation results from team members and how many of them have earned promotions. 

Wilde also provided some KPIs for effective managers, including: skills preparedness, employee engagement, intent to stay at the organization and discretionary effort (how hard employees work).

2. Be patient: Have realistic expectations of how much time it will take to see results.

“If you want them to build trust with their team, they need the time to develop it and the time, from a daily or weekly standpoint to develop and manage their team,” Lares said. 

To help managers meet these expectations, they need resources and processes in place to help them, he added. Without offering the proper tools and formal processes, leaders are not allowing managers the necessities to actually achieve the organization’s goals. 

For example, at SNI, they implement manager field guides within the organization so that managers can use what they’ve learned in training. “This gives managers a tool to coach their people and establishes a cadence (time) for them,” Lares said. 

3. Rewards and recognition: Like any other employee who wants acknowledgement from their managers when they have done a good job at completing an important assignment, so do managers need that recognition from company leadership, according to Lares.

“Increasing their team’s productivity should be rewarded — for both the team and the manager,” he said, adding that this is much easier if KPIs have been defined and if managers are provided the resources to achieve these goals. 

Leaders continue to coach, train and invest in managers who improve. If managers don’t hit their KPIs, even with ample time, tools and processes available, there’s a possibility that the job isn’t a good fit for them. Leaders can potentially change their roles and see if that fits their skillset better. 

Effective managers will ultimately benefit the organization, Wilde said. “When you have a great manager, they are much more likely to create great managers underneath them,” she said. Managers should be good role models for the people below them at the organization. One way to recognize good managers is by assigning them high potential, highly dedicated team members. The manager will benefit, and the employee can learn under them and go on to become another effective manager  for the organization.  

The risk of not addressing ineffective managers

While how to improve manager effectiveness may seem difficult, it’s important to offset the many potential negative consequences of bad management. The axiom “people leave managers, not companies” exists for a reason. 

Ineffective managers may drive down team performance, limit creativity and risk-taking on the team and make employees want to leave, Wilde said.  As the author of the book “The Connector Manager: Why Some Leaders Build Exceptional Talent — and Others Don’t,” she’s found several reasons people leave managers. 

Some managers have an “always on” approach with the team, she said, meaning that they give ongoing feedback to employees so excessively that employees feel suffocated and stifled. “Always on” managers want to be the person to give advice, answer their questions and tell them what to do — even if they don’t know the answer. They may be trying to help, but being involved in every aspect of an employee’s work can be detrimental.

Managers aren’t helpless if their current management style isn’t working. They can work to improve their shortcomings and offset these potential negative consequences and ultimately  build a stronger team, making their organization strong as well.

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Shift scheduling strategies can be improved through technology

shift scheduling, technology, custom fields

Life is good for an organization when shift scheduling is established and working well. Let scheduling get even a little sideways, however, and that tightly run ship can quickly become an all-hands-on-deck disaster.

Shared calendars, lost emails, hard-to-read spreadsheets, white boards and even Post-it notes are not how to schedule employees. Comprehensive scheduling software tools can prevent a Titanic-like calamity from disrupting your employment schedule.

Effective employee scheduling gives managers immediate insight into how many staff members to schedule at any given time and optimizes planning breaks, setting vacations, adding time for training and addressing unplanned absences. A streamlined scheduling plan also cuts the time associated with onboarding new staff members to full productivity.

Here are some ways that scheduling software can save time, streamline scheduling and control costs. 

Employee scheduling software saves time and money. 

The old Benjamin Franklin adage of “time is money” is as true today as it was in ol’ Ben’s era. It certainly applies to scheduling the right employee into the right slot. 

Whether it’s a 12-hour on-floor hospital shift or a four-hour lunch rush slot, scheduling software is a time-saver when it comes to matching an employee’s skills and availability to the proper shift. Managers will have a real-time schedule that changes with the organization’s needs. Scheduling software also removes the labor-intensive task of constantly rebuilding a schedule to free up you and your staff for other opportunities. In other words, you are saving up Benjamins by freeing up time.

Employee scheduling software streamlines the process. 

Saving time is important, and scheduling software helps you make better use of that time. All schedules can be created and distributed electronically, and employees can use their phone to clock in and out, eliminating the need for onerous back-and-forth emails or missed phone calls. 

This also puts much of the responsibility on the employee to communicate a potential absence or shift swap. Such functions turn the stress of scheduling employees into an HR department win.

Employee scheduling software controls costs. 

A 2017 Quickbooks survey found that 49 percent of employees admitted to time theft, which annually costs companies more than $11 billion. Scheduling software tools cut down on fraud that may be taking place in your company. 

Overtime, while often unavoidable, is another opportunity to save money through scheduling software. You have enough people to get the job done, but not so many that you’re cutting into the bottom line. Scheduling software provides the tools to cut costs in the form of unnecessary overtime by showing which employees are eligible for overtime assignments and who already clocked too many overtime hours.

Don’t be a ship helplessly tossed about in the swirling seas of scheduling employees! Find out about the benefits of Workforce.com’s comprehensive scheduling software today. You’ll see how it can boost efficiency and control costs across your entire enterprise.

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A shift schedule template is a basic food group to workforce management

shift schedule template

Like meat and potatoes on the dinner table, a shift schedule template is considered one of the basic tools of workforce management.

Indeed, shift schedules are crucial to the smooth operation of workforce management. A single, uniform system allows employers to manage their workforce and standardize operations more easily and save money through simplified, consistent administration that allows the organization to focus on its core business.

Rather than managing schedules on paper, which can be inefficient and potentially risky when trying to balance overtime, paid time off and compliance regulations, view time and attendance and scheduling through a strategic lens.

shift schedule templateA template for all needs

Finding a shift schedule template that fits an organization’s needs may not be as daunting as it seems. Most exist in Microsoft Word and Excel formats as well as in Google docs and Google sheets. 

Some are detailed to include the week, day and times of day while others are largely blank. The templates are adaptable to adjust the days of the week among other details. 

There are varying styles of shift schedule templates. Among the most-used, according to labor management company 7shifts, include:

Fixed shift schedule — Fixed shifts consist of staff working the same number of hours and days each week.

Split shift schedule — Employees agree to fill their work hours over two shifts or time slots in a day. Work with HR or legal counsel to maintain federal labor law compliance.

Overtime shift schedules — These can be costly but are often necessary during emergencies and busy times. Again, recognize labor law compliance.

On-call shifts — An employee is available to work on demand, at any time. For example, if someone misses a fixed shift due to a family emergency, the employee in waiting will be contacted to take this shift.

Benefits of flexible shift options

It’s compulsory for organizations with hourly staffing needs to use shift scheduling tools. But with work from home becoming the norm, more companies are engaging employees through flexible shift schedules.

Implement a plan, keep in constant communication with those who are remote, and then evaluate its success. 

A shift scheduling template keeps all employees — in person or remote — on the same page. A work schedule calendar also assures that no shifts will be missed.

 Why innovate what already works?

Some people are perfectly fine with meat and potatoes every night for dinner. By the same token, some organizations are content with pen and paper to schedule employees.

Technology-based employee scheduling software not only offers the steak and spuds, it provides a tantalizing appetizer, a warm loaf of bread, a scrumptious side of veggies and to-die-for dessert, too.

Rather than spending hours slaving over a hot stove — er, spreadsheet — managers can build schedules on the go and immediately post for all employees to access.

Managers also understand that employee schedules can no longer be based solely on business demand. Schedules need to reflect employee preferences. Intuitive software can inform the organization when an employee is available and how many hours that person wants to work each week.

This also empowers employees to communicate with managers regarding time off or co-workers who may want to swap shifts. There is shared value for both sides. And if employee engagement is a goal, employers can build schedules that are more predictable, consistent and adequate so employees can better plan their lives and budgets and reduce use of sick days and shift trading.

If you have a large hourly workforce, Workforce.com is here to help. Its comprehensive time-keeping and scheduling software can handle complex business demands and allow the organization to view the big picture while empowering employees and maintaining compliance.

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How do parents return to work without available child care?

Samsung service, child care, parent

Child care is the issue that has gotten the least attention in discussions about employees returning to work.

As states begin to slowly reopen and return employees to work, working parents are left wondering who will care for their children if schools, day cares and camps are closed.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act provides working parents with some relief with its 12 weeks of paid child care-related leave. But that law has limits.
  1. It does not apply to businesses with 500 or more employees, and businesses with less than 50 employees can exempt themselves from the childcare-related leave provisions.
  2. It limits an employee’s leave allotment to 12 weeks, meaning that if an employee started taking childcare-related paid leave when the FFCRA took effect on April 1, he or she will exhaust their paid leave on June 24.
  3. It does not apply if there is anyone else available to care for an employee’s child(ren) during the employee’s working time.

And the FFCRA does not account for parents who are stretched the point of exhaustion, working their full workdays remotely, and then working another full workday managing child care-related responsibilities. Consider the following hypothetical from the New York Law Journal.

Maya is an investment banker in New York City and typically works a 10-hour day. Maya has a nanny care for her infant daughter while she is at the office. During this pandemic, Maya is forced to work at home and her nanny is unable to help. Maya now has to handle a 10-hour/day job using less-than-ideal remote access technology—her remote desktop does not operate as smoothly as her office computer; she has one screen on her home computer as opposed to three in her office; she does not have direct access to her assistant or her other staff; she does not have the full panoply of office supplies and other corporate-level printing and copying, etc. With all these hindrances, Maya must work 12 hours to accomplish the same work she previously did in 10. On top of that, she must care for her infant daughter all day, which conservatively involves approximately eight hours of direct, hands-on attention. For Maya to cover her responsibilities (minus any time for even a short break), she must work a 20-hour day. And, she must do this every day, indefinitely, until the circumstances of this pandemic change.

Or consider, for example, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who on May 5 said that some K-12 schools are considering starting the 2020–21 school year on a split schedule. Half of a school’s students would attend in-person classes on Mondays and Tuesday, and the other half of Thursdays and Fridays. Students would distance learn on the days they aren’t in school in person.

This plan is great for helping schools manage social distance, but it’s terrible for working parents who are left scratching their heads figuring out who will help manage distance learning and otherwise watch their children on the days they aren’t in school, and who will provide child care after school.

What’s an employer to do?

1. Don’t discriminate. Family responsibility discrimination remains unlawful under Title VII. While federal law does not expressly include “family responsibility” as a protected class, the EEOC has long held that Title VII’s prohibits discrimination against parents as parents if you are treating some more favorably than others (e.g., dads better than moms, or men better than moms). There are also, a few states that expressly prohibit parental discrimination. If, for example, you have to make decisions about layoffs, you should be considering whether working parents are disproportionately included.

2. Consider accommodations to aid working parents. Work from home is already an accommodation, but there are others that could help here. Modified work schedules (which the Department of Labor favors in its FFCRA guidance), designated breaks, and the provision of additional work supplies such as laptops and printers could all ease the burden on parents working from home. Our goal here should be helping employees figure out solutions to get their job done, not harming employees (and the business) by erecting barriers that prevent it.
3. Finally, and most importantly, flexibility is key. Ohio’s Stay Safe Order mandates that manufacturers, distributors, construction companies, and offices allow employees to “work from home whenever possible.” If employees can work remotely, let them work remotely. Flexibility, understanding, and compassion is the best answer I can offer for the foreseeable future.
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When employees return to work, consider these guidelines

return to work policies

As the debate over relaxing pandemic stay-at-home policies continues, researchers at Harvard caution that it is not safe to restart the economy until officials can perform 500,000 tests per day nationwide — a 350,000 per day increase over the current capacity.

With such guidance being considered to reopen schools, businesses and recreational facilities, organizations must be prepared regardless of the timing. Reopening the economy after a deadly, global pandemic isn’t as simple and flipping a switch and returning to normal. There are many considerations employers must address as employees return to the physical workplace. 

Also read: How to use technology in your internal communications strategy

What employees and employers fear when people return to the work

While many employers want to “rev up the economic engines of their businesses,” they know that if this is not done safely, they risk a second wave of COVID-19 cases and another shutdown, said Michael R. Jaff, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, former CEO of Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and member of The Castle Group’s COVID-19 Response Task Force.

return to work policiesEmployers may also have concerns for employees who say they are “ready” to return to work and what ready even means in the context of a global pandemic, according to Dr. George Vergolias, medical director for behavioral health consultancy R3 Continuum. People are ready in the sense that they want their personal lives, jobs, and financial security back to normal, but they’re also worried about personal safety and exposure to COVID-19 if the pandemic is not yet over. 

“It is at such times when we must use our amazing capacity to tap into our resiliency and ability to adapt,” Vergolias said. “It’s important for leadership to both acknowledge the possible struggle in transitioning back to work, and yet don’t expect difficulties in a way that creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Workplace policies and protocols should address employees wanting their employers to keep them physically and emotionally safe as a return to work begins, Vergolias said — physical safety in the sense of being protected from COVID-19 exposure and emotional safety addressing their anxieties and fears.    

Employers must have a clear reentry plan with informed safety protocols and resources to help employees with the emotional adjustment of transitioning back to work, he said. 

Jaff also suggested that a thoughtful return-to-work plan will include clear information about the importance of maintaining safe distances, wearing masks, frequent hand washing, and cleaning all surfaces. Employers also should establish policies for sick employees before they can return to work as well as a clear plan for employees who become ill on the job. 

Hart Brown, senior vice president of crisis preparedness at R3 Continuum, noted that organizational protocols will need to be based on federal, state and local guidelines and, in some cases, based on the industry the company operates in. 

A company’s protocol will need to be flexible, he said. Crisis management during a pandemic requires forecasting and the plan may need to change. 

“Constantly adjusting the two to three-week forecast will allow for better decisions today and the ability to avoid being overwhelmed and learning by surprise,” he said. 

Dana Udall, chief clinical officer at behavioral health provider Ginger, stressed the impact of COVID-19 on employees’ mental health even after the restrictions loosen. She cited an Employer Health Innovation Roundtable survey, which found that 60 percent of employers are not satisfied with their company’s response to employee emotional and mental health during this crisis and that employers are expecting a growing need for mental health resources.

The quarantine has increased the risk of many mental health issues. People in drug or alcohol recovery may start abusing again in quarantine. Social isolation also may negatively impact people with depression or anxiety. And the stay-at-home orders have meant an increase in domestic violence, which has both physical and mental effects. 

“It’s clear that while the peak in the bell curve of COVID-19 cases may be in sight, the mental health peak has yet to come — and when it does, it will likely have a long tail,” she said. 

Employers can acknowledge the return-to-work anxieties employees may have by clearly communicating that they can take time off to manage their mental health, making up for vacations or family visits they may have missed during the quarantine. Employers can also communicate the behavioral health resources available in benefits plans, like coaching, therapy or psychiatry. 

Allison Velez is the chief people officer at Paladina Health, which employs both non-essential corporate workers who can work remotely and essential medical professionals who must be on-site.

Velez agrees that continuing to allow employees to work remotely is an important policy. Employers need to have a flexible, sympathetic approach for people in different home situations.

One strategy Paladina Health uses is a regularly scheduled, bi-weekly video call in which clinical staff can ask the organization’s chief medical officer anything and get real-time answers. Employees can voice concerns, get answers and feel like they’re being heard.

“Organizations need to, as they think about bringing employees back to work, continuing to emphasize listening channels like surveys, focus groups, town halls or open calls,” she said. “Continuing that two-way dialogue between the employer and the employee is critical right now, and finding every avenue to do that allows companies to stay on top of the new arising concerns that employees may have as they return to work — or, if they’ve already been at work, continuing to stay healthy at work.”

An employer’s response is critical, Velez said, and not only for the health and safety of the workforce. How well or poorly they respond will impact the employer brand. 

“No organization wants to be in the headlines about a major outbreak right now,” she said. “That’s both because we want to keep our employees safe and healthy, and it’s also because it’s a reflection of the employment brand and how seriously companies are taking this.” While reputation isn’t the primary concern for employers, “it’s a potential unintended consequence if employers aren’t taking the right steps.”   

Companies must make sure to seek scientific, accurate, clinical information, Velez said. This can help leaders and managers disseminate factual information about COVID-19 rather than the myths and misinformation people often hear. Also, they need to make sure they’re on top of HIPAA regulations, especially as companies and their health plans are now increasingly relying on different technology or virtual tools such as telehealth to help employees rather than in-person care. 

How quickly will restrictions be phased out? 

Despite protests for quarantines to end and normal life to begin again, it’s not that simple. Many factors of COVID-19 make the return to normalcy complicated, Jaff said. It is highly infectious and causes serious illness and death, and it is difficult to predict who will suffer from it. It’s still unknown whether those who have recovered are immune to getting it again. And there’s no definitive treatment or vaccine yet. 

“It is important that the loosening of the stay-at-home orders be done very slowly and quickly reversed if there is a recurrence of hospitalizations and emergency department visits,” Jaff said. “A resurgence in the fall, if timed with the annual seasonal flu season, could be more devastating than what we have just experienced.” 

One area of confusion among employers is that because COVID-19 is a new virus, experts may have different opinions simply because people have not been studying the virus very long, Vergolias said. Some medical experts are calling for further social distancing, while others are suggesting that leaders should begin easing those measures. 

“My recommendation for employers and leaders is to frequently update your understanding and knowledge of medical recommendations from known, credible resources and then disseminate that information to your employees in an accessible and pragmatic manner,” he said. “In general, providing timely and practical medical information coupled with emotional support resources is a solid two-pronged approach.”

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Can and should employers require antibody testing as a return-to-work condition?

antibody testing

We all want to get back to work as safely and as quickly as possible.

One thing that would allow us to do this with confidence is widespread antibody testing, a quick blood test to reveal if one carries the COVID-19 antibodies from which an employer can presume exposure, immunity and a reasonable degree of safety for an employee to return to work.

This testing, however, raises two critical questions.

1. Can employers legally require it?
2. Should employers rely on it as an indicia of safety?

Can an employer legally require antibody testing?

The “can” question is easy to answer. According to the EEOC, because coronavirus is a “direct threat,” employers have carte blanche to test employees, including antibody testing as a return-to-work condition.

The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits an employer from making disability-related inquiries or engaging in medical examinations unless they are job-related and consistent with business necessity, which includes when an employee will pose a direct threat due to a medical condition.

Also read: What a business operating in the time of coronavirus cannot look like

A “direct threat” is “a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the individual or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation.” If an individual with a disability poses a direct threat despite reasonable accommodation, the nondiscrimination provisions of the ADA do not protect him or her, and disability-related inquiries and medical examinations are legal and permissible.

Per the EEOC, “As of March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic meets the direct threat standard,” because “a significant risk of substantial harm would be posed by having someone with COVID-19, or symptoms of it, present in the workplace at the current time.”

Thus, because COVID-19 is a direct threat, employers absolutely can require antibody testing as a condition for an employee to return to work.

Should an employer rely on antibody testing as an indicia of safety?

The more difficult question is whether an employer “should” require it and rely on it.

On Sunday, The New York Times ran a cautionary article, taking major issue with the reliability of COVID-19 antibody tests, which yet do not even have FDA approval.

More than 90 companies have jumped into the market since the F.D.A. eased its rules and allowed antibody tests to be sold without formal federal review or approval.

Some of those companies are start-ups; others have established records. In a federal guidance document on March 16, the F.D.A. required them to validate their results on their own and notify the agency that they had done so.…

Most of the tests offered are rapid tests that can be assessed in a doctor’s office — or, eventually, even at home — and provide simple yes-or-no results. Makers of the tests have aggressively marketed them to businesses and doctors, and thousands of Americans have already taken them, costing a patient roughly $60 to $115.

Rapid tests are by far the easiest to administer. But they are also the most unreliable — so much so that the World Health Organization recommends against their use.

These tests have a false-positive rate of 5 percent (or higher), a significant margin of error when you consider that in a community with a five percent infection rate you’d have as many false positive as actual positives.

Even labs that are marketing these antibody tests to employers are cautioning against their reliability.

This test hasn’t been reviewed by the FDA. Negative results don’t rule out SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly in those who have been in contact with the virus. Follow-up testing with a molecular diagnostic lab should be considered to rule out infection in these individuals. Results from antibody testing shouldn’t be used as the sole basis to diagnose or exclude SARS-CoV-2 infection. Positive results may be due to past or present infection with non-SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strains, such as coronavirus HKU1, NL63, OC43, or 229E.

In other words, these tests aren’t reliable because the FDA hasn’t reviewed them, and because of risk of a strand of coronavirus other than COVID-19 flagging a false-positive result.
What does all of this mean?

First, employers should not and cannot rely on currently available antibody tests as the magic bullet to get employees safely back to work. They are simply not sufficiently reliable.

Secondly, for the time being, employers will have to rely on measures other than testing to keep employees safe.

Third and finally, the government needs to ramp up the approval of reliable testing. Without readily available quick and reliable tests we are shooting in the dark by bringing employees back to work, and we will continue to spread infections no matter how many other steps businesses take to attempt safely to return employees to work.

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How technology fits into an HR manager’s job description

HR tech; hr manager; workforce management software

While human resources used to be a more functional role, over the years it has become more strategic, with more HR executives earning a seat at the table. On the front lines, HR managers also have an evolved job description, increasingly relying on technology to take over the automatable parts of their job so that they can focus on more human tasks.

Just as employees are expected to grow with the times and learn technology skills like data science and programming that make them more attractive to employers and relevant to the jobs of the future, HR managers must do the same. 

Technology is gaining a larger role in many traditional HR duties, from recruiting to scheduling to performance management. This has been happening for a while and means that HR managers must be prepared to learn new systems and skills related to the software an organization uses. Relying on current skills is not going to get an HR manager far. They must be willing to be flexible, show curiosity and learn new skills. 

Also read: HR 101 for new human resources managers

However, if an HR manager is tech-savvy enough to manage various HR technology systems, ultimately they will have more time to focus on the HR duties that require timeless skills like tact and empathy.

Programs enabled with artificial intelligence, for example, can help answer common employee and candidate questions, leaving HR professionals time to focus on other responsibilities rather than repeatedly answer the same common, basic questions. Chatbots can’t answer more complex questions, but they can alert a person to answer those queries.

HR tech; hr manager; workforce management software

In the recruiting context, technology can help HR managers quickly review resumes. This has both advantages and risks. On one hand, employers don’t spend as much time going over resumes. On the other hand, recruiting technology may make biased decisions if it has been programmed with biased training data. Still, with appropriate training data, this has potential to make the recruiting process better. 

Also read: How the talent acquisition game has changed in the past decade

And with scheduling, workforce management software can help HR managers create schedules, even considering compliance laws that make scheduling complicated. Different states and localities have varied regulations regarding paid time off, sick leave and overtime. But the appropriate software can take regulations into account as someone creates a schedule for its workforce. 

Meanwhile, some HR tasks should always retain the human touch. Managers should always terminate employees face to-face, avoiding doing so via text message, email or other forms of virtual communication. Managers also have key communications responsibilities — for those times as common as the annual open enrollment and as unique as a crisis or global pandemic. Being able to effectively, strategically and sympathetically communicate information is part of the HR job description that does not change with the advance of HR technology solutions.

Given these tech-enabled and human-centric HR tasks, when a company is looking for a new HR manager, employers should include certain responsibilities in their job description. Some of these skills are constant:

  • Consults legal counsel to ensure that policies comply with federal and state law.
  • Develops and maintains a human resources system that meets top management information needs.
  • Oversees the analysis, maintenance and communication of records required by law or local governing bodies, or other departments in the organization.
  • Advises management in appropriate resolution of employee relations issues.

Other responsibilities can likely be streamlined through technology:

  • Recruits, interviews, tests and selects employees to fill vacant positions.
  • Responds to inquiries regarding policies, procedures and programs.
  • Administers benefits programs such as life, health and dental insurance, pension plans, vacation, sick leave, leave of absence and employee assistance.
  • Prepares budget of human resources operations.
  • Responds to inquiries regarding policies, procedures, and programs.

Additionally, the rise of technology solutions adds extra responsibilities to that list, like understanding how to use several types of tech tools. These include:

  • Knowing how to use social media to post jobs, research candidates and communicate with employees.
  • Knowing how to use an applicant tracking system.
  • Using talent management software and learning management systems can help you streamline hiring, onboarding, training and retention processes.
  • Using time and attendance software to quickly and efficiently create compliant, fair schedules.

While HR practitioners are expected to do more than ever before, they have more technology and tools available to make their jobs more efficient in many ways. 

 

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Scheduling headaches: How to better manage your hourly workers’ schedules

time clock, workforce management, scheduling, time and attendance

When it comes to scheduling hourly workers, time really is money. Managers and executives may recognize the significance of employee scheduling. Still, it can seem like an impossible task. Maintaining a fair and functional schedule that keeps everyone happy is a full-time job all on its own. Scheduling more than 100 hourly workers may be a burden for both the managers that spend hours trying to create these schedules every week and for the employees who don’t always get the schedule they wanted. 

Knowing exactly how to schedule employees isn’t easy. And there are many last-minute changes that occur, such as split shifts and requests for time off. Emergencies, such as employees calling in sick or needing their hours covered also need to be taken into consideration as extra time that managers will inevitably spend on trying to manage a cohesive schedule, said Leon Pearce, lead software engineer at Workforce.

“Schedules are never complete, they’re constantly changing. Managing the lifecycle of schedules takes some pretty good tools to do it well,” Pearce said.

Also read: On-shift scheduling doesn’t have to be a headache for managers or employees

Matt Fairhurst, chief executive officer of Skedulo, a mobile workforce management platform, said that tackling these continuous challenges is organized chaos. “The complexity of scheduling hourly workers is mind-boggling, and the chaos grows exponentially beyond 50 workers,” Fairhurst said in an email statement. “It’s a living, breathing, ever-evolving puzzle that never quite gets solved.”

Fair workweek laws are something else to be aware of when creating hourly schedules, Fairhurst said. It’s smart for managers to do some research and ensure that the company is in compliance with local fair workweek laws, which right now are in flux. 

“A large part of managing the hourly workforce is not just managing and communicating schedules, but helping establish and comply with work conditions, constraints and rules that help govern fair working practices, fatigue management and more,” Fairhurst said. “It’s important for systems managing the working week of any hourly employee to have the capability to ensure these constraints are understood, respected and optimized for.”

Employee scheduling software can help make sure that the schedule continues to work best for both the employees and the business by tracking time off requests, shift trades, availability changes, overtime and projected sales all in one place. This saves managers time and gives employees more control over their work lives. “It leads to having a more engaged and happier staff, because they’re more likely to be working the hours that they wanted, which is the best case for everyone,” Pearce said. “It also gives a lot of time back to the managers and allows them to focus more on the actual business as opposed to the administration type of tasks.”

Also read: The use of technology in managing burnout in your hourly workforce

Mike Zorn, VP of Work Strategy at WorkJam

It’s beneficial for employers to make scheduling more flexible and give employees a greater say in what their schedules look like, according to Mike Zorn, vice president of work strategy at WorkJam, an employee engagement app for the hourly workforce. “Giving people the ability to swap schedules is critical,” Zorn said. “If you give people the ability to pick up schedules when they want to work, you’re less likely to have turnover because they’re making a commitment to that time rather than the manager telling them [when to work].”

Managers should develop a self-service mentality to relieve themselves from the tedious scheduling tasks in order to put more valuable time into their responsibilities that will ultimately help the business succeed, according to Zorn. 

“It takes the manager away from those critical things that a manager should be doing, which is inspiring people, coaching people and making sure the strategies are being produced,” he said. “Anything that takes away from the key things that a manager should be doing is detrimental to the overall business.”

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A blueprint for rebuilding the nation’s blue collar workforce

warehouse workers, hourly employees

The U.S. blue collar labor force is at a crossroads. warehouse workers, hourly employees, blue collar workers

Baby boomers are retiring in droves and will continue to do so (an average of 10,000 people will turn 74 in the U.S. every day for the next 18 years) and traditional skill sets are evolving from entirely human labor to robot-assisted human labor. 

Meanwhile, there are more open jobs than job seekers. While many people think that the proliferation of artificial intelligence and automation has replaced the need for blue collar workers, in fact the opposite is true: The U.S. is facing a blue collar labor and skills shortage.

 According to an article in the New York Times, “While A.I. technology directly threatens existing retail jobs, its downstream impact has created new jobs as well. This is because — at least for now — the ‘last mile’ of online retail still requires a human touch. As it turns out, retail job losses since 2014 have been almost exactly counterbalanced by a gain of 118,000 light-truck or delivery-service driver jobs. 

“The number of heavy-truck and tractor-trailer drivers increased more than 175,000 over the same period, making these two driving jobs among the fastest-growing occupations in the United States.”

Despite these job opportunities there is a severe shortage of blue collar workers that is only projected to get worse over time and will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the nation’s economy. A report by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute examined the workforce shortage and found that “between 2018 and 2028, there could be as many as 2.4 million unfilled manufacturing jobs. This shortage ‘could put $454 billion of U.S. manufacturing GDP at risk in 2028 alone.’ ”

 When looking at U.S. labor shortages the Conference Board found that “a decline in the supply of blue collar and manual services workers would not have been a problem if the demand for them was shrinking as well. But this is not the case. The demand for these workers continues to grow, partly due to the unprecedented slowdown in labor productivity in the past decade.”

With unemployment at an all-time low, government leaders need to ensure policies are in place to build a skilled labor pool to meet both current and future workforce needs. At the same time, employers need to take a more strategic approach to workforce development which involves planning for a multiyear time horizon — typically three to five years — the same as an organization’s strategic plan. This planning needs to be account for both capacity and capabilities to ensure there are the right number of workers with the right skills.

Change the narrative around blue collar jobs. This starts by removing the stigma of blue collar jobs by raising the awareness of the contributions that the manufacturing, trucking and other sectors provide for our economy. It also means highlighting the diverse skill sets that fall under the blue collar umbrella and that many blue collar jobs in fact pay six figures.

Provide opportunities for current blue collar workers to develop additional skills. The report from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute found that “manufacturing executives stated the top five skill sets that could increase significantly in the coming three years due to the influx of automation and advanced technologies are: technology/computer skills, digital skills, programming skills for robots/ automation, working with tools and technology, and critical thinking skills.”

In order for employers to ensure that they have an appropriately skilled workforce they should partner with academic institutions to provide graduate business education courses onsite or tuition reimbursement for employees to take classes online, at night or on the weekends that teach technology, business management and critical thinking skills that are needed.

Increase investment in trade-skills training. Fortunately, there are state and federal efforts underway to increase funding for career technical education; California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed giving $83.2 million to community colleges to create and develop apprenticeship programs and President Donald Trump has proposed a $900 million increase in career and technical education. This renewed interest in trade skills training is encouraging and it is essential that this funding is sustained, both by government entities and private industry.

Blue collar jobs are one of the pillars of a nation’s economy. As we look ahead, it is critical that public policies, training programs and workforce plans are put into place to build a competitive workforce that can integrate emerging technologies with the ever-growing need for human labor.

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6th Circuit Court gives employers relief on the evidence employees must present to prove off-the-clock work

The difficulty in defending certain wage-and-hour cases is that employers are often asked to prove a negative.

“I worked __ number of hours of overtime,” says the plaintiff employee. “Prove that I didn’t.”

If the hours are for unclocked work, the employer often lacks documentation to refute the employee’s story. Which, in turn, leads to a case of “I worked/no you didn’t.” That, in turn, creates a jury question, the risk of a trial, and a settlement (since very few employers want to risk paying the plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees if the employee wins).

In Viet v. Le, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals provides employers much needed relief from these extorting lawsuits.

For several years, Quoc Viet worked for Copier Victor, owned by Victor Le. Le treated and paid Viet as a 1099 independent contractor. When their business relationship soured, however, Viet sued for unpaid overtime under the FLSA, claiming that he was an employee owed overtime. The only evidence Viet submitted in support of his unpaid overtime claim was his assertion that each week he worked “60 hours per week.”

The 6th Circuit concluded that without additional substantiation, the employer was entitled to summary judgment.

The district court correctly held that Viet’s testimony was too “equivocal, conclusory, and lacking in relevant detail” to create a genuine dispute of material fact under Rule 56. Begin with Viet’s estimate of his average weekly schedule. He claimed that he typically worked 60 hours per week.… Viet did not fill in his general 60-hour estimate with specific facts about his daily schedule. Without Viet’s general estimate, his deposition testimony would leave a jury simply guessing at the number of hours he worked in any given week.…

All told, Viet could withstand summary judgment only if we adopted a legal rule that conclusory estimates about an employee’s average workweek allow a rational jury to conclude that the employee worked overtime.…

Viet argues that Le and Copier Victor failed to identify evidence showing that he worked less than 40 hours per week. Yet Viet bears the burden to prove that he worked overtime during every week for which he seeks overtime pay.

What evidence about the number of hours an employee works will suffice to create a jury question? According to the Viet court, a coherent description of “their day-to-day work schedules or the time it takes to complete their duties so that a rational jury could find that they worked more than 40 hours in the weeks claimed.”
They do not need to “recall their schedules with perfect accuracy,” but they must do more than “simply turn a complaint’s conclusory allegations about overtime work into an affidavit’s conclusory testimony about overtime work and expect to get a jury trial.”

A common-sense solution for a difficult issue. Go forth and litigate; Viet will provide much-needed assistance in FLSA cases.