The HR Cafe

Phased retirement: It's happening, but companies aren't planning for it

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One of the biggest shifts in the workplace is happening right now. And it’s workers themselves who are making it happen – not lawmakers, regulators or expensive consultants. As aging boomers approach retirement with their next eggs considerably compromised, they’re redefining the whole concept of retirement. Instead of the party and the gold watch, they want to stay on the job, but cut back on their hours and set their own schedules.

It’s often a win-win, of course. Older employees can maintain their standard of living, while employers gain the benefit of their experience and skills without having to carry a full-time employee on the rolls. But because these arrangements are often ad hoc, few organizations have taken a strategic approach.

For example, a piece in the Dallas Morning News points out that part-time employment could negatively affect an employee’s benefits, including life insurance and long-term disability insurance; pension calculations, which consider average salary over the final years of one’s career; and social security benefits.

Out of my way, Gramps

There are broader strategic questions as well. Will younger workers see older workers who refuse to step aside at age 65 as an impediment to their own advancement? And how do you compensate formerly salaried workers who are now part time? Do you pay them by the hour? Are they eligible for overtime if they put in longer hours?

Perhaps most important, what role should “phased retirees” play in the organization? Do you use them like other part-timers, to fill in during slow times? Or is there a better use of their talent and experience – for example, should they have a formal role in mentoring and developing younger workers?

These workers can be a tremendous asset to their organizations. Now’s the time for HR to begin thinking about how to make the most of them.

Supervisors lack time to supervise

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Dear HR Executive,

How much time do the supervisors in your company spend actually supervising? If we can believe a new study from McKinsey & Co., maybe not as much time as they should.

McKinsey found that supervisors of a single business unit spent on average just 25-30% of their time working with, coaching and training line employees. (For some it was as little as 10%.) The rest of the time was spent on administration, meetings, special projects, breaks and the like.

The study covered a range of industries, including retail, manufacturing, B2B sales and transportation.

Get your own numbers
You might want to work up your own numbers by quizzing some of your front-line supervisors.

If you don’t like the results, you could start by reviewing – and perhaps modifying – supervisors’ job descriptions. Are they expected to float a boatload of admin stuff? Also, do they have too many employees to effectively watch over? McKinsey suggests a supervisor have no more than about a dozen direct reports.

Sure, the structure of departments and teams isn't exclusively HR's call. But you have a clear interest in ensuring that supervisors aren't so overwhelmed they neglect important stuff like progressive discipline and documentation of behavioral or performance issues.

Dave Clemens

Editor-in-Chief

HR Rapid Learning Center

HR Cafe survey: An outbreak of “cautious optimism”

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Dear HR Executive:

Everybody says things are looking up. Consumer confidence is climbing. Unemployment seems to be bottoming out. But how does it look from the inside? Are employees really feeling that the worst is behind us? Are they embittered or energized by the challenges they’ve had to face?

We asked HR managers to tell us how their employees are bearing up under the strain of the worst economy since the Great Depression. Surprisingly well, it turns out.

About half said employees are “hanging in there.” That’s to be expected.

But nearly as many – 40% -- said employees are “cautiously optimistic.” (Another 3% said employees are “Wildly enthusiastic.” Will those companies please report to the front office?)

On the downside, only 7% said employees were doing “not so good” or “downright disgruntled.”

Wow.

Those numbers make me “cautiously optimistic” as well. They suggest most workers remain motivated and committed despite the considerable challenges they’ve faced.  And the results speak well of management in general. They tell me that companies have done a remarkable job of communicating in tough times and keeping employees motivated.

You can respond to the poll below and see the results here.

But before you do, tell us more: How are your employees faring? What has your organization done to promote optimism? Share your best strategies with your colleagues in the Comments section below.

Michael Boyette
Editor
HR Café Training Center

HR's strategic management role: Getting a seat at the table

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Dear HR Executive:

We constantly hear from HR professionals about the challenges they face getting top management to focus on HR issues. Is there something about HR itself that that makes CEOs tune out? Or should HR directors be doing differently to show human resources is a strategic management component?

I’d like you consider the following scenario – and then share your thoughts with your colleagues in the Comments section:

Marie’s the HR director at a mid-sized company. Andy, her new CEO, came on board last year, and Marie’s been trying hard to educate him about the role of Human Resources in strategic management and planning. But Andy doesn’t get it. When he faces tough decisions, he usually turns to others on his management team.

Marie’s been looking for an opportunity to break through and change how Andy thinks about HR – and now she’s found one. Andy announces that he wants to launch a new e-commerce initiative. “We’re behind the competition,” he says. “We need to move quickly.”

Marie sees a great opportunity to show how human resources contributes to strategic management. If she can help find the right person to head up the new division, she’ll be a hero.

Marie knows what needs to be done. She needs to find out what kind of person Andy wants. She’ll need to write a job description, run some ads, talk to recruiters. But that’s all process stuff. Sure it’s important – but is any of that going to get her a seat at the big table?

What do you think? What would you do? Leave your comments below.

We’ll revisit Marie soon – and you’ll have a chance to view a new learning module that looks at how she solved this thorny problem. Stay tuned….

Michael Boyette
Editor, HR Café Learning Center

Are you union-ready?

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After long decades in the wilderness, labor unions must feel they’ve finally made it to the Promised Land. When President Obama signed three executive orders last week strengthening the hand of organized labor on federal contracts, he was unapologetically pro-union. He said the orders would “reverse many of the policies towards organized labor that we’ve seen these last eight years, policies with which I’ve sharply disagreed.” When Joe Biden announced that The Obama Administration’s “Middle Class Task Force” will focus on “restoring the balance in the workplace” – well, you know what he meant.

And in a just-released report, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that union members accounted for 12.4 percent of employed wage and salary workers in 2008, up from 12.1 percent a year earlier. With a new Administration and Congress, you can count on unions making even bigger inroads in 2009.

It’s no surprise, of course, that nervous employees will be more sympathetic than ever to unions’ message. But even so, many employers will be caught flat-footed. They’ve never had to face a serious organizing effort, and they’re going to be outplayed by newly energized and experienced unions who see an unprecedented opportunity to increase their ranks. Now’s the time for HR managers to start thinking about how their companies will respond.

Michael Boyette

Editor, HR Cafe Training Center

How to manage (using) your anger

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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

Motivating employees: Managers still don't get it

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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

Running effective meetings

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Dear HR executive,

If you’re like the average American company, you hold twice as many meetings as necessary.

Whoa. That’s quite a waste of time.

But John Tropman, a management professor at the University of Michigan, swears this is a pretty close estimate. And he should know -- he has extensively researched meeting dynamics, and wrote the much-cited book "Making Meetings Work: Achieving High Quality Group Decisions."

Now, neither Tropman nor we are saying that meetings as such are a waste of time. Great leaders know that it's badly run meetings, or meetings that serve no strategic or operational purpose, that are the waste of time.

In any case, you don’t want any of your meetings – with HR colleagues, line managers, or the rank-and-file – to disrespect people’s valuable time. So how can you make sure people look forward to your meetings, instead of looking for ways to get out of them?

Making every minute count
Here are five suggestions in Q&A form to help you gain a rep as a businesslike, effective meeting planner:

• How can I tell when I need to have a meeting? If you can write down one, two, or three specific outcomes that can’t be achieved without group attention, you probably need a meeting. Bring your list of outcomes and make sure progress is made on each.

• How should I organize the meeting? Set an agenda with time limits for each item. Tropman suggests putting the most difficult items in the middle of the meeting, when energy tends to be highest. Don’t allocate more than an hour.

• How can I balance participation? Don’t hesitate to interrupt the meeting monopolizers, but validate what they said. Example: “That’s a good point. Let’s see what the rest of the team thinks.” With the timid, you might simply turn to them and ask, “What’s on your mind?”

• How do I close the meeting? Normally decisions are made near the end, and some participants’ opinions haven’t won the day. To repair hard feelings and get everyone re-engaged, spend a few minutes brainstorming about the future.

• How do I know if the meeting was a success? If it ends on time, for one thing. And if a decision gets made, a problem gets solved, or a question gets answered.

Dave Clemens
Editor-in-chief
HR Rapid Learning Center

UNLIMITED-ACCESS FREE TRIAL -- RAPID E-LEARNING LIBRARY FOR COMPLIANCE, LEADERSHIP AND HR: Finally, concise, fast-paced online training that your people will actually watch? Our modules, called Quick Takes, are just six to 10 minutes long. Quick Takes are an amazingly effective and affordable way to train yourself, your HR staff and your managers and supervisors? Sign up for a risk-free trial to the HR Rapid Learning Center. Want to see what it's about before you sign up for a trial? Check out just one program from our huge library of content. It's an eight-minute "Quick Take" training module called "Why 80% of Training Doesn't Stick."

When to intervene with difficult employees

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Dear HR Executive:

Dealing with difficult employees is, well, difficult. Some supervisors are good at it, but others struggle. Often, the problem is knowing when the situation has reached a point where action must be taken.

To help line managers see when that threshold has been reached, here are four questions you can ask them:

• “Do you ever find yourself making excuses for a difficult employee?” Think about it: the supervisor may have hired the employee and really wants him or her to succeed. When people stop performing, or develop a bad attitude, it's not unusual for a boss to start making allowances. "Oh, he's still adjusting to his new assignment," or "She's had some problems at home." Make them aware of what they're doing. Often that'll get them to see that the line has been crossed and it's time to hold their people accountable.
• “Do you find yourself going home angry about a difficult employee?” Difficult employees often take advantage of supervisors who fear confrontation. They slack off. They practice the "porcupine school of boss management" -- that's where someone becomes extremely unpleasant when asked to perform, hoping that unpleasantness will discourage further requests. For a non-confrontational supervisor in that situation, the only outlet is anger. When a manager is going home angry at night, it's long past time to take action. 
• “Have you used your busy schedule as an excuse to avoid confronting the difficult employee?” "I'm too busy" is the battle cry of every boss who practices avoidance. What such bosses don't realize is that employees in their department come to work every day thinking, "Will this be the day when the boss FINALLY takes action against that slacker?" Everybody knows the line has been crossed, except of course the boss.
• “Are you acting more like a parent or a personal counselor than a boss?” Sometimes employees tell a supervisor about a problem and the supervisor sympathizes. That's potentially a huge trap. It's okay to sympathize, as long as "I feel your pain" is followed up by "I want to help you any way I can to get you productive again, because not getting the job done isn't fair to the other members of your team." Make sure that second message is always getting through.

Source: “Coaching, Counseling & Mentoring,” by Florence M. Stone.

Dave Clemens
Editor in Chief
HR Rapid Learning Center

UNLIMITED-ACCESS FREE TRIAL -- RAPID E-LEARNING LIBRARY FOR COMPLIANCE, LEADERSHIPSHIP AND HR: Finally, concise, fast-paced, affordable e-learning modules that your people will actually watch? Our modules are called Quick Takes. They're just six to 10 minutes long. Quick Takes are an amazingly effective and affordable way to train yourself, your HR staff and your managers and supervisors? Sign up for a risk-free trial to the HR Rapid Learning Center It's a powerful resource that allows HR executives to deploy high-impact training modules effortlessly throughout their organizations. Want to see what it's about before you sign up for a trial? Check out just one program from the huge library of content in the HR Cafe. It's a six-minute "Quick Take" training module called "Why 80% of Training Doesn't Stick."

Scenario: Working offsite

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Dear HR Executive:

Tell us how you'd handle this tricky situation.  Please share your comments below.

SCENARIO
Maria heads up your customer service team. She's dynamite. Her direct reports are known company-wide for their upbeat attitude and loyalty. Marie hasn't lost a rep in three years. This is remarkable because the customer service role at Maria's company is very difficult. New products and services are often introduced and the reps need constant training and coaching to handle the ever-changing inquiries and demands of customers. Problem: Maria lives one hour and 15 minutes away. Soaring gas prices have cut into her earnings. She wants to work at home two days a week and insists she'll be able to do it.

Two questions:

1. Do you think she can do it, and that it'll be good for the company
2. If you think it's a bad idea, what would you do?

Scroll down to share your comments.

Stephen Meyer
B21 Publisher