How On-the-Job Training can Solve Your Pipeline Problems
Great article by Paul Wolfe on employee development as an investment to your company.
Original Post from SHRM.org on July 27, 2016
On-the-job training was popular a generation ago but has been steadily declining in the U.S. for decades. Companies expect candidates who are armed with a degree or certification and relevant work experience, which is discounting a large pool of the American workforce.
This model worked for companies when there were more qualified people than jobs available, but today’s labor market paints a different picture. Now we are seeing a lot more demand for specialized talent than there are qualified candidates. And though we have seen strong hiring, wage growth has been stagnate, leaving many workers frustrated with the lack of progress in their careers. In fact, only 15% of the job force are currently in fields that are experiencing wage growth and competitive salaries, which are the “opportunity” jobs, according to a new report released by Indeed’s research team Hiring Lab.
The upside is that 35% of all job postings on Indeed are these opportunity jobs, which are in the fields of healthcare, management, technology, business and finance and engineering. There are a lot of talented workers out there, employed or not, that have transferable skills that would be interested in moving into a role with steady wage growth and competitive salaries.
That’s why I think it's important for companies to consider investing in employee development to fill roles within their organization. Investing in training helps workers get into a high-growth career and enables companies to build its own pipeline of talent.
Employee development can look very different depending on your company or industry. For example, at Indeed we bring in about 80 university graduates from around the world to our Austin technology office for a summer program called Indeed Universtiy. We train these new hires on Indeed’s data-driven development process and give them the freedom to develop new product ideas. This is helping us to fill our most in-demand jobs - software engineers - while training them to contribute right away and offer innovative ideas for our company to test. Finding a software engineer who already has 3-5 years of experience is extremely competitive, so as a company we made the decision to invest in new college grads to help fill this need.
Offering development to your employees is an investment, but for those companies who are struggling to fill roles in these highly competitive and specialized fields, it can help close the gap of of the mismatch we are seeing in the labor market.
See the original article here.
Source:
Wolfe, P. (2016, July 27). How on-the-job training can solve your pipeline problems [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://blog.shrm.org/blog/how-on-the-job-training-can-solve-your-pipeline-problems
Rethinking the Modern Accumulation of Technology
In an article from SHRM.org, Natalie Kroc addresses how technology is impacting security measures.
Original post from SHRM.org on June 16, 2016.
It wasn’t the latest gadget or platform or program that the speakers discussed at a recent conference session on how to keep teleworkers and remote workers connected. Instead, it was the most basic of modern technologies that kept being stressed:
E-mail. An Internet connection. Maybe a webcam (though this proved controversial).
“I am a Millennial, and I … primarily communicate through e-mail,” said Greg Caplan, founder and CEO of Remote Year, a year-old startup that has brought together a group of 75 people to travel the world while holding down various remote jobs. Caplan believes that, for work purposes, e-mail is still king.
The other panelists at the Telecommuting, Remote and Distributed (TRaD) Works Forum, held June 9-10 in Washington, D.C., agreed that the simplest of technologies can successfully keep offsite employees connected. TRaD refers to the different kinds of offsite employees: Telecommuters are those who work from home sometimes, remote workers do their entire jobs from home and a distributed workforce is when an organization doesn’t have a physical location so its employees all work remotely.
Employees who work offsite only need “an Internet connection. Anything else we can work around,” said Carol Cochran, director of people and culture for Boulder, Colo.-based FlexJobs, a job search site that focuses on telecommuting, part-time and other flexible work opportunities. FlexJobs was a co-host of the forum.
Organizations may want to consider providing their remote workers a cellphone with Internet capabilities as a backup. This all but guarantees that employees will be able to work—even if they are having difficulties with their home Internet connection.
A chat function can be useful as well, if the work that employees are doing would benefit from the ability to reach out and have real-time conversations.
Many organizations that employ remote workers have the routine of a “daily huddle” or something similar, wherein employees are expected to check in at the start of the day, whether in a brief meeting or by writing their day’s plans in a shared document.
When an organization’s workforce is made up of remote or teleworking employees, or a mix of offsite and onsite workers, it’s especially important to use the time when everyone gets together effectively. Meetings should be “30 minutes, if not 15 minutes, instead of an hour,” Cochran said. If certain employees are inclined to speak for long periods of time, establish a time limit—and then stick to it.
Video: Love It or Hate It
“I hate video,” Cochran said. “I’m really reluctant to put it on, it’s so awkward.” FlexJobs uses it only rarely, and even then it’s often for social occasions. Cochran said she has found that workers become preoccupied knowing they are being viewed on screen, and worry about their hair and clothes and background surroundings.
This was a point of fierce contention among the panelists and forum attendees alike, though. Some organizations believe that video is essential, and that any initial awkwardness that employees may feel will disappear with habitual use.
Alex Konanykhin, CEO of Transparent Business, a platform that aims to help companies that employ teleworkers and freelancers, offered a solution: Get the organization’s leaders to work from home—and to exercise right before the meeting. When they dial in, they should be in full post-workout gear, including messy hair or a baseball cap. “All it takes is one time” of seeing that, he said, to have a workforce that can be comfortable with being on screen.
Video is a way of giving voice to remote workers and “making them feel part of the organization,” he added.
For those organizations that decide to incorporate webcams into the remote-worker experience, the panelists had some advice:
- Don’t keep the webcams on all day—turn them on at specific times, such as for meetings or training sessions.
- Suggest to employees who express reluctance that they may want to purchase a simple screen or backdrop to place behind them so that their home surroundings will not be visible on screen. This also may help to convey a more-businesslike feel.
- Consider making video an option, not a requirement, for meetings.
- Finally, if the organization’s video capabilities prove to be less than ideal—and repeatedly involve technical snafus such as the video shutting off or freezing, then stop trying to make video happen.
Adopt New Tools Cautiously
The speakers had their individual favorites among newer technologies, such as messaging app Slack, electronic signature platform DocuSign, Google Drawings for collaborating on charts and diagrams, and Zoom for streamlining remote communications. However, the panelists also derided many new offerings as being unnecessarily confusing and others for seeming to be more about entertainment than practical application.
Tools that are adopted by an organization need to be fully embraced by both remote and onsite workers, the speakers agreed. “When you take on a tool, you have to have a very clear expectation of how it is to be used,” Caplan said. “And that’s just culture.”
That said, it’s important for organizations to pick their tools wisely. Each new tool should represent an improvement from whatever employees were using before to accomplish a particular task. And while entertainment shouldn’t be a priority, each new tool should make employees’ jobs easier, the panelists said.
“Why do people love Facebook?” asked Konanykhin. “It’s instant gratification.” Employees expect the same ease of use and sense of satisfaction with the tools they use for work.
Natalie Kroc is a staff writer for SHRM.
See the original article here.
Source:
Kroc, N. (2016, June 16). Rethinking the modern accumulation of techonology [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/hr-topics/technology/Pages/Rethinking-the-Modern-Accumulation-of-Technology.aspx
Put Down Your iPhone! The Biggest Hurdles to Employee Engagement
David Goldstein digs into what are the biggest challenges in getting employees engaged. See what his findings are in the article below.
Original Post from SHRM.org on July 5, 2016
As a company that works with HR leaders and executives who are looking to build stronger teams within their organizations, naturally, employee engagement is a topic that is near and dear to us. It’s a term that’s been buzzing over the past couple of years as organizations search high and low for the perfect formula to decrease turnover, increase enthusiasm and maximize productivity amongst employees.
With countless views on ways to increase employee engagement abound, we wanted to take a look at the other side of things and identify specific barriers that business owners and managers are facing. We surveyed 500 small-mid sized business owners and managers across the US and asked them to identify the number one challenge when it comes to getting employees engaged. These respondents either own or manage a business with fewer than 100 employees. Here’s what they said.
1. (31%) GETTING EMPLOYEES OFF THEIR PHONES
Turns out, when it comes to small businesses, forget the more complex problems of increasing engagement amongst virtual workers or getting multigenerational workers to integrate into cohesive teams. Owners and managers at small businesses face a much simpler problem: getting employees to put down their phones! Is it really a surprise that the majority of respondents reported this as their biggest challenge?
Mobile devices have turned us into screen-addicts, averting our eyes and attention at a startling rate. This is an especially big problem when we begin to look at low wage jobs and positions in rural areas. Small business owners and managers that are making less than $24,000 themselves a year, or those living in rural areas, were the most likely to list it as their biggest employee engagement problem (44%).
Young business managers also find it most difficult to get workers off their phones with 34% of 18-34 year olds reporting it as their largest roadblock to employee engagement. Workers phones are consistently integrated into both personal and work life so it’s hard to incentivize workers to step away from the device and into a conversation with fellow employees. Especially when 74% of employers report that their organization use or plan on using a BYOD program (bring your own device), the odds of getting distracted with social media or unrelated apps get higher and higher.
Finally, women managers and small business owners (34%) were more likely than men (28%) to note that getting employees off their phones was the biggest challenge in getting them engaged. One potential solution to this problem that HR teams can leverage? Embrace employees’ device addictions rather than trying to cure them. For example, utilizing mobile scavenger hunts or mobile-friendly engagement surveys can help build a compromise and solution to the over-used phone issue. And if that doesn’t work, you can always just create a policy.
2. (24%) HIGH TURNOVER & GETTING NEW HIRES ENGAGED
Losing employees more frequently in the worker-friendly job market and having to get new employees engaged more often is also a considerable issue for small business owners and managers. It’s most pressing in rural areas (29%), where it’s probably harder to find new talent that fits with an organization.
Turnover rates as a barrier to employee engagement were of most concern to managers and business owners in the midwest and south regions, and of least concern to those in the northeast.
That’s one reason it’s important to factor company culture into the interview process to ensure the fit is right. Then, get creative with the flexibility options for your employees. In other words, give your employees reason to stay. Then work on their engagement from there.
3. (23%) GETTING MULTIGENERATIONAL EMPLOYEES ENGAGED
The third most pressing issue for small business owners and managers is the battle between Boomers, Gen X’ers and Millennials being waged within multi-generational workplaces.
Generational differences can be a stumbling block that hinders employee engagement within an organization. On one hand, you have 45% of Baby Boomers & Gen X complaining about millennial’s lack of managerial experience while, on the other hand, you have millennials who just want flexibility and fun.
It was interesting to see that getting multigenerational employees engaged was actually the most pressing employee engagement issue (28%) for respondents that were 35-44 years old. These folks find themselves toeing the line between the two diverging generations in the workplace.
So what’s the best thing to do in this situation? Find common ground. Satisfy both sides by creating activities that everyone can partake in. Food and laughter are pretty effective across generational lines. So is getting outdoors in the summer!
4. (22%) GETTING REMOTE AND VIRTUAL WORKERS ENGAGED
While the trend of remote working was the least pressing challenge for respondents, there were groups that found it more challenging than others. Managers and owners that earn more than $150,000 a year (presumed to be working within larger organizations) found it to be the biggest hurdle to achieving employee engagement (43%).
While sweet in the sense that it breeds more freedom for workers around the world, its lack of in-person interaction can become a bitter challenge for many companies seeking strong employee engagement. In fact, 65% of remote employees report that they have never had a team-building session.
To address this issues, owners and managers may want to embrace the small talk and chit-chat online. When workers aren’t in the same office they don’t have the interactions that allow them to truly relate to each other on a personal level. Opening up internal communication platforms like Slack and HipChat, and encouraging workers to express themselves outside of work dialogue (hello GIF’s!) is important.
Another idea? Coffee Shop Days! While remote workers and work-from-home freelancers may appreciate their time outside the office, they can become bored and lonely. If you have workers on your team working remotely, consider suggesting a Coffee Shop Day once a month where you have managers work alongside the remote team members for the day. Finally, there are actually virtual team building and engagement activities out there that stimulate a day in the life of a virtual team.
See the full article and infographic here.
Source:
Goldstein, D. (2016, July 5). Put down your iPhone! The biggest hurdles to employee engagemet [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://blog.shrm.org/blog/put-down-your-iphone-the-biggest-hurdles-to-employee-engagement.
5 adjectives you want to hear job candidates say
Christian Schappel gives some great tips on hiring the right person for your company.
Original Post from HRMorning.com on June 22, 2016
It’s difficult to tell what kind of person someone is just by their resume. Heck, it can even be difficult to tell when face to face with the person. But there are some approaches that will do the trick.
Obviously, you want a hire who’s self-motivated, honest and trustworthy — in addition to having the background you’re looking for, of course.
While candidates will likely tell you they’re all those things if asked, it’s also likely they’re doing so because they know that’s what you want to hear (whether it’s true or not).
As a result, Dave Porter, managing partner at Baystate Financial in Boston, a company that holds its recruiters and managers accountable for the results of those they bring on board, says companies should ask candidates to describe their character.
Five words Porter says you want to hear candidates say that indicate they’re made of the right stuff:
- Honest
- Respectful
- Punctual
- Curious, and
- Accountable.
Whether or not you hear adjectives like these will tell you “how much the candidate cares about others and about doing the right thing,” Porter says in his book Where Winners Live: Sell More, Earn More, Achieve More Through Personal Accountability.
‘When nobody was looking’
Porter has another suggestion as well. Ask candidates this question: When in your life have you made a decision that you’re proud of — when nobody was looking?
If candidates take a while to answer, they’re likely not good fits for Baystate Financial. Porter says, candidates with integrity should have little trouble recalling situations — and the decisions they made in them — that reveal their true character.
In his book, Porter said one candidate, Leonard, told a story about finding a camera in the back seat of a Boston taxi. When the driver told Leonard he was going to keep the camera, Leonard refused to give it to the driver and instead took it to the taxi company’s lost and found. Leonard got the job.
Those are the kinds of stories you want to hear — along with adjectives like those described above.
Bad indicators
What you don’t want to hear, Porter says, are indicators the candidate has what he describes as an “all-about-me” attitude.
Some of those indicators could be dropping adjectives like:
- Carefree
- Fun
- Laid back.
However, describing themselves in those ways aren’t necessarily deal breakers. Those qualities can actually be good things, Porter says, when balanced out by professional attributes. But finding out whether that’s the case requires deeper probing.
Read the original article here: https://www.hrmorning.com/5-adjectives-you-want-to-hear-job-candidates-say/
Source:
Schappel, C. (2016, June 22). 5 adjectives you want to hear job candidates say [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.hrmorning.com/5-adjectives-you-want-to-hear-job-candidates-say/
Office Chatter: Your Doctor Will See You In This Telemedicine Kiosk
Original Post from KHN.org
By: Phil Galewitz
On the day abdominal pain and nausea struck Jessica Christianson at the office, she discovered how far telemedicine has come.
Rushing to a large kiosk in the lobby of the Palm Beach County School District’s administrative building where she works, Christianson, 29, consulted a nurse practitioner in Miami via two-way video. The nurse examined her remotely, using a stethoscope and other instruments connected to the computer station. Then, she recommended Christianson seek an ultrasound elsewhere to check for a possible liver problem stemming from an intestinal infection.
The cost: $15. She might have paid $50 at an urgent care center.
The ultrasound Christianson got later that day confirmed the nurse practitioner’s diagnosis.
“Without the kiosk I probably would have waited to get care and that could have made things worse,” she said.
Endorsements like Christianson’s demonstrate how technology and positive consumer experiences are lending momentum to telemedicine’s adoption in the workplace.
Less than a decade ago, telemedicine was mainly used by hospitals and clinics for secure doctor-to-doctor consultations. But today, telemedicine has become a more common method for patients to receive routine care at home or wherever they are — often on their cellphones or personal computers.
In the past several years, a growing number of employers have provided insurance coverage for telemedicine services enabling employees to connect with a doctor by phone using both voice and video. One limitation of such phone-based services is physicians cannot always obtain basic vital signs such as blood pressure and heart rate.
That’s where telemedicine kiosks offer an advantage. Hundreds of employers — often supported by their health insurers — now have them installed in the workplaces, according to consultants and two telemedicine companies that make kiosks, American Well and Computerized Screening, Inc.
Employers and insurers see the kiosks as a pathway to delivering quality care, reducing lost productivity due to time spent traveling and waiting for care, and saving money by avoiding costlier visits to emergency rooms and urgent care facilities.
Jet Blue Airways is adding a kiosk later this year for its employees at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Other big employers providing kiosks in the workplace include the city of Kansas City, Missouri.
Large health insurers such as Anthem and UnitedHealthcare are promoting telemedicine’s next wave by testing the kiosks at worksites where they have contracts.
Anthem has installed 34 kiosks at 20 employers in the past 18 months. John Jesser, an Anthem vice president, said kiosks are a good option for employers too small or disinclined to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in creating an on-site clinic with doctors and nurses on standby.
“This technology should make it more affordable for employers of many sizes,” Jesser said.
Kiosks are typically used for the same maladies that lead people to see a doctor or seek urgent care — colds, sore throats, upper respiratory problems, earaches and pink eye. Telemedicine doctors or nurse practitioners can email prescriptions to clients’ local pharmacies. Employees often pay either nothing or no more than $15 per session, far less than they would pay with insurance at a doctor’s office, an urgent care clinic or an emergency room.
Despite kiosks’ growing use in telemedicine, it’s unclear whether they will be supplanted as smartphones, personal computers and tablets enable people to access health care anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection or cell service. Some employers already offer kiosk and personal device options, including MBS Textbook Exchange in Columbia, Missouri, which has 1,000 workers.
Workplace kiosks’ appeal is they are quiet, private spaces to seek care. Consumers can get their ailments diagnosed remotely because the kiosks are equipped with familiar doctors’ office instruments such as blood pressure cuffs, thermometers, pulse oximeters and other tools that peer into eyes, ears and mouths. The instrument readings, pictures and sounds are seen and heard immediately by a doctor or nurse practitioner.
“The kiosk gives the doctor more tools to diagnose a wider range of conditions,” Anthem’s Jesser said.
The downside is that the machines cost $15,000 to $60,000 apiece, which may still be too much for some employers.
“Telemedicine kiosks look promising and may still take off, but I don’t see explosive growth,” said Victor Camlek, principal analyst with Frost & Sullivan, a research firm.
Employers’ experiences are mixed.
Officials in Kansas City, Missouri, estimate the kiosk placed in city hall almost a year ago has saved the local government at least $28,000. That’s what Kansas City hasn’t spent because employees and dependents chose the telemedicine option instead of an in-person doctor visit. The city also estimates it has gained hundreds of productive work hours — that’s the time employees saved by not leaving work to see a doctor.
In contrast, fewer than 175 of the 2,000 employees at the Palm Beach County School District headquarters have used the kiosk there in its first year, said Dianne Howard, director of risk management.
Howard remains hopeful: “This is the future of health care.”
The district’s kiosk was supplied at no cost by UnitedHealthcare, as part of a test also involving two other employers in Florida.
Those kiosks connect employees to nurse practitioners at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. The hospital employs an attendant at each kiosk location to help workers register and use some of the instruments, such as the stethoscope.
Other telemedicine kiosks, such as those made by America Well, are designed to be totally self-service for employees. They also offer users immediate access to a health care provider. American Well has deployed about 200 kiosks and is in midst of rolling out 500 more, mostly to employers, the company said. It also places kiosks in retail outlets and hospitals.
Telemedicine’s increasing sophistication is winning over some traditional-minded physicians.
The WEA Trust in Madison, Wisconsin, a nonprofit that offers health coverage to public employers, installed a kiosk for the benefit of its 250 workers last fall.
Dr. Tim Bartholow, a family doctor by training and chief medical officer for the trust, said he was cautious about physicians treating patients they haven’t seen in person. After observing employees using it, Bartholow is convinced it can help them get good care.
“I don’t think telemedicine is making a doctor being on site quite agnostic, but it is certainly reducing the premium on being in the same space as the patient,” Bartholow said.
Insurers declare they are moving carefully, too, recognizing that telemedicine has its limits and they must depend on practitioners to tell patients when they have to see a doctor — in person.
“We have to rely on their experience and judgment,” Jesser said.
The Death of an Employee's Spouse
Original Post from BenefitsPro.com
By: Amy Florian
How often does it happen? An employee has returned to work after experiencing the death of a spouse. At first, she gets hugs and people tell her they are sorry for her loss. But after a few days, you notice that co-workers talk about everything and everyone except the person who died, even when it would be natural to include something about him in the conversation. They all tiptoe around it and avoid even mentioning his name. Why is everyone so afraid?
The truth is, they are well-meaning but uninformed. Most are afraid that if they say his name, they will make her sad or spoil her day. They think it is their job to cheer their co-worker up or take her mind off the reality.
They don’t realize it is not their job to “fix it.” They can’t take her grief away anyway. The loss is always on her mind, no matter how hard others try to avoid bringing it up. Nor do they realize how much she longs to hear his name, how badly she wants to know that someone besides herself remembers, or how hungry she is to share stories and memories.
Co-workers can be much more comforting if they can acknowledge and accept her sadness, continue to give her an understanding smile or a hug for weeks afterwards, or even cry with her. Grief that is shared is diminished, but grief that is repressed or denied festers inside until it finds a way to come out.
Besides, tears are healthy. Despite our fears to the contrary, no one in the history of the world has ever started crying and not been able to stop. Most people report feeling relieved or freed or even cleansed after a good cry, because tears contain physiological chemicals that relieve stress; we are supposed to cry when we are sad.
So what can you do when you notice that people are afraid to say the name? The easiest thing is to say the name yourself. Bring up a story or a memory that involves the spouse — maybe an interaction at a company event. That gives others permission to say the name, too.
Then you can coach your colleagues to do the same by addressing the issue explicitly, saying, “Sometimes people are afraid to mention the name of a deceased family member for fear of making the person sad. We always want to follow her lead, but most survivors love to hear their loved one’s name and share stories and memories of the person’s life. Please don’t be afraid.”
Continue on to talk about tears: “It’s true that she may cry, but that doesn’t mean you made her sad. The tears are there anyway, and every once in a while, they spill over. It’s better that her inevitable tears can be shared with people who care about her.”
In spite of your efforts, you will still find that some people are uncomfortable with grief and sadness. There will be others, though, who can learn to freely share whatever their grieving co-worker is experiencing. It is good for her, and it also builds the kind of camaraderie and bonding that help the business thrive. It’s the right thing to do, all the way around.
The Supreme Court gives employee's more room to sue you
The Supreme Court’s latest ruling isn’t going to make a lot of employers happy.
The High Court just made it easier for employees to sue, claiming they were constructively discharged.
Constructive discharge occurs when an employer makes a person’s working conditions so intolerable — via some underhanded actions, like harassment or discrimination — that the person felt compelled to resign.
Federal law says private sector employees must file a charge of harassment, discrimination or constructive discharge with the EEOC within 180 days from the day the illegal act took place if they want to press charges in federal court. The deadline is extended to 300 calendar days if a state or local agency enforces a law that prohibits employment discrimination or harassment on the same basis.
Federal employees have just 45 days to contact an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) counselor to be able to file a charge.
The real issue
The question that was posed to the Supreme Court: In constructive discharge cases, what constitutes the last act of discrimination or harassment — i.e., when does the statute of limitations clock start running?
The High Court’s answer: The date the employee resigns (even if it’s not the person’s last day of work).
What happened?
The issue came up in a case in which former postal worker Marvin Green sued the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), claiming constructive discharge.
In late 2009, Green complained to USPS management that he’d been denied a promotion because he was African-American. From there, his relationship with the USPS entered a downward spiral that eventually led to his supervisors accusing him of deliberately delaying the mail (a federal offense).
Then, on Dec. 16, 2009, both parties signed an agreement in which the USPS agreed not to pursue criminal charges in exchange for Green either retiring or accepting a position in a remote location for far less pay. Green elected to retire and submitted his resignation on Feb. 9, 2010 (effective March 31).
On March 22, Green contacted an EEO counselor and alleged that he was constructively discharged. He then filed suit in federal district court, which dismissed his charges on the basis that it was untimely because he failed to contact an EEO counselor within 45 days of Dec. 16, the date he signed the agreement.
Green appealed, and the case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in Green’s favor when it came to the start of the 45-day limitations period.
It said the period begins on the date an employee resigns.
The reasoning
The court said in cases in which an employee claims to have been fired for discriminatory reasons, the matter alleged to be discriminatory includes the discharge itself. Therefore, the 45-day limitations period begins when the employee is discharged.
The justices applied that same line of thinking to constructive discharge cases — saying that the matter alleged to be discriminatory includes the employee’s resignation.
Two reasons it did this:
- It said a resignation is part of the elements of a constructive discharge claim. So without a resignation, the claim can’t even exist, and
- It said requiring that a complaint be filed before resignation occurs would ignore that an employee may not be in a position to leave his job immediately.
Far-reaching effect
While this case dealt with a federal employee’s obligation to report to an EEO counselor within 45 days, it indicated that lower courts could apply the same reasoning to the 180/300-day periods imposed upon private sector employees.
One could even surmise that the ruling could also apply to state anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws as well.
Cite: Green v. Brennan (Postmaster General)
Originally Posted by HRMorning.com
Why Do Some Workers Get Away with Bad Behavior?
Original post benefitspro.com
Researchers from Baylor University are seeking to explain why some workers get away with sleazy behavior on the job.
After three studies that included over 1,000 employees, they are convinced they have found an answer: You can get away with breaking the rules or acting less-than-honorably as long as you’re productive. A valuable worker can afford to cross the line occasionally, while those whose performance lags cannot.
It’s an intuitive answer, but one that is no doubt often overlooked by disgruntled employees who wonder why they are being disciplined by their superiors or ostracized by coworkers while others have not.
The study’s lead author, Dr. Matthew J. Quade, a Baylor professor of business, wrote that productive workers who ignore rules or act unethically present a dilemma to employers because of their “contrasting worth.”
“The employees’ unethical behaviors can be harmful, but their high job performance is also quite important to the organization’s success,” he explained in the study, which was published in Personnel Psychology. “In this vein, high job performance may offset unethical behavior enough to where the employee is less likely to be ostracized.”
But that calculus is often flawed, argued Quade. If a worker is regularly engaging in unethical behavior, the employer will likely pay a big price for it down the road. As any observer of the subprime mortgage crisis might say, the short term gains of crooked business are often more than offset by major losses later on.
Unsurprisingly, the study authors concluded that employers should establish that they have no tolerance for unethical behavior from employees, no matter how good they are at their jobs.
Furthermore, they argue, employers should make clear that workers can come to organization leaders with complaints about unethical behavior from colleagues. This point is aimed not only at stopping poor behavior, but to prevent divisions among coworkers.
Another recent study found that employees are more likely to be stressed and unhappy at work when they perceive a lack of “organizational justice,” meaning that rules are not applied consistently or fairly.
Wellness: Get a Lunchtime Workout, Even if You Can't Leave the Office
Original post washingtonpost.com
It can be one of the most exhilarating things you do during the workday, but nailing the lunchtime workout can be tricky. Should you eat before or after? How much should you pack? Shower? No shower? And most important, how much exercise can you pack in during a lunch hour?
The good news is that there are all sorts of tricks for getting the most out of your midday workout and several products that make it easier to navigate.
The key is to have a plan. The night before, pack a light bag of just the essentials: a change of underwear, travel-size deodorant and wet wipes — if you won’t have time for a shower.
Need to shower no matter what? Consider throwing in a bottle of dry shampoo to cut down the amount of time you spend away from your desk, said Tami DeVitis, an instructor at Vida Fitness in the District. She also recommends (if your hair is long enough) wearing a ponytail that requires no maintenance post-workout.
Another way to stay prepared is to keep a pair of sneakers and toiletries in your desk at work. That way, you can just grab what you need and go. Personal trainer Lee Jordan has noticed clients bringing no more than what can fit into a rolled-up T-shirt. In other words, pack light.
You also should consider arriving at the office a little early just in case it takes you longer than expected to get ready, said DeVitis, who teaches several lunchtime classes.
Scarfing down a hoagie right before a run might not be the best idea, but you should eat something, said Nancy Clark, author of “Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook.”
“The goal is to enter into your workout with a normal blood sugar level,” Clark said. “If you’re exercising at a pace you can maintain for a half-hour, your body can digest the food and use it during the workout. You could eat five minutes beforehand; it all depends on your tolerance level.”
If you’re planning a high-intensity workout of burpees or jump squats, she recommends eating a hearty breakfast. For less strenuous exercise, Clark said, it’s perfectly fine to eat a banana or half of your lunch before getting started.
What you eat post-workout is also very important. To recover from a tough routine, Clark says, down a smoothie, peanut butter sandwich, chocolate milk or any other mini-meals with a balance of carbohydrates and protein.
“Protein builds and repairs muscles, but it does not refuel muscles. Carbs fuel, so you actually want three times more carbs than protein,” Clark said. “The mistake people make these days is just having a protein shake after the workout, but you’d be better off having a fruit smoothie to get carbs andprotein.”
If you’re lucky enough to work near a park or somewhere with good trails, going for a run outdoors is a great way to break up the workday. Too cold? Hit the treadmill at the gym and add in some intervals — one minute of sprints followed by a 30-second jog for several rounds could help you get the most out of your run.
Circuit training is another option for burning calories that could also build muscle if you throw some weights into the mix. Jordan recommends four to five sets of compound exercises, the kind that work two or more parts of the body. You could, for instance, grab a pair of dumbbells for a squat with a bicep curl or lunges with a lateral raise.
“You can either time your reps, say 45 seconds or a minute, or do a set number, say 10 or 15 squats with a curl,” said Jordan, an American Council on Exercise-certified health coach.
If designing your own routine is a lot to ask, there are apps for that. Nike Training Club, Sworkit, Spitfire Athlete and a host of other apps have cardio and strength-training routines that you can do in 30 minutes.
Even Fitbit, the wearable fitness monitor, is getting in on the act. This month, the company released Fitbit Blaze, a touch-screen tracker that comes with access to the workout app FitStar. The app offers diagrams that show you how to execute the moves in each routine.
Game for a class? Just about every gym has a variety of 45-minute classes, allowing you enough time to get in, get to it and get going.
“Consider classes where you don’t get as sweaty, a barre class. You’re going to sweat, but you can clean yourself off and go,” DeVitis said.
Leaving the office in the middle of the day is a no-go for some folks. In that case, Jordan recommends heading to a stairwell, one without traffic, for a quick workout. All you need is a pair of sneakers, if that much, to do a few sets of calf raises on the stairs. Or you could do high-knee runs or squats or sprint up two flights for eight-to-10 minute intervals.
4 Ways to Talk to Employees So They Listen
Original post entrepreneur.com
No one likes to be lectured in the workplace.
As a leader, you need to communicate with your employees to deliver strategic direction, reinforce corporate culture and rally the troops to achieve company goals and objectives. To be effective, you need to deliver these messages in a way that creates energy and enthusiasm, rather than deflating your team.
Here are four tips for talking to employees in a way that energizes them rather than depleting them:
1. Use humor. No matter how big or small your operation may be, there is often tension and emotional distance between the boss and employees. To diffuse that, I regularly use humor, a tactic that makes me more approachable. In my experience, the best kind is self-deprecating humor. When I showed up to meet new employees for the first time at a Midwest location, I started the conversations by poking fun at my pronounced "New Yawk" accent. It got a laugh and made me seem more accessible.
2. Ask open-ended questions. And then be quiet. My favorite question to ask is “Tell me about [insert topic here].” When you ask a new employee about his ideas or a technologist about a new device, you are asking them to do more than give you a pat sentence or two in response. You have the opportunity to access that person’s deep knowledge and passion. Ask a question that opens the conversation wide and then hold still and listen.
3. Bring others into the conversation. A boss-employee conversation may seem casual to the boss but can feel like an interrogation to the employee. To diffuse this situation, I like to bring others into the conversation to even out the experience. I may turn a one-on-one discussion into a larger conversation by inviting people to join us and share their thoughts and experiences. It benefits me, because I get to hear more voices, and it helps put everyone else at ease.
4. Let the little stuff slide. If you are the kind of hands-on person who helped build the business from the ground up, you probably have insight or advice on everything from the capital budget to color of the carpet. But you don’t have to communicate every thought to the staff. If it’s not an important critique, let it go. I visited a flower shop in my company once and noticed the manager was not lining the trashcans with plastic bags. I know from experience that liners make the job easier, but I also know that I don’t need to communicate every idea that comes into my head. It just creates a climate of nitpicking.
Conversations that take place up and down the food chain – between supervisor and staff, people of different departments and the boss and the new employee – are often the source of great new ideas.
As the boss, it’s your job to get those conversations started and keep them going. You have a chance to make that happen (or achieve the opposite) every time you open your mouth.