Tag: employee communication (Page 2 of 3)

Managing Work Stress Through Innovation – Part 1

March 12, 2013 / HRwisdom

The issue of managing work stress is an important one for employers.

Apart from the financial costs to the business, there are obvious impacts on individuals and work teams.

Regular HRwisdom contributor Weng Chio Fan is taking a look at this issue.

Over to Weng . . .

Work Stress: Can You Afford To Overload Your Employees?

A recent news report showed that, job stress accounts for at least 10% of the compensation claim across the public service, with an average $251,000 payout.

Besides, demanding work can also lead to absenteeism, performance decline, increased turnover and burn-out. All of these cost organisations millions of dollars in poor productivity performance. In fact, research shows that even an average level of work demands negatively impact on organisations’ performance.

However, with increasing globalization, rapidly shifting technologies and the ever-changing economic environment, organisations are trapped in the dilemma where their employees have to cope with numerous job demands to keep them stay in the business, yet, they have to find ways to alleviate job demands so that their workers can performance at their peak.

[box type=”tick”]

Have you seen these HRwisdom Blog posts?

[/box]

The Way Out: Innovation

Recent research by leading organisational psychologists found that supporting innovation among employees is an effective strategy to alleviate the stress of job demands.

Innovation can mean introducing new or improved products, services or business processes into the business.

It can be a single major breakthrough or it can be a series of small, incremental changes.

In a nut shell, it involves two components: creation of new ideas and their implementation.

The study found that organisations that encourage and support the production and implementation of creative ideas perform better than those that don’t.

To find out how innovation can help your employees to cope better with their job demands, click here to see the next article in this short review of managing work stress.

HRwisdom

Legal Responsibilities of Employers [Checklist]

March 7, 2013 / HRwisdom

The Australian Government regularly makes changes to the legal responsibilities of employers, particularly in the area of wage rates.

Today we are sharing a government checklist of the legal responsibilities of employers.

[box type=”alert”]

FREE WORKPLACE LAW ONLINE BRIEFINGS:

See available session times here: Free Workplace Law Briefings For Employers [/box]

Legal Responsibilities of Employers – A Checklist

1. Are you providing the National Employment Standards (NES) that are relevant to your employees?

38 hour standard week
Unpaid parental leave
10 days paid personal/carer’s leave
Notice of termination and redundancy
Long service leave
Flexible working arrangements
4 weeks paid annual leave
Community service leave
Public holidays
Fair Work Information Statement

2. Do you know the award(s) or agreement (if any) that covers your business?

3. Do you know how to find the rates of pay from your award or agreement?

4. Do you know the correct:

penalty rates?
casual loadings (if any)?
overtime payments?
meal breaks?
allowances (e.g. uniform, travel)?

5. Are you providing accurate time and wage records for you employees?

Do you:

record start and finish times?
keep time and wage records for seven (7) years?
provide pay slips within one (1)
working day of employees being paid?
know what to include on a pay slip?
maintain a record of leave entitlements?

6. Do you know about your responsibilities when dismissing staff including:

unfair dismissal laws?
what to do if a position becomes redundant?
minimum notice periods?
final payment requirements?

7. Do you know what an Individual Flexibility Arrangement is?

8. Are you aware of your options for making an enterprise agreement with employees?

9. Are you aware that the Fair Work Act 2009 provides General Protections including the right to be free from unlawful discrimination, undue influence, coercion and misrepresentation?

[box type=”alert”]

FREE WORKPLACE LAW ONLINE BRIEFINGS:

See available session times here: Free Workplace Law Briefings For Employers [/box]

How To Get Help?

If you have questions you need answering, you have two main options:

Call the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Call an employment lawyer (to see the firms we use, click here: recommended workplace law firms).

Remember, be proactive to minimise the risks.

HRwisdom

Conflict and Resolution At Work – Some Government Advice

March 6, 2013 / HRwisdom

Today we are looking at the issue of conflict and resolution at work and we are sharing some handy government advice.

Thanks to regular HRwisdom contributor Wendy Takasch for sharing this very useful information.

Over to Wendy . . .

Conflict and Resolution At Work

The challenge of running a business successfully can be very intense for anyone, no matter the person.

There is a substantial amount of work that goes into running a business and it can take its toll. In some cases it can all become a bit much, especially when it comes to areas such as employment and staff management.

So how do we manage our employees? Is there a correct way?

We can talk all day long about all the ‘right’ way to manage employees but in reality there is no one definite answer to offer.

The reason being is that every business is different and what works for you may not necessarily work for another company.

[box type=”alert”]

FREE WORKPLACE LAW ONLINE BRIEFINGS:

See available session times here: Free Workplace Law Briefings For Employers [/box]

There are of course certain jurisdictional and industry guidelines and obligations that each and every employer must abide by in respect to employees and their entitlements (if you don’t know them, maybe you should go check them out). These obligations are vast and it is important to not cut corners when it comes to employees or you may find yourself with more disputes then you can poke a stick at! Excuses won’t cut it, so we encourage you to do the right thing by your business and your employees.

The following tips, presented by Nicholas Wilson of the Australian Fairwork Ombudsman (and a little help from us) are excellent starting points to managing employees and keeping a positive and conflict free workplace;

Always abide by state and federal legislation and obligations
Keep all records regarding every employee
Make sure there is open communication in the workplace (make sure nobody feels discouraged or that they are talking to a brick wall!)
Lead. Have a good leadership program in place that motivates and engages employees and keeps them happy and productive.
Encourage expressions of opinions. Other people hold opinions that might not match your own.
Focus on the interests of people rather than personalities and job positions
Make all instructions and procedures, such as grievance and harassment, clear and easily accessible
Look out for people’s emotions. It doesn’t mean you have to be their counsellor, or best friend, but make a conscious effort to try and understand someone else’s point of view and feelings

As always, be proactive when it comes to conflict and resolution at work and managing your workforce will always be just that little bit easier.

[box type=”alert”]

FREE WORKPLACE LAW ONLINE BRIEFINGS:

See available session times here: Free Workplace Law Briefings For Employers [/box]

HRwisdom

How To Motivate Staff [Excellent Video Presentation]

February 27, 2013 / HRwisdom

This excellent video presentation will help you answer the question:

How To Motivate Staff?

Dan Pink gave this insightful talk on TED on the topic of work motivation.

By the way, in case you don’t know, TED is an inspiring ongoing conference which allows the world’s top thinkers and doers of all stripes such as Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and Jamie Oliver to share their ideas and experiences with the rest of the world.

This one TED video clip has reached more than 5 million views. It provides a very refreshing perspective on how to understand the role of incentives in work motivation.

Have you accessed your free employer resources yet? Use the form over to the right-hand side now.

Here’s the official introduction to the talk:

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories – and maybe, a way forward. Bidding adieu to his last “real job” as Al Gore’s speechwriter, Dan Pink went freelance to spark a right-brain revolution in the career marketplace.’

How To Motivate Staff

Take a look at the presentation now.

If you think there are some interesting ideas raised in the talk, Like It or share it with friends and colleagues by using the social media sharing buttons below.

Feel free to Like or share this presentation with friends and colleagues (just use the social media sharing buttons below).

HRwisdom

Change In Organisational Culture – Here’s Where It’s Needed Most

February 8, 2013 / HRwisdom

Today, HRwisdom is sharing an interesting article on a place that is in desperate need of change in organisational culture.

This place has the ability to drive us all a little crazy at times.

The article is from one of the most influential business thinkers of this era, Seth Godin.

[box type=”download”]

Have you downloaded your free HR templates to help manage your staff?

Click here: HR Templates For Free Download

[/box]

Seth shares powerful observations of the modern airport which he suggests is an organisation we should try to avoid when it comes to developing our own company culture.

Change In Organisational Culture

Here are some of Seth Godin’s observations of an airport and how these blunders can positively help your organisation when you apply the lessons:

You never see the CEO or whoever is the person in charge of the airport. If the person at the top seems not to care, it will reflect down to the lowest level of the organization and it will definitely show on the service.
Problems persist because organizations defend their territories instead of finding ways to solve the problem. Someone blames someone and the blaming goes on and on. Things change only when the user’s problem is the driver of behavior.
Airports see customers as fleeting people. They are here today and gone tomorrow. New customers will come everyday.
An anxiety-filled system is what airports create. They assume customers care more of their money than their anxiety. They try to make as many flights as they can to increase profit thereby spares, downtime, or resilience are neglected.
There are mostly bad surprises, never heard of any good one yet.
There seems to be no connections whatever in airports. No one feels particularly welcome.
Airport system seems to be so industrialized that personal expression seems to be taboo.”

By carefully considering these observations, you will surely find a way to improve your company culture.

To read the full article by Seth Godin and see more of his interesting observations, go to: Eleven Things Organisations Can Learn From Airports

Remember, you can always share this article to your colleagues.

[fblike] [linkedin_share style=”none”] [twitter_follow username=”HRwisdom” language=”en”]

HRwisdom

Staff Turnover Strategy – Top 100 Employers Part 1

February 5, 2013 / HRwisdom

Staff Turnover Strategy – Top 100 Employers Part 1

Avoiding unnecessary staff turnover is a deliberate strategy used by the top companies in the world. They do this to keep their skills, knowledge and expertise in-house without having to constantly slow down to bring new people up to speed.

The Fortune Magazine’s list of the 100 Best Companies To Work For In America makes for very interesting reading.

NOTE: You’ll pick up many great ideas to help you become on of the Best Companies To Work For in the new HRwisdom Community Employee Attraction & Retention Guide. The Guide has sixteen employee management expert practitioners from all areas of the human resources field offering their best employee attraction & retention advice.

For instant download of the comprehensive free “HRwisdom Community Employee Attraction & Retention Guide,” click on Reduce Staff Turnover now.

In this HRwisdom post we’re bringing you the rankings 91 – 100 of the Fortune Magazine 100 Best Companies to Work in America.

91 DONNELLY Holland, Mich. The glass company, not the printing company. Celebrated for Scanlon Plan, which rewards employees for productivity gains. Also has unique equity structure, which has employees electing representatives to equity committees with the power to address issues of policy and practice–even pay.
92 W.W. GRAINGER Lincolnshire, Ill. Sells hardware supplies through a network of 350 retail stores and a huge catalogue operation. Their 1.3 million business customers range from small building contractors to General Motors. Boasts of a “Cadillac profit-sharing plan,” in which company puts into your account the equivalent of 15% to 20% of your annual pay.
93 ALAGASCO Birmingham, Ala. Only utility on our list–largest unit of publicly traded Energen Corp.– supplies natural gas to more than 400,000 homes and businesses in central and northern Alabama. Company recently offered $500 prize to employees for an idea to address a diversity problem in their area. Turnover less than 5%. No layoffs in 25 years.
94 APOGEE Minneapolis They make windows, replace windshields, and put up curtain walls for buildings. It’s a company populated, as one employee put it, by “good, small-town, Midwestern people.” Employees get profit-sharing checks every quarter. Great feeling of camaraderie. Employees encouraged to think of new ways to do things.
95 SHELL OIL Houston U.S. wing of world’s largest oil company initiated in the mid-1990s a process it called transformation. Goal: Move responsibility down to lower levels. Shell has rich benefits capped by company-paid pensions, plus a pretax savings plan under which company kicks in 10% of your pay annually no matter what you contribute.
96 ALLIEDSIGNAL Morristown, N.J. Since taking helm in 1991, Lawrence A. Bossidy has infused a sense of purpose. Mandated 40 hours of training a year for every employee. Headquarters has on-site child care, fitness center, and other amenities. One of best 401(k) plans around: After five years company matches employee contributions 100% up to 8% of pay.
97 TENNANT Minneapolis Biggest U.S. maker of industrial floor sweepers and scrubbers believes in the old-fashioned pat on the back. That-a-way stickers plastered on everybody’s work station. Strong support network for women managers has paid off: No. 2 in the company is a woman, a rarity in manufacturing.
98 MERRILL LYNCH New York Wall Street’s biggest employer added 6,000 jobs in the past two years. Great training programs; tuition reimbursement up to $8,000 a year. Merrill is a Boy Scout company, scandal-free. One employee put it this way: “When times are good, Merrill Lynch is a great place to work; when times are bad, it is the only place to work.”
99 ACIPCO Birmingham, Ala. Makes cast-iron pipe for water and sewer systems. Founder willed company to workers when he died in 1924, and it still operates as an employee trust with four of 12 members of board of directors elected by employees. Superb, fully accredited, on-site medical clinic with eight full-time doctors and five full-time dentists.
100 GLAXO WELLCOME Research Triangle Park, N.C. British drug company–ranked No. 1 in world, based on sales–lures talent to its North Carolina facilities with glittering array of benefits: two on-site child-care centers plus support for five other centers, seven on-site fitness centers, six medical clinics, 13 paid holidays, 100% match up to 6% of pay in 401(k) plan.

Want More Ideas?

Remember, you’ll pick up many great ideas to help you become on of the Best Companies To Work For in the new HRwisdom Community Employee Attraction & Retention Guide. The Guide has sixteen employee management expert practitioners from all areas of the human resources field offering their best employee attraction & retention advice.

For instant download of the comprehensive free “HRwisdom Community Employee Attraction & Retention Guide,” click on Reduce Staff Turnover now.

HRwisdom

Building A Resilient Workforce

January 30, 2013 / HRwisdom

In today’s HRwisdom post we are delving into building a resilient workforce.

It is important to do this because many business managers and human resources professionals focus on finding the right type of people to bring in to the organisation but then run out of time to find ways and keeping these great people.

We are bringing this issue to your attention by sourcing an excellent article on team building which we feel will be of great use to you . . .

Building a Resilient Workforce

By David Athony Lee

The more resilient your workforce, the greater your ability to:

Adapt nimbly to marketplace changes.
Provide friendly, alert, loyalty-generating customer service.
Implement change rapidly, with minimal resistance.
Get maximum productivity from your employees without burning them out.
Enjoy organizational effectiveness because teams and departments work well together, rather than have an “us” versus “them” mentality that festers in a stressed out environment.
Foster a “can do” spirit or what Southwest Airlines calls a “Warrior Spirit.”

So How Do You Do Create A Stress Resistant, Resilient Workforce?

1. Remove Unnecessary Sources of Stress – Smart employers ask employees “What do we do that drives you crazy?” “What do we do that gets in the way of your doing your job?” Employee energy squandered dealing with bureaucratic hassles and other obstacles to performance is employee energy not available for innovation and productivity. It’s also energy that could make the difference between employees facing challenge with a “Bring it on!” attitude rather than an “I can’t handle another thing on my plate!” attitude. Find out which rules, red tape, need to go. Ferret out and remove any and all unnecessary obstacles. Doing so will recover a massive amount of employee energy that can be channeled to productive use.

2. Remove as Much Ambiguity As Possible – While everyone knows it is important to keep employees in the loop, few employers do a good job at this. If you’re serious about keeping employee morale high and building organizational resilience, you need to shift this idea from “know it” to “act on it.” The more employees know what’s going on, the less time and energy they spend wondering-and worrying-about what they don’t know. Research on stress and control shows that when we know what is going to happen-even if it’s bad-we feel less stressed than when we are faced with the unknown. Find out from employees where they feel left in the dark and how best to keep them in the know.

3. Keep the Dream Alive – Having employees who are inspired and engaged is even more important-and difficult to accomplish-during challenging times. When employees are animated by a compelling vision of a better future or how they can make a difference in the world, they bring their Higher Selves to work, rather than their Lower, It’s-All-About-Me Selves.

Keep the dream alive by sharing stories of the great things you’re doing, stories of employees making a difference, and customer letters of appreciation. Make this a regular part of meetings, company newsletters, and any communication.

4. Make Sure You Set Your People Up For the Thrill of Victory and Not the Agony of Defeat – If employees’ daily experience is one of frustration and failure, they will bring that mindset and emotional state to everything they do-including their response to major changes you ask them to make. By making sure employees have the tools, training, and resources to excel at their jobs, you not only get greater productivity and work quality, you also get employees who feel like-and act like-“Can do” winners.

5. Celebrate Wins – Celebrating both company and individual victories doesn’t just create a positive “vibe”. It also helps workers see themselves as part of a winning team and themselves as effective. This mindset obviously fosters a more “Can do” attitude and courageous response to challenges than if employees see themselves as “losers” and part of a hapless, beleaguered team.

Furthermore, when difficult times brings a steady stream of negative news, it’s easy to see oneself as a victim of circumstances. By consciously calling attention to accomplishments and successes, you offset the doom and gloom with genuine positivity. By sharing stories of employees doing great things, you also strengthen the belief that you are a team of winners who can accomplish great things. Because emotions affect perception, shifting the ambient emotional state of your workforce to a more upbeat, hopeful state, means employees are more apt to look at challenges as something they can overcome, rather than insurmountable obstacles.

6. Balance “We need to move on” with “I feel your pain.” – When people don’t feel their distress is heard or respected, they stay stuck in “broadcast mode.” They can’t hear-nor do they care about-what you have to say. Make sure you verbally acknowledge your employees’ distress over major changes and difficulties. Don’t just launch into an “It is what it is. Get over it” speech and expect that to work. Great leaders acknowledge the emotions and perceptions of their followers during difficult times, and then shift into their vision of the future and how each person has a role in making that vision a reality. Doing so not only inspires your employees-because they know what they can do to make a difference-it also builds stronger relationships between employees and management.

David Lee is the founder of HumanNatureAtWork.com and the author of over 60 articles and book chapters on optimizing employee performance. To download more of his articles, along with “61 Questions That Can Transform Your Workforce”, go to: http://www.HumanNatureAtWork.com]HumanNatureAtWork.com.

Article Source: Building a Resilient Workforce

We hope you have enjoyed this thought-provoking article from David Lee.

As mentioned earlier, at HRwisdom we feel this discussion on team building is an important part of our overall focus on employee attraction and retention. This is because one of our guiding principals in staff management is: “Nothing operates in isolation.”

There is no point in inventing weird or wonderful ways of finding more job candidates and bringing them on board only to destroy shareholder value by pushing staff through a broken system.

As always in managing your workforce, there is a balanced approach. Efficient and effective team development goes a long way to maintaining the right balance.

HRwisdom

HR Infographic - How To Create Employment Contracts

The Employment Contract Process Explained (HR Infographic)

January 23, 2013 / HRwisdom

In today’s HRwisdom Blog post, we are sharing our HR infographic on the employment contract process.

Whilst we share many document templates to use in your organisation, it is important to remember the process that supports the use of the employment documents.

Getting the hiring process correct means fewer problems down the track should things take a turn for the worse.

A proper hiring contract process also enhances your standing as an efficient, effective and professional employer.

The diagram called ‘The Right Way To Create Employment Contracts’ explains:

What to cover
When to get legal advice
How to discuss the contract with the prospective employee.
The review and general administration process.

To view a large version of the management infographic, just click on the picture on the left.

As always, feel free to share this with colleagues and friends.

Employment Contract Assistance Video

HRwisdom

Light-Hearted HR Policy Development

January 22, 2013 / HRwisdom

Today’s HRwisdom blog post is a light-hearted one on HR policy development although it does come with a language warning.

We have made very rare exception and included a timeless post which does include some rude words (“timeless” meaning this HR tale has been around for many years and we could not find the original source although we are happy to give proper attribution if you know this).

The following is one possible description of how HR Policies are developed in large organisations.

Enjoy (and remember to share this with your colleagues and friends) . . .

HR Policy Development

In the beginning was the plan.

And then came the assumptions.

And the assumptions were without form.

And the plan was without substance.

And darkness was upon the face of the workers.

And they spoke among themselves saying,

“It is a crock of shit and it stinketh.”

And the workers went unto their supervisors and said,

“It is a pale of dung and none may abide the odor thereof.”

And the supervisor went unto their managers and said,

“It is a container of excrement and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it.”

And the managers went unto their directors, saying,

“It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength.”

And the directors spoke among themselves, saying to one another,

“It contains that which aids plant growth and it is very strong.”

And the directors went unto the vice presidents, saying unto them,

“It promotes growth and is very powerful.”

And the vice presidents went unto the president, saying unto him,

“The new plan will promote the growth and vigor of the company, with powerful effects.”

And the president looked upon the plan and saw that it was good.

And the plan became policy.

This is how shit happens.

HRwisdom

How To Really Freak Out Your Workforce

January 22, 2013 / HRwisdom

Employers everywhere are facing many different challenges and this makes staff motivation very difficult.

Some companies are struggling with the decline of the manufacturing sector and related job losses.

Organisations in the resources-rich states are facing rising labour costs and skills shortage issues.

Businesses in the retail sector are trying to protect tight profit margins and decreasing sales volumes against the flight to online shopping.

No matter what the economic environment or challenges, all organisations need to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of their workforce.

Maximising this efficiency and effectiveness can be done in all sorts of ways such as:

Employee Value Propositions (EVP)
Process improvement programmes
Training and development
Employee engagement initiatives
Employee retention systems
Performance improvement plans

There are all sorts of ways to successfully manage your workforce and many of these good ideas are discussed in the free HRwisdom Employee Attraction & Retention Guide.

Not Our Recommended Approach To Staff Motivation

One method of staff motivation that is NOT RECOMMENDED is to give employees $10 if they can successfully guess which of their colleagues is the next to be fired.

In a post a couple of years ago on the US ABC News website, details were reported of a court case in the United States in which an employer found himself in hot water for trying to motivate his staff by running a “firing contest.”

Apparently the employer sent a company-wide memo telling staff they could win if they successfully guessed which of their colleagues would be fired next.

Once the winner had been chosen, the contest started all over again.

Unfortunately for the business, a number of staff resigned after they realised the whole thing was not actually a joke as they first thought.

Some might call this an “interesting” approach to employee engagement and employee retention.

The judge called it “egregious and deplorable.”

Either way, this employer won’t be winning any Employer of Choice awards anytime soon.

And in case you’re wondering, yes there were penalties involved.

The employer was required to pay large fines for issues relating to what we in Australia might refer to as constructive dismissal and harassment.

So, if you are thinking about implementing this novel method of employee motivation, perhaps you may be better serviced sticking with the good ol’ Employee Of The Month award until something better comes along . . .

You can download the HRwisdom Employee Attraction & Retention Guide now.

HRwisdom