Overcoming Negativity in the Workplace

Hello! My name is Bev,the other half of Your Own HR Pro, and I would like to share my thoughts with you about something that affects not only the employees, but customers’ perception of the company, and in turn the bottom line. I’m talking about negativity in the workplace.

In today’s business environment, people are working harder, sometimes for less money, people’s hours are being cut back, many are losing their jobs or they see their co-workers losing their jobs, and they are left picking up the extra work. You as a manager, are closely in touch with employees throughout the company, allowing you to keep your fingers on the pulse of the organization to sense workplace negativity. It enables you to establish and heed early warning signals that all is not well. You receive employee complaints, do exit interviews with employees who leave, and know the reputation of your organization in your community.

Negativity is often the result of a loss of confidence, control, broken promises and the accountability of senior management. Knowing what people are negative about is the first step in solving the problem.

In my experience, when rumblings and negativity are beginning in your organization, talking with the employees will help you understand the exact problems and the degree to which the problems are impacting your workplace. You will want to pinpoint employee, employee groups who are experiencing the negativity, and the nature of the issues that sparked their unhappiness.

Perhaps the organization made a decision that adversely affected staff. Perhaps the executive manager held a staff meeting and things were said or questions were asked that were misperceived or perceived as threatening. Perhaps underground rumors are circulating about an impending layoff. People may feel that they give the organization more than they receive in return. They may feel that a coworker was mistreated or denied a deserved promotion.

Whatever the cause of the workplace negativity, you must address the issues, or like a seemingly dormant volcano, they will boil beneath the surface, and periodically bubble up and overflow to cause fresh damage.

The best way to combat workplace negativity is to keep it from occurring in the first place. These following tips will help you minimize the workplace negativity.

• Provide opportunities for people to make decisions about and control and/or influence their own job. The single most frequent cause of workplace negativity I encounter is traceable to a manager or the organization making a decision about a person’s work without his or her input. Almost any decision that excludes the input of the person doing the job is perceived as negative.
• Make opportunities available for people to express their opinion about workplace policies and procedures. Recognize the impact of changes such areas as work hours, pay, benefits, assignment of overtime hours, comp pay, dress code, job requirements and working conditions.
• Treat people as adults with fairness and consistency. Develop and publicize workplace policies and procedures that organize work effectively. Apply them consistently. As an example, if your vacation policy allows the opportunity for employees to apply for vacation time, tell the employees how the decisions will be made and apply the same factors to all employees.
• Address the issues directly with those employees. You want to minimize the number of rules directing the behavior of adult people at work. Treat people as adults; they will usually live up to your expectations and their own expectations.
• Help people feel like members of the in-crowd; each person wants to have the same information as quickly as everyone else, and nobody wants to feel excluded. Provide the context for decisions, and communicate effectively and constantly.
• Afford the people the opportunity to grow and develop. Training, perceived opportunities for promotion, lateral moves for development, and cross training are visible signs of an organization’s commitment to staff.
• Provide appropriate leadership and strategic framework, including mission, vision, values, and goals. People want to feel as if they are part of something bigger than themselves. If they understand the direction, and their part in making the desired outcomes happen, they can effectively contribute more.
• Provide appropriate rewards and recognition so people feel their contribution is valued. The power of appropriate rewards and recognition for a positive workplace is remarkable. Suffice to say, rewards and recognition are among the most powerful tools an organization can use to buoy staff morale.
  
  Take some time to analyze how well your organization is applying these recommendations. They form the foundation for a positive staff morale and minimized negativity in your workplace.

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Things I Learned From My Dad…

I am blessed that I still have both of my parents, and both are in good health. My dad is 92. Dad always wanted to be a minister, but had to stay home and run the farm as his dad was in poor health. He would have made a real good one… I need to tell him that… I know he would have been a good minister because he was such a good dad, and both need a lot of the same skills. So here are a few of the things I have learned from him over the years.

Keep your rows straight - He always took great pride in how his fields looked… nice straight rows. His secret to straight rows was looking ahead. When he struck out on a new field he would pick an object on the other end of the field and focus on that, heading straight toward it. Sort of like goals… begin with the end in mind, and always keep that in focus. Don’t let the everyday things happening around you distract you from that goal. Anyway, he tells of a time he did this and got to the other end only to find that the object he had set his sight on was a calf that was pacing back and forth along the fence line.

Creativity and ingenuity - Thinking outside the box is a buzz term that has been around for awhile, but I think my dad had that concept mastered years before. One example that stands out happened during harvest time. There was a rain storm moving in and Dad wanted to finish combining the field before it hit. As luck would have it, the main bearing in the feeder chain went out. The nearest part was hours away, and by that time the rain would be there. As Dad sat looking at what was left of the roller bearing, it struck him that bearing cylinders were about the same size as 16 penny nails. He grabbed a handful of nails, cut them to the right length, packed them back into the bearing race with grease, put it back together, and that home-made bearing ran on that old combine until it was retired several years later.

Looking after people - If you can claim one best friend in life you are fortunate indeed. A best friend is a rare and precious gift. I think there are several people who would claim my dad as their best friend. Why? Because he invested in them, cared for them and he looked after them. He was never too busy to help other people. He is the person who will drive over to check in on someone to make sure they are OK, or just give them a call to chat. He treated everyone with respect. It didn’t matter if it was the bank president or the kid that everyone else picked on. They were his friend.

I find myself getting so caught up with the fast pace that today's culture puts on us that it is easy to forget this. But it is so important, both in personal relationships and in business relationships.

Finally, my dad taught me that success isn’t how much money you make or how high you climb on the corporate ladder, it is how you touch those around you.

Thank you Dad.



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Same Sex Marriage in Iowa - What Employers Need to Know

On April 27, 2009 it became legal in Iowa for gay and lesbian couples to have access to civil marriage. So Iowa now joins Massachusetts and Connecticut as the only states currently allowing same-sex marriage. Legislation is pending in several states, and in several states same-sex civil unions are legal, which offer some, but not all of the privileges of marriage.

This is a hotly debated topic, and my intent here is not to take any side, but to discuss the impact on employers from a legal standpoint. It is a complex issue, particularly when it comes to employee benefits, where some benefits are governed by Iowa law, some by federal law (which does not recognize same-sex marriage), and some by both.

First I would like to discuss the area of respectful workplace, discrimination and harassment. The law has not changed in this area. Sexual orientation has always been protected under the Iowa Civil Rights Act, which means that you cannot discriminate against or harass an employee because he or she is gay or lesbian.

What may change is a "coming out." Your employee may have chosen not to disclose to anyone at work that he or she was gay or lesbian, but if someone sees their wedding announcement in the newspaper, the word would be out. So you need to be extra sensitive to these situations, and be proactive to head off any potential issues. And by all means, make sure you have your respectful workplace/harassment policy in place, that it is communicated to your employees, and that they know the process to report harassment if it occurs.

Also, be aware that you need to treat people equitably. So if it is the culture at your company to throw a wedding shower or chip in for a gift for a heterosexual couple... Well, this may seem a bit awkward, but you should be thinking how you can treat your same-sex couple as equally as heterosexual couples. You should at least visit with your employee to find out his or her wishes.,

OK, on to the benefits, and this is where it gets really messy. I won't be able to cover everything here. You should rely on your benefits providers, as they are the experts and know your plans, but I'll give you some of the basics so you understand where all the craziness is coming from.

One of the priviliges of marriage is having rights as a spouse to employee benefits. The main tension here is between the Iowa law that says same-sex marriage is OK, and the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which specifically defines marriage as a legal union exclusively between one man and one woman. So any employee benefits controlled by federal laws like COBRA, FMLA, HIPAA, Section 125, etc. are not extended to same-sex spouses. Below are some examples.

Most employer-sponsored health plans (including dental and vision) will cover same-sex spouses. If you have a self-insured plan covered under ERISA, there may be an exception, however before excluding same-sex spouses, I would strongly suggest consulting your attorney.

If the employee loses coverage and is eligible for COBRA, he/she may elect family coverage and cover the same-sex spouse, however, if he/she waives coverage, the same-sex spouse does not have COBRA priviliges on his/her own.

HIPAA is a federal law, so same-sex spouses have no special enrollment rights for qualifying events. For instance, if you get married, it is normally a qualifying event to add drop coverage, but not for same-sex spouses. However they could enroll at the next open enrollment.

Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law, so does cover time off to care for same-sex spouse.

Section 125 (Flexible Spending Accounts) and Health Savings Accounts are federal laws, so that money cannot be used to reimburse for same-sex spouse expenses.

This is not a complete list. You should discuss all of your employee benefits with your benefits providor. In addition you should review your policies for any references to spouse or domestic partner to make sure you are using the terminology you intend. Examples of plans and policies to review are bereavement leave, sick leave, any self-funded reinsurance, your retirement or pension plans, and adoption assistance plans.

While we at Your Own HR Pro are not your benefits experts, we can be of assistance in reviewing and developing your employee policies and providing respectful workplace training. Don't hesitate to give us a call.

Please visit our website http://www.yourownhrpro.com/ .

Ouch! Company To Pay $30K Back Pay To Workers

This was a headline on today's KCCI website. You'd hate that to be about your company, wouldn't you!?

The Department of Labor said that the company paid nonexempt (hourly) employees their normal rate for travel time. When employees are travelling to and from jobs or any other company directed activity, that time is compensable. Whenever compensable time exceeds forty hours per week it must be paid at the overtime rate of 1½ times their regular pay.

Time that doesn't count toward the forty hours and doesn't have to be paid at 1½ times pay includes vacation, PTO, sick, and other paid time that isn't actually worked.

Overtime pay is an area that is easy to get stung. The rules are complicated. If you're not sure how time should be paid, your best bet is to call the Department of Labor and ask them. Or, if that makes you nervous, call us (you knew that was coming, now didn't you?).

Please visit our website http://www.yourownhrpro.com/ .

Swine Flu - Is Your Company Prepared?

Swine flu, or H1N1 for us Iowans who want to be piglitically correct, has been in the news for months now, and most of us have pretty much stopped paying attention. But the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it a world-wide pandemic... the first one in forty years! So that should grab our attention! It has already affected 30,000 people in 74 countries world-wide, and even though those pesky little virus bugs will lie low during the summer months, they are expected back full force this fall.

So if we do have a worst case scenero this fall, is your company prepared? The Mercer company did a survey of large companies and found two out of five didn't have contingency plans to deal with emergencies or disasters. I would imagine with small companies that percentage would be even higher. So if half of your employees call in sick some Monday morning in October, what are you going to do?

Now is the best time to be thinking about how to respond to a worst case scenero, not on that Monday morning after you've received the 10th call from your sick employees. Here are some of the things to think about and put some contingency plans in place.

• How will you communicate with your employees?
• How will you keep disease from spreading employee to employee? (hygene, work from home, limit travel and meetings, health screenings, etc.)
• How will you keep the essential functions of your business operating and your customers served?

There are resources available on-line to help you prepare contingency plans. The World Health Organization website is one. Local agencies such as Red Cross can also be resources. We can point you to others.

Please visit our website at www.yourownhrpro.com .

Cutting Costs in a Wage and Hour Minefield

Times are tough and business is slow for a lot of companies, and in an effort to lower costs a lot of businesses are looking at ways to reduce their payroll expenses without having to lay people off. One of the popular approaches is to reduce hours or to actually shut down operations for a day or two each week or month. Good idea, but watch out, because if you're not careful, it may end up costing you more than you're saving!

How could that be you ask? Well, it has to do with how the federal and state wage and hour laws (primarily FLSA for those of you who like alphabet soup) handle overtime exemptions. Under FLSA there are two classes of employees, those exempt from overtime pay and those who are not exempt from overtime pay. We commonly refer to these as salaried and hourly. Not precise terms, but they'll do.

With hourly employees, you can do pretty much anything you want with their hours, so long as it doesn't violate things like union contracts or other employment agreements you may have with them.

With salaried employees it's quite different. In order to be exempt from the overtime pay provisions of FLSA you have to meet various criteria, including that they are paid a regular weekly salary, and that salary isn't tied to punching a time clock. So as soon as you tell them to go home on Friday and dock them a day's pay, you are violating that criteria, and they are no longer exempt from the overtime provision.

You don't want to have to pay all of your managers, sales people, and professional staff overtime pay!

So, what are your alternatives? There are several. You can ask them to take vacation days (or other paid days off) on the days you send everyone else home, you can have them take off time a whole week at a time unpaid, or you can reduce their salary (as long as it stays above $455 per week).

Sound complicated? Yes it is! And I've even left out most of the details. So if you are considering this and not sure how to proceed, give us a call at 515-314-9835, and we can help you through the minefield.

Finally, WHAT you do isn't as important as HOW you do it. Communicating these tough messages to your employees in a compassionate way, including them in the solution, and encouraging their input and feedback is key. We've had years of experience crafting and delivering messages like this, so call us for help.

Please visit our website at http://www.yourownhrpro.com/.

Isn't HR Just Plain Common Sense?

Isn't HR just plain common sense? Well, when you strip away all of the laws and regulations we have to comply with, I think it is. Let me give you an example.

My son is perhaps the most brilliant graphic artist/designer in the state of Iowa, and I say that with absolutely no bias whatsoever. He worked for a very prominent and well-known Des Moines advertising/marketing firm which will remain nameless for purposes of this example. Last Monday, all of the employees at his office were called into a meeting where various business items were discussed. A PowerPoint presentation was used. One of the PowerPoint slides was titled something like "staff changes." It was a list of nineteen employees, including him. These employees (who were there in the room, surrounded by all the other employees) were told right there and then that they no longer had jobs, and that they were to go back to their desks, gather their immediate personal belongings, leave the building, and call to make arrangements to return at a later time to collect any other personal belongings, return company property, and go over termination paperwork....

.....just like that.

I don't even know where to begin on this one. I was stunned when I heard about this. I've been involved in some tough terminations in my day where I felt really bad for the employees, but at least it always involved a private meeting with them.

OK, now do you know what I mean about HR being common sense? You have to treat people with respect and some compassion! That's common sense, right? Don't people learn the Golden Rule anymore? If you are planning a big lay off and not sure how to do it, wouldn't one of the questions you ask yourself be, "How would I want to be treated if I were being laid off?"

Do companies not realize that ex-employees are some of their strongest ambassadors in the community? ...for good or for bad. The smart companies learn how to terminate employees in a way that they part as friends.... they don't burn bridges. RSM McGladrey is a great example of this, their ex-employees are some of their best sources of customer and employee referrals.

Common sense and treating people like you would like to be treated, and like business partners, not like commodities, can go a long way in driving good human resources practices that will make your company more profitable.

Please visit our website www.yourownhrpro.com.

Welcome!

Hi! And welcome to the Your Own HR Pro Blog! I'm Norm Hoffman, lead blogger, I have my blogging shoes on and ready to go! My partner, Bev Sawin, will be stepping in from time to time as well. In this first post I'll give a brief background of Bev and myself and an overview of what Your Own HR Pro is all about.

I've been in the human resources business for twenty three years, and Bev's been doing this for over eighteen, so that makes over forty years of total HR experience! I started as an intern with Preferred Risk Insurance (now GuideOne)and stayed on for several more years to run their compensation and benefits. From there went to GenEx, which morphed into Praxair Distribution, Inc. for a total of 13 years, did some consulting for a couple of years, spent a couple of years with Employee and Family Resources as a workplace consultant, and most recently was with the internal HR group with RSM McGladrey. I met Bev in 1992 when I hired her as a part-time payroll clerk at GenEx. It didn't take long to recognize that she had a whole lot of talent managing systems and training and leading people, and by the time I left Praxair in 2002 she and I were peers. We worked together again as consultants when she left Praxair shortly thereafter. For the past five or six years (I'm sure she'll correct me on this) she has been Client Relationship Manager at Merit Resources.

We formed Your Own HR Pro to bring the best human resources expertise and practices to small and mid-size companies. Many smaller companies can't afford to have a HR professional on staff or it just makes more sense to outsource some of the work. Bev's expertise is organizing HR administration, policies, and training. She is also bilingual Spanish. My specialty is helping organizations develop future leaders. I also have a lot of experience with organization development, culture, employee surveys, and risk management. We have the experience and expertise to make HR easier for you.

We will be posting blogs about emerging trends in human resources, new laws that affect your business, HR tips, and occasionally rants and opinions. This is also a forum where you can comment, ask questions, and jump into the mix. I hope you find it enjoyable and informatve.

Please visit our website http://www.yourownhrpro.com/