For years, the standard advice for correcting people has been to start with something positive, proceed with the negative feedback, and end with something else positive. This has always felt wrong to me: you are tainting the positives with a negative. Finally, someone with some research to support it has … Read More
Why does a company need job descriptions? There are two main reasons, plus one applicable to companies certified in ISO-9001 and similar QMS programs. The most urgent reason is legal, as a protection against discrimination claims; the day-to-day reason is that it makes hiring and managing employees easier; the QMS … Read More
The hard part of leading, the part so many business people avoid whenever possible, is dealing with employee emotions and, in particular, conflict. Unfortunately, it is hard to lead well when you ignore something that has such a huge affect on how people act. To get better at leading, Leadership … Read More
If and when an employee comes to you and tells you that they have a disability and need an accommodation, the first thing you need to do is enter into an “interactive process” with the employee. Really, this mostly means talking to the employee about the issues and treating them … Read More
What are Ethics Statements? They are attempts by companies to spell out the ethical standards that they expect their employees to live by. Sometimes they are confused with Values Statements, but a list of values tends to include characteristics such as excellence, compassion, and good humor, in addition to integrity, … Read More
Handling confidentiality during investigations is a moving target while the NRLA is sorted out. The reasons for maintaining confidentiality are clear: maintain privacy for accused and accuser protect witnesses, keep evidence from being destroyed, prevent stories from being synchronized, and prevent cover-ups. The competing interest, which the NRLB takes seriously, … Read More
Like so much about social media, using it to screen candidates is an area in flux. It seems like a good way to learn more about a candidate, but it is easy to learn too much. What you learn may not be true: you may have someone else with the … Read More
Every major new product takes time to really incorporate into our lives well enough to develop the appropriate etiquette and boundaries. Gin was the problem in 18th Century England, when poor people spent all their money on bottles and ended up in the gutter, mothers neglecting kids and fathers neglecting … Read More
Conducting an HR investigation, such as one for a harassment claim, has gotten a lot trickier recently. In the past, investigators usually told everyone involved not to share information about the investigation with anyone else while the investigation was pending, in order to protect the privacy of the people involved … Read More
Onboarding of new employees should be a process, not an event. It starts when the new employee walks in the front door and doesn’t end until they are fully integrated into the company. New employee orientation, no matter how well done, is only one small part of the process. Successful … Read More