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Blog posts tagged employer
Difficult conversations with employees
November 18, 2010
We wince at the thought, but if you’re a manager you have to tackle tricky staff problems head on. This, inevitably, means the dreaded “little chat”. Simple conflict-management techniques really help - Georgina Harris explains how to reduce the pain but get results
Whether it’s a worker who is endlessly late, an employee with a flamboyant range of minor ailments or the classic idler, you’ll know that some people’s contribution to your team seems to add up to an empty chair, tight-lipped resentment from the others and low-level morale drain. If the problem’s recent, and not serious enough to warrant a disciplinary, you might be tempted to avoid spending precious managerial time sorting it out. But slackers and whingers tend not to fix themselves, and if their behaviour gets worse, you don't have an HR problem, you have a profit problem.
Or legal trouble. In 2007–08, the number of individual employment tribunal claims rose to over 190,000. Acas points out that people are also now more aware of their rights at work, which means if employers do not manage conflict effectively, they could face a court case or, more likely, an expensive settlement. So it’s worth nipping “issues” in the bud.
Start by taking control of what you can: set a time, place and date for a discussion with the employee. Most importantly, set a goal. What result do you need out of this meeting? Keep sight of your aim, before, during and after the meeting.
Plan ahead for the chat by gathering the evidence you need. Jot down examples of the problem behaviour and why it’s causing difficulties. Keeping your aim in sight, make a list of how you and the employee work together to fix the problem.
Once you’re in the meeting, explain to the employee that you are both there to restore harmony. Then ask the employee to put their side of the story. Don’t interrupt.
As they’re talking, practice active listening. Encourage your employee to be open so you can both root out the key issues. Show you understand your employee’s point of view and you are taking in the detail of what they are saying by restating what they said in your own words. That shows your responses are more than lip service, and you should be appreciated for listening.
Don’t assume your staff member can see things from your point of view. Your job might be to check the balance sheets against staff productivity; theirs may not. So, even if it seems (or is) blindingly obvious, make it clear exactly why their behaviour is a problem. Appeal to their self-interest by asking them how they think their behaviour looks to others at work.
If they get emotional, don’t respond in kind or you’ll give your power away. But don’t dismiss the role of feelings entirely; your employee needs to see you respecting and acknowledging how they feel. Getting fiery = bad news; acknowledging feelings = good news.
Avoid getting personal at all costs. While tempting, it won’t help reach your goal any faster and will make you, not your staff member, look like the team’s liability. Focus on the behaviour, not the person.
No matter how exasperating it is, refuse to engage in arguments – keep your mind trained on getting the result you want. If you need more incentive to stay calm, bear in mind it takes two to argue. And whatever comes out of you in anger could end up a bigger problem for you than a slacker team member.
Move on to a range of solutions you can finalise. Use neutral phrases to suggest behaviour changes, such as “Let’s talk about how you might do that”. Don’t say “You can’t keep doing this”, just repeat “You must arrive by 9am”. If the problems are pretty basic – repeated lateness – take them step-by-step through how they will make it in by 9am. Stay non-confrontational; arguing will not get an employee out of bed earlier. Although it’s tiring, keep relentlessly positive – if you’re faced with an endless array of obstacles to improving the performance, work together to solve them. Be patient, but be wary of making concessions you can’t offer everyone.
Once you’ve reached a solution, repeat it clearly so you both understand it. Then arrange a follow-up chat, and leave it at that. Exit the room and breathe – job well done.
Worst colleague — or most deluded?
July 27, 2010
My candidate would be Dave, our new salesman who was given a company credit card. At the time, these cards were given out to most salespeople so that they could buy petrol. Nothing out of the ordinary there, then.
At the end of the second month in the job, the accounts department started querying Dave’s statements. It turned out he – and Mrs Dave - been doing the weekly grocery shop with the card. When asked to explain himself, he claimed grumpily that popping into the local Sainsbury's was “a perk”.
Taking this behaviour to extremes, I'm guessing he could have booked a fortnight in the Maldives on the assumption that doing so was just one of those things a salesman in publishing typically did. It obviously helped that he was deranged — we later found that his background in "the army" was not all he'd claimed — but this is my favourite example of a company facility being abused.
Michael Scutt writes:
It’s an old saying in employment law that if you want to get rid of someone, take a good look at their expenses. Stealing, thieving, fiddling, “adjusting”, being economical with the truth … they are all examples of dishonesty.
Theoretically even taking a pencil from the office stationery cupboard is stealing but most employers will take a sensible approach in trivial cases. Every employee owes a duty of fidelity to his/her employer. This includes not working against the employer’s best interests and certainly includes not stealing from them. “Massaging” the expenses is widespread, of course, but most people don’t behave as blatantly as Dave here did. It is a disciplinary matter and the likely outcome will be summary dismissal for gross misconduct.
To avoid any misunderstanding at all, many employers that issue credit cards for expenses will specifically inform the employee (usually in the contract of employment) that the card is to be used for business expenses only and will set out the consequences for misuse and abuse of the card.
Bullet holes by the photocopier
June 29, 2010
An award-winning journalist writes…
When I was 24, after a couple of years of dismal freelancing, I got my first staff job on a small but high-profile magazine. I was unbelievably nervous and excited when I arrived on the first day but was shown to a desk and given a few tasks to get on with.
I had only been there a couple of hours when one of the other journalists came up to me and said, "What's your name?" in a rather intense way.
"I'm Angela," I said offering him my hand. "I've just started and—"
"Angela, you've got to leave the building now," he said flatly.
I was torn between conscientiousness and alarm but decided, it being my first day, to stick with conscientiousness. So I picked up the phone.
"I'll just make this call I've been asked to do," I said breezily. He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the office — I noticed other people marching purposefully to the exit as well. Within moments, police were flooding in.
It turned out that the work experience guy sitting opposite me, who had been complaining loudly that he “wasn't "feeling well" had brought not aspirin, but a gun to work. When, indignant at not being offered the office first-aid kit, he started brandishing it, he was marched out.
As he was led away, and we inspected the bullet holes by the photocopier, I saw him looking a bit shame-faced. But in retrospect, I wonder if he didn't have the right idea. It turned out to be a really horrible place to work.
This much I know: the employee writes:
I went for a Starbucks and rang my friends for a laugh. Call a lawyer? Why? I’ve had worse from newspaper management.
Sex and drugs and employment law
June 29, 2010
What’s a hard day at work for you? As employees now launch tribunal cases because they ‘weren’t offered a seat at the right table in the canteen’, the Law Donut takes a look at the – real – world of employment.
A shooting, a strangling, a drugs ring, a fight, a hold-up and “nipple issues” with a Mafioso - even in the leafy enclaves of LawDonut HQ, our oh-so-refined editors, lawyers, and mentors produced a range of ‘workplace incidents’ to stun a tribunal in ten seconds.
So if you’re bored by a whingeing worker, or facing a conduct dispute that’s a little tiresome, our new series should cheer you up. Find a new post here every couple of days, as well as expert pronouncements from our renowned bloggers and writers that show you what the victim – or the law - did next. The first post in our series is right below.
Mentor-health problems
The Prince’s Trust mentor writes….
One of my oldest friends, who is staying with me, has done annoyingly well as a tycoon. Needless to say, he’s rather competitive. So this morning, breakfast table conversation turned briefly to employment law as he and I shared (ie scrabbled for supremacy about) our managerial war stories.
I work with young people’s businesses now, but I kicked off with a few tales from my salad days as a restaurant manager. One of the high points was a phone call from the Metropolitan Police, wanting to discuss a former chef of ours, who had, they explained, been convicted of drug smuggling while on the job. The police needed to check how much I’d paid him so they could calculate how much illegal income they could seize.
At the time it was a fairly uncomfortable situation, but in hindsight it wasn’t a big deal. After all, the chef was by then an ex-employee, and in the restaurant trade this sort of thing isn’t that far out of the ordinary. Anyway, he was a good cook: well, his sauces were very more-ish.
My friend rose to the bait. He ran a far larger business, but he too had been on the receiving end of personal calls from the police. One of his employees was a junkie, in whom the boys in blue had a keen interest. Somewhat to my mate’s indignation, the employee had used his company car in a heist (then sold it for cash). Well, it showed initiative, I pointed out infuriatingly.
But my mate won. The prize for “HR Minefield of the Decade” went to one of his lady executives, who had decided to become a man. Advised to make lifestyle changes before the op, she asked to use the men’s toilets. By that stage, her female colleagues weren’t happy with her continuing to use the Ladies’. But the male staff were less than thrilled at the prospect of her hauling up her tights in the urinals.
It’s the sort of situation that could turn seriously tricky. The sex-changing employee might claim discrimination, while, whether she chose the male or female toilets, there was a good chance that other employees’ discomfort might turn into formal grievances. In the event, common sense prevailed. She would use the male facilities, but only after checking they were empty.
This much I know: the business owner writes:
What all our stories had in common was the sheer unpredictability of managing employees. Neither of us expected our employees to get involved with drugs or have a sex–change, I guess, the lesson is that you do need to be ready to cope with the consequences, whatever happens. And avoid ‘Dish of the Day’ in small restaurants.
Licensed to thrill?
June 15, 2010
At a time when salary increases and financial incentives aren’t always commercially viable, some employers are resorting to more entertaining techniques to keep staff’s morale high in the present economic climate.
Putting a television in the workplace is an example: in a current Law Donut post, Over-refreshed and Misbehaving: the World Cup in the workplace, Michael Scutt issued a timely reminder to those employers planning to show World Cup matches live that if a television arrives on work premises it will need a TV licence and, if live football is being streamed to the workplace through the internet, a TV licence is also required for that.
Playing music at work is another boost. Whether that music is on in the background or used after hours to create a more sociable buzz, sourced ad hoc from the radio or more strategically from a digital playlist service such as Spotify, it’s considered to be a public performance; and playing music in public requires a licence, otherwise you are likely to be infringing copyright. The simplest way to get a licence is via the PPL and the Performing Rights Society, the PRS . These organisations distribute the proceeds of the licences to the rights holders: the PPL pays the performers, record companies and other royalty rights holders; the PRS pays composers, songwriters and publishers.
The alternative to getting your licence to play music at work would be to approach each individual performer, record company and rights holder to obtain their permission - an impossible task.
Depending on the type of business you have, and the way you use music, there is a licence type for you: PPL Tariff and PRS Tariff.
If a business does not obtain the correct licence the royalty holders, but most likely the PPL or PRS, could enforce a licence against the business via a court order. A court order comes with a fine of up to £10,000 and even a prison sentence.
The PPL and PRS carry out spot-checks on businesses to ensure compliance. A recent high profile case of a hairdresser refusing to obtain a licence for music being played in the salon shows the problem in action.
And while we’re on the subject of licences, do your employees access, share or copy information published online or in the traditional hard-copy format? Or does your business receive daily press cuttings? If so, and most businesses do, then you need to make sure that you are minimising the risk of copyright infringement in your business by obtaining a licence from the CLA.
Avoid April Showers
March 24, 2010
Your business may have HR policies and procedures in place already; but are they current and relevant? Each April brings with it annual legislative changes which could result in your business missing a trick if you’re not prepared for them.
Here are the five changes that your business needs to prepare for now:
1. Allowances
From 4 April 2010 allowances for statutory maternity pay, paternity, adoption pay and maternity pay are changing from £123.06 to £124.88 per week. Allowances for statutory sick pay of £79.15 per week remain unchanged this year.
The Government has announced that although it is committed to the principle, it will not go ahead with the planned extension of statutory maternity pay from 39 to 52 weeks this April.
2. Fit Note Scheme
From 6 April 2010, as an employer you will no longer be presented with the traditional GP sick note setting out the reason for an employee’s absence. Instead, GPs will produce “fit notes” which will focus on the work that an ill person is able to do, rather than what they are unable to do. Again, Business Link has a helpful section of information for employers on the fit note scheme and an example fit note template is available here.
There are differing opinions on whether the new system will be more or less beneficial to employers; we will have to see how it plays out. For the time being, as an employer, you will need to acquaint yourself with the new fit note form, know how to respond to it, and adjust your absence management procedures to ensure that any adjustments recommended by a GP in a fit note are considered. You should also maintain a record of the reasons for any non-implementation of recommendations.
3. Right to Train
On 6 April 2010 the new Employee Study and Training Regulations come into force and give a new right for employees to request time off from work for training or study. Initially, this right will only affect employers who have over 250 employees, but by 2011, the right will extend to all employers. Essentially, the regulations set out how an employer should respond to such requests.
My advice would be to ensure your company has a policy to reflect this new right which should include how and to whom in the company the request should be made, who will consider the request and in what timeframe. I recommend maintaining a record of requests together with the reasoning behind any approvals or rejections in order to ensure consistency of process, and to demonstrate equality and fairness in your workplace.
For more information, Business Link provides an overview of the detail which you need.
4. Paternity Leave
New laws mean babies due next spring may see more of both parents. Rules that come in on 6 April this year, but apply to families with babies due from 3 April 2011, allow dads who satisfy certain conditions up to six months’ paternity leave – provided the mother has returned to work.
The idea is to give families more choice as to how they balance work and childcare; paternity leave entitlement currently stands at just two weeks. The Government is expected to issue guidance before April 2011 as to how employers can best manage and administer these new regulations, so you do have some breathing space.
However, now is the time to take stock of your company’s current paternity leave policy and amend accordingly, consider whether you are willing to introduce additional flexibility and enhanced rights into your workplace if it is a means for you of attracting and retaining the right employees, review your existing structure and ensure managers are prepared for the new entitlement to take effect.
Don’t forget to also update your existing maternity leave policy to reflect the mother’s ability to share leave with the father.
5. Equality
On the horizon, but awaiting Royal Assent at the time of writing, is the Equality Bill. Royal Assent for this Bill is expected in April 2010, and the Act will then be due to take effect in October 2010. There is some discussion as to whether the impending general election will disrupt the Bill’s timetable, but there seems to be cross-party support for it and at this stage there is no indication that the Bill’s progress through Parliament is being delayed.
The purpose behind the Bill is to “modernise and streamline discrimination legislation” and “make Britain stronger, fairer and more equal”. As such, it’s a biggie and it will have an impact on your business. The scope of the Bill is very broad, and this post will not set out the detail here.
My immediate advice is that, if you haven’t already, you need to get up to speed with the Bill. As an initial introduction to this mammoth piece of legislation, the Government Equalities Office has a very helpful set of resources, links and bullet-point updates which are easy to digest. Again, with this Bill, there is some breathing space prior to its introduction, but not much, so I’d strongly recommend that you start to conduct an equality audit across the range of your HR policies to ensure compliance with the Act when it comes into force.
6. Annual Healthcheck
Alongside all the above, changes in your business over the past year and expectations of your staff in the future prompt the need for an annual review of your policies; so I always recommend an annual healthcheck of policies, processes and standard employment contracts.
The first quarter of every year is a perfect opportunity to review HR policies and practices in your business. So, to avoid showers this April, spring-clean your HR policies now.
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