Training – Workforce

November 17, 2023November 15, 2024

Performance Improvement Plan: Guide + Template (2024)

Summary:

A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) is a road map for employees to improve on performance issues. Its primary goal is to help underperformers do better.
Use this free template to get started with drafting a PIP.
Performance management software can help you quickly build and execute PIPs.

Performance Improvement Plans (PIP) often elicit mixed reactions in the workforce. Some view them as a precedent to termination, while others perceive them as an opportunity to improve and grow. This guide will shed light on the truth about PIP, what it’s for, its significance, and how to navigate it effectively for workforce development and success.

What is a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)?

A performance improvement plan (PIP) is a part of performance management that involves a formal document to track employee performance in specific areas where they are underperforming. It’s not disciplinary action per se, but a way for employers to assist employees in improving their performance and overcoming performance deficiencies.

Get a free PIP template by clicking the link below:

Performance Improvement Plan [Template]

While often viewed as a precursor to terminating an employee, implementing a PIP is actually done for retention. It provides an action plan with clear direction on what an employee should do to perform better in their role.

A PIP also provides documentation in case an employee fails to meet the metrics in the performance plan, which can be used as grounds for dismissal. But again, the primary goal of a PIP is to help employees succeed and prevent turnover in the first place.

What should a PIP include?

To be effective, a PIP should be able to provide clear expectations and structure. It should outline relevant goals and give timelines for when these goals should be completed.

An employee performance plan should include the following:

Itemized areas that need improvement

Goals that employees need to meet. These should be SMART — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Specific action items that employees must take to improve their performance
Metrics to measure progress
A timeline and clear expectations for when goals should be accomplished
Support that the employee can expect in terms of training, coaching, and additional tools that can help them with attaining the goals

Who’s responsible for enacting a PIP?

Human resources typically oversees the filing and management of performance improvement plans, while an employee’s manager usually determines the need for a plan and carries out the execution. Because PIPs are usually received negatively, it’s crucial to determine if this is the appropriate course of action. The HR team also has an essential role in spotting potential biases guiding managers and employees as an intermediary party. If the need for a PIP is substantiated, the manager will draft the plan, and HR will review it accordingly.

Meanwhile, other organizational stakeholders may also be involved in reviewing the PIP. It’s best if they are not directly involved in the situation so that they can review the plan with fresh eyes, ensure objectivity, clarify potential vague areas, and ensure there’s no potential risk of unintentional discrimination.

When must a PIP be implemented?

In some organizations, PIPs are used as proactive training measures for every employee, especially when there is potential for upward mobility. In this case, PIPs can be implemented on a regular basis, typically at the beginning of a new quarter.

However, if you are reactively using PIPs as a response to poor performance, you’ll want to hold off on implementing them until patterns in underperformance emerge. PIPs are usually not the first course of action for performance issues – they typically come later in the evaluation process after notices and verbal warnings have been issued.

At the first sign of a performance issue, managers typically confer with the concerned employee to notify them and provide initial coaching. If the issue persists, it can escalate to the verbal and written warning stages. The implementation of PIP usually comes at the written warning stage, where action steps and progress need to be documented.

What are the steps to implementing a PIP?

Executing a PIP is not a simple task. It involves careful investigation and clear communication. To get you started, here’s a quick rundown of the steps involved in the process:

Identify the root cause

First, you need to understand what’s causing poor work performance in order to set relevant goals.

If the performance lapse is around their tasks, identify if there’s a lack of training. Did the employee receive enough coaching? Is there adequate onboarding? Do they have access to training tools and materials?

Meanwhile, if the issue concerns attendance, you can look at your time and attendance system to spot patterns and other indicators in their timesheets and leave records. For instance, if the employee tends to be late or absent on a particular shift or schedule, try to determine why. Sometimes, it’s not necessarily the lack of training, but it could be something personal that the employee is going through.

Inform Human Resources

If an employee requires a PIP, you need to inform HR about it. Present the facts and why you came to that recommendation. If they deem a PIP necessary, you can begin by telling the employee and proceeding with a draft.

Get the employee involved

No employee wants to hear they need to improve their performance, so you must be clear, calm, and helpful when delivering the news.

Focus on the facts. Explain why a PIP is necessary and be clear about your intent to help them succeed. Reiterate that while termination may be an outcome if the plan doesn’t yield results, implementing a PIP actually presents an opportunity to not only fix performance but to go above and beyond expectations. A PIP could be the first step towards eventual promotion.

It’s also vital to involve them when devising the plan. Doing so allows you to see things from their perspective, which helps design challenging yet attainable goals. It also gives you insight into how they execute tasks and see areas where you can provide support. Ultimately, involving them sends the message that the plan is made for them and not against them.

Create the plan

A PIP should provide clarity and structure around goals, timelines, scheduled check-ins, and training.

An effective PIP begins with SMART goals — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For instance, simply saying, “David must improve performance,” is insufficient. Instead, involve a time frame and a quantitative goal, like: “David should not commit more than three kitchen-related errors in 30 days.”

Furthermore, you must include a schedule for regular check-ins to track progress. This will open up the floor for communication and feedback. Use this time to see if they need additional support or if they have clarifications. In addition, consider conducting temperature checks. In some cases, employees may accept the PIP, but in reality, they use this to buy time before they jump ship to another organization. So check-ins are an excellent time to gauge whether an employee is still in it to stay or just doing it to delay their departure from the company.

An effective PIP must include goals and schedules as well as the type of training and support the employee can expect from the company. While the goal is for the employee to carry out the PIP, the manager is responsible for providing assistance, support, and training.

Sometimes, training can be as simple as shadowing another team member excelling in a similar role. The PIP documentation should include whatever training and support is agreed to.

Let other people review the plan

Aside from asking for feedback from HR, consider sharing the plan with other managers not directly involved in the situation. This will help strengthen it in terms of objectivity and attainability. In addition, it also doesn’t hurt to ask your legal team to review it.

While this additional step takes time, it’s important to somehow “stress test” the PIP as this can help it be more effective and avoid any vagueness or potential liability down the line.

Track and evaluate progress

Evaluate the employee’s progress through regular check-ins and performance reviews. This will help you gauge whether the PIP process is working.

If the employee could meet performance goals ahead of the set completion date, it would be advisable to continue the planned plan instead of ending it prematurely. While it’s good that the employee could bridge the gap fast, keeping the PIP going until the set end date is optimal to ensure that the employee can remain consistent.

On the other hand, if the employee seems to be progressing but not at the expected pace, look at what’s causing the delay. Evaluate whether extending the timeframe makes sense or if additional training is needed.

Improve your improvement plans

Executing a PIP is not an appealing prospect for managers because it’s a tedious process. It could also be an emotional ordeal, especially since it can result in termination. The good news is that some tools can help make some areas of implementing a PIP more manageable.

Workforce.com is an all-in-one system for the entire employee lifecycle, from onboarding to payroll. Alongside an extensive performance management module, Workforce.com includes time and attendance, employee scheduling, demand-based labor forecasting, payroll, and a full HRIS suite.

Schedule performance reviews and execute action plans in an easy-to-use system tied to your scheduling and attendance data. This means you can quickly review information such as timesheets, punctuality and attendance issues, leave data, and even shift feedback all within the same system. Anchoring your performance management to operational data like this will always give you the complete picture.

Streamline your performance improvement planning by booking a call with us today.

April 27, 2021

Why would a company wait a year to implement an anti-harassment program?

sexual harassment prevention requirements

McDonald’s has lots of secrets. What’s in its sauce? What part of the chicken do the McNuggets come from? How come every time I crave a cone the soft-serve machine is out of order? Why do their soft drinks taste better than anyone else’s?

Something that’s not a secret, however, is that McDonald’s has a serious sexual harassment problem.

From CBS News:
Young women from across the country with remarkably similar accounts of workplace abuse and harassment at one of America’s largest, most iconic fast-food restaurant chains: McDonald’s: ”

“He would make comments on my body, and other workers’ bodies, saying, like, ‘I would have sex with you, I wouldn’t have sex with her,'” said Emily Anibal.

“First he was like, ‘You have nice hair,’ started touching my hair,” said Jamelia Fairley. “Then he was like, physical; then he actually started grabbing my butt.”

Kat Barber said, “Any woman that he could get his hands on or be near, he was taking advantage of that moment.”

Kimberly Lawson said, “It kind of made me feel isolated. I thought I was the only one this is happening to right now, you know what I’m saying? So, I just felt, like, completely alone.”

Lawson, Fairley, Barber and Anibal have all either filed discrimination charges or filed suit against McDonald’s corporate restaurants or their independently-owned franchises. Each tells a story of persistent and unwanted harassment from male co-workers.
In response, CEO Chris Kempczinski said the following:
Let me say plainly: every single person working under the Arches must have a safe and respectful work environment. Sexual harassment in the workplace is an affront to everything we stand for as a System. It has no place in any McDonald’s restaurant, and it will not be tolerated.
If, as Kempczinski added, McDonald’s takes “these allegations very seriously,” and “must acknowledge our mistakes and make them right,” why then is the company waiting until next year to mandate a new anti-harassment program?

Per ABC News, beginning January 2022 the company will mandate new employee training to combat harassment, discrimination, and violence in all 39,000 of its restaurants worldwide. According to Kempczinski, the details are still being worked out, but he expects training at the time of hire plus annual training for all employees.

While this is all makes sense, why does it take nine months to implement this training? McDonald’s has a serious problem that it needs to solve, and all waiting until next year won’t solve anything. McDonald’s is not some rinky-dink company.

It’s a $5 billion corporation with more than enough resources to fund a quick and thorough solution to this problem. A nine-month wait is simply not acceptable, especially considering this training is something it should already have in place and should have been providing to its employees for decades.

October 21, 2020June 29, 2023

Progressive Insurance gives interns an entry-level lesson in the new reality of office work

interns, internship, Progressive Insurance, remote work, remote workforce

A well-run internship program often enables college students to gain skills they wouldn’t otherwise attain in a university classroom.

Typically interns draw a new perspective on work while in a structured corporate environment, learning the processes, strategies and plans that lead to organizational and personal success. If properly executed, an internship can provide experience, inspiration and potentially an entry-level job as they embark on their budding career.

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of an internship is building relationships with mentors and executives while observing an organization first-hand from the inside. But since the pandemic took hold, many internship programs have been suspended or even eliminated.

Rather than abolish its internship program, Progressive Insurance Co. gave its interns a dose of corporate reality in a pandemic-stricken global workplace. Rather than intern inside its corporate offices, the insurance giant quickly created a program of remote out-of-office-terns.

Going to a virtual platform

Mayfield, Ohio-based Progressive employs some 40,000 people and like many organizations immediately pivoted to a largely remote workforce in mid-March. Gabe De Leon, Progressive’s program manager for collegiate and MBA recruiting, said that their approximately 100 hourly interns were among those suddenly cast into a remote-work environment.

Also read: Enrich your employee onboarding experience and say goodbye to paperwork

“We needed to spend extra time ensuring our interns felt like they were a part of the Progressive family given these circumstances,” De Leon said.

Time was actually an advantage since the new round of summer interns hadn’t yet come onboard. Executives made the remote work call with interns in mind, De Leon said. “Our interns were thrilled to know that we were going to honor our commitment to their internships,” he said, “albeit, 100 percent virtual.”

Progressive’s summer internships run from May through August to mirror university schedules with roles in data and analytics, IT and accounting business groups, De Leon said. Progressive interns are there to do more than just get someone’s coffee or stuff envelopes, he added.

“Our interns are assigned unique and necessary problem-solving projects that allow them to work closely with company leaders and foster their professional development.”

Learning to use remote technology

Emily Holroyd, who studies actuarial science at Ohio State University, recalled the uncertainty as she transitioned to being a remote student at Ohio State University and simultaneously finding out her summer 2020 internship in Progressive’s claims department would be fully virtual as well.

“Going into the summer it was very clear that my internship was going to be virtual, but I do remember being a little nervous about what this was going to look like,” recalled Holroyd, a data analyst intern. “I was hearing stories left and right from my peers about losing their internships or even just having weeklong programs as a substitute. I knew how important to my career this experience was going to be, so I was relieved to hear that Progressive was going to allow us to partake in the full 12-week program virtually.”

Case study: COVID-19 causes Radial’s 25,000 seasonal hires to practice safe shipping

De Leon said that interns typically get the opportunity to work alongside industry professionals, receive career advice and mentorship, and attend educational, networking and social events. They also incorporated virtual events including a roundtable with Progressive President and CEO Tricia Griffith.

Interns received a working experience as if they were on site, De Leon said. Besides one-to-one mentorships and networking with peers as if they were in an office, they learned the new realities of working during a pandemic.

“Our interns learned new virtual technology to accomplish their job responsibilities,” he said. “Learning how to navigate a large remote conference call is also a valuable skill.”

Remaining in a remote environment

The vast majority of Progressive employees will remain remote until 2021, De Leon said. Still, the internship program’s future is bright. The fact that they bring in qualified candidates through their recruiting process even in the middle of a pandemic is reassuring, he said, adding that they have made some adjustments and created a robust virtual college strategy for the fall recruiting season.

And some interns, like Holroyd, who never set foot inside Progressive’s offices, are offered full-time positions as their internship ends. Holroyd is set to begin a full-time position in the analyst development program beginning in June 2021.

“I quickly learned that I was only going to get out as much as I was willing to put in, and this motivated me to try and talk with as many other analysts as possible,” Holroyd said. “I think the fact that I was able to submerge myself into the Progressive culture, even remotely, speaks volumes about the people that work for this company. This year has thrown a lot of curveballs with school and work, but I hope to look back on 2020 warmly as I remember my internship at Progressive.”

What will Holroyd’s “I remember when …” recollections be decades from now about her pandemic-influenced internship?

“My story will definitely be, ‘I remember when I spent an entire summer working for a Fortune 100 company from the basement of my parents’ house.’ ”

Whether you have a staff of 10 or 10,000, Workforce.com offers the leading scheduling app to optimize staffing levels, forecast wages and manage shifts with ease.

September 8, 2020October 7, 2021

Diversity training is the opposite of ‘anti-American’

Late last week, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, issued a memo directing that from this point forward, the federal government will spend zero federal dollars for diversity training for its employees. Why? Because President Trump has concluded that diversity training is “divisive, anti-American propaganda.”

According to the memo, “All agencies are directed to begin to identify all contracts or other agency spending related to any training on ‘critical race theory,’ ‘white privilege,’ or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either (1) that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or (2) that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil.”

It continues, “[A]ll agencies should begin to identify all available avenues within the law to cancel any such contracts and/or to divert Federal dollars away from these un-American propaganda training sessions.”

Diversity training is the opposite of anti-American, and canceling it will only serve to drive us further apart. We need to teach differences, not hide from them.

We as a nation are more divided than we have ever been during my lifetime. In fact, I’d argue that we are more divided than we’ve been since the Civil War.

Race continues to be the line that divides us the most. Ignoring this issue won’t fix the problem, and likely will only make it worse. We will not fix America’s race problem by pretending that it doesn’t exist. Not only does it exist, but it is perhaps that which defines us best as American. Our nation is one with an unnerving history of slavery, which has caused 155 years (and counting) of race relations problems.

Germany, for example, does not pretend that Holocaust never happened. Instead, it reckons with its horrific past by teaching the Holocaust in its schools and making illegal Nazi symbols and language. Yet, some of us Americans still want to whitewash our history and fly Confederate flags. We don’t fix out race problems by pretending they don’t exist or aren’t problems at all.

Employee diversity training is critically important, perhaps now more than ever. We all should be committed to the cause of fair and equal treatment of all Americans. Canceling diversity training, however, is a big step in the wrong direction away from the goal of equality for all.

June 16, 2020June 29, 2023

Give managers the time they need to sharpen up their all-around skills

timeclock, wage and hour, schedule, timesheet rounding

How to improve manager effectiveness seems like a loaded question.

Sure, there is always room for improvement. But how do you improve the effectiveness of a manager who shares responsibilities in almost every aspect of the business process? There are business operations including onboarding and offboarding, compliance and regulations, and scheduling shifts.

A manager also is involved in training, coaching and motivating staff. Sometimes they even play the role of staff psychologist. In short, a manager is an organization’s Swiss army knife.

Which leads to another question: If you are seeking ways to improve manager effectiveness, what blade of the knife gets sharpened first?

Manager basics

At its core, a manager’s job description lists overseeing daily operations, ensuring employee productivity, monitoring efficiency of all processes and creating a positive workplace environment. Because there are nuances to every aspect of a manager’s responsibilities, freeing up time could be the biggest perk an employer could provide for their supervisorial staff. By implementing workforce management solutions, employers empower their managers to make the right business decisions in less time through software solutions.

For those managing an hourly workforce, Workforce.com’s Live Wage Tracker software allows supervisors to see wage costs in real time and adjust staffing levels and assignments to drive profitability. Every shift becomes a profitable one, and because sifting through endless reams of paperwork is no longer necessary, a manager can concentrate on other ways to drive productivity and trim costs.

Creating effective managers

Managers rarely just materialize. A high-performing employee doesn’t necessarily make a great manager. The process takes patience and time — a rare commodity for managers in most businesses.

According to Great Place to Work, effective leaders should define the most important behaviors for great managers at an organization. While certain characteristics of manager effectiveness are universal, the best insights come from identifying the unique behaviors that align with an organization’s mission, culture, customer needs and strategic goals.

Find the managers inside an organization who build high-trust relationships.
Interview these managers and ask them how they did what they did.
Use this information to identify behaviors that create a great work environment and share them across the organization.

Once company leaders identify managers and their best practices, instill in them these ideals:

Work with teams, seek ideas from team members and involve them in decisions that affect them.
Recognize employees, especially by calling out accomplishments and helping employees get ahead in their careers.
Inspire employees to follow by showing them that leaders are competent, honest and reliable.

What managers need from employers

Equip managers with the solutions to work smarter so they will be more productive throughout their work day. The result is an efficient workplace and a supervisor who can create a work/life balance for themselves.

Managers are constantly looking for ways to be more efficient with their time. Provide the leadership and perspective to manage their time. Encourage and help managers to:

Establish their priorities.
Break big projects into small tasks.
Use a to-do list in the right way.
Eliminate distractions.
Avoid procrastination.

Perhaps the most important tool in a manager’s arsenal is time. Through workforce management software, time becomes an ally for a manager rather than an opponent. Implementing Workforce.com’s Live Wage Tracker platform provides actionable data that empowers managers to react quickly and confidently to unexpected changes and keep things running smoothly throughout the day.

February 27, 2020June 29, 2023

The workplace is not immune to the impact of childhood trauma

trauma-informed workplace training, Baltimore, Youth Healing Team

There is increasingly a greater understanding that one’s work life impacts their personal life and vice versa. The two do not exist in separate bubbles.

Adverse childhood experiences — potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood — can impact how people cope with stress, how their brains develop and how much risk they have toward certain health issues, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ACEs include violence, abuse and growing up in a family with mental health or substance use problems. While 61 percent of adults in the U.S. have at least one ACE, 16 percent have at least four.

Even though ACEs occur long before people enter the workforce, they’re still relevant to a person in adulthood. And employers can take certain steps to create a “trauma-informed workplace,” said Kate Daugherty, community impact director at Hopeworks. Education management company Hopeworks has been trauma-informed since 2012, and Daugherty leads the Youth Healing Team, which trains other organizations in how to have this culture.

The Youth Healing Team has led training for schools, health care organizations and nonprofits, but this type of knowledge is useful for people in any industry, Daugherty said.

The City of Baltimore had the team provide training on the weekend of Feb. 8-9, when Mayor Jack Young signed the Elijah Cummings Healing Act, officially making Baltimore a trauma-informed city. The bill requires the city to train employees on trauma-responsive and trauma-informed care and services.

City Councilmember Zeke Cohen sponsored the bill. Cohen, who is also Chairman of The Education & Youth Committee, recounted a mass shooting in his district, the First District, in which four people were shot and two people were critically injured. The mass shooting took place at 3:45 in the afternoon, when two different schools were dismissing. Many children witnessed the mayhem.

“The thing that was perhaps most disturbing to me is when I went to visit one of the schools the next day, there was no additional support. No clinicians, no crisis response team. It just happened,” he said. “And what we know about trauma and the brain is that unless treated, that exposure to violence can have an indelible impact on the long term health outcomes and well-being of young people.”

On another occasion, a group of high school students whose school recently had a school shooting approached the education committee and challenged them to work more on reducing trauma, Cohen said. The committee worked with the students on the bill to make Baltimore a trauma-responsive city.

Interestingly, Cohen said, one type of business helped create a groundswell of support for this bill: Barbers and beauticians. In some Baltimore communities, people of color distrust getting psychiatric care in the hospital or health care setting because of mental health stigma, Cohen said, and barbers have become the unofficial clinicians of these communities. They cut the hair of and have conversations with people who may be the victims or shooters in mass shootings.

The support of businesses like barbers and beauticians was important to the cause, Cohen said.

“Even if the bill is great, if we don’t have a groundswell of people and organizations standing with it, we’ll miss an opportunity,” he said.

Part of the training which Hopeworks provides organizations and the city of Baltimore is learning about buffering factors, Daugherty said

People with ACEs may develop coping skills that got them through traumatic times in the past, but those skills aren’t appropriate for a professional setting, she said. And employers shouldn’t demonize employees for their coping skills.

She gave the example of a Youth Healing Team employee who was a smoker. Upon talking to him, they found out that he liked having that opportunity to stop and breathe. The Youth Healing Team suggested that, when he was stressed, he try standing still and taking 10 deep breaths. Then, he could reassess how he was feeling and decide if he still felt like he needed to smoke.

“Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t, but slowly over time we started to see that he needed to use that adverse coping skill less and less often,” Daugherty said.

Cohen stressed the importance of continued support of individuals, nonprofits and businesses if this bill that encourages Baltimore to train its employees to be trauma-responsive is to remain durable. Different organizations and nonprofits tend to operate in silos.

“What’s been gratifying to me about this work has been to have all these organizations working collectively. It’s been exciting,” he said. “It’s hard for a number of reasons for organizations to think about collective impact outside their own institutional needs.”

February 5, 2020June 29, 2023

HR 101 for new human resources managers

The role of HR is vast. You’re in the weeds, and the amount of duties you’re expected to perform is significant. It can include onboarding, benefits, recruiting, culture building, harassment complaints and more.

While new HR managers have previous experience in the field, becoming a manager brings about many new challenges — whether they’re an HR team of one or leading a team of many individuals.

These challenges aren’t insurmountable, though — especially with some HR 101 lessons from seasoned HR professionals. These people have learned through their years rising the HR ladder what skills and relationships are especially valuable to develop in the first months on the job.

Building relationships

The most successful HR managers focus on developing strong working relationships with their peers and business partners, said Judy Whitcomb, senior vice president of HR and learning & organizational development at retirement community developer Vi. A strong relationship with their peers helps them learn about existing HR practices, processes and available tools.

Judy Whitcomb, senior vice president of HR, Vi — Judy Whitcomb, Vi

Meanwhile, “listening and understanding business challenges and opportunities not only helps HR professionals develop his or her business acumen, it helps an HR manager develop a common understanding with business partners on how HR professionals can help develop strategies to contribute to successful business outcomes,” Whitcomb said.

The relationship between the new HR manager and their new business partner won’t develop overnight, she said. “They should expect that trust is earned over time and that the best partnerships are those you realize success together.”

One issue that may exist between HR managers and business leaders in other departments is that sometimes they don’t understand each other, said Bradford Charles Wilkins, chief human resources officer at real estate company Altisource and 2015 Workforce Game Changer.

Many people in business hold the stereotype that all HR does is “hire, fire, give a raise, promote or throw a party,” he said. They don’t necessarily think of the strategic duties HR managers can have.

Recruiting is a good example, Wilkins said. A manager may instruct a recruiter in the HR function to look for a candidate for a position. They may ask for someone like a person with a degree from an exclusive Ivy League school or with many years of experience. In short, they may think they know what they want, but the qualifications they’re looking for aren’t realistic, Wilkins said.

In general, “They assume the business knows what they’re asking for,” he said. But they have the opportunity to do more.

They can ask questions like, what are you trying to solve with this hire? Why is the degree important? Couldn’t someone without a traditional four-year degree also have the necessary experience? And, what would the residual effect of this business decision be on the company and that individual’s team?

Building relationships with employees on the front line is also important, said Lisa Murfield, human resources manager at Florida-based law firm Hill Ward Henderson. She suggests that new HR managers get out of their office, go around and meet all the employees the organization.

“You’re going to learn a lot from the people on the front lines and how they feel about the organization. They’re probably always going to have recommendations,” Murfield said. “It’s’ a good thing for the HR manager to get to know people because then [they] get that relationship where people are going to be comfortable coming to [them.]”

The most vital skills to develop as a new manager

Both the role of HR and the technology HR has access to has changed a lot in the past couple decades, Wilkins said.

“The best practice 10 years ago is not a best practice today,” Wilkins, who has been in HR for 15 years, said. The change of pace is quick in the field, people who do well in leadership roles are willing to try new things and learn from mistakes. “Now it’s not as much about learning as it is about experimenting,” he said.

One major change is the onslaught of technology like artificial intelligence and automation, he said. People who do well at their organizations know how to think abstractly in ways that machines can’t and tend to be more creative.

Business school is one place to pick up these skills, of course, but not necessarily through an HR degree, he said. “HR people going to business school is becoming more popular,” he said. “It’s easier to teach core HR — a lot of classic HR is black and white [like] rules, laws and policies — but the amorphous piece of HR and the business side of it are much more challenging.”

Bradford Charles Wilkins chief human resources officer Altisource — Bradford Charles Wilkins, Altisource

Murfield is an example of an HR manager who received an MBA in management, giving her a holistic education in finance, marketing and operations.

She stressed the importance of having some understanding of all aspects of the business. “I’ve seen HR professionals, unfortunately, who get siloed into doing HR and they don’t always understand the business of where they work.”

Finance is a key area of the business to understand, at least at a basic level, she said. Skills like knowing how to read a financial statement can be valuable. “Get to know the CFO or head of accounting,” she said. “They will be able to help you get access to numbers and analytics that may be helpful to you, if you don’t already access to that within an HRIS system.”

Further, legal knowledge is important for an HR manager, Murfield said. Keeping up with changes in employment law may be challenging, considering the complexity of the legal environment and how laws are constantly changing. Still, the legal environment can greatly impact HR duties and organizational policies.

As the HR manager as a law firm, she’s able to speak to experts within her own company, but not every manager has that luxury. “If you don’t have legal counsel, maybe that’s something you can recommend that you do have that available to you,” she said.

What to expect the first few months

First-time managers should try to set realistic goals for themselves, especially since they may experience a large volume of requests, VI’s Whitcomb said. Getting all of it done just wouldn’t be realistic.

Whitcomb suggests that managers work with their business partners to set these goals and prioritize different projects.

Also read: A planning primer for your first week as a first-time manager

The learning curve is very real at first, but people new to this position can have a positive attitude when making tough, managerial decisions for the first time. At her first managerial job, Murfield learned the importance of not being hard on yourself. One of her first tasks was to handle an indecent exposure complaint.

“I remember being calm and collective on the outside as we did this investigation but inside I’m going, ‘What am I doing? Am I doing the right thing?’ ” she said. “You have to go in, exude confidence — even if you are shaking on the inside — and, if nothing else, look like you know what you’re doing even if you’re doubting yourself inside.”

HR managers can show compassion and patience toward themselves and make the best decision they can make with the information they have, Murfield said. Equally important, though, is showing the same kindness toward others in your organization.

“You just never know what they’re going through,” she said.

January 29, 2020June 29, 2023

Engaging a remote workforce requires some down-home hospitality

employee communication, hearing, talk, schedules

Out of sight and out of mind is far from the truth when it comes to maintaining engagement among a remote workforce.

Today’s business culture is much more open to hiring remote workers as it expands the playing field for hiring new top talent, allows for more flexibility in schedules and in turn creates a better work-life balance for employees. Working remotely has increased by 103 percent since 2005.

Currently, 3.7 million employees work remotely (2.5 percent of the workforce) at least half the time. However, this can make maintaining high employee engagement and retention rates a bit tricky due to the common feeling of isolation among remote workers.

Jason Patel, founder of Transizion, a college and career prep company, said that starting with the onboarding process is key and that it is best to treat onboarding as if they were in-office employees.

“It’s important to set the tone from the start, that remote employees are just as appreciated as office employees. If that tone is set in the culture, it will percolate,” Patel said in an email statement.

Maintaining a productive and successful remote team culture requires a strong communication line. Communication tools such as Slack, Workplace or Zoom make it easier for remote teams to communicate and feel as though they aren’t missing out on important information, meetings or celebrations. They should feel like they are in the office alongside everyone else, voicing their opinions, sharing their ideas and actively contributing to the conversations.

Making sure to include remote employees in meetings and scheduling regular check-ins is also vital for creating an inclusive environment and tracking progress, according to Carlos Castelán, managing director of business management consulting firm The Navio Group. If remote employees aren’t provided with clear expectations and direction, it can be easy to feel like they are stranded on an island. Those who work remotely need to feel a sense of purpose in order to stay motivated and passionate about the company’s goals. “One of the hardest parts of staying motivated as a remote worker is fully grasping how your contributions fit into the overall picture and mission,” Castelán said.

Although emails, phone calls, video calls and text messages are convenient, Deb Boelkes, founder of leadership development firm Business World Rising, suggests taking it a step further and planning in-person meetups as a best practice if the budget permits. Whether in the form of large company events or small team-bonding outings, it is essential to build a sense of camaraderie as this can be an obstacle for those who don’t see their co-workers five days a week.

Boelkes also recommends scheduling weekly team calls to update everyone on individual and team progress, asking and offering help, brainstorming approaches and recognizing major accomplishments and successes. “Really knowing each other and meeting face-to-face helps build trust. Try to meet in person at least occasionally,” Boelkes said in an email statement. “Otherwise use video conferencing technology whenever possible. Team members need to know the other members on the team, what they are doing, and how they can help each other.”

Gamification has also become more popular in today’s business culture as it creates a sense of collaboration, cooperation and a competitive edge to everyday work responsibilities. Gamification applies game-playing elements to nongame environments, which can be used as a tactic to encourage engagement in a fun way.

This can be implemented into the recruitment or onboarding and training processes as well to increase retention rates. According to a 2019 TalentLMS study, 61 percent of the 900 employees surveyed said they receive training with gamification. Some 83 percent of those who received gamified training claimed to feel more motivated, and 61 percent of those who did not receive gamified training said they felt bored and unproductive.

“Whatever you do with office employees is what you should be doing for remote employees. If anything, you should be more disciplined and clear when working with remote employees,” Patel said. “There are far too few touch points between you and the remote employee, which means there are plenty of intersections for miscommunication. That’s why agendas, metrics, and goal and mission articulation are so important. Make it seem as if they are in the office with you.”

September 13, 2019June 29, 2023

Disrupting the Disruptors: How Incumbent Leaders Can Beat Challengers at Their Own Game

Leading companies today embody the concept of “disruptor.” They are fast-growing, digital players that are introducing innovative new business models and revenue streams and forcing incumbents to rethink their businesses.

Businesses are on track to spend nearly $1.2 trillion on digital efforts this year as they seek a competitive edge over their peers, according to IDC research. These top companies typically have leaders at the helm who are helping redefine how businesses and customers interact.

It’s time we stop focusing on what disruptors are doing and instead shift our attention to how other companies can compete. Legacy companies with the right leadership and stakeholder priorities supersede disruptors. In fact, traditional players have a significant opportunity to transform their companies and their C-suite to make a lasting impact and respond to the disruptive forces around them.

As with any big reward, risk is required. It requires a new way of thinking and a new way of doing things from the top down. The C-suite, the most crucial piece of the puzzle, must leave status quo leadership styles behind and learn new skills to compete in this age of disruption.

Where Is the Pressure Coming From?

Beyond introducing new business models and harnessing innovative technologies, disruptors have changed the playing field of consumer expectations. According to research by my organization, Accenture Strategy, 74 percent of C-suite leaders say the disruptive impact of constantly shifting customer demands has increased and has added considerable complexity to the business landscape.

Coupled with these shifting customer expectations is a set of stakeholders with specific expectations of company leaders, according to a recent report from Accenture Strategy titled “Whole-Brain Leadership: The New Rules of Engagement for the C-suite.” The report, released this past June, is based on interviews with 200 C-suite executives and surveys of more than 11,000 employees and consumers globally.

Changing the C-Suite DNA

With these disruptive forces converging on the C-suite, leaders must respond to the tides of change both by doing things differently and doing different things. Reskilling to change the DNA of leadership is now crucial to building enduring businesses and achieving competitive agility.

The majority (89 percent) of today’s C-suite leaders hold business, science or technology degrees and have honed “left-brain” skills — like critical reasoning, decision-making and results-orientation. Furthermore, 65 percent say their “right-brain” skills are weakest and recognize the need to strengthen their right-brain skills — including empathy and intuition — for a well-rounded “whole-brain” approach. Not only is adopting a progressive whole-brain leadership approach good for building diversified thinking and decisions, it’s also good for the bottom line. Our research shows a correlation with stronger financials — 22 percent higher revenue growth and 34 percent higher profitability growth (as measured by EBITDA) — for those companies using a whole-brain approach today.

Adopting a Whole-Brained Approach

C-suite leaders can unlock a whole-brain approach to leadership that applies new, richer depths of left-brain skills with more tangible applications of right-brain skills and secure the future of their companies by:

Addressing the skills gap: Changing the mix of leaders at the top of companies will help address the current skills gap. Today, 9 in 10 C-suite executives are already taking action by using organic and inorganic ways to tackle the problem. Over half (55 percent) of leaders are currently reskilling C-suite members, and 46 percent are bringing in new C-suite talent from outside their organization.
Redefining traditional leadership: Customer expectations demand a new type of leader, as this group has a clear view of what they think are important skills and behaviors for C-suite leaders to possess. Leaders need to pivot and develop a leadership style that balances traditional, left-directed skills, right-directed skills and human-centered capabilities.
Driving change deep and wide: Proactively ingraining right- and left-brain skills into the leadership of organizations is crucial to longevity and competitiveness. The C-suite must build these balanced skills and use them at both the organizational and individual level. They also need to plant seeds for the future by building this required skillset into their recruiting strategy.

Disruptors are forcing incumbents to challenge the status quo, pushing them to look outward to unlock growth and value, all while surviving waves of disruption. Through a new leadership mindset that balances left-led analytical thinking with a right-led human centered compass, it’s possible for incumbents to disrupt the disruptors.

July 31, 2019June 29, 2023

Do Workplace Bullies Violate OSHA?

According to a study recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, bullying bosses make workplaces less safe.

Poor treatment from a boss can make employees feel that they’re not valued by a group. As a result, they can become more self-centered, leading them to occasionally forget to comply with safety rules or overlook opportunities to promote a safer work environment.

The headline made me think that if bullying contributes to an unsafe workplace, can it also violate OSHA? The answer is quite possibly yes.

While OSHA does not have a specific standard on workplace bullying, it does have a General Duty Clause. It requires that employers provide a workplace free from conditions that cause, or are likely to cause, death or serious physical harm to employees. It’s not a stretch to imagine bullying, or permitting the continued employment of a bully, to violate this duty.

Moreover, if bullying violates OSHA, then failing to have a policy against it, and properly training employees on that policy, also violates OSHA. It’s a potential triple whammy.

Arguing that OSHA covers bullying is not novel. At last year’s American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section annual conference, for example, one panel argued for OSHA coverage for sexual harassment. OSHA already covers workplace violence and the hazards that cause it, potentially including intimidation and verbal abuse. And, in 2011 OSHA adopted an anti-bullying policy for its own employees.

I’m not saying this is a clear-cut issue. In fact, I think it’s more likely than not that OSHA does not cover workplace bullying. But the fact that we’re having this conversation shows that this is an ongoing problem that employers need to address.

What can employers do? The Journal of Applied Psychology study offers three suggestions.

Implement training programs that can improve leaders’ skills in interacting with their employees, so as to provide feedback and discipline in ways that are neither offensive nor threatening.
Promote a more civil and engaged work environment that strengthens social bonds between employees and creates a buffer against the negative consequences of their boss’ bad behaviors
Implement transparent performance evaluation processes so employees have less uncertainty about their social status in the workplace.

Or, you can just adopt my four-word workplace civility policy. Either way, tolerating and condoning abuse in the workplace, or worse yet, perpetrating it, cannot and should not continue, OSHA violation or no OSHA violation.