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.

Preventing workplace violence: four must-have HR measures

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Dear HR Executive,

Every reasonable employer wants to keep employees safe from workplace violence. But does your organization recognize the key part HR should play in the effort to minimize this disruptive and dangerous problem?

Maybe not.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fewer than 30% of American workplaces have a violence prevention policy in place. And policy, as a rule, is squarely an HR responsibility.

Of course, HR won’t be the only player in a violence prevention effort. You’ll likely be teaming with Security, Facilities Management and/or Safety. The degree of involvement of each function will depend, in part, on the kind of business you’re in.

HR’s fourfold role

HR’s role is fourfold, according to a violence prevention method elaborated by Melissa Fleischer, an employment lawyer and HR consultant.

She calls it PETSPD, for Policy, Emergency planning, Training of employees, Safe-workplace measures and Progressive Discipline.

HR has a significant role in steps 1, 3, 4, and 5. (Somebody else is likely to honcho emergency planning, step 2.)

Let’s look at each of these in turn:

Policy

The first task of a workplace violence policy is to define the term. OSHA, under whose general duty clause employers must provide a safe workplace, recommends including the following in your definition:

• verbal harassment (oral or written)
• threats
• physical and sexual attacks
• murder
• arson, and
• sabotage.

The policy should be inclusive, prohibiting violence by or against employees, customers, clients/patients, and visitors – like friends or family of an employee.

And it should cover not only the workplace itself, but also parking lots, field locations, clients’ homes (where applicable) and travel to and from work assignments.

Key: An effective policy must require that employees report any violence, and direct them to the proper people to make their report. The policy should also bar any retaliation against someone who does report violence.

Training

Insofar as training lies in HR’s domain, you’ll want to instruct both managers and employees about the policy and its reporting provisions.

It’s also a good idea to train on the following topics:

1. the economic impact of violence on your organization and others, and
2. the warning signs that someone – within the organization or from outside – may be on the verge of violence. Among these signs are:
   
   • an abnormally confrontational attitude
   • paranoia – “everybody’s out to get me.”
   • excessive profanity/obscene language
   • repeated angry outbursts
   • bragging to co-workers about guns or other dangerous weapons
   • fantasizing about attacking someone
   • sudden withdrawal from social contact
   • physical manifestations of substance abuse
   • frequent absenteeism, and
   • radical changes in appearance or hygiene.

Safe-workplace measures

Some of these safety measures have more to do with Facilities Management than HR – such physical modifications as lighting, locks or barriers.

But HR is also involved in this step, by doing the right pre-employment homework and making sure employees go through exit interviews.

1. Pre-employment musts include background and reference checks, with special attention to whether the applicant has ever been fired or disciplined for workplace violence.
2. Exit interviews should assess how any terminated employee feels. Unusual hostility is an obvious warning sign. Less obvious may be the risk posed by someone who has resigned. If the person has quit out of frustration and resentment, this could presage violence later. Exit interviews can do double duty, as the interviewer reclaims work ID, keys, access cards and the like.

Progressive discipline

The policy you’ve drafted should make violence punishable by discipline up to and including termination. Applying the policy properly is key.

Progressive discipline may be appropriate where the violence, as broadly defined, hasn’t resulted in actual physical harm – in the case of verbal harassment, for instance.

But don’t hesitate to move immediately to termination when an employee has caused physical or material damage, or poses an immediate threat of such damage. 

Dave Clemens

Editor-in-Chief

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 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."

EEOC lowers its sights -- and you could be caught in the crosshairs

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Dear HR Professional:

Employment lawyer Mindy Chapman uses a popcorn metaphor to illustrate the EEOC’s current enforcement strategy:

Instead of confining itself to discrimination cases where the stakes are in the millions of dollars – or even the high hundreds of thousands – the agency is now pursuing lots of smaller cases. Settlements may be in the $40,000-$90,000 range. Together, these “popcorn-sized” amounts make a big bowl.

August 2009’s three-week total of $3.9 million included settlements of $44,700; $26,250; $45,000; $84,750; $57,500; and $30,000.

It's not just the money
Hits of this size are unlikely to bankrupt most employers, especially if they’re insured against such liability.

But as Chapman notes, no matter how big a settlement is, the impact is the same in terms of the distraction from normal business, the negative impact on organizational culture, and the bad publicity.

Moreover, a typical settlement of an EEOC lawsuit doesn’t mean only an immediate cash hit. It can also mean major intrusions on the way you do business, for up to five years. Chapman calls these burdens “salt” – on popcorn, or on a wound.

Laundry list
Here are a few of the things the EEOC can demand you do as part of a settlement:

• provide annual EEO training to your entire workforce
• rewrite and distribute EEO policies
• hire a full-time diversity officer 
• consent to surprise visits by an EEOC monitor at any time 
• submit compliance reports every 30, 60, or 90 days, and 
• set up an independent, toll-free hotline for bias complaints.

Does HR want to complicate its life like this? Didn't think so. That leaves you with one choice: Make sure you have a strong anti-discrimination policy and let line managers know helping you enforce it is a big part of their job.

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 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."

Policies: Sometimes even HR has gotta break the rules

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Dear HR Executive,

Rules are rules are rules. No exceptions: It’s easy to get into that mindset when you’re responsible for drafting and enforcing policy.

But according to leadership trainer Colleen Bracken, you hold a position of responsibility because your employer trusts your judgment. And your judgment will occasionally tell you it’s OK, even preferable, to break the rules -- or at least bend them.

Attention: Rule being bent

When you’ve determined that a particular situation is indeed that special case, always acknowledge to the others involved that you are breaking the rules, and why.

If you don’t, people may start thinking you don’t respect your own policies.

Example: “You were late again today, and under our attendance policy you should be suspended. But I understand you had your bachelor party last night. Getting married is a big deal in a person’s life, so we’re letting you off – this once.”

Bracken estimates that a good HR person will come to a rule-bending decision like this maybe 10% of the time. The exception proves the rule...

Dave Clemens

Editor-in-Chief

Human Resource Rapid Learning Center

'Hi, this is America. I'll be in a little late today..."

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Dear HR Executive:

In this economy, you’d think people would be paying extra attention to the little things that show employers how valuable they are.

Like showing up on time, for example.

Not so. In fact, employees are more likely to be late to work this year than last, according to a survey by CareerBuilder of 11,300 hiring managers and employees. Some 20% of them said one in five employees arrive late at least once a week – up from 15% in 2008. Another 10% of employees were tardy at least twice a week.

Not every organization will react the same to tardiness. You may want to stress punctuality through encouragement and discipline. Or you may take it as a sign that people have more to deal with on the home front – for example, perhaps a spouse has returned to the workforce or your employee can’t replace that unreliable car just now. If lateness is on the rise at your organization, you might consider increasing the flex options available (see previous post).

Dave Clemens
Editor
HR Café Newsletter

Flex work: In a down economy, firms are finding an upside

Dear HR Executive:

Once upon a time top management, and maybe even HR, thought of flexible work options like telecommuting and flex hours as a perk for employees – a nice thing to keep people happy. No more.

According to new research, flexible work arrangements can benefit employers at least as much as employees. And progressive organizations are figuring this out.

Although flex programs had been growing before the recession, the Families and Work Institute (FWI) – a pro-employee research group – thought the downturn might change things. If employers saw flexible work mainly as a morale booster, would they roll these programs back in a time of tight belts?

The answer FWI got in its new survey: an emphatic “No.”  The survey of  400 employers showed that 81% of employers maintained the amount of flexibility they offered over the past year – and 13% actually increased their offerings of flexible work options. Only 6% eliminated their flex programs.  And among larger employers – with 1,000 or more employees – there was a big 25% rise in flexible work.

Why? For one thing, flexibility allowed many employers to avoid or contain layoffs. Some 37% of survey respondents with 1,000 employees or more said they’d done this. Compressing work weeks or putting full-timers on part-time status proved a key money-saver. 

Most companies didn’t do it to save on benefits, however. FWI found that 83% of firms that reduced hours and pay didn’t reduce benefits.

Greater bench strength
Organizations found that flex work helped keep key employees – perhaps impatient with compensation freezes – on board through the hard times. Another benefit of flex programs: They allow an employer to keep expert help nearby, to be mobilized as needed. A part-timer or semi-retired employee can be called up to full-time if a need arises. Other studies – including a new one by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) – suggest that flex work can also boost productivity.

Making it work
If you think some additional flexibility could help your organization, but need to build a case for a skeptical C-suite, here are four action steps you can take:

• Find out what jobs might be suited for a flexible work arrangement. Some job categories are naturally more suited than others to flex programs. But don’t automatically rule out jobs where you need boots on the ground, such as customer-service or supervisory positions. For example, you might bring in one customer service rep on days where call volume is highest.
   
• Determine which employees can handle flexibility. Not every worker is equal when it comes to flexibility. Some may thrive as telecommuters or working a compressed week. Others need the 9-to-5 framework. Employees’ managers are well placed to predict how employees will handle flex work arrangements. 
• Ask what kind of flexibility employees value. Presenting an employee with the option of working from home three days a week may fall flat if what the person really needs is flexibility with her daily start and end times. 
• Design a pilot program. If you or your C-suite are leery of negative fallout from a flex program, start small. Pilot it for a limited period – two or three months – and assess success or failure at that point.

Dave Clemens
Editor
HR Cafe Newsletter

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Don't trust HR: They’re softies with no business savvy

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Dear HR Executive:

Professor Richard Beatty of Rutgers University has a message for hard-headed business types: Don’t trust HR people. 

“They don’t think like business people,” the prof told attendees at the CFO Rising conference last spring. “Many of them entered human resources because they wanted to help people, which I’m all for, but I’m also for building winning organizations.”

Which, apparently, HR people are against.

He also said:

• “The language of organizations is numbers, [but] HR isn’t very good at data analytics.”

• “HR wants to treat most employees the same way, and they spend considerable time trying to defend or fix poor performers, taking on the St. Bernard role.”

Beatty thinks the “employer of choice” concept is another example of soft-headed HR think. “If you are the employer of choice, who’s going to be applying for your jobs? Everybody and their dog’s brother.” Employers of choice attract “those who simply want to find a good place to hide out,” he warns.

He's down on training, too, if it's to improve subpar performers. He suggests firing them and moving on. “Low turnover isn’t necessarily a good thing,” he says. “Think about where you want to disinvest."

And he doesn’t believe HR is ready to handle the really grown-up tasks, such as finding and retaining strategic talent. Companies are better off bypassing HR and putting someone else in charge of that task, he suggests.

So guess what Professor Beatty teaches at Rutgers? Finance? Accounting? Nope. He’s the director of the Master in Human Resource Leadership Program.

Thoughts? Comments? Post them below. We’ll forward them to the prof and invite a response.

Here's a link to an article from CFO Magazine, which covered his speech to a crowd of CFOs in March 2009.

Michael Boyette
Editor
HR Café Training Center

Sexual harassment in the workplace: txt msgs = smkng gun

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Dear HR Executive:  

Here are words from a plaintiffs’ attorney to send a shiver up your spine: “I ask clients who have a sexual harassment in the workplace claim, ‘Were text messages sent back and forth? If so, give me your phone.’” 

Yes, if there’s a communications tool that people can abuse, they probably will. Employment lawyers quoted by the National Law Journal say inappropriate texting is the latest electronic gold mine of evidence for employees trying to prove charges such as harassment in the workplace and wrongful termination.

If your electronic communications and privacy policy doesn’t cover texting – explicitly and carefully – now’s a fine time to revisit it. 

Dave Clemens
Editor
HR Café Newsletter

UNLIMITED-ACCESS FREE TRIAL -- RAPID E-LEARNING LIBRARY FOR COMPLIANCE, LEADERSHIPSHIP 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."

Telecommuting management: what type of employee makes the best telecommuter?

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Dear HR Executive:

If you’re considering whether a certain employee will work out as a telecommuter, you might want to use some counter-intuition to make your first decision in telecommuting management.

A leading psychological research firm, Pearn Kandola, has drawn some surprising conclusions about the personality type most likely to make a successful distance or mobile worker.

You might figure that the best telecommuter would be a person who’s shy and retiring, more likely to keep her head down in her cubicle than gab with office mates. After all, she won’t miss being in the office if she’s not there all the time.

But that’s not so, the research firm says. Their study on telecommuting management concluded that the most extroverted employees did the best on their own. Why? They had the interpersonal skills and inclination to remain connected, thus avoiding the alienating isolation that can dog many telecommuters.

Dave Clemens
Editor
HR Café Newsletter

Aging workforce: A strategy for improving employee productivity

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Dear HR Executive,

Is your workforce getting older? Not surprising if it is. Lots of data shows that more employees are likely to work into what used to be considered retirement age.

To improve the productivity of an aging workforce Michael Silverstein, professor of occupational health at the University of Washington, suggest you target four key areas:

Work environment.  Consider tools from ergonomics and universal design – like bright task lighting, contrast controls on visual displays, nonskid surfaces, etc. – to improve the safety and efficiency of older workers.

Health promotion and disease prevention.  This is about more than reducing health care costs. It’s about encouraging older workers to do the things they specifically need to stay healthy and productive – like making sure to get flu shots, and regular vision and hearing exams.

Work-life balance within the organization.  Arrangements ranging from job-sharing to telecommuting to phased retirement fall into this category.

Work-life balance outside the organization.  Don’t forget the social support mechanisms in the community that older workers may want to take advantage of, such as public transportation or senior recreation services. You may want to help them leverage these services through focused employee benefits.

You may not be in a position to attack all four of these targets at once. But the more you achieve in at least one or two areas for improving employee productivity, the more your organization will benefit from your older employees’ skills and efforts.

Dave Clemens
Editor-in-Chief
The HR Café Newsletter