The workplace is changing. Many employees are telecommuting and others are working “flex” hours. Instead of taking an account of where each employee is throughout the day, the modern-day manager must now gauge their employees' performance by their output.
For many, this is a difficult transition, but the harder you push against this new workplace, the more out-of-step you will appear to your employees. Our advice is to decide what level of performance you want to see from your employees and from each particular role. If your expectations are met, then how, where and when the employees do the work should be of little concern.
Affinity HR Group is BSCAI's endorsed HR partner, providing HR support, recruiting and employee engagement services. For a link to our menu of services for BSCAI members, go to www.AffinityHRGroup.com/BSCAI
Terminations are the hardest part of any manager’s job. The best way to terminate an employee is to handle it with dignity and respect. A progressive disciplinary program is the best way to do this. Start with a conversation outlining your concerns and listening to theirs. From there, move to a written warning, probation and termination. You should have a formal disciplinary policy that describes this process so everyone knows what to expect. Finally, if behavior does not improve and you must fire the employee, do so in a setting that is dignified, private and safe for all parties.
The “exit interview” is a sufficient tool to assess why employees are exiting the organization. Unfortunately, by the time you do the interview it is often too late to impact their decision. A better option is to solicit the information periodically before employees even consider leaving the organization. “Stay interviews” are used to help you assess why people stay and why they come to work every day. They help you keep a pulse on your employee engagement level to ensure employees are content and committed.
Most hiring decisions are based on the resume and interview performance. We encourage clients to go beyond this two-dimensional assessment and to consider the rule of thirds:
If the candidate hits the mark in all three of these critical areas, it enhances the chances that this person will turn out to be highly engaged, highly productive and an overall top performer.
Flexible work arrangements, including working from home, are increasingly prevalent and can help minimize the office disruption that can occur with soon-to-arrive inclement winter weather occurrences. A couple of things to keep in mind, though – first, always require approval for ad-hoc work changes. You will need to decide if this flexibility is a right or a benefit. If the latter, it should require approval and be well managed. Second, hourly, non-exempt employees will need to be paid for all time worked – even after hours. Be sure to arrange in advance how you will track hours when working from home. Finally, you should take the time now to establish what your work from home policy is so that you are not inconsistent in your approach or management going forward.