1.Define Your Needs.  A Job Description will help you define the level of knowledge, skills and abilities that you are looking for in a candidate.

2. Evaluate Interview Criteria. This should be based solely on job-related criteria.  Does the candidate possess the skills as defined in the Job Description?

3. Know The Laws.  There are many city and state laws, as well as the Fair Employment and ADA Regulations that you should know before interviewing a candidate.

4. Think For The Future. Remember, the employees that you hire today are the leaders that you will employ tomorrow.

If you are looking to hire new employees in the near future, please contact our Recruiting Department for assistance in any aspect of the hiring process.

Guest post by Linda Robinson, PHR, CPEhr Training Manager

The culture of every company is defined by the relationships within the company; the symbiotic team work between co-workers and between employees and leaders.  It is to the leaders that employees turn for guidance.  Any company can have a handbook, policies and procedures, but it is the leadership that serves as the role models for the employees.  The actual behavior of a manager or a supervisor serves as the literal interpretation to the employee about what is meant by those policies and procedures.

All people operate from a level of personal perceptions; these perceptions are clearly influenced by past experiences, cultural exposure and personal belief systems.  We know that we are not going to understand or accept all people equally: it is human nature to have preferences.  There are also individuals who will always be “overly sensitive” to situations real or imagined.  So in coping with these daily human interactions, what should a leader, a manager do?

Managers Must Make Decisions Based on Facts, Not Emotions

In the work environment, professional, effective managers and supervisors understand that these “preferences” cannot and must not influence business decisions.  To avoid misunderstanding or misconceptions, managers and supervisors should make business decisions based on the facts: the knowledge, skills, abilities and performance of each individual employee. This provides a very fair decision-making model, and greatly reduces perceived inequities.

In addition, management should strive to realize they are not “one of the gang” and should maintain a professional, personable but not PERSONAL relationship with their staff and other employees.  To demonstrate personal favorites at work sets up misconceptions of favoritism from other employees.  As long as there are no protected categories involved, favoritism is not illegal.  It does however impact the morale, and productivity of employees.  In fact, 62% of employees cited favoritism as a negative demonstration of integrity by leadership.

Working in a “Shared Environment”

A healthy positive work environment also requires acknowledgement by individuals that it is a shared environment.  What we do and say is heard and experienced by everyone within our vicinity.  All employees at all levels should realize this shared experience exists; management can be powerful role models to their staff in demonstrating the policies and procedures in the most professional manner possible.

It is an amazing phenomenon that so many different people can be brought together under one roof and function respectfully and effectively together.  With the added guidance of management, every work environment can anticipate an atmosphere of productivity, safety and healthy professional relationships.

Leadership Training

For more information on how to assess, train, motivate or educate your managers, please contact Linda at 877-842-4987.

Where to Start

Have a Plan – Clearly Define the Position.  Before you go any farther assessing the skill levels of your leaders, you need to know what your standards are. We usually find these spelled out in a job description.  It gives us a point from which we can measure. What are your expectations from your supervisors and managers.  What do you hold them accountable for?  What skills are a necessity and what skills are a bonus? What is your definition of competent, how do you measure that? Be fair, specific and be realistic in your expectations.

Evaluate their Interest Level. Let’s also look at the interest level of your leaders.  Do they actually WANT to be a supervisor or manager?  There a specific qualities that exist in potential leaders.  Simply taking on additional responsibilities for additional pay is never going to be a strong enough motivator.  You need a person in a supervisory or managerial position who actually LIKES people, is patient and willing to take on the daily challenges that leading people brings to the table.

Match Skill Levels to the Plan. Then, match the skill level of the individual with your expectations.  We are defining two areas: are the skills in place at a level you want?  Are there skills that need to be added?

How To Assess

There are many ways to assess skill levels.  Often it takes an incident to trigger the assessment process. It forces us to pay attention to areas we may have been aware of, but chose to overlook for various reasons.  Usually we recognize a gap between how we expected a supervisor to handle a situation or conduct themselves and the reality of what actually occurred.  This identifies an initial area that needs our attention, but we should be careful to not approach this with a “Band-Aid” mentality.

An example: you have a supervisor who routinely fails to document employee performance issues, is this really a skills development need or simply a lack of awareness about a documentation policy?  Is the lack of documentation because they didn’t know they should or because they decided to not be bothered.  These are two very different issues. On the one hand, we would have a training to demonstrate how to document, why it is important and so forth.  On the other hand, if you have a supervisor who is ignoring policy, the assessment would point us in the direction of a need to change their behavior and understanding of what it means to be a leader representing the company. This might involve a one-on-one coaching or counseling.

Once you have identified the area that requires attention and we are as clear as possible about the underlying cause, and not just the surface issue that has brought it to our attention, we can then proceed with how we wish to implement the training and development process. This is routinely the process that all training and development general assessments go through.  First we define the area of need, focus on the underlying cause and then provide the proper training tool to address the issue.

Other Business Indicators

You don’t have to wait for an incident or problem to surface. There are many other ways to assess the skill levels of your managers and supervisors. A few of these can include:

•    Have sales figures dropped?
•    Has turnover increased?
•    What is the general attendance like?
•    What is the departmental error ratio?
•    Has performance of staff improved, stayed the same or declined?
•    Are customer complaints up, the same or down?

Aside from pulling reports, we can also gather information by being aware of our surroundings and observing our workplace. How are employees behaving?  Are their spirits up?  Is HR receiving a disproportionate number of complaints about certain areas or individuals?  Are employees courteous and cordial with each other or nervous and short-tempered?  Stress can also be a flag that we have a potential for harassment or inappropriate behavior, overbearing management or a general breakdown in the leadership.

When it comes to your observations it is extremely important to know the “pulse” of your workplace.  Surveys are also a great tool for taking the pulse of the work environment.  If individuals are assured of confidentiality, they will be frank.

In our third and final post in this series, we will examine the five methods to train and develop your managerial team.

What is a Manager?

Who are these individuals that are such a vital link in the success of employee relations and the business?  From a legal standpoint, they are considered agents of the company.  We have seen this clearly demonstrated in harassment, discrimination and retaliation cases time and time gain.

Employees look to this level of leadership to effectively and fairly lead them, apply policies and procedures, and to ensure that senior management know the needs and thoughts of the employees.

However, managers are often the Achilles heel of most companies.  Lawyers know that managers not only supervise the staff, but are also the ones to implement, defend and apply the company policies. They are also the individuals who are heavily tasked with duties, other than managing staff. These individuals upon whom we so heavily rely may be new and freshly out of business school, employees who have been promoted into a supervisory or managerial position, or existing managerial level individuals we have brought in from outside.

Expectations

As time has gone by, we have come to expect more and more from our supervisors and managers.  We expect our supervisors and our managers to:

•    Legally interview and hire, knowing what is and is not legal to ask
•    Be gifted interviewers who know how to select the best candidates
•    Have all of the legal ducks in a row if termination becomes a necessity
•    Know the policies and procedures and make sure all staff are following the program
•    Know how to effectively motivate
•    Use progressive discipline as a tool to reengage staff
•    Conduct performance appraisals
•    Maintain the team balance
•    Solve problems and resolve conflicts
•    Know the laws regarding overtime, meal and rest breaks and enforce these laws
•    Be knowledgeable enough about the various leave of absence laws in the state and federal levels to notify Human Resources when a scenario may be unfolding.
•    Maintain an OSHA compliant work environment and hold employees accountable for safety standards
•    Maintain a safe, healthy work environment free from harassment, discrimination, and retaliation, serving as the ultimate ethical role model.

If we expect our supervisors and managers to succeed, we need to make sure that have the tools to succeed, that they are using their skills, and to be sure they want this role to begin with!

In our next post we will discuss the step-by-step process of assessing, and training, your managerial team.

1. Don’t promote people to leadership simply because they are technically competent

Joe is a brilliant programmer who got promoted.  His new position requires that he manage a team of 12 people.  He is not interested in leading people, is generally a “work alone” type of personality, and only desired to do his job well.  He wonders why he is being punished and now finds himself in a job that is slowly killing him.

Solution:  Only promote people who have the technical knowledge AND the potential to lead.

2. Don’t promote people and then assume they know how to lead

You promote Susie to a leadership role and she is very excited, and also scared to death.  Why?  She has never led a team before and doesn’t know how.  It really isn’t that easy.  A leader needs to understand the styles and personalities of the team, tie all these diverse characteristics together into a viable team that understands and fulfills the department/team goals as well as company goals.  That’s a lot of responsibility.  Don’t be surprised if untrained individuals like Susie revert to modeling the negative behavior of her past managers—she has nothing else to go by.  It is not uncommon for newly appointed supervisors and leaders to gravitate to micromanagement.  Their necks are on the line, and they will take all necessary steps to ensure success.  They may be well meaning, but their lack of skills will drive employees away.

Solution:  Have a comprehensive leadership development training program in place to get new managers up to speed.

3. Don’t assume existing managers don’t need development

You may have hired a manager because they have the managerial skills in place (at least according to the resume and how they answered interview questions), but this does not mean that they are a great manager. If they aren’t a great manager, provide them developmental tools.  If they are a great manager, they are going to be interested in continually developing a increasing their knowledge base and skills.  A desire for ongoing learning is a characteristic of great leaders.

Solution:  All leaders should have an individual developmental plan and should receive training annually.

4. Don’t allow mean leaders to lead teams

Mean, surly, demanding, rude, offensive leaders…have we met these people before?  They lead through fear, not respect.  Why is this behavior tolerated?  Because they are great at their job? Because they get results?  Because they have been with the company a long time? These aren’t good reasons and these types of managers will cost you in the long run.  OSHA considers forms of bullying in the workplace as potential violence and there are 16 states considering legislation aimed at managers exhibiting exactly these types of behavior.

In such an environment, you can be certain that the staff they supervise are not performing at their full potential, and that there is underlying resentment and anger. There is a saying: “If you lead through fear, you will have no respect.  If you lead with respect you will have nothing to fear.”

If companies allow their managers to bully their staff, what message is that sending to the employees?  “We allow our managers to treat you like dirt but we still value you,”—yeah right!

Solution:  Provide tools that teach alternate methods of management and put them on notice.

5. Don’t allow executives to think that they don’t need development

How often do you hear, “We can go ahead with the training, but our VP won’t be attending”.  Why is this?  Why isn’t senior leadership interested in the new information and knowledge their direct reports are receiving?  Because attending the training might, a) intimidate the other middle management staff or, b) be considered an admission of incompetence.  Arrogance and ego may often rob senior level leadership of development they might need.

Solution: You can always separate levels of management for trainings, but encourage senior level to actively increase their knowledge base.

6. Don’t wait until you have a vacant leadership role to identify talent

When there is a vacancy at a leadership level the ensuing “plan” is often to fly by the seat of your pants.  There is a brief scramble to slam someone from the department into a temporary role and then hunt for qualified candidates.  Sometimes other managers are asked to take over positions—positions they don’t know anything about, over a team they are unfamiliar with, in addition to their own huge workload.

Solution: Create a contingency plan BEFORE a vacancy develops to prepare new potential managers for the role.

7. Don’t assume once is enough

Once may be enough in certain areas of training.  But understand that many of the areas in which we expect our leaders to be competent are often areas they may not routinely do.  As is true with all of us, one training will become stale and forgotten if not used frequently.  The knowledge we receive stays with us because of our use of that knowledge.

Solution: Plan for regular trainings at periodic intervals to ensure the skills remain sharp and fresh.

Hopefully, by developing strong managerial leaders, we will help develop a strong and vibrant organization.

The Scenario

Certain positions are maintained in your Company as light duty positions to help keep workers’ compensation costs down. An employee who is currently working in one of these positions has been released by his physician to return to work with no restrictions, and his claim has been closed. You are preparing to return him to his regular position when he informs you that he is unable to perform certain duties in his customary work and cannot return. He confirms that statement with a note from another doctor. Since these positions are reserved for workers’ compensation cases, you refuse his request.

Was this proper?

Yes - You have met your obligation by offering to reinstate him to his original position.

No - Why not?

The Answer:

No – you have failed to consider the ADA and reasonable accommodation, and are risking a disability discrimination claim. The ADA does not require you to create a position, or provide light duty that does not exist. Obviously however, light duty does exist in this case since he has been working in a modified capacity. As our main article discusses this month, you cannot separate the ADA and workers’ compensation unless the employee’s medical condition is not a disability under the ADA definition. You should provide this employee with the Physician/Health Care Provider Form to first determine whether his injury continues to substantially limit a major life activity, and if so, begin the Interactive Process and be ready to extend his light duty status.

Source: EPLI Pro, May 2010 Newsletter

Disclaimer

Employers will be granted an exemption from their 6.2% Social Security (FICA) tax liability for any qualifying new employee hired after February 3, 2010; this FICA tax exemption applies to wages starting on March 19, 2010 through December 31, 2010.

The HIRE Act also provides a tax credit for newly hired employees employed for a minimum of 52 weeks. To qualify, wages paid in the second half of the 52 weeks must equal at least 80% of those paid in the first 26 weeks. The credit is $1,000 or 6.2% of taxable wages, whichever is less. The maximum $1,000 credit applies for wages paid in excess of $16,129.03. Employers may not claim a Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) for an employee whom they are eligible to claim the HIRE Act credit, unless the employer elects not to apply the HIRE Act credit.

If you have any questions about the HIRE Act, please contact CPEhr and an HR Outsourcing specialist will be happy to assist you.

Source: www.EPLIpro.com

In this post we will explore some ways to select training areas and methods.

Selecting Areas to Train

Determining the areas in which to provide training requires an evaluation of those areas of your business that can create opportunities for growth. Once they have been identified, you can then begin providing the training to capitalize on them. On the flipside, you need to see where potential liabilities might lie and train employees to avoid them.

Core Activities Training

This includes training to keep your employees updated in the areas in whcih they work. For example, if you are a software provider and your programmers need to learn cutting-edge programming language or tools, you should consider providing them with a few days of training. With their new found skills, they will provide more comprehensive services and enhance your software products.

If your business is service oriented or customer-facing, programs to educate your employees on how best to interact with customers is essential. Communication, customer service, listening skills, and more are all things that need continual review and brushing-up. The quality of your service will reflect the amount of training your employees receive in these areas.

Management Training

Managers certainly need to be educated on the myriad issues they deal with daily. From motivating staff to managing difficult employees, the list of issues is immense. Providing ongoing education, for even just one or two hours a month, will ensure that your managers learn leadership kills, working with diverse cultures, hiring/firing, discrimination, work laws, safety and more.
In all areas, it’s important for senior management to listen to managers and employees and hear what they think is important. As they are your people on the ground, they are likely well attuned to what they really need to learn.

Selecting a Training Medium

Providing in-person training is definitely ideal with all participants interacting and engaging each other. However, this is not always feasible. In large companies with teams of employees scattered across the globe, sometime using E-learning or webinars will be a highly effective option.

As always, working with your employees to discover what methods work best for them will ensure they learn what they need to.

Creating a Training Program

It is not always practical for small employers to create and implement their own training programs, as the time, staff, and financial resources required are not always available. Procuring the services of an outside training firm is usually a more cost-effective and practical solution. For more information on CPEhr’s Management Training Courses, please contact us at 877-842-4987.

Employee Training — Taking Your Business to the Next Level

A prevalent attitude among business owners is that their employees will just “learn on the job”.  This might sometimes be true, but more often than not, employees who are not properly trained can become a liability to their company. On the flipside, employees that are indeed trained properly can prove to be a most valuable asset.

Reasons to Train

There are many reasons to train employees, and with the recession lingering, we will focus on how training can affect your bottom line.

Keeping the Customer Happy

For customer-facing industries, it’s clear that if your employees are not properly trained in whatever service you are providing, your business will be short-lived. If customers are not getting the service they came for, and more importantly, they are not being treated professionally and pleasantly, they will not remain clients for long.  The chairman of Marriott Hotels, Bill Marriott Jr. summed it up when he said about employees “train them, show them you care…they will treat the customers right. If the customers are treated right, they’ll come back.”
Even in businesses where employees don’t directly interact with customers, training will ensure that the product or service always meets or exceeds the standards expected by the customer.

Additionally, with technology advancing on a daily basis, employees need to learn a slew of new things to continue producing at a profitable level. Things like social media, supply chain software and advanced engineering and software tools are just a few items on an ever-growing list of must-knows to remain in the game.

Remaining Competitive in a Global Environment

With businesses competing in global markets, employees need to be aware of various cultural issues that can come up when working with foreign clients or partners. Behavior or communication that is deemed appropriate in the United States might be completely inappropriate elsewhere. At best, actions and symbolisms might have completely different meanings in foreign cultures. This lack of knowledge can result in botched business deals or unsuccessful marketing campaigns.

Avoiding Lawsuits and Liability

As we all know, the last thing any business wants is a lawsuit. Aside from all the bad press which might impact business, the actual lawsuit can be very costly (especially if you lose) and time-consuming.

To avoid this, managers need to be properly trained in areas such as:

• Sexual-Harassment
• Discrimination Laws
• Hiring and Firing Procedures
• Overtime
• Workplace Violence
• Safety Laws

Obviously this is a partial list, but the point is clear. To avoid lawsuits, managers and employees need to be trained in proper workplace conduct.

Keeping the Employees Happy

All businesses want their employees to be highly productive, use their creativity in dealing with challenges and give their utmost in making the business succeed.

The only way this will happen is if employees feel valued and appreciated. Training them in safety issues, core areas of activity, etc. all send a message to them that they are of value. When they feel that the business cares about them (by providing them with the tools and training they need to succeed) they will become the employees that all companies wish for.

Of course, if employees are happy they are also less likely to look elsewhere for work. As replacing an employee can cost up to 60% of that employee’s salary, investing in training can be a more cost-effective option.

In summary, training can go a long way in increasing productivity and decreasing unnecessary costs.

In our next blog we will look at how to choose the type of area of training your business most needs as well as the various training options.