Good managers are vigilant about what employees need – because it really is about making them better.
Now, consider this headline from a very good web site: Ten things employees want more than a raise …
Hmmm, I thought. Ten?
It’s hard to believe there are 10 things employees want more than a raise. I think most employees would put getting a raise right at or near the top of any list of wants. All employees want more money!
An employee approaches a manager with a complaint or a problem, usually involving another employee. At that point the manager needs to consider whether an investigation into the complaint is warranted and how to best handle the inquiry.
When faced with almost any workplace complaint or problem, companies can use a basic approach that consists of 10 steps:
Why has the current, clunky version of the dreaded annual performance review stuck around so long?
You know the style: Facilitates team communication: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 (Circle one).
Manager to self: Um, how about 3? You can’t go wrong with average. It’s safer, right? Then, 3 it is.
The lack of meaningful performance reviews is so pervasive because companies are too lazy to change, or it’s expedient to have a paper trail when people need to be disciplined.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has been busy of late. There’s been a 77% spike in lawsuits involving wage and hour disputes in recent years. And most of those complaints have been legitimate – the feds have found violations in almost three-quarters of complaints that have been filed.
Employers are routinely getting into trouble with DOL over violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the law that governs how employees must be paid. Organizations should ensure that supervisors and managers understand employees’ rights under the FLSA so that honest oversights and mistakes don’t cause preventable problems.
Fact is, there are thousands of wage and hour violations every year, either through misfeasance, malfeasance or nonfeasance. So, what exactly does the FLSA require?
Every marketer knows a key to success is differentiation. It’s what makes a product or a person special – and hopefully desirable.
Few places does this play out more than on resumes. Professionals at all experience levels strain and struggle to differentiate themselves, and not always with the intended results.
Harris Poll, on behalf of CareerBuilder, recently canvassed 2,201 hiring managers and HR people across an array of industries and company sizes.
The question: What are the biggest resume turnoffs?
When a manager first takes over an established team, whether the manager is brand new or well- seasoned, there is always a transition curve.
The manager will encounter people, personalities and processes that have all been there chugging along, whether successfully or not.
Sometimes, hidden among the team members, will be tough employee problems just waiting to bubble over.
Here are three scenarios managers say they inherit and some ideas on how to handle them.
One of the biggest productivity-killers managers face every day is interruptions.
And one of the most frequent interruptions is … employees with questions.
A Cal/Irvine study estimated that managers get interrupted four times an hour by staff, mostly to answer questions.
It’s a common problem-solving scenario that plays out like this:
I came upon this item today and it stopped me in my tracks.
It read: “Punch someone in the face, you go to jail. Be a bad manager who ruins employees’ lives for years and you face no consequences. Why is that?”
It was posted on the blog of Alexander Kjerulf, also known as The Chief Happiness Officer. You can go there and give your opinion, if you like.
But before you do, read this quick account of a friend who works at a crazy-busy pediatrics office. It is a textbook case of how one manager’s poor people skills can upset and deflate years of harmony and productivity.
Every organization seems to have (at least) one difficult person.
They come in all shapes and sizes: the know it all, the chronic complainer, the passive-aggressive who always buys into your plan, then sets off in his own direction.
Short of firing them (hmmmmm), what do you do?
One of the tougher challenges any manager can face is coaching problem employees.
It takes a real commitment of time and planning – and more than a little aggravation. But it’s what you have to do if you’re not going to let them go.
To boost your chance of success, it helps to develop an approach that takes the burden for change off the manager and puts it where it should be, on the employee.
It will mean reaching into your training bag for those age-old tools of every good manager:
