Productivity / Performance

Poor health doesn’t excuse poor performance

11/04/2019

Employees with a serious health condition are entitled to FMLA leave. That doesn’t mean poor health is an excuse for poor work.

What’s the biggest killer of productivity?

10/24/2019

Nearly 3,000 office professionals in the United States were asked, “What is the single biggest distraction that impacts your productivity at work?”

Who are the real gossipers at work? You may be surprised

09/26/2019

More than two-thirds of white-collar workers admit to gossiping about co-workers or workplace issues.

Empower bosses to recognize employee contributions

09/23/2019

Every day at work ought to be Thanksgiving Day, according to Karl Ahlrichs, senior consultant for employee benefits at Gregory & Appel Insurance in Indianapolis. He offers these suggestions for inexpensively thanking employees for their efforts.

Keep a log of ‘critical incidents’

09/23/2019

Managers are always making judgments about their employees. On a day-to-day level, these judgments are usually informal and even unconscious. The problem is that many of those thoughts are forgotten when it comes time to prepare a formal appraisal. Try keeping a “critical incidents” log.

Almost all managers agree: Staff are burning out

09/18/2019

According to the World Health Organization, burnout now warrants classification as an official medical condition resulting from workplace stress.

Cite poor performance to justify termination

09/13/2019

Smart employers always document poor performance with specific examples. That way, you have a ready defense for just about any surprise discrimination lawsuit.

Objective measures are most persuasive, so focus on performance criteria

09/02/2019

Remind supervisors to always focus on performance—not intangibles like “attitude”—using as many objective measures as possible. If an employee later alleges some form of discrimination, you’ll be able to demonstrate that you kept things professional by focusing on what really matters: doing the job.

Fantasy football could cost employers $9 billion

08/29/2019

An estimated 12.5 million adults will play fantasy football this year, according to 2018 data from Nielsen Scarborough. With an estimated total of nearly two-thirds of those adults employed, that means over 7.5 million workers will be researching their teams during work hours.

Dropping ratings doesn’t mean better feedback

08/22/2019

While the number of companies that don’t use performance ratings and rankings has doubled in the past six years, only 15% of companies globally have eliminated them, says a new Mercer report.