The HR Cafe

More on obesity … and pitfalls of communication

Comments from last week’s posting about obesity in the workplace raised some important legal issues.
They also raised a caution flag for communicators -- whether they’re HR directors or blog writers.

Pretext for discrimination?

First the legal issues. An HR director writes:

Many states include ‘overweight’ as one of the areas covered by anti-discrimination laws. It is best to tread lightly and keep in communications with your HR office and your corporate attorney when planning weight loss efforts! Also, encourage your readers to remember that, as always with statistics, not all overweight people have these problems/issues.”

Attorney Benjamin Lipman takes a similar view:

Various predispositions that are generally undesirable from an employer's point of view can be statistically demonstrated to be disproportionately present in identifiable racial, gender or ethnic groups. Such statistical predispositions are occasionally used by employers, consciously or unconsciously, to screen out, or to make negative decisions, concerning individual members of those groups.

He concludes:

“The vast majority of readers undoubtedly agree that all employees and applicants -- fat, thin, black, white, male, female, etc. -- have a legal and a moral right to be assessed as individuals. We must always remain vigilant to assure that facts like those cited in your piece -- e.g., the statistically demonstrable increase in absenteeism that correlates with obesity generally -- do not creep into the employment decision-making processes concerning obese individuals.”

Amen to that. Which brings us to the communications issue.

What did he say?

Our original blog entry suggested that employees might see employer-sponsored weight-loss programs as a benefit.  But some readers saw shadows of Big Brother in the idea of employers who notice how much people weigh. We could say that’s not what we intended – but so what? It’s what’s heard that matters.

Countless well-intended communication efforts have backfired on companies – for example, the story we heard recently about a company that gave a list of money-saving suggestions to laid-off employees. No doubt their intentions were good – but so what?  It’s what’s heard that matters.

Miscommunication happens all the time. It’s usually fixable -- if you know about it. But if you don’t close the loop by building a feedback mechanism into your communications programs, you can't really know what people are hearing. Despite your good intentions, you could be sowing seeds of mistrust and resentment, and never even know it.

Michael Boyette
Editor, HR Café Training Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference, "Becoming a Great Place to Work®: What It Really Takes"  On Tuesday, February 10, our speaker, Michael Burchell, Vice President for Global Business Development and a senior consultant with The Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc., will walk through the common characteristics of the great workplaces recognized on FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to Work For® list for 2007.  With an emphasis on building trust by bolstering credibility, respect, and fairness, in addition to fostering pride, and camaraderie, the lessons learned from these organizations will propel leaders to choose focus areas and take action in transforming their workplaces.

How to manage (using) your anger

Dear HR Executive,

People we manage sometimes make us mad, but a lot of us feel we can't let that anger out. It's unprofessional, we think. Good management is about keeping our emotions in check.

But that's not the only way to look at anger - which may be a legitimate emotion for a manager to feel and even show. The other way: We can channel that irritation or annoyance to our advantage, to drive home a point or change the behavior of the subordinate(s) we're dealing with.

Four steps

Dudley Weeks, the conflict-solving guru who wrote "The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution," suggests four steps that can help you and other managers in your organization make wise use of occasional anger.

• Share responsibility for your anger. Don't say: "Your impulsive remarks make me furious." Do say: "I'm feeling angry about this situation, and I feel your remarks contribute to that anger."

• Avoid personalizing your anger. Rather, direct it at the offending behavior. Don't say: "You really make me mad when you fail to get your reports in on time." Do say: "When I don't get these reports on time, others are inconvenienced, and that makes me angry."

• Don't just appear to be blowing off steam. Venting at a subordinate is not a wise use of anger. To avoid the other person's thinking you're doing that, you might say, "I could keep my annoyance under wraps, but then you might not understand how deeply I feel about this problem."

• Use your anger to elicit answers. Example: "I'm angry about what you did and I don't understand why you did it. Can you explain it to me, please?"

Of course, nothing excuses using anger to browbeat, cow or intimidate others. And nobody respects a manager who blows up every other day. But if you keep these four points in mind the next time one of your reports pulls hard on your chain, you can dare get mad - and still accomplish something positive.

Dave Clemens

Editor-in-Chief

The HR Cafe Newsletter

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference, "Turning Around Employees Who Need an Attitude Adjustment: 5 Leadership Keys"  On Wednesday, January 28, our speaker, Marjorie Brody, will show how to deploy five easy-to-learn leadership tools. Once managers and supervisors master these skills, they can unlock positive attitudes and vastly improve their companies’ performance. These tools are especially important given the increasing apathy, lack of professionalism, complaining and negativity we often see in today’s business environment.

Will the threat of health care reform drive down premiums?

We wouldn’t be surprised if your health care plan finds itself in a giving mood before too long. If so, you can thank the Chinese.

Here’s why: China’s just-announced plan to offer universal health coverage by 2011. You can bet that announcement will fan the flames even further for health care reform in the United States.

The Obama Administration has already signaled that the issue remains a top priority, despite -- or because of -- the economic crisis. A new poll shows the issue is still very much on the minds of citizens as well, ranking second only to the economy. And with the world’s most populous country now throwing down the gauntlet, the drumbeat for change in America will only grow louder.

Whether the United States gets a universal system is an open question. But the last time a new President took on health care reform – back in 1993 – a curious thing happened. Health care costs that had been rising at 6% a year – much more quickly than GDP – started to get more reasonable. The insurance industry pointed to those changes as evidence that there really was no crisis, taking much of the wind out of the sails of the health care reform movement. A few years later, premiums started back up.

Coincidence or conspiracy theory? You can point to many reasons why costs started to moderate in 1993. But it’s a fundamental truth that competition leads to lower prices. And the insurance industry certainly viewed universal health care as competition.

So this time around, it wouldn’t surprise us if the health care industry soon starts working to heal itself again, by reining in costs and passing those savings along to businesses and employees. It may not happen immediately, but it’s worth keeping the lines of communication open with your health plan and pushing them harder for concessions. 

Michael Boyette
Editor, HR Cafe Training Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference, "New FMLA Final Rule Update: What You Need To Do After January 16, 2009"  On Thursday, January 22, our speaker, attorney Linda Hollinshead of WolfBlock LLP., has prepared a focused two-hour program about the new 762 page Department of Labor publication on FMLA that will:Clarify the key changes in the final rule. Explain key differences between the final regs and the proposed regs.  Suggest revisions to your FMLA policy and forms to be used to obtain medical certifications.  Offer advice on training managers and supervisors to handle the changes and provide other action steps to comply with the new rules and take advantage of the many employer benefits included in the new law.

Retention: Despite layoffs, it's still the #1 concern

What’s the biggest HR concern for companies right now? If you listen to all the news reports, you’d think their top priority is cutting staff.

Not so, according to a study by The Hay Group. Companies’ biggest concern – all the layoffs notwithstanding -- is retaining top talent.

There’s no conflict here, of course. As staffs get leaner, quality becomes more and more important. But there is a danger of sending mixed signals to your employees: Yes, we love you. Yes, we want you to stay. Sorry, we had to lay off your colleagues.

For HR managers, these are challenging times indeed. On the one hand, it’s tough to take care of your top performers while everyone else is asked to share the economic pain. On the other hand, if you treat everyone the same, top performers will likely be the first ones to jump ship. You can try to thread the needle with non-economic rewards, but they only go so far.

What are you hearing from your management? Are they more focused on laying people off or keeping them aboard? Are they trying to do both at the same time? How successful are they? Leave a comment and let us know.

Michael Boyette
Editor, HR Cafe Training Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference, "How to Conduct a RIF Without Killing Morale"  On Thursday, January 29, our speaker, Amy Henderson, will discuss the most common pitfalls HR professionals and managers fall into during and after layoffs, and offer a blueprint for conducting a successful RIF that allows you to maintain an engaged workforce as you manage through a tough economic climate.

Obesity in the workplace: a drag on productivity

As companies look to squeeze more productivity out of downsized workforces, it's a good time to consider how much obesity is dragging down the bottom line. 

You can show skeptical managers a bottom-line benefit for weight-loss programs in the workplace, such as nutritional counseling, healthy meals in the cafeteria and on-site weight-loss programs: A 2007 study from Duke University found big employer costs linked to obesity, including higher workers comp claims, increased medical costs and more lost workdays.

By the time people get about 50 pounds overweight (obesity class II), lost workdays jump almost tenfold, to 117 days per 100 FTEs (versus only 14 days per 100 FTEs for those at ideal body weight). Workers comp claims are nearly twice as high, and medical costs are three times higher.

Even a few extra pounds have a big impact: for people who are overweight but not obese, the lost-workday rate increases by a factor of four and medical claims nearly double.    

Given those stats, it makes sense for companies to move just as aggressively against fat as they have against tobacco – especially because obesity rates, like smoking, are influenced by social norms. In other words, it's easier to lose weight when people around you are trying too. In fact, one idea to consider is to encourage workers to find a weight loss buddy at the plant or office. According to a 2005 article from Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology Brown Medical School and Dartmouth University, more people lose weight when they have a buddy than when they diet alone.

Of course, these programs require sensitivity. They need to be about helping employees, not punishing them or singling them out. But as more and more people take steps to improve their health, they'll value an employer that helps them achieve their goals. These kinds of initiatives might improve employee loyalty and position your company as a great place to work. 

Michael Boyette

Editor, HR Cafe Training Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference, "New FMLA Final Rule Update: What You Need To Do After January 16, 2009"  On Thursday, January 22, our speaker, attorney Linda Hollinshead of WolfBlock LLP., has prepared a focused two-hour program about the new 762 page Department of Labor publication on FMLA that will:Clarify the key changes in the final rule. Explain key differences between the final regs and the proposed regs.  Suggest revisions to your FMLA policy and forms to be used to obtain medical certifications.  Offer advice on training managers and supervisors to handle the changes and provide other action steps to comply with the new rules and take advantage of the many employer benefits included in the new law.

New employment legislation: Let the games begin

Barack Obama’s not the only one changing jobs next week.

Your job is going to change too.

A new administration. Stronger Democratic majorities in both houses. Rising unemployment and an economic meltdown blamed on incompetent business leaders. It’s a recipe for more changes in employment law than we’ve seen in a long time.

The flood is starting already. The first bill to cross President Obama’s desk will likely be the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which reverses the recent Supreme Court decision and gives employees more time to sue their employers over gender-based pay bias.

Not far behind it is the Paycheck Fairness Act, which could expose employers to unlimited punitive damages and require overhauls of many organization’s pay systems. Also on the agenda is the Employee Free Choice Act, which would create new union-organizing headaches for many employers.

In this environment, it’s anyone’s guess what else will be landing in HR’s lap in the coming months. But this much is certain: Solid HR policies and programs will be more vital than ever as businesses navigate the challenges ahead.

Michael Boyette

Editor, HR Cafe Training Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference, "The Employee Free Choice Act: What You Need to Know"  On Thursday, February 5, our speaker, attorny Matthew Gilley, will detail what compliance with EFCA will require and what penalties companies will face for non-compliance. And he’ll lay out how the Employee Free Choice Act threatens to strip employees of their right to a secret ballot when deciding on union representation.  Employers would have to radically alter their responses to unionization, and employees will be subject to open pressures from the unions and their pro-union peers.  The new law would transform the union “campaign,” or render it obsolete.

Benefits of diversity in the workplace: What's the bottom line?

Dear HR Executive:

We’ve all heard about the bottom-line benefits of diversity in the workplace. The truth is, the results are mixed.

There’s a powerful and seductive argument that a diverse workplace improves performance, by giving organizations fresh insights, expanding their resource pool and enhancing creativity.

But empirical studies suggest that many organizations never see these benefits. Instead, increased diversity leads to in-groups and out-groups, miscommunication, stereotyping, conflict and reduced performance.

Often, it’s well-meaning policies that sabotage diversity programs. For example, Harvard Business School professors Robin Ely and David Thomas studied hundreds of workplaces and found that a “color-blind” approach to diversity is likely to fail.

Color-blindness sounds like good policy. Doesn’t fairness demand that people be treated the same, regardless of race?

Here’s the problem: When we pretend we’re all alike, conversations about diversity don’t happen. Everyone makes nice – but people never get a chance to grapple with their differences. 

I know of a company that’s rightfully proud of its track record on hiring. It’s gone out of its way to bring in gays, African-Americans, Latinos, immigrants. But few of them stay for very long.

Yes, they’re treated fairly. But the company has an inflexible culture and expects its employees to get with the program. “Here’s the problem,” says one employee (who happens to be white): “We hire for differences. But once you get here, everyone's expected to be the same.”

What works?

The profs concluded that diversity does deliver bottom-line benefits for some companies – but only if there’s an organizational culture that explicitly acknowledges differences and encourages people to bring all relevant insights and perspectives to their work. Conversations about differences can get messy and create friction – but it’s the kind of friction that sparks new thinking and moves organizations forward.

This is a touchy subject. On the one hand, companies need a strong vision and clearly defined path. Everybody should be pulling in the same direction. Is it possible to keep your focus and still welcome different points of view?  

What about your organization? How does it encourage diversity, not only in the org chart, but in its thinking? How do you handle the inevitable conflicts that arise when people from different backgrounds come together? And how do you keep different people working effectively toward common goals? Let us know your best ideas for making diversity work.

Michael Boyette
Editor, HR Cafe Training Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference, "The 7 C’s of High-Performance Management: How to Make Good Supervisors Great"  On Wednesday, January 21, our speaker, Tom Crane, will show participants why so many modern bosses are still trapped in traditional management models that dis-empower employees and lead to mediocre results. And he’ll lay out a new model based on creating manager/employee relationships based on trust that encourage employee initiative, increase engagement and accountability, capture “discretionary effort” and lead to the high performance needed from their workforces in these challenging times.

Motivating employees: Managers still don't get it

Dear HR Executive:

You might try this exercise in your organization. It will take about 20 minutes:

Hand the following list to managers and ask them to rank which factors are most important for motivating employees. Then give the list to their people and ask the same question.

• Appreciation
• Feeling “in” on things
• Good wages
• Good working conditions
• Interesting work
• Job security
• Loyalty from management
• Promotion opportunities
• Tactful discipline
• Understanding attitude

You’ll probably find a huge disconnect.

When it comes to employee motivation, most managers rank the “hard” goodies at the top of the list: good wages, job security and promotion opportunities. All of those things are important to employees, of course.

But they’re not the most important things.

Here’s what really motivates workers: appreciation, feeling they’re in the loop, and a boss who understands them. Bosses rank these “soft” factors at the bottom of their lists.

That’s a shame, because these benefits don’t cost the company a dime. And they pay huge dividends in productivity and loyalty.

None of this is news, by the way. Management consultants and academics have been making these points for years. But the message isn’t getting through.

The sad truth is that only a relative handful of managers keep up with research that can help them do their job. They manage by their gut and focus on the day to day.

That’s where the HR department can have a huge impact. You can become a powerful resource to these managers by passing along the best insights from the field. Managers are hungry for this knowledge, but they’re busy and don’t have much time to seek it out. Look for quick and engaging ways to get these insights to them – like the pop quiz above – and you’ll help your people, your organization and your department.

Michael Boyette

Managing Editor, HR Cafe Training Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference, "Goal Setting for Supervisors: Why it Matters and How to Do It Right"  On Wednesday, January 14, our speaker,  Gary Ryan Blair, will challenge you to rethink the way you go about setting, measuring, obtaining buy in, and achieving your organizational goals. He will focus on specific strategies to maximize your results with a fast-moving series of methods, ideas and techniques each participant can apply in every area of life and work. Learn the keys to personal effectiveness, maximum achievement and unlimited success in your field.

 

Recruiting: Do great job candidates make lousy managers?

Dear HR Executive:

I recently ran across a study that got me thinking differently about recruitment.

Sure, recruiting may seem like a back-burner issue these days. But with staffs so lean, it’s more important than ever to get the right people in place. A hiring mistake could have a devastating impact on a department or the entire organization.

The study, conducted at Rutgers University, found that ego-driven candidates for management positions – those who talked about themselves and how much they liked being in charge – were seen as more hirable than low-key candidates who stressed team-building skills like consensus and cooperation. The big talkers were rated higher on competence, social skills and overall hirability.

In short, nice guys finished last.

That’s disturbing, because team-building skills are often in short supply in organizations. You have to wonder how many big-ego blowhards get the job, only to crash and burn – while many talented people never get a chance to prove themselves.

These findings reminded me that job performance and job interview performance are two very different things. And – this is really scary – maybe the people who are best at interviewing got that way because they've had to do a lot of it.

As the recession deepens, really good people are suddenly finding themselves in the job market for the first time in years. They may be terrific for the job – but rusty on their job interview skills. With so many strong resumes crossing your desk, it’s easy to overlook these diamonds in the rough. Remind your line managers that the candidate everyone loves – strong, forceful, and confident – may turn out to be the boss everyone hates.

Michael Boyette

Managing Editor, HR Cafe Training Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference, "The 7 C’s of High-Performance Management: How to Make Good Supervisors Great"  On Wednesday, January 21, our speaker, Tom Crane, will show participants why so many modern bosses are still trapped in traditional management models that dis-empower employees and lead to mediocre results. And he’ll lay out a new model based on creating manager/employee relationships based on trust that encourage employee initiative, increase engagement and accountability, capture “discretionary effort” and lead to the high performance needed from their workforces in these challenging times.

Hiring criteria: Should you lower your standards?

Dear HR Professional:

Is it ever a good thing to lower your criteria when you're hiring for important positions?

Could be. Sometimes the only way to find people who are good at a job is to set the bar low and let lots of people take a shot.

That’s the “quarterback problem” – the subject of an intriguing piece recently by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker.

For certain jobs, he writes, there’s simply no way to identify hiring criteria that will predict who’s going to do well once they're actually on the job.

One example: NFL quarterbacks. Try as they might, recruiters simply can’t tell which top college quarterbacks will make it in the pros. The game is just too different at the NFL level. Many top college QBs crash and burn when they get to the professional level, while some second-string bench sitters rise to the top.

Other measures don’t help either. Throwing accuracy, running speed, even IQ – none of them tell you who’s going to make a good pro quarterback and who won’t.

Do you have a "quarterback problem"?

So you’re not hiring for an NFL team? Well, it turns out the same problem comes up in lots of fields. Teaching credentials, for example, don’t predict how well someone will do in front of a classroom of 12-year-olds. Successful financial advisers come from all kinds of backgrounds, and there’s no way to know who's going to be good at it. One financial services firm interviewed a thousand candidates last year and picked 49 trainees. Of that 49, only 23 graduated from a four-month training camp. And only about a third of these will turn out to be successful.

A lot of work? You bet. Worth it? Well, the same company employs nearly half of the top-performing financial advisers in the industry – a statistic they attribute to their hiring and training approach.

Are there “quarterback” jobs in your organization – positions that are so unique, and require such specialized skills, that you can’t predict who will be good at them? If so, one strategy may be to be less choosy in your hiring criteria, coupled with some sort of boot camp or probationary program. In other words, open the doors wide, and then let the stars rise on their own.

It’s not an approach for every job or every industry. And, of course, you’ll have lots of turnover. That’s usually seen as a bad thing. But in some cases, it may be the price you pay to get the very best talent into your organization.   

Michael Boyette
Managing Editor, The HR Cafe Training Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference, "Goal Setting for Supervisors: Why it Matters and How to Do It Right"  On Wednesday, January 14, our speaker,  Gary Ryan Blair, will challenge you to rethink the way you go about setting, measuring, obtaining buy in, and achieving your organizational goals. He will focus on specific strategies to maximize your results with a fast-moving series of methods, ideas and techniques each participant can apply in every area of life and work. Learn the keys to personal effectiveness, maximum achievement and unlimited success in your field.