May 17, 2012

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Employee Morale too Low in the UK

Workplace dissatisfaction is running high in the world, with employees being overworked due to shortages in revenue, stagnating the hiring process and creating a workload too heavy for the current employees. The workers who are left have all the work piled upon them, making them tired and discouraged as other jobs are given to them on top of what they‘ve always done, and they aren‘t being fully compensated for it.
King’s College in London recently took a survey of over 500 HR managers and found that over 46% of employees experienced or witnessed stress-related problems on the job and 42% expect the situation to worsen in 2011. The survey shows there’s been a direct link between higher levels of stress and stress-related illness and absence in the workplace.
Over half of the survey respondents indicated working overtime due to staff shortages and although they’re doing more work, they aren’t getting raises or bonuses like they should. This causes stress for the managers as well as the employees, and the survey also shows that poor relations with managers are responsible for the higher number of grievances being reported. This also results in growing levels of employee absence.
Everybody needs their jobs, but overworked people don’t produce as much and unhappy people add to workplace unrest, which raises turnover levels. The thing is, not all companies can afford to replace and train people, so when some quit they aren’t replaced, adding to the already heavy workload on those that are left.
The survey revealed that workers anticipate seeing a further deterioration in employee relations and the number of employee grievances will climb even higher. Morale is just too low.
Employers and HR managers that try to involve their workers in workplace events and offer a light at the end of the tunnel or at least open communication have workers with less stress-related absence and less open unrest. Employers must remember that without these workers their business could not run at the current pace, so making a more comfortable place to work can only behoove them.
Filed Under: Business, Business Costs Tagged With: , ,

Cautious Hiring to Begin in 2011

Hiring is predicted to be up in 2011. During the last several years there have been more hiring freezes and layoffs due to the slow economy, and it looks like that may be lifting for some cities. Slowly, people are starting to get jobs and it’s beginning to look a little better – but we aren’t out of the recession woods just yet. To err on the side of caution can’t hurt.
CareerBuilder.com did a survey of 1350 businesses with 500 employees or less, and found that over half of small businesses are expecting to hire permanent, full time staff in 2011 to keep up with production and demand, even if they are being cautious about it. Nobody trusts it when the job market looks up a little, but acting carefully can make it possible to navigate toward success.
Hiring in 2011 Will Improve, but Cautiously

Just 14% of those small businesses surveyed said they wouldn’t be able to keep up with current demand, so hiring more temporary and contract workers to help them get caught up is all they plan to do. However, 31% of those small businesses said they would take those temporary new hires and convert them into contracted or full time employees. That is good news.
Many small businesses expressed frustration at not being able to get the credit they need to support their businesses during 2010, and a quarter of those said they were unable to add more employees because of it.
Another 66% of businesses that were able to get credit did hire on new permanent employees, and survey responders indicated dissatisfaction with the associated costs. A full 50% cited higher costs in healthcare benefits, 27% cited marketing expenditures and brand-building, 26% indicated a lack of qualified applicants and 19% cited the relative challenges of hiring new people.
Six percent of the small businesses will actually downsize this year, reducing full time jobs by 6% and part time jobs by 3%. Between 64% and 66% will make no changes at all.
Filed Under: Business, Business Costs Tagged With: , ,

Are Former Employees Sharing Your Information?

Hilton Worldwide

Image via Wikipedia

In light of the latest scandal between Hilton Worldwide and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, business managers all over should pay attention. When people move from one job to another they often take  knowledge and clients with them, even if they signed a nondisclosure contract. A person cannot “un” know something, and chances are, they were hired at the new position because of what they know.
Hilton hired two of Starwood’s management people who took proprietary information with them. New projects of Starwood’s not only became knowledge to Hilton, but even pertinent details of the new project came out in Hilton’s version of the same idea.  Of course, a lawsuit was born and then settled in December of 2010.
HR managers take note: there are things that can be done to minimize the conflict that’s naturally created between the new hire’s old job and the new job. There are steps that can be taken to ensure a smoother transition without litigation.
HR Managers can Prevent Proprietary Information Dissemination

  • 1.) There has to be a thorough background check, first to avoid criminals and second to get an idea of what the person knows. This includes showing old contracts to potential employers, talking about experiences and sharing the policies and procedures about clientele lists, among other things.
  • 2.) All new hires must go through a process of orientation where they learn policies about confidentiality of information and procedures. They need to know how secret that information should be kept, and that the company has a zero-tolerance policy for sharing or reproducing information.
  • 3.) When an employee states an intention to leave the company, the HR department needs to act right away. Considerations are locking the person out of computer files and servers, collecting property like computers, rolodexes, etc. Take inventory and do an exit interview where the person is reminded of the legal ramifications of information sharing.
Filed Under: Business, Employee Relationships Tagged With: , ,

Before You Call A Contractor

There are times when you will require the work of a contractor for your business.  You may need to have someone else come in and do a part of your work.  These are the days of specialized everything.  The family doctor sends the patient to a specialist, the specialist sends the patient to as surgeon and so on.  As in business, you are either the guy who oversees the project or you are the guy who has been contracted by the guy who oversees the contract  to do a certain part of the job.  For the sake of argument we will say the business is construction.  The contractor is an every day event in this business.

The general contractor is the guy who oversees the entire project.  He has limited knowledge of each part of the job, and his major area of expertise is making it all come together.  He does this by contracting out certain parts of the work.  If plumbing is needed, a plumber will be contracted to do his part of the job.  The electrician will be contracted for the electrical work, right down to the plasterer and painter who will be contracted for their expertise.  The general contractor has a crew of his own, who probably started the construction.  Obviously everybody is getting their fee.  The general contractor commands a fee, as well as each individual contractor.  The general contractor can save money on the job as well as make more for himself is he has reliable people in his crew with at least a general knowledge of all parts of the construction.  Maybe the painting and plastering part of the job is just a quick fix, something that can be done by a general contracting crew.  By not calling in a separate contractor for this job and using his own crew, the general contractor has saved money for the client, as well as made some extra for himself.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: ,

The Termination Crisis

There are many times in your business where you have to let employees go, terminate your relationship with them.  Sometimes it is a matter of realizing they are not the right person for the job.  There could also be incidences of insubordination.  You may have an employee who takes advantage and calls out sick too often.  You may have someone whose production is not what it should be, even after many talks and chances to right the wrongs.  These are all reasons to terminate an employee.  There are definitely more serious infractions and unfortunately they are all too common.  Employees have been caught outright stealing from the company.  Books have been doctored and accounts are open in names they should not be.  These more serious infractions are cause for immediate termination.  If not caught, these infractions can and will be traced back to you.  You could lose your business or even face criminal charges.

You need to deal with an employee in this situation very carefully. This person may have a personal grudge against you or your business.  He may be someone who just needed the money and knew he was good with the books.  Whatever the reason, terminating a disgruntled employee can go badly very quickly.  Hopefully your business has rules about weapons and/or firearms and is diligent in making sure those rules are followed.  You just never know.  If you have to confront an employee who is breaking the law, make sure you have legal back up.  Call the local law enforcement if you need to.  Consult your attorneys on what should be done.

While you know this employee needs to leave, you have other employees and their safety to consider.  Take every precaution when terminating someone who has done something illegal.  If they are capable of that, you do not know what else they are capable of doing.

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When To Call For Outside Help

You have a business.  You have a job to do.  You have hired employees who know how to do the work you want.  You have management teams to help the employees do what they are trained to do.  In today’s corporate world, every job in every business has become a specialized field.  You may have a business that retains specialists in many different fields within your company.  When you need that particular area of expertise, you have someone immediately available you can call on for help to get the job done.

Occasionally, more so in certain businesses, you need to call on someone outside of your company for help.  You need to contract someone to come in and perform a service within your business.  Of course, looking within your company is the best way to get things done for your business.  If you have an employee with the expertise that you require, obviously that is the most economical route as well.  However, each individual situation must be looked at to see if the best way is to contract the work out.  The most obvious example would be the construction business.  Not all construction businesses have electricians, plumbers and plasterers on their payroll.   They need to call the experts in these fields, and they pay these experts with the money they have budgeted for that particular service.

You may have an office full of computers and a staff that is well versed in working with them.  However, if a new program is instituted that will help your business, you may have to call in an expert trained in installing and using that program to train your employees.  It may be something your employees can maintain once they know how everything works.

Calling in a contractor when needed is a good way to make sure you have done your job to the best of your ability.

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The Management Team

Your business is growing in leaps and bounds.  You need more employees, and one person cannot oversee all of the aspects of your business.  It is time to hire a competent management team.  Obviously you want your high level employees to be completely knowledgeable of your business, as well as be professionals and work well with people and prospective clients.  How will you assemble the perfect management team?

Obviously the first step is to decide exactly how many people you need in management.  Too many chiefs and not enough Indians can have an adverse effect on your business.  Decide how you are going to divide your company responsibilities.  You may need a general manager, someone whom all the department managers can report to.  Hiring a general manager can take a lot of the day to day burden off of you.  This will free up your time so that you can devote your time to keeping in touch with your clients, and basically overseeing your business.  It can be difficult to let go of the reins, but it will be worth it.

Decide exactly how you want to divide up the responsibility.  Perhaps you can create your management team from your employees.  You obviously already trust these people, and they would not be with your company if they were not knowledgeable of the way you want things to be run.  You may need to hire someone outside of the company in order to find the person with the right qualifications to handle groups of your employees in the right way.

The main thing is this is your business.  You get to decide how things are done.  You get to personally choose people to work for your company, from the highest of management to the ground floor entry employee.  You care about your business, and with the right management team, your employees will see that you care and your business will flourish.

Filed Under: Business, Human Resources Tagged With: ,

Perks In A Precarious Economy

Every good boss knows keeping the employees happy can only help your business.  Management is more than aware that unhappy employees do not produce to their potential, and can make the work place a “not so pleasant” place to spend your day.  The employee/management relationship can be one of the best, if management knows what they are doing.  It is difficult to hand out cash bonuses and free lunches in an economy that may not allow it.  You may be working on a shoestring budget, and monetary bonuses are few and far between.

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”  We are in a time where management needs to get creative and find ways to keep the employees happy.  There are lots of little ways to say thank you to the people who make your business run more smoothly.  You should keep in mind that your business would not be where it is if every employee were a guy in a suit, sitting in a meeting, talking about how to make the business more successful.  Without the little guy, the worker bee if you will, your business would not be where it is.  While management is important, and a good management team will keep your employees, as well as the higher ups happy, bonuses and “thank-you” perks should be fair across the board.

If your business is one in which everyone needs to look professional every day, maybe you could allow a “dress-down” day for a profitable week.  Everyone can wear casual clothes, with some restrictions.  If your employees all work on computers, perhaps a wrist rest or new quality headphones for those who are in compliance and going the extra mile.  Of course cash bonuses are always welcome, and they should be awarded when your employees cause your company to have a successful quarter, there are lots of small ways to say thank you, and let your employees know you appreciate what they do.

Filed Under: Business, Human Resources Tagged With: , ,

Dealing with an Employee Resigning

As the owner of a business, one thing you will always have to be ready for is the resignation of an employee, and this includes both long term and short term employees as well. Be it that the employee no longer needs the job, has found another job, is moving, or any of the other many reasons there could be, resignation is something that *will* happen and there is no real way for you to avoid it as a business owner . So when it does, how will you handle it? Do you announce the employees resignation? If so, who do you announce it to? When do you make this announcement? What legal aspects are there with an employee’s resignation? These are just a few of the many things to consider.

Dealing with an Employee Resigning

First and foremost, when an employee comes to you and informs you of his or her resignation, you are going to want to ask for the employee to give you an official written letter of resignation with the final date of employment. This is generally going to be able to protect you from fraudulent unemployment claims, among other things.

Next up is whether or not you are going to allow the employee to complete their work term, or dismiss them immediately. If the employee is valued and/or trusted, then you can benefit greatly by keeping them for the term. You can have them finish up any open projects, document and detail steps and processes for any projects that can’t be wrapped up, and possibly even help to transition another employee into those projects if the original employee cannot reasonably complete them. If the employee is not valued or simply is not needed to finish out the term, then you should politely inform them that they will be paid for the remainder of the time until termination, and that their services are no longer needed.

Filed Under: Business, Employee Relationships, Human Resources Tagged With: , ,

Human Resources: More on Employee Resignation in the Work Place

More on Employee Resignation in the Work Place

When an employee resigns, as their former or their soon to be former employer, you are going to need to know how to announce the employee’s resignation to the rest of the company and the rest of your staff. This is both beneficial to your company as a courtesy to keep everyone informed, and to make it clear that things will be changing and there may be some title changes and/or promotions, etc. in the works accordingly. What you say in the e-mail or any other form of official correspondence is more than likely going to differ depending on the circumstances of the employees resignation.

If the resigning employee is being let go immediately due to untrustworthiness or some other less than happy reason, immediately send out a company e-mail simply stating that X employee has left the company to seek other opportunities as of that days date. You could also add a polite wish for success in the search for those opportunities if you felt so inclined. For an employee who is well liked and trusted and will be working up to the date of resignation, a more cheery e-mail might be more appropriate in this type of situation.

You would still want to state specifically that the employee is leaving the company to seek new opportunities, but you would also note the final day of employment at the same time. You could then go on and wish the employee well on the search for new opportunity, and if you so desired, state plans to hold a small get together on the employees last day to see them off and wish them well in person. These things can help foster morale amongst your employees to know they are valued and won’t simply be dismissed. Having an employee leave is very rarely an enjoyable situation, but you can lighten the stress level associated with a resignation by making it smooth and easy for everyone who is involved.

Filed Under: Business, Human Resources Tagged With: , , ,
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