Employee Relations

When you learn of possible harassment, investigate promptly, take fast action

07/09/2010

Employers that act fast when an employee complains about any form of harassment can almost always salvage what would otherwise be a very bad situation. The key is prompt investigation—followed by equally fast and decisive action if it turns out the complaint has merit.

10 ways to ‘green’ your employee benefits

07/07/2010

Vouchers for compact fluorescent light bulbs and rooftop solar panels have taken their place next to health insurance and flextime as popular employee benefits. Young job-seekers want to work for socially responsible, environmentally friendly companies. That’s one reason more companies have begun offering “green” employee benefits.

Resolving workplace conflict: 8 simple, smart strategies

07/06/2010

Many lawsuits result from relatively small, manageable disputes that weren’t dealt with directly, often because HR simply didn’t know what to do or feared making it worse. Here are my favorite strategies for dealing with disruptive conflict, based on the book Resolving Conflicts at Work by Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith.

Are there other steps we should have taken before following discipline with termination?

07/02/2010

Q. We fired one of our truck drivers after giving him a written warning about continued lateness in completing weekly logs. Should we have taken any other action prior to his termination?

Document rationale for all discipline to show it wasn’t a pretext for bias

06/29/2010

If you carefully document disciplinary actions and punish all employees fairly, courts will usually uphold your decisions. That’s because an employee who challenges the reason for her discharge has to show that the reason wasn’t legitimate—that, rather, the rationale was merely a pretext for some form of discrimination. And it takes more than just coincidence to do that.

Document any slippage in employee performance to insulate against later discrimination claims

06/29/2010

If you can show that the employee wasn’t living up to your legitimate expectations, her discrimination case will most likely be dismissed. Legitimate expectations—or adequate performance—aren’t measured just by performance evaluations. That’s especially true if the last performance evaluation occurred months earlier and performance has since changed.

Firing? Pick a reason and stick with it

06/28/2010

Presumably, when you terminate an employee, you have good reasons for doing so. If you pile on more reasons later, it may look as if you are trying to cover up a discriminatory decision with a host of excuses for why you fired the employee.

Energize employees by asking them what they like to do

06/28/2010

People are just not satisfied with their jobs today. The Conference Board found in January that only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their jobs. Just 51% find their work interesting. One of the study’s authors concluded that workers “have to figure out what they should be doing to be the most engaged in their jobs and the most productive.” I say managers need to help them.

The fine art of persuasion: How to sell ideas to your staff

06/25/2010

In the workplace and the sporting world, teams that buy into their coach’s vision have a much better chance of success. How can you get your team all working toward the same goal—your goal? Start by following these four steps to build support:

What are the ramifications of disclosing information during preliminary negotiations?

06/24/2010

Q. A recently terminated employee retained an attorney, who then engaged in pre-suit negotiations with our HR vice president. During those negotiations, our VP disclosed, in writing, some confidential information about the internal investigation that led to this employee’s termination. Negotiations have since broken down and the employee filed suit. Should I be concerned about these pre-suit disclosures coming back to haunt us in the litigation?