Workplace Culture – Page 13

October 18, 2018June 29, 2023

When Dealing With D&I Naysayers, Avoid These 3 Pitfalls

It’s tempting to focus on the naysayer. It’s easy to give those loud voices of dissent all our attention. It’s not our fault.

We evolved to be somewhat anxious and pessimistic since hedging our bets and lowering our risks kept our ancestors safe. We focus on the loud voices of dissent because they might be right, and heeding their warnings might avert disaster. But sometimes the naysayers are simply afraid, and not only is there no significant danger in the valley beyond, its abundance could sustain us for generations to come.

When it comes to leading diversity and inclusion efforts in an organization, there are three major pitfalls in the way D&I champions treat D&I naysayers.

Allowing efforts to be distracted or derailed by the naysayers. Change theorists have found about 14 percent of people are “early adopters” who immediately jump on board with a new idea, while up to 15 percent resist. D&I changemakers who focus most of their attention on converting the small minority of D&I naysayers allow early adopters to languish with no direction for their crusading energy. Meanwhile, the undecided or neutral majority stays neutral — or worse, begins to be swayed by the naysayers. Either way, precious time and opportunities are lost.
Ignoring the naysayers’ voices completely. Depending on who the naysayers are and what they’re saying, ignoring their voices completely can stall or destroy progress. When I was the internal D&I changemaker in a former organization, I made a critical error by trying to minimize and circumvent a naysayer who also happened to be the chief human resources officer. While his political influence was waning, and that of my C-suite boss was on the rise, the CHRO still had the ear of the CEO, and he was the ultimate decision maker regarding personnel policies and the training and leadership development department. If I had been more strategic in my relationship building and more patient with the pace of power shifts in my organization, we could have gained traction more quickly and I could have increased my credibility and influence more easily.
Dismissing or shutting down naysayers during trainings. An unskilled facilitator may minimize the questions or opinions of a person pushing back on D&I concepts during training, communicating indirectly (sometimes directly) that their point of view is less important than others in the room. The facilitator may try to convince the naysayer to “get on board,” wasting precious time proselytizing to the D&I naysayer while neglecting the session objectives and ignoring other participants’ learning needs. Both tactics are ineffective because they are not inclusive behaviors and therefore lack integrity with D&I principles. The first is disrespectful to the naysayer; the second is disrespectful to the entire group. Both are unwise because D&I naysayers are often bright, caring people who raise valid concerns, or important fears that must be taken seriously and addressed to ensure the success of the initiative, especially if the naysayer is a major stakeholder!

To avoid these three pitfalls, implement the following best practices for easier, quicker D&I success:

Harness the enthusiasm of the early adopters. Give formal and informal D&I champions something to do right away. Make sure these tasks are meaningful and aligned with broader strategic D&I goals so you don’t waste energy and lose momentum.
Focus on converting the undecided middle. Harnessing the early adopters will do much of this work for you. In addition, determine what the barriers are for the undecided. Are they overworked? Tired of flavor-of-the-month initiatives, waiting to see if this one is for real? Unsure why the organization is launching a D&I initiative? Unsure what it has to do with their job? Invest in internal marketing and communication to ensure your messaging is simple, accurate, inspirational, aligned and addressing the barriers of the undecided. Tell people what to expect, why it matters, and how they can contribute. Also, give change time!
Listen to, and involve, the D&I naysayers. This may be especially difficult for D&I changemakers if the naysayers represent a demographic or political affiliation the changemakers find difficult or threatening. But naysayers typically express their concerns because they care about the organization and want to make a difference, and inclusion includes everyone. Listen openly and with curiosity to their concerns — one-on-one, in training sessions, and in meetings. Role model inclusive leadership by checking your assumptions and seeking to understand. The naysayer may give you the gift of identifying a misperception that can be clarified, a valid concern that must be addressed, or a blind spot you missed. I’ve found that some naysayers become powerful allies once they’ve been heard, taken seriously and included in problem solving.

Leverage the skills and energy of your natural champions, focus most of your efforts on the undecided middle and don’t ignore the power of the D&I naysayer. Because while any change requires fired-up champions equipped with the proper tools, there are few with more zeal than the convert!

Susana Rinderle is a principal consultant with Korn Ferry, and a coach, speaker, author and diversity and inclusion expert. The postings on this website represent my own personal views and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Korn Ferry International or any other organization with which I may be affiliated. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

October 17, 2018October 28, 2020

Employers Find Sports Score Employee Engagement and Retention Points

employee engagement and retention, employee performance

The Major League Baseball postseason is well underway with some games taking place during normal work hours.

The Chicago Cubs had their midday National League tiebreaker on a Monday, while Game 3 of Houston Astros-Cleveland Indians in the American League Division Series also was a mid-afternoon start. Games happening early in the day has both hurt and helped workplaces nationwide.

When sporting events occur during work hours, employers could face productivity issues, which can include employees calling in sick, leaving early or arriving late. But there’s an opportunity to flip that thinking and use such events as an employee engagement and retention tool.

Joyce Maroney, executive director of the Workforce Institute at workforce management software company Kronos Inc., studies workplace issues and ways to manage and engage workers. Maroney said one of the ways employers can avoid these issues is by making the sporting event available in the office, whether on TV in a break room or conference room, or an office-watch party with food provided.

“It can definitely be a tool to stimulate camaraderie, just as would be departments having gatherings during the holiday season, or doing a charity event together,” Maroney said. “All these things engage people at work and can make people feel like they’re part of something that’s a little bigger than just getting the job done.”

Maroney may be onto something.

A survey conducted in March 2018 by employee and recruitment agency Randstad U.S. said 79 percent of employees believe sporting events in the office “greatly improves their levels of engagement at work.” In the same study, 73 percent of workers say they look forward to going to work more when they participate in office sports bracket contests like college basketball’s March Madness tournament. Also, a 2017 study conducted by employee time-management app TSheets found that 68 percent of employees said watching games increases or has no effect on their productivity.

Chicago-based staffing and recruiting firm LaSalle Network embraces sports in its office. The big sporting events they consider as employee engagement and retention tools in the workplace are March Madness, the Olympics and the World Cup soccer.

Founder and CEO Tom Gimbel said doing this has resulted in better relationships with fellow employees and clients as they have a viewing party for the annual March Madness tournament.

“It empowers employees because they don’t have to sneak around to participate in something they enjoy,” Gimbel said. “It also makes our clients feel valued. We want them to know we appreciate our relationships with them. It helps builds trust.”

The Super Bowl, arguably the biggest U.S.-based sporting event every year, normally attracts over 100 million viewers annually. Even those who don’t consider themselves sports fans watch the Big Game.

Research conducted before this year’s Super Bowl by the Workforce Institute at Kronos and Mucinex found that nearly 14 million employed Americans planned to call out of work after watching the game. Another 25 percent of working Americans, 38.5 million people, said the Monday after the Super Bowl should be considered a national holiday.

https://soundcloud.com/user-745793386/talent10x-should-the-monday-after-the-super-bowl-be-a-holiday

Gimbel said companies that attempt to “squash the fun and energy” coming from a big sporting event are missing out on a great opportunity to engage their staff.

Looking at the current state of Chicago’s core sports teams right now, Gimbel might be planning a little something for his firm in February.

“We’re not ruling out anything for the Super Bowl,” Gimbel said. “If the [Chicago] Bears make it, who knows what we’ll do?”

October 9, 2018June 29, 2023

Listening to Music Can Improve Workplace Productivity

Employees who receive backlash for listening to music while on the job finally have some credibility. Accountemps, a division of global staffing firm Robert Half, conducted a survey consisting of 1,000 workers in office environments, and the results are encouraging for music lovers.

Of those allowed to listen to music while working, 85 percent of participants said they prefer to bump tunes at work rather than listen to nothing. Further, eight out of 10 total survey respondents said they enjoy it, and 71 percent said it makes them more productive.

Meanwhile, employers themselves aren’t necessarily tone-deaf to these potential benefits. Ask Marie Tillman, founder and CEO of Mac & Mia, a curated children’s clothing service. Tillman believes music plays a beneficial role in helping her team of 30 employees at its Chicago headquarters.

“Happy workers are more productive workers,” Tillman said. “If music is something that makes someone happy, I think it makes them more productive.”

Music plays a solid role in making most employees better workers, and the type of genre that has this impact on employees varies by the individual.

According to the survey, out of the 85 percent of people who like listening to music at work, three genres topped the list in terms of popularity: pop, rock and country. Michael Steinitz, executive director of Accountemps, said this can be explained by generational preferences.

“It’s very much a product of the times where so many of the generations have changed in the workforce,” Steinitz said. “If you walk down the street or a college campus these days everyone has got headphones plugged in. That has transitioned into many cultures in the workplace.”

For these employees who are more likely to listen to music at work, these three genres are their favorites.

“Happy workers are more productive workers. If music is something that makes someone happy, I think it makes them more productive.” ~Marie Tillman, founder and CEO, Mac & Mia,

While music largely plays a positive role in a work environment, some people still won’t take kindly to it. Accountemps provided some do’s and don’ts of listening to music at work.

Among the list of do’s are to be respectful to one’s colleagues. Employees should wear headphones if they work in a shared office space to avoid disturbing their coworkers. If not, they should be respectful of their coworkers’ music tastes, as they may not be the same as theirs.

It’s also important for an employee to not play their music too loud. That way they can be attentive and hear their phone ring or a coworker calling their name.

Tillman, while being a firm supporter of music in the office, doesn’t deny that it has caused problems in her open-office environment before.

“The only issue we have ever had is when someone is playing music for everyone to hear,” Tillman said. “Maybe someone doesn’t want music because it’s distracting, so that has caused some issues. Now we have employees wear headphones.”

Steinitz is familiar with instances of music being an issue in the workplace, too.

“I’ve heard of stories where people probably weren’t as mindful or respectful for people around them and just were playing music too loud or things that may have been inappropriate.”

There are many other things that employees shouldn’t do in the workplace, like sing along or tap their hands and feet. That will most likely bother coworkers sitting near them. If they have their music playing when coworkers request their attention, it shows a lack of care. Busting out the Beats by Dre headphones when a coworker is requesting attention isn’t the smartest or nicest move.

Steinitz hopes people learned a valuable lesson from this study: don’t be afraid to try new things. Doing the unordinary in the office shouldn’t be frowned upon any longer.

“In this day and age, when it’s such a tight market and you need to keep employees engaged, it’s good to be open-minded to different sort of avenues to keep people motivated.”

October 5, 2018June 29, 2023

How to Build High-performing Teams and Gain the Ultimate Competitive Advantage

Trust is key to a functioning workplace and to high-performing teams. It also, however, is on a steep decline. The 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer found a 37-point drop in trust across all institutions in the United States.

But the study also had some surprising findings about trust in the workplace. Some 72 percent of respondents said they trusted their employer to do what is right.

That’s good news for leaders as they seek to nurture trust and build effective teams. Trust is frequently seen as a “soft” pursuit that can be furthered with social events, mission statements and the like. In truth, trust flows from a hard approach that prioritizes a clear overarching strategy and a commitment to transparency.

Trust is invaluable in effective teamwork. Workplace expert and writer Patrick Lencioni said it best. “Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare.”

Business leaders can build the teams they need to get that competitive advantage by investing in high-performing teams and giving them the tools they need. They must support them on their journey through deliberate practices grounded in art and science. These three steps are proven approaches to building effective teams.

Craft a Shared Vision That Inspires

The best teams are grounded in a sense of purpose and are inspired by a shared vision. Helping teams discover their unique purpose jump-starts teams into the honeymoon phase, reminding them why they commit their nights and days to each other and their clients.

Crafting a shared vision helps teams begin imagining new possibilities and renews a sense of focus and passion. Watching a team go all in is priceless; it’s every leader’s dream.

Engage the Right Mix of People

Once a team is fully engaged in their “why,” they need to discover how to work together to bring their vision to life. The right mix for a team is a diverse group of committed and passionate people with a shared vision and deep investment in each other’s success. As individuals, they bring their own unique experiences, skills and perspectives. But the magic happens when they come together to solve the most complex problems.

The right mix is much more than a collection of individual superstars. In fact, a focus on individuals undermines team-building.

Practice the Behaviors That Lead to Success

Leaders can craft a beautiful shared vision and recruit the right mix but it’s how the team behaves together that matters most. Lencioni got it right in his bestselling book, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.” What differentiates great teams from dysfunctional teams is their ability to practice five winning behaviors that drive collective success.

A leader’s ability to model these behaviors — and expect nothing less of the team — are essential to success.

The five winning behaviors are trust, conflict, commitment, accountability and a focus on results. Each of these plays out in team-building.

Trust is the confidence among team members that their peers’ intentions are good. When trust exists, team members have each other’s back and feel free to express their ideas, listen respectfully to the ideas of others and build a shared solution to a problem.

The second winning behavior is conflict. Great relationships require productive conflict to grow. Teams that have a foundation of trust appreciate that conflict is nothing less than the pursuit of the best possible answer.

Third, team members must be committed. Commitment is a function of two things: clarity and buy-in. Great teams make clear and timely decisions and move forward with complete buy-in, even from those who disagree with the decision. Not everyone needs to agree. They just need to know that their opinions have been considered.

Accountability is peer pressure at its most productive, inspiring people to deliver on their promises to one another. Accountability includes a willingness to challenge others on their performance or behaviors that hurt the team’s efforts.

Finally, there must be a focus on results. Teams must focus relentlessly on achieving clearly defined outcomes. Results-oriented teams collaborate seamlessly, make sacrifices for the good of the team and share in their failures and successes.

The trust necessary for team-building doesn’t come from trips to adventure parks, happy hours or “trust falls.” Instead, it is based on a clear overarching strategy from the team’s leader, coupled with the development of a shared vision, the right mix of people and winning behaviors. By maintaining a focus on achieving real results, leaders and their teams create positive solutions to hard problems. That reinforces the trust they feel in themselves, their team and their employer, creating a virtuous circle that leads to an unbeatable competitive advantage.

September 18, 2018June 29, 2023

The Business Case for Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is largely thought of as people skills — how we perceive and express ourselves and how we develop and maintain social relationships. But neuroscience and brain-based leadership studies have shown that it is so much more.

There is a direct correlation between increased job performance when employees are high in EQ. Emotional intelligence is responsible for 58 percent of performance in all types of jobs, and 90 percent of top performers are high in EQ.

There are direct business benefits to increasing employees’ EQ. Focusing on emotional intelligence alongside skill development can help managers improve worker performance and the company’s bottom line. According to a research paper entitled EQ and the Bottom Line, “restaurants managed by managers with high emotional intelligence showed an annual profit growth of 22 percent versus an annual average growth of 15 percent for the same period.” In addition, people with high EQ scores make on average $29,000 more per year than their lower EQ counterparts. These benefits and others like it are seen across cultures and societies.

For organizations to boost employees’ EQ and then translate that into tangible business results, it is critical that managers help their staff improve self-awareness, become better listeners and more effectively manage their stress.

Unlike IQ, emotional intelligence improves with age and is something that can be developed over time. Here are three steps that employers can take to boost their employees’ EQ.

1. Provide communication skills training that helps develop self-awareness and teaches employees to recognize their colleagues’ verbal and non-verbal cues. This means learning how to read the emotional needs of others by assessing facial expressions, gestures and postures and thoughtfully considering others’ feelings when responding and making decisions. This is important in peer-to-peer communication as well as between supervisors and employees. Increased self-awareness boosts interpersonal communication and improves team dynamics.

https://youtu.be/–Spee55Cew

2. Help employees understand the importance of listening by providing hands-on listening training. Often in meetings employees wait for a pause in the conversation so they can offer their opinion. They are not really listening they’re just waiting to speak.

Melissa Daimler, Pepperdine Graziadio alum and former Head of Learning and Organizational Development at Twitter, so aptly said in a Harvard Business Review article that “’360 listening’, where you’re not only listening to what the person is saying, but how they’re saying it, and even picking up on what they’re not saying, is a powerful — and often overlooked — leadership tool.”

3. Teach employees to manage stress and work collaboratively to develop time management plans. According to the American Psychological Association, 61 percent of Americans say that work is a significant source of stress. To help with stress management, managers should encourage employees to physically remove themselves from a situation that is stressful.

This could mean recusing themselves from a meeting, taking a walk outside or taking time to talk through the situation with a colleague. Managers can also help employees who feel overwhelmed improve their time management skills by working with them to set realistic expectations and deadlines and having regular check-ins to adjust workload and goals as needed.

Onboarding Tips HR Leaders Can Adopt from the First Day of School

The first day of school is often compared to the first day of a new job, but the two are more different than they are alike. Sure, a new hire might feel a tinge of excitement and anticipation in advance of their first day with a new company, but more often one feels an overwhelming sense of uncertainty about new processes.

Onboarding is important to get right. Some 69 percent of employees are more likely to stay with a company for at least three years if they experienced great onboarding.

HR leaders can take onboarding tips from the school experience and apply them to the new-hire experience to create excitement rather than angst for the job.

Also read: “A Planning Primer for the First-Time Manager”

The Week Before: Orientation Materials

Long before the first day of school, incoming students receive preparatory details lik school supply lists, notification of who their teachers are, and even assignments and materials to read in advance. Larger institutions might send campus maps and directories to incoming students.

When it comes to employee onboarding, don’t wait until a new hire’s first day to introduce him or her to your company. Share details such as directions to the office, where to park and an onboarding checklist of administrative tasks (like setting up payroll and benefits) that the new hire can complete before day one.

Arm each new employee with informative tools such as an org chart, making sure it reflects the new employee’s name and position in the organization and whom to contact for certain needs or questions. A detailed org chart can give new employees interesting and relevant details about their new coworkers, such as where they went to school, what their job responsibilities are and what interests them outside of work. Instead of walking into a room full of strangers, new employees will already feel a connection with their coworkers on the first day.

The First Day: An Assigned Seat

New students usually have an assigned seat and are provided with all needed supplies on their first day. Likewise, it’s critical to ensure that your new hire has a designated space in the office. It sounds simple, but it’s not uncommon for a new team member to show up and find him- or herself without a place to sit. Make sure the right processes are in place so this doesn’t happen.

It’s also important to provide new employees with the equipment they need to do their job well from the start. This usually means a designated desk and chair, a working laptop, and a telephone, at minimum; an employee handbook and background information on the company are also useful. It’s always nice to welcome new team members with a bag of company marketing collateral or “swag,” like a T-shirt, laptop sticker or branded earphones.

On the first day of school, no one wonders where to eat lunch. Students typically walk to the cafeteria together. But for new hires, the lunch routine is not so obvious. Do most employees eat out or bring their own? Do they eat together in a break room or café, or does everyone tend to eat at their own desk? Encourage your new hire’s team to take him or her to lunch on the first day, and communicate this to both the new employee and the team beforehand so there is no confusion.

The Days Ahead: Class Is in Session

Many universities have instituted the smart practice of pairing incoming freshmen with peer mentors during their first semester. These “buddies” are not teachers or leaders, but rather fellow students who have been at the university for a year or two and know the ropes.

This type of “buddy system” can be adopted in the workplace. Assign a new hire a peer — not a manager — who has been at your company for a while and knows how things are done. This buddy can help the new employee find out information that isn’t documented and meet people quickly. This system is also beneficial to the buddy, as it gives him or her a sense of ownership and responsibility.

Another way to help new employees get to know each other is to make a game of the getting-to-know-you process. If your org chart is interactive, use it to create a flash card–type game that makes it easy to put faces to names. You can also incorporate elements like job skills, fun facts, number of years with the company and even Myers-Briggs personality types.

Consider adopting these steps and implementing them in your new hire onboarding. Streamlining the process and making it easy for new employees not only makes their jobs more enjoyable, but also makes your job easier and more strategic.

Bill Boebel is a serial entrepreneur and is the CEO of Pingboard. He previously was CTO of Rackspace Email and also co-founded Capital Factory, which helps entrepreneurs in Austin, Texas, build their companies. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com

September 7, 2018June 29, 2023

What HR Leaders Need to Know About Generation Z

The first wave of Generation Z is entering the workplace, and companies may be surprised by how much they differ from millennials. They care more about things like technology, diversity and money than the last generation, and employers will need to adapt to win them over.

“They are the first generation of true digital natives,” said Rachel Harris-Russell, global head of corporate strategy and marketing for Allegis Group a staffing and recruiting company in Hanover, Maryland. “They have a built-in expectation for immediate access to information, and seamless employee interfaces that match their consumer experience.”

They are also more ambitious, socially conscious and diverse than their elder peers. Almost half of this generation in the U.S. identify as non-Caucasian according to the U.S. Census Bureau, so diversity and inclusion efforts have to be more than lip service, Harris-Russell said. “If a company talks about its D&I commitment but doesn’t match that profile, it will put them at a disadvantage with this generation.”

Advice for Gen Z: Demand a Better Workplace Than We Did

The same goes for corporate social responsibility. Fully 82 percent of Gen Zs consider CSR a major factor when deciding where to work, and 66 percent would take a pay cut to work for a more socially responsible company. “They want their work to have a larger world purpose,” she said. “The more companies embrace this, the more they will attract Gen Z.”

But don’t be fooled. This generation — more than millennials — also cares about money and career development, and they will be more loyal than millennials because of what they lived through during the Great Recession, said Penny Queller, senior vice president and general manager for enterprise talent solutions at Monster. “Seeing their parents get laid off [during the Great Recession] made an impression,” she said. “It caused them to value financial security more than other generations.”

Everything Old Is New Again for Gen Z

Companies should view all of these expectations as opportunities — not problems. This generation could actually solve the attraction and retention issue so many companies struggle with by bringing a new way of working to the workplace, Harris-Russell said. But companies have to embrace the ideas they bring to the table. “It’s easy to dismiss a younger generation’s ideas as naive, but that would be short-sighted.”

Instead, she suggests companies use their Generation Z workers and interns to help evolve their recruiting and retention efforts. “It may change the way you look at old problems.”

Her team works with a big tech firm in San Francisco that regularly assigns new Gen Z staff age-old tech problems to solve — without telling them that no one has been able to crack the code. “They bring a fresh perspective, and 52 percent of the time, they find solutions that deliver a massive step forward,” she said.

Deloitte is taking a similar tack with its Generation Z employees and interns, said Heidi Soltis-Berner, managing director of Deloitte University and workforce talent leader. The company has started recruiting interns as early as freshman year both to engage them before other companies make contact, and offer training to bolster their skills. “This generation has great technical skills, but they also need critical thinking, problem solving and analytical skills,” Soltis-Berner said.

Part of the training includes presenting teams with a real life client problem to solve (with no names) to see how they collaborate and adapt to curve balls. “It’s a safe environment to test what they can do,” she said.

They are also developing a series of digital and virtual reality tools to engage them earlier and more completely in the recruiting process. Last year, Deloitte began building a virtual reality experience for campus recruiting, using Gen Z interns’ feedback to shape the content. At campus recruiting fairs, students can don VR headsets and tour the company on their phones.

EAPs Shift Appeal to Court Generational Differences

“It showcases the Deloitte culture while also giving them a great recruiting experience using technology,” Soltis-Berner said. The company also added an “Explore Your Fit” tool to the website that gives students a sense of the career paths they could follow at Deloitte and how to get there. The tool was initial used only to promote the brand, though Deloitte is starting to use it as a funnel for new recruits.

These kinds of technology-driven tools and branded digital experiences are vital to attract Gen Z, Harris-Russell said. “The idea that recruiting has to be a human-to-human experience is outdated. This generation will find their jobs online.” She urges companies to start refining their recruiting messages and platforms to personalize the brand to this generation.

That includes promoting the brand through YouTube, Facebook and other social spaces that showcase real employees and authentic content showcasing how your company invests in the community, technology, and employee development.

August 2, 2018June 29, 2023

The 14th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the HR Pimp

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the agency charged with responding to natural disasters, appears to have a disaster of its own to respond to.

It appears that its former HR chief offered creative “bonuses” to his male employees — he’s accused of hiring women to be possible sexual partners to men working for the agency.

I’ll pause to let that one sink in.

Slate.com fills in the salacious details:

A former head of human resources for the Federal Emergency Management Agency is under investigation after being accused of hiring women as possible sexual partners for male employees….

That accusation was one of many leveled against Corey Coleman, who led the HR department from 2011 until June, that depicted him as creating a toxic workplace for the 20,000-person agency, pushing out qualified employees, allowing sexual harassment to occur unchecked, and filling the agency with unqualified employees, many of whom are still there.

Coleman himself has been accused of sexually harassing female employees, and two employees have said they had inappropriate sexual relationships with him….

These findings came from a seven-month internal investigation that wrapped up Friday….

Coleman, who resigned in June before being interviewed by investigators, has also been accused of hiring friends, college fraternity brothers, and women he met on dating sites and at bars, starting in 2015…. He also allegedly promoted them within the agency without going through the formal hiring and review processes, and, most shockingly, transferred some women to offices and departments to be closer to friends who wanted sexual relationships with them.

For his part, FEMA Administrator Brock Long, in a formal statement, called the allegations “deeply disturbing,” stated that “harassment of any kind will not be tolerated at FEMA,” and outlined his five-point plan to address allegations of employee misconduct within the agency. Words are nice, but these problems, which seem to be deep and organizational, will take a long time to fully correct.

Indeed, if your head of HR is hiring women to serve as sexual partners for his male employees, not only is your HR, your culture, and your organization broken, you also might be the worst employer of 2018.

Previous nominees:
The 1st Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Holy Harasser

The 2nd Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Arresting School Board

The 3rd Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Camera Creep

Jon Hyman is a partner at Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis in Cleveland. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Hyman’s blog at Workforce.com/PracticalEmployer.

August 2, 2018June 29, 2023

Is Organizational Turnover Contagious?

People hate it when other people cough or sneeze near them. The reason is simple. We don’t want to catch whatever you have!

We’re quick to say “no” to other people’s physical maladies. We’re much less quick to say no to what researchers have labeled emotional contagion.

What is emotional contagion? It’s the phenomenon of having one person’s emotions and related behaviors directly trigger similar emotions and behaviors in other people. Studies show we pick up cognitive baggage from others without even knowing it — both the positive and negative variety.

People routinely “catch” each other’s feelings when working together in groups. It’s not surprising that this influences your employees’ moods. What’s more surprising is that it significantly influences their judgment and business decisions as well, usually without anyone having a clue about what’s going on.

One area that’s routinely viewed as a negative form of emotional contagion is employee turnover. You know the drill. Someone announces they are leaving and all of a sudden there’s a rush to the door. People ask, “What’s wrong?” and “Should I be moving on too?” This is never more noticeable than in our current peak economic cycle.

Bringing is us back to: Is turnover contagious?

Of course it is. But instead of viewing it as a bad thing, let’s view this organizational form of a head cold as an opportunity. Here are five reasons why emotional contagion in the form of turnover (or employees thinking about leaving) is a good thing for your company and your team of managers:

A single employee announcing their intent to leave causes you to take stock of your team. If you believe turnover is contagious, then you surely are taking stock of who might be next to be on the market. Taking stock is good; it forces you to stack rank those on your team.
Taking stock of your team allows you to think about your salary cap. In sports, a salary cap is the maximum amount of money a team can spend on players. You have a cap as well. It’s called your salary budget. Taking stock of your team when someone announces they are leaving causes you to consider different ways to allocate money to those who remain, and that’s healthy.
Some people may need to leave, but contagious turnover is not kind. Let’s face it: If you have 10 people on your team and one leaves, everyone gets a bit of the emotional contagion of contagious turnover. Too bad the ones you’d like to see leave are immune to coming down with the turnover bug. Turnover forces you to think about who you’d like to see leave, but you understand that they probably won’t.
The threat of contagious turnover should cause you to do the reorg you’ve been thinking about. Note that I spelled reorg with a small “r,” because I’m not talking about layoffs, I’m talking about a refresh of responsibilities and who does what as a part of your team. Sometimes a refresh of work is all that’s required to get people through the head cold that is contagious turnover. Think of this as a team shot of vitamin C that you administer when you hear the first sneeze.
Turnover is a call for you to talk to the people who matter most on your team. Should you talk to everyone? Sure, but a lot those folks can be covered in a group setting talking about the change. For your highest performers, the people you can’t live without, you need to have a one on one, address the turnover and rapidly move to talking about them. Give them new assignments and money if you are so moved to make them feel the love.

Did someone mention money? As a manager of people, salary compression, inequality and other bad things are present in every organization to some degree. Those confounding variables often conspire when turnover happens to limit your ability to use money as a tool to stop the bleeding.

My experience is that money as a tool is more available when turnover is a problem than most managers think. For best results, make addressing compression and inequality part of the plan related to how you want to use money to solidify your team in an environment suddenly riddled with turnover.

Turnover is contagious. But turnover is also a gift, a call to action for you to wake up as a manager and start moving cheese, money and other items to interrupt the pattern and avoid being the victim.

Feed the cold and starve the fever, people.

July 19, 2018June 29, 2023

Employees With Intermittent Explosive Disorder — Your Workplace IED

Most every workplace has had THAT employee. The hothead. Someone who loses their cool at the drop of a hat. Yells, screams and is prone to fits of rage.

It should go without saying that no one should be required to be subjected to this degree of misconduct. For this reason, you may (should?) decide to separate Hothead’s employment.

What happens, however, if Hothead delivers a doctor’s note advising you that he or she is being treated for “intermittent explosive disorder?”

Believe it or not, intermittent explosive disorder (IED), is a legit mental disorder, covered by the DSM-V (the psychiatric bible of mental disorders).

According to the Mayo Clinic, IED “involves repeated, sudden episodes of impulsive, aggressive, violent behavior or angry verbal outbursts in which you react grossly out of proportion to the situation.” Outbursts can include temper tantrums, tirades, heated arguments, shouting, slapping, shoving or pushing, physical fights, property damage, or threatening or assaulting people. Not surprisingly, complications include job loss and other problems at work.

Which brings us back to Hothead and his doctor’s note. What do you do?

Thankfully, the ADA is not overly sympathetic to employees with IED, or other mental disorders, that cause misconduct.

The EEOC’s guidance on Applying Performance And Conduct Standards To Employees With Disabilities makes it clear that an employer may discipline an employee for violating a conduct rule even if the employee’s disability causes the violation, as long as the conduct rule is job-related and consistent with business necessity and other employees are held to the same standard.

Certain conduct rules will always meet this standard, such as prohibitions against:

violence and threats of violence.
destruction of property.
insubordination toward supervisors and managers.
disrespect towards clients and customers.
inappropriate behavior between coworkers (yelling, cursing, shoving, or making obscene gestures, for example).
sending inappropriate or offensive emails or other electronic communications.
Courts (such as the 1st and 6th Circuits) have upheld the right of employers to hold accountable employees with mental disorders for their violations of workplace conduct standards.

There you have it. You don’t have to put up with an a-hole employee, even if that a-hole claims a disability caused their a-holeness.

Jon Hyman is a partner at Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis in Cleveland. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Hyman’s blog at Workforce.com/PracticalEmployer.