Financial services companies renew focus on talent management
Originally posted May 29, 2014 by Michael Giardina on https://ebn.benefitnews.com.
As the financial services industry recovers from the recession, HR leaders at companies such as BNY Mellon and Invesco are re-examining their talent management programs and putting a new emphasis on corporate culture.
Following the recession, many executives in the financial services HR field began to question the industry’s focus on top-down management. At BNY Mellon, combining the firm’s traditional corporate structure with a new focus on talent management was an important part of its business strategy.
The global investment company has more than 50,000 people in 100 different locations, which makes culture and communication integral to its growth.
“We spend a lot of time thinking about culture,” says Sarah Allen, global director of HR strategy and talent solutions for BNY Mellon. “We really do try and reinforce the values.”
The company is in the process of implementing a year-long rotational development program, also known as a management training program, for interns and current employees.
“We think it’s really important because it gives us a chance to offer a differentiated experience, and gives these new employees a chance to see the company from a completely different perspective, from a 360 [degree] perspective,” says Allen. She notes that BNY Mellon is also rolling out a new employee career center to foster development, networking and coaching for motivated employees looking to grow.
According to Nancy Lupinski, head of people development at Invesco, the company is developing numerous programs with a focus on its more than 6,000 employees.
“We are continuing our focus on robust talent management processes, with enhanced efforts related to leadership development, as well as succession and development planning for key roles,” she says. “We work closely with business leaders to target development solutions that accelerate top talent development.”
Identifying, developing and managing talent in an industry as complex and global as financial services is a constant challenge, says Chris Farbo, global leader of Towers Watson’s talent and rewards financial services practice.
“We’re seeing a difference now,” he says. “We’re seeing organizations challenging what have been the historic norms on the staffing pyramid. Do we really need that many seniors to this many middle managers to this many juniors or should we change the slope of that pyramid?”
In a recent poll, Towers Watson found that approximately 44% of financial services companies said that identifying and developing talent would be the primary focus of their HR department over the next 12 months. Also, manager effectiveness, performance management and career architecture were cited by executives as being part of their 2014 HR roadmap.
“I think the industry has been very good at creating very good vertical executives who know their particular area of expertise incredibly well,” says Farbo. “But, as I speak with executives in the industry and boards of directors, where they want the industry to go is having executives grooming talent with a broader horizontal perspective on the business, so they can see and understand the different pockets of activity that are taking place across what are increasingly global and very diversified business portfolios.”
Allen says BNY Mellon is launching a manager feedback component to its employee review process this year, which will allow employees to rate the effectiveness of their managers.
“The manager will use that as input into their professional development plan, but it’s something that our employees have asked for that we think will be pretty powerful,” Allen says. “It just ensures that greater two-way communication.”
Forty-two percent of respondents to the Towers Watson survey said both manager effectiveness and performance management would be the talent initiatives receiving the most attention over the next 12 months.
Measuring leaves of absence in concert with the ACA
Originally posted May 7, 2014 by Ed Bray, J.D. on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
I can unequivocally say that administering employee leaves of absence has been the most challenging responsibility of my HR career. Why? For every employee leave you must ensure that an orchestra of different people, laws, and systems play in perfect concert with each other. Not an easy task when you consider the following: trying to determine who and when employees are on leave; often abiding by multiple, complex leave laws; and dealing with HRIS tracking shortcomings (if you even have a tracking system).
OK, so what’s my point? Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, many organizations’ leave of absence orchestras are going to need to start sounding like the London Symphony Orchestra in the next few months.
Organizations that are required to follow the shared responsibility (play or pay) rules that use the look-back measurement period to determine whether variable hour, seasonal, or part-time employees are eligible for employer health insurance benefits must ensure each employee’s average hours of service are calculated accurately for the initial and standard measurement periods. A key component of the average hours of service calculation is the impact of any employee special unpaid leave (FMLA, leave under USERRA, and jury duty) during the respective measurement period.
The final regulations for the employer shared responsibility rules state that “special unpaid leave” may be defined as unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, or jury duty. When calculating hours of service for a look-back measurement period, the employer must treat special unpaid leave in one of two ways:
▪ Determine the employee's average hours of service by excluding any periods of special unpaid leave during the measurement period and applying that average for the entire measurement period, or
▪ Impute hours of service during the periods of special unpaid leave at a rate equal to the average weekly hours of service for weeks that are not part of a period of special unpaid leave.
That said, it is critical that each employee’s average hours of service calculation accurately reflects any “special unpaid leave” as any employees that average under 30 hours of service per week or 130 hours of service per calendar month for the respective measurement period do not need to be offered employer-sponsored benefits. Many employees not offered benefits will be significantly affected as they will be required to enroll in some form of minimum essential coverage or else face a penalty under the ACA individual mandate. In addition, they may feel their hours of service calculation is incorrect and call the Department of Labor to express their concerns.
I recommend organizations focus on making three key business decisions as they prepare for the shared responsibility rules, effective in 2015 for employers with 100 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalents (FTEs), and in 2016 for some employers with 50-99 full-time employees, including FTEs (certain conditions apply):
▪ How to accurately track employee leaves of absence.
▪ How to handle unpaid state and company leaves of absence for purposes of the measurement period calculations.
▪ Determine which ACA “special unpaid leave” process to use.
Ensure accurate leave of absence tracking
First meet with executive management to make them aware of the shared responsibility rules and noncompliance penalties plus gain support for doing what is necessary to ensure accurate leave of absence tracking. This includes the following (at a minimum):
▪ Making managers and employees aware of the importance of communicating employee leaves of absence to the HR department as soon as they learn about or need them;
▪ Meeting with the IT department to see if they can: 1) accurately track leaves of absence; 2) track different types of leaves; and 3) provide reporting of such leaves during the initial and standard administrative periods. If not, develop a leave of absence tracking mechanism within the HR department.
Handling unpaid state and company leaves of absence for purposes of the measurement period calculations
The federal government has stated its position with regards to three special unpaid leaves, but what about state or company unpaid leaves of absence? How should they be treated under the look-back measurement period calculations?
Given the fact that there is legal uncertainty regarding the answer to this question and handling such a situation incorrectly could have significant ramifications for your organization, I recommend consulting legal counsel to determine the answer for your organization.
Determine which ACA special unpaid leave process to use
I recommend selecting the ACA special unpaid leave process that is going to be the least administratively challenging given all of the new responsibilities associated with the leave of absence tracking process. To date, I have seen more employers select the exclusion method.
So, start tuning up your leave-of-absence orchestra because the effective dates for the shared responsibility rules are right around the corner.
Deloitte: Study Shows Global Talent Squeeze Continues to Affect Employers
Originally posted April 29, 2014 on www.ifebp.org
Even as the economy slowly improves, human resources (HR) professionals around the globe struggle to find the right people for technical and skilled jobs. This talent shortage makes employee retention and engagement strategies even more critical.
The 2014 "Global Top Five Total Rewards Priorities Survey" from Deloitte, the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists (ISCEBS), and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans shows that HR leaders globally are acutely focused on talent as the top challenge and priority over the next three years. With the added challenge of managing the dynamics of four distinct generations in the global workforce, the survey results point to the need for more effective and adaptable talent strategies and rewards programs.
"With global economies continuing their slow rebound amid persistent skills gap issues, it comes as no surprise among over a third (35 percent) of those surveyed that attracting, motivating and retaining talent is the primary concern of employers around the world," said Jason Flynn, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and co-author of the report. "While the alignment of rewards with overall talent management was the top challenge across all geographies, the approaches to achieve this goal truly reflected the economic, cultural and political nuances of the local regions."
Top five priorities
The "Global Top Five Total Rewards Priorities Survey" series serves as an annual barometer of talent and rewards management challenges. Conducted globally for the second time this year, 22 different countries ranked these the top five priorities for 2014: Aligning total rewards with business strategy by attracting, motivating, and retaining employees Reducing the costs of providing healthcare and other non-cash benefits to employees Motivating staff when pay increases are flat or non-existent Demonstrating appropriate return on investment for reward expenditures Creating a rewards program that reflects the culture and goals of the organization
Evolving rewards programs and strategies
The study indicates that employers should continue to modify and adjust their total rewards programs in today's dynamic economic environment. Forty-three percent of those surveyed identified an increase in health and well-being initiatives as an action that their organization has undertaken within their overall total rewards strategy. There has been more focus on these initiatives in the Americas (50 percent) than in EMEA (26 percent) and Asia Pacific (33 percent).
Forty percent of employers also responded that they have or plan to change the definition or mix of components within their overall rewards strategy. This remixing was more prevalent in responses from EMEA (45 percent), but still high in the Americas (38 percent) and Asia Pacific (33 percent).
"Employers recognize the critical nature of total rewards as a primary way to recruit and engage employees. Equally important is for employees to understand the value of their total rewards," said Michael Wilson, CEO of the International Foundation and ISCEBS. "Employer-provided education and communication is imperative for employees to better understand and make use of their rewards. Additionally, employers are educating beyond basic benefits literacy to include topics such as personal finance, health and wellness."
Skills gap paradox and employee consumerism
In an era of limited economic growth compressing job opportunities, it would seem that there should be enough talent to go around, but the reality is quite different.
"There is a talent paradox that we are seeing around the world. Employers are having difficulty finding the right skills and talent to fit their workforce, despite persistent unemployment numbers," said Yon-Loon Chen, senior manager, Deloitte Consulting, LLP and co-author of the report. "This leads to increased competition for the fewer highly-skilled employees; so it's no wonder that the focus comes down to enticing talent away from the competition and keeping the talent you have. And you accomplish all this through your Total Rewards program."
Global generational considerations: Varied rewards focus
While the workforce populations in the U.S. and most of Europe are aging, India and Brazil are experiencing a high influx of young employees. The report indicates that 60 percent of employers somewhat agree or strongly agree that their organization's leadership team understands the total rewards perspectives and values of the different generations in their workforce, but only 37 percent of employers globally would consider a menu-driven reward mix that allows employees from different generations to build a total rewards package to fit their particular needs.
"Organizations have come to face the reality that their workforces are intergenerational and what may work for one generation in the Total Rewards program doesn't necessarily work for the others," added Chen. "It will be imperative for organizations to have a flexible Total Rewards program that will support all its employees as they progress through their careers."
Employer Tips For Managing FMLA Compliance
Source: Mondaq Business Briefing https://www6.lexisnexis.com
By A. Kevin Troutman
Marking the 20th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act, about a year ago the U.S. Department of Labor trumpeted a survey concluding that the law "continues to make a positive impact on the lives of workers without imposing an undue burden on employers." According to the DOL, 85 percent of employers reported that FMLA compliance was easy or had no noticeable effect on their administrative processes - fewer than two percent of employees taking intermittent leave were off work for a day or less and, perhaps most striking, less than three percent of covered worksites reported they suspected FMLA abuse.
A year later, those statistics still seem to fly in the face of reality, particularly from the perspective of the very people who are responsible for ensuring that employers are in compliance. For example, before military leave provisions were even added or the DOL issued several hundred more pages of "clarifying" regulations addressing the existing law, human resources professionals reported numerous headaches related to FMLA compliance.
In a survey commissioned by the Society for Human Resource Management ("SHRM"), the world's largest organization for human resources professionals, 63 percent of respondents described FMLA compliance as somewhat or very difficult overall. They also reported concerns over difficulty tracking intermittent leave (73 percent); chronic abuse of intermittent leave (66 percent); vague documentation in medical certifications received from health care professionals (57 percent); and uncertainty about the legitimacy of leave requests (57 percent). In fact, 39 percent said that due to DOL interpretations, they had granted what they considered illegitimate requests for FMLA leave.
Anecdotal evidence, informal surveys and practical experience show that the management of FMLA leave - particularly intermittent leave - still present very significant challenges. It also shows that about half of covered employers actually provide more benefits and protections than the FMLA requires.
Among the thorny scenarios that frequently arise, it is not unusual for an employee on intermittent leave to become predictably absent on Mondays or Fridays, hence the touch-in-cheek "Friday-Monday Leave Act" moniker sometimes used to describe the law.
Likewise, it is not unusual for a poor job performer to suddenly request FMLA leave, based upon a vague diagnosis of a stress-induced disorder. And, of course, there are garden-variety malingerers who seize every opportunity to exploit covered leave by prolonging it.
The FMLA aspires to the noble goal of permitting eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family or medical reasons, with continuation of health insurance under the same terms and as if the employee had not taken leave.
Eligible employees may generally take up to 12 workweeks of leave during a 12-month period for a qualifying reason. Additionally, the spouse, child, parent or next of kin of a covered servicemember may take up to 26 weeks of leave during a 12-month period to care for the servicemember's serious injury or illness. So for human resources professionals and supervisors, the challenge is how to comply with the law's intent and specific provisions without allowing significant numbers of employees to game the system. Experience shows that the following tips can go along way toward helping employers meet these goals.
Tip No. 1: Ensure That Your Polices and Practices are Up-to-Date and Compliant
For good reason, current regulations make employers responsible for detailed, ongoing communication with employees requesting or taking FMLA leave. This helps confirm employee eligibility and the employee's understanding of her rights and responsibilities while taking leave.
Among other things, the regulations require designation of FMLA and explanations of what information the employee is required to provide throughout the process. Among the most important document is the certification form, to be completed by the health professional caring for the employee or family member with a serious health condition.
The certification form literally provides a roadmap for the employee and employer, including the expected duration of the leave and, especially important for intermittent leave, the circumstances under which time off will be covered. Despite the importance of this form, and employers' rights to ensure that it is complete and clear, it is surprising how many times leaves are approved based on late, incomplete or ambiguous certification forms. So it is critical to require complete forms to be submitted - failure to do so can legally result in delay or denial of FMLA leave.
It is important to ensure that the health care practitioner's documentation is clear and complete. For example, a leave request for follow-up physical therapy appointments does not give an employee carte blanche to miss work. The employee must still follow established call-in procedures and, to be covered by the FMLA, the employee's absence must be for the reason certified.
It is of course critical to ensure that policies, practices and communications with the employee are clear. Equally important, supervisors must treat all policy violations consistently, whether or not they are covered by the FMLA. Beyond the specific requirements of the FMLA itself, employees taking FMLA leave have no more, or fewer, rights than employees taking non-FMLA leave.
If an employee appears to be abusing an approved leave, employers can and should seek clarification of the certification. This could occur, for example, if a medical certification states that an employee may need intermittent leave two-to-three times a month, but the actual frequency of leave turns out to be substantially greater.
In that case, the employer may ask the health care provider to clarify the certification or whether the employee's circumstances have changed. Used properly, clarification can be an extremely effective tool in curbing FMLA abuse. Under appropriate circumstances, when abuse is suspected, employers can consider using even more creative tools, such as surveillance of a suspected abuser. Whatever techniques the employer chooses, the key is often consistent, even-handled application of them.
Tip No. 2: Train Supervisors to Spot and Respond to Situations Potentially Involving the FMLA
Although it is clear that employees need not explicitly mention the FMLA or use particular magic words to invoke FMLA protections, supervisors still frequently fail to notify their human resources department of potential covered situations. This creates tremendous headaches because the threshold for triggering an employer's legal duty to make further inquiry is very low. In fact, all an employee must do is provide enough information to suggest that FMLA leave may be needed. Supervisors should develop a standard practice of timely reporting such situations to their human resources representative. And, of course, the human resource or a designated employee health representative - not the supervisor - should make further inquiry when warranted.
Supervisors should not question employees about their medical condition or contact the employee's medical provider. They certainly should not discipline or terminate an employee for any absence that may be covered by the FMLA.
To avoid misunderstandings or worse, supervisors should also minimize email communications regarding employee's possible leave. If email communication is necessary, it should be objective and succinct, completely free of conjecture and opinion. Too often, rapidly-composed or speculative communications can be present in a manner that supports a claim of FMLA interference or retaliation (e.g., "John is absent from work again. How long is this going to go on?")
So the focus of supervisor training should actually be on spotting and timely reporting to human resources when a potential FMLA situation arises. Such training can save employers considerable time and money.
Tip No. 3: Destigmatize the FMLA
More than one commentator has astutely observed that employees too often shy away from having time off classified under the FMLA, apparently fearing that the designation somehow reflects negatively on them. Such misperceptions can lead to misunderstandings or even hard feelings. It is therefore important to use new employee orientation, follow-up training, policies and other communications to make it clear that certification and tracking of the FMLA is simply a routine part of doing business. Employees must understand that these activities are merely part of their employer's overall compliance with the law. However, postings, letters and other communications should not only reflect the company's commitment to, but also its pride in complying with these laws.
Along this line, it should go without saying that employers must never tolerate even the appearance of retaliation or a suggestion that it frowns upon any employee who exercises these rights. As the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or state workers' compensation issues often arise in connection with FMLA leave, regular refresher training on all three of these topics will help managers effectively navigate these potentially tricky scenarios. And it will help engrain the concept that doing so is just a regular exercise of management's duties.
To support the employer's compliance efforts, it can be very helpful to publish occasional reminders about employee rights in these areas and off course to ensure that employees know where and how to obtain answers to related questions. As more employers are recognizing each year, employee hotlines or similar tools can effectively support compliance in these and other areas. Such tools also promote positive employee relations.
Tip No. 4: Investigate Before Taking Action
It is becoming increasingly common for questions to arise about the activities of employees while they are on FMLA leave, with varying and sometimes disastrous results. For example, when an employer legitimately received photos of an employee on FMLA leave apparently enjoying herself in Las Vegas, it made the mistake of terminating her employment before finishing a complete investigation. The company wound up losing a lawsuit when it turned out that the employee was providing care for her terminally-ill mother, who was in fact in Las Vegas on a last wish trip.
Other courts have similarly concluded that it does not matter where an employee is providing care or support for an immediate family member with a serious health condition, only that the employee was indeed providing such care pursuant to a medically-certified reason. These cases are very fact-specific and the results can vary, but they illustrate the importance of a thoughtful, case-by-case investigation before drawing conclusions.
These situations further illustrate the importance of destigmatizing, or perhaps "de-mystifying," the FMLA. Once again, it is helpful for all employees - not just those taking FMLA leave - to understand the fundamentals of the law. And they should be reminded periodically that each employee's medical and/or personal circumstances are private, and therefore not to be addressed in gossip or speculation. In other words, while the employer welcomes good faith questions and reports of possible misconduct, it will carefully investigate before reaching any conclusions - and those conclusions will remain private.
Conclusion
Notwithstanding the DOL's rosy report regarding the ease of FMLA compliance, the law exists for good reasons and its requirements are the law of the land. Hundreds of pages of regulations aside, compliance does not require companies to allow malingerers or abusers to game the system either. Effectively managing the FMLA, however, requires employers to ensure that their policies are up-to-date, that their practices match those policies and that they periodically remind supervisors and all other employees of their practical application.
This article appeared on March 13, 2014 on Law360.com.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
The 9 Essential Skills of Human Resources Management – How Many Do You Have?
Originally posted by Stephen Bruce on https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com
By Jay Schleifer and Steve Bruce
When we interview a potential new hire, HR professionals assess the candidate against a list of key skills and personal characteristics needed for the job. Let’s turn the tables and see what that list of key attributes would look like for an HR professional.
In no way is our list authoritative, but it is the opinion of people, including BLR® Founder Bob Brady, who’ve spent decades meeting with HR professionals, supporting their goals, and reporting their achievements.
You may agree or not with our assessments, but either way, we’d like to hear about it via the “Share Your Comments” link at the end of the article.
That said, here goes:
HR Management Key Skill #1: Organization
HR management requires an orderly approach. Organized files, strong time management skills, and personal efficiency are key to HR effectiveness. You’re dealing with people’s lives and careers here, and when a manager requests help with a termination or a compensation recommendation or recognition program, it won’t do to say, “I’ll try to get to that if I have time.”
HR Management Key Skill #2—Multitasking
On a typical HR day, an HR professional will deal with an employee’s personal issue one minute, an intermittent leave question the next, and a recruiting strategy for a hard-to-fill job the minute after. And that’s to say nothing of social media, wage/hour, engagement, retention, and a whole host of other things, every one critical to someone.
In HR, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. Priorities and business needs move fast and change fast, and manager A who needs someone hired doesn’t much care if you’re already helping manager B who needs someone fired. You need to be able to handle it all, all at once.
HR Management Key Skill #3—Dealing with Grey
A surprisingly large percentage of the issues HR managers face are in “the grey area.” Is it discrimination? Is it harassment? What’s a “reasonable” accommodation? How far over backward do you have to lean to approve intermittent leave? HR managers have to be able to act with incomplete and “best available” information, and they have to know when to seek the professional help of colleagues, attorneys, and other experts.
HR Management Key Skill #4—Negotiation
Along with grey comes the need to negotiate—there are often two or more opposing views, and the successful HR pro can find an acceptable middle ground. Remember, the goal of negotiation is to end up with two parties that are satisfied with the outcome, and that’s not often easy to achieve.
HR Management Key Skill #5—Communication
HR professionals have to communicate up to management, over to managers, out to potential employees, and down to all levels of current employees. And they have to do it in writing, while speaking to large and small groups and, increasingly, through social media. They have to be convincing, caring, and believable.
HR Management Key Skill #6—Discrete and Ethical
HR professionals are the conscience of the company, as well as the keepers of confidential information. As you serve the needs of top management, you also monitor their actions toward employees to be sure that policies and regulations are followed. You need to be able to push back when they aren’t in order to keep the firm on the straight and narrow. Not an easy responsibility!
Of course, you always handle confidential information appropriately, and never divulge it to any unauthorized person.
HR Management Key Skill #7—Dual Focus
Employees expect human resources professionals to advocate for their concerns, yet you must also enforce top management’s policies. The HR professional who can pull off this delicate balancing act wins trust from all concerned.
There are times you must make decisions to protect the individual and other times when you protect the organization, its culture, and values. These decisions may be misunderstood by some, and you may catch flak because of it, but you know that explaining your choices might compromise confidential information. That’s something you would never do.
HR Management Key Skill #8—Conflict Management and Problem Solving
News flash! Everyone doesn’t always get along with everyone else. High productivity demands that people work together at least civilly. HR has to find ways to allow that to happen. And that’s to say nothing of the myriad other problems that hit HR’s in-box—you can’t be effective without problem-solving ability.
HR Management Key Skill #9—Change Management
Most companies today are in a constant state of flux. Task forces, matrices, and teams spring into being, do their jobs, and disband as others form. Hierarchies have been squashed, and companies have four or five generations working side by side. A lot of people are freaked out by what’s going on. HR has to help everyone cope with the constant changes.
Nine Skills, But Also One Caveat
“HR is a creature of, and serves, the business strategy,” Brady says. “It’s important for HR people to know what that strategy is and what makes the business tick so the approach to HR can be tailored accordingly.
“Never think of HR in isolation,” he advises. “Because if HR professionals think of themselves as ‘just HR,’ that’s what the rest of the organization will think, too.”
Did We Get It Right?
How about our 9 skills? Do you have a different list? Please share it in the comments below. (This article was updated Thursday, August 22, 2013 9:40 AM).
Stories that Will Make HR Scream
Originally posted by Denise Rand on hrdailyadvisor.blr.com
Happy Halloween!!! HR Daily Advisor decided to put together a list of some of the scariest HR Strange but True! stories from this year, guaranteed to frighten any HR pro.
- 10 Most Outrageous Things Applicants Have Done that Did and Didn’t Work—Candidates want to stand out from the crowd and be memorable. However, sometimes their outside-the-box methods just bomb.
- Trick or Treat: Employee Hands Out Pot Brownies to Employees—A former San Diego bus driver joined the ranks of going too far with a prank by handing out pot brownies at work.
- Does that Tweet Scream ‘Fire Me’?—If you’re a Twitter user, you’ve probably seen a few Tweets from disgruntled workers. The problem—Twitter is a public social media site, a fact that this app exploits.
- Strange Sightings at Company Parties—As part of a survey, respondents were asked to recount the wackiest or most outrageous thing they have heard of an employee doing at a company event.
- The Man and the Mooning—After a Chicago investment analyst learned of a colleague’s termination, he took matters into his own hands. He went into an executive meeting and expressed his anger by mooning the group.
- Dirty Rats and Crazy Ants: Here’s Your Workplace Vermin Update—Here’s an animal-related SBT that’s not about dogs, goats, or monkeys (our usual favorites), but about what OSHA calls “vermin.”
And last, but certainly not least, here are a few frightening tales from our readers:
- Toilet Talk or Dirty Seat? Clean It Up—This reader shared a story about how HR had to clean up a messy issue.
- The Creepy Coworker—One SBT reader wrote in about an employee who had his own weird way to personalize his workspace.
- Keep Your Clippings to Yourself—Personal hygiene can be an issue in the workplace. While you may immediately think of body odor as the main culprit, this SBT reader shows that there are other grooming issues that HR may have to address.
Do you have an odd workplace story? Share your story in the comments below!!! Thanks!
Tips to help with negativity in the workplace
Originally posted on https://www.hr.com
Tips for solving negativity in the workplace
A lot of the time people feel that the workplace can be pretty stressful and they are not always so lucky to like every single one of their coworkers and not everyone has the most amazing boss. These are things you must be aware of in the workplace. You have to expect the negatives but to keep it from driving you insane, you have to at least try to keep a positive attitude and potentially come up with solutions to these negative attitudes.
1. Vent: Do not let your negative feelings about something build up, that could lead to a big explosive confrontation, which is obviously something you want to avoid. After work talk to a friend/spouse/ even a pet or anyone that will just sit and listen to your frustration. It gives you an opportunity to share all of your negative feelings, no filter involved and to possibly get some suggestions that might help with the issues you are dealing with. Writing it all down is also a good way to cope. It gives a chance to see them all in front of you, and can potentially give you your own insight on how to solve the negativity.
2. Come to terms: Keep in mind that you do not have the power to change everything that may cause negativity in the workplace. Focus on the things that are in your power and make the appropriate changes to make the negatives into positives. Coming to those terms will help you to further yourself instead of being stuck in a pit of negativity. Stay positive and keep moving forward and you will boost your potential to be successful.
3. Embrace what you have: Remember that things will not always go the way YOU want them to. Just know it isn’t just in your place of business, that’s life. It goes along with step number two where there is a point where you just have to learn to come to terms and accept that yes, there are some negatives you can change but for the ones you can’t, embrace them. It is the only thing you can do.
Stick with the positives and you will be much more likely to succeed. The negatives will be there, but if you learn to get past them or at least learn to work with them, then you will be in the right mind set to get what you worked for.
Helping Employees Deal with Everyday Annoyances
Source: Benefitspro.com
When workplace annoyances hit, it makes the life of employees much harder, and often employees find themselves struggling to complete their work, says Carol Fitzgibbons, an HR expert at BPI Group, a global management and human resources consulting firm in Chicago.
Some of these workplace annoyances include slow decision-making decisions, unproductive processes and an endless stream of inefficient emails. While these annoyances might seem minor to an employer, they can build up overtime and cause employees begin to feel disengaged, Fitzgibbons says.
“The amount of effort an employee puts in and the amount they can actually get done because of these annoyances starts to get out of balance,” Fitzgibbons says. “The annoyances that exist in the organization just become bigger, and it starts to affect the employees’ desire to want to be there and be excited about things happening in the organization.”
Millennials are especially susceptible to workplace annoyances, Fitzgibbons says. In today’s workplace, millennials are looking to make an immediate impact on their organizations, but when these annoyances get in the way, it becomes much more difficult to stay on top of the more meaningful tasks.
“When you have so much coming at you that you can’t think or when it’s just so hard to get tasks done in an organizations, it’s very hard as an individual to feel like you’re having an impact and your work is making a difference,” Fitzgibbons says. “You have so much coming at you that you just can’t prioritize and don’t have time for any of your own personal development.”
Many millennials are also frustrated by workplace annoyances because they are new to the environment, Fitzgibbons says. For millennials, they haven’t been around long enough to understand that there is often a long corporate history of certain policies, processes and procedures, and changing these can be timely and costly.
“Millennials look at the processes and say that it shouldn’t be this hard,” Fitzgibbons says. “It’s hard to understand and appreciate that when you’re newer to the environment.”
However, a manager can take a millennial’s annoyance as a chance to examine the company’s situation with a fresh set of eyes, Fitzgibbons says. While fixing some annoyances might be out of the budget, such as implementing a new, more efficient IT system, a manager can look at ways to improve how various departments work together or what can be done to better the decision-making process.
“Managers need to set up an environment that allows employees to get their work done,” Fitzgibbons says. “They need to make sure that they’re providing employees with the information they need to be able to get their jobs done effectively and have an impact. It might be hard for the new person to come in and influence the processes, but managers can help them figure out how to manage these.”
OUTMATCHED
Fewer employers are offering a company match to their retirement benefits, a new study by the Society for Human Resource Management finds. About two-thirds of companies currently match their employees' contributions today, compared with 75 percent in 2008.
LEVEL WELLNESS
A recent survey by the Society of Human Resource Management found that 61 percent of companies are offering some sort of wellness initiative this year, up only slightly from 58 percent in 2008. Although wellness adoption by employers seems to have leveled off in the past few years, the elements of the programs have changed. For instance, 45 percent of polled employers said their program includes health and lifestyle coaching, compared with 33 percent in 2008.