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    <p>Losing an employee, whether due to firing, layoffs, or quitting, is never an ideal situation. Things can get messy and complicated, and, during the tumult, important security measures can be forgotten. To avoid potentially dangerous situations, we’ve compiled the ultimate employee termination checklist.</p> 

    <ol>
        <strong><li>Before You Let Them Go<br></strong>
        Before you fire an employee, there are a few <a href="http://www.bizfilings.com/toolkit/sbg/office-hr/managing-the-workplace/employee-termination-procedures.aspx" target="_blank">do’s and don’ts</a> to keep in mind.</li> 
        <ul>
            <li>Don’t fire someone on the spot. This sets you up for lawsuits and other headaches. </li>
            <li>Do make sure you have a valid, nondiscriminatory business reason for taking action and that you have enough documentation to prove it. <a href="/resources/employment-law/how-performance-management-protects-businesses-when-firing-employees/">Keep track of the employee’s unsatisfactory behaviors during the normal course of business</a>. Keep the documents on file. They should include any documentation of violations of rules or poor performance reviews.</li>
            <li>Do make sure you have clearly outlined your company’s conduct and performance expectations in the <a href="/resources/leadership-and-management/what-should-go-in-an-employee-handbook-template">employee handbook</a>, so everyone has fair warning about what is expected of them. </li>
            <li>Don’t discriminate. Rules should be enforced fairly and applied equally to all employees.</li></ul>
    
        <strong><li>Consider a Release<br></strong>
        To negate the risk of being sued after letting someone go, consider negotiating a release agreement with him or her. Releases require the employee to give up his or her right to sue you and are most often used when the documentation needed to fire someone is lacking. They can also be used to offer early retirement or when you are seeking to end an employment contract early by buying someone out.
        <br><br>
        To be effective, the <a href="http://www.bizfilings.com/toolkit/sbg/office-hr/managing-the-workplace/employee-termination-procedures.aspx" target="_blank">release must be</a>:</li>
        <ul>
            <li>In writing</li>
            <li>Signed by the employee who is waiving the right to sue</li>
             <li>A knowing and voluntary waiver</li>
            <li>Supported by adequate consideration (you must give them something of value in return that they wouldn’t receive without signing)</li>
        </ul>    
        <p>The release should specifically refer to employment laws involved in the waiver of rights. The goal here is to be sure that the employee can't claim he or she didn't know what the document said.</p>
    
        <strong><li>Look Up Severance Agreement Requirements<br></strong>
        <a href="http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/severancepay.htm" target="_blank">Severance pay</a> is often granted to employees upon termination and is usually based on length of employment. There is no requirement in the <a href="http://www.dol.gov/whd/flsa" target="_blank">Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)</a> for severance pay; it is an agreement between an employer and an employee.<br><br>
    
        As there is no FLSA requirement to provide employees with severance, it’s important to know your company policy and have things in place before letting an employee go. Severance packages may include health insurance, continued payments for a designated period of time, and the services of an outplacement program.</li>
    
        Employees <a href="http://employment.findlaw.com/losing-a-job/employee-rights-after-a-job-termination.html" target="_blank">may have a right to a severance package</a> for the following reasons:
        <ul>
            <li>The terms of a written contract provide for severance pay</li>
               <li>Severance pay is included as an employee right in the employee handbook</li>
                <li>The company has a history of offering severance pay to other employees in the same position</li>
                <li>An oral promise to offer severance pay was made</li>
            </ul>
    
        <strong><li>Health Coverage Extension<br></strong>
    
        Terminated employees have the right to health insurance coverage after they’ve been let go, due to the <a href="http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fscobra.html" target="_blank">Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1986</a>.
        <br><br>
        The law gives workers who lose their health benefits the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by the plan under certain circumstances, which <a href="http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fscobra.html" target="_blank">include</a>:</li>
    
        <ul>
            <li>Voluntary or involuntary termination of employment for reasons other than gross misconduct</li>
                <li>Reduced hours of work </li>
                <li>The employee becomes entitled to Medicare</li>
                <li>Divorce or legal separation of covered employee</li>
                <li>Death of the covered employee</li>
                <li>Loss of status as a dependent child under plan rules</li>
            </ul>
    
        COBRA generally requires that group health plans sponsored by employers with 20 or more employees offer employees and their families the opportunity for a temporary extension of health coverage. It generally covers group health plans and applies to plans in the private sector and those sponsored by state and local governments.  
        <br><br>
    
        <p>It is the responsibility of the former employee to pay the full cost of coverage.</p>
    
        <p>Familiarize yourself on the COBRA <a href="http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fscobra.html" target="_blank">notification requirements</a> established by the U.S. Department of Labor to make sure you have all your bases covered.</p>
    
        <strong><li>The Termination Letter<br></strong>
        A termination letter should be clear and concise and include all relevant information about the arrangement. Keep in mind that it, like every other step of the termination process, should be in line with the employee’s contract and fulfill any obligations they may have under said agreement.
        <br><br>
    
        A termination letter should be written formally, should thank the employee for their service, and, if applicable, should mention any specific event or positive accomplishment about how the employee benefitted the company. The reasons for termination should be expressed very carefully and clearly; this letter will remain in the employee’s record.<br>
        <br>
    
        The <a href="http://sample-resignation-letters.com/p383459-writing-an-employee-termination-letter-with.cfm" target="_blank">letter should contain</a>:</li>
        <ul>
            <li>The name of the person being terminated, the name of the company, and the date when the termination becomes effective</li>
            <li>The reason for termination</li>
            <li>If the employee has been warned verbally or in writing before the decision to terminate him or her, this should be mentioned. This includes any performance reviews that alerted the employee of issues</li>
            <li>A list of items the employee is required to return</li>
            <li>Mention of any accrued vacation time that requires payment, or other pay needs, along with a date the payment will be made</li>
            <li>If health benefits have been provided, it should be mentioned how this will be handled (see #4)</li>
        </ul>
    
        <p>Before writing the termination letter, be sure to gather the employee’s contract, any non-disclosure agreements they signed at the start of employment, an independent contractor agreement (if applicable), and the employee handbook.</p>
        
        <p>Make sure all legal matters are covered by consulting with a lawyer. </p>
        
        <p>Consider looking at a few termination letter <a href="http://sample-resignation-letters.com/p383459-writing-an-employee-termination-letter-with.cfm" target="_blank">samples</a> to get an idea of how you want to write yours.</p>
    
      <strong><li>Retrieve Company Property</li></strong>

        <ul>
            <li>Blackberry/PDA</li>
            <li>Cell phone</li>
            <li>Card key/other keys</li>
            <li>Company car</li>
            <li>Parking pass</li>
            <li>Credit cards</li>
            <li>Laptop/desktop computer</li>
            <li>Printer, copier, scanner, fax machine</li>
            <li>Marketing materials</li>
            <li>Files</li>
            <li>Company contact list (employees as well as clients)</li>
            <li>Employee handbook</li>
            <li>Identification badges</li>
            <li>Any other company equipment (camera, uniform, etc.)</li>
        </ul>
    
        <p>This is important because by not collecting items like parking passes, credit cards, marketing materials, and contact information, the former employee will have inappropriate access to company information and property which he/she could abuse. </p>
    
     <strong><li>Revoke Access Information</li></strong>
        <ul>
            <li>Disable email account</li>
            <li>Remove employee’s name from:</li>
                    <ul>
                        <li>Email group lists</li>
                         <li>Distribution lists</li>
                         <li>Internal/office phone list</li>
                         <li>Website</li>
                         <li>Building directory</li>
                     </ul>
                <li>Close computer access</li>
                <li>Disable access to company intranet</li>
                <li>Disable access to company social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, etc.)</li>
               <li> Change or transfer phone extension</li>
                <li>Change voicemail</li>
                <li>Deactivate long-distance access code</li>
                <li>Lock access to system and backup data prior to the notification meeting</li>
                <li>Remove access to external company databases and/or remote access software</li>
                <li>Review and change all passwords prior to or during the notification meeting</li>
                <li>Transfer/cancel employee’s email account</li>
                <li>Set automatic email notification to alert senders that employee is no longer employed</li>
            </ul>
    
        <p>In today’s digital world, it’s easy to overlook some of the many accounts and sites that need to be addressed with this step. But it’s a very important step, as giving recently terminated employees access to, say, the company’s Twitter feed can be detrimental.</p>
       
        <p>For example, in early 2014, HMV, a British entertainment retailer, laid off 190 employees. The company pulled a group of more than 60 into the HR office and gave them the bad news. One of the soon-to-be unemployed was an HMV community manager and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/02/01/dont-fire-an-employee-and-leave-them-in-charge-of-the-corporate-twitter-account/" target="_blank">still had access to the corporate Twitter account</a>. She started live tweeting about the layoffs. In 20 minutes, she sent out numerous tweets to the company’s then-61,500 followers about the “mass execution,” as she called it.</p>
        

        <p>This is not the message you want to send to the public, customers, employees, or competitors. Take the necessary steps to block this kind of access before beginning the termination process to avoid embarrassment and potential lawsuits.</p>
    
        <strong><li>Determine Amount Owed to be Paid</li></strong>
        <ul>
            Calculate what wages are owed; consult with a lawyer or your <a href="http://www.dol.gov/whd/contacts/state_of.htm" target="_blank">state’s department of labor</a>, as <a href="http://www.nfib.com/article/the-final-paycheck-paying-terminated-employees-on-time-45348/" target="_blank">laws vary by state</a>
                <ul>
                    <li>Consider any past correspondence, verbal or written, as well as what is stated in the offer letter/employment agreement and the company handbook, regarding severance compensation</li>
                    <li>Determine when wages must be paid following termination—again, laws vary by state (i.e. next scheduled payday vs. day of)</li>
                    <li>Determine if deductions are necessary for unpaid loans, lost/stolen company property, etc., and whether those deductions are allowed by law</li>
                    <li>Discontinue automatic payroll deposits</li>
                </ul></ul>
    
        <p>Not paying the accurate amount could end in a lawsuit. Also, keep in mind it is <a href="http://work.chron.com/can-boss-keep-last-paycheck-dont-put-two-weeks-notice-in-8946.html" target="_blank">illegal to withhold an employee paycheck</a> as collateral while waiting for company property to be returned, according to the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (FLSA). The FLSA notes that employers are not required by federal law to <a href="http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/lastpaycheck.htm" target="_blank">give former employees their final paycheck immediately</a>. Some states, however, may require immediate payment.</p>
    
        <strong><li>Vacation Consideration</li></strong>
        <ul>
            <li>Calculate how much vacation the employee has earned and how much has been used</li>    
            <li>Determine if your policy is to pay employees for accrued but unused vacation—consult the handbook as well as state law</li>
        </ul>
    
        <p><a href="http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/30895/state-laws-on-vacation-pay-after-termination#_" target="_blank">Most states</a> have laws entitling terminated employees <a href="http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/paid-vacation-what-are-rights-33485.html" target="_blank">to get paid for their unused accrued vacation time</a>. Be sure to review your company’s policy as well as state law with regard to this matter.</p>
    
        <p>Also, companies <a href="https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/employment-law-101-accounting-for-vacation-pay" target="_blank">cannot deduct vacation pay without the employee's consent</a> or withhold vacation pay as a disciplinary matter. Some states will prosecute employers for doing such; employees can sue in civil court even if their state lacks specific laws regarding final wages.</p>

        <p>To protect your business, employees, and reputation, it’s important to take the time to put in place specific, all-encompassing termination requirements as part of your <a href="/resources/employment-law/how-performance-management-protects-businesses-when-firing-employees/">performance management plan</a>. Following these steps will help ensure a smooth transition between employees and help you avoid unnecessary lawsuits.</p>
    </ol>






The Ultimate Termination Process Checklist

The Ultimate Pre-Employment Screening Checklist



    
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    <p>The reasoning behind non-compete agreements is simple: when an employee leaves a company, the contract prevents them from leaking the business’ confidential information to a competitor. This makes sense when non-competes are applied to only business executives, partners, or officials — people who are actually in possession of the trade secrets the agreements are meant to protect. But when the clauses extend to entry-level workers or employees of businesses that don’t trade secrets, things can get messy.</p>

    <p>Non-competes are a hot issue right now due to the growth of digital communication, documentation, and higher competition among businesses. Clauses are especially prevalent in such fields as engineering and finance, according to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/21/the-rise-of-the-non-compete-agreement-from-tech-workers-to-sandwich-makers/" target="_blank">a new working paper</a> by economists at the University of Illinois and University of Michigan, but are also appearing in less obvious fields like <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/business/noncompete-clauses-increasingly-pop-up-in-array-of-jobs.html?_r=0" target="_blank">lawn care and hair styling</a>.</p>
   
    <p>But as with other company-specific laws, such as <a href="/resources/employment-law/how-ban-the-box-legislation-is-changing-hiring-practices/">Ban the Box legislation</a>, it’s often difficult to establish where the line between being enforceable and being unreasonable is for non-compete agreements. State laws, time and geographic restrictions, employee rank, and industry type are all things that must be considered when determining whether or not a non-compete agreement is enforceable and/or necessary.</p>

    <p>To help navigate the complicated world of non-compete agreements, below we define exactly what a non-compete agreement is, outline what they entail, provide examples of what is and is not (generally) enforceable, and link to a sample of a standard non-compete contract. </p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">What Is a Non-Compete Agreement and Why Are They Used?</h4>
    <p>A non-compete agreement is a type of <a href="http://www.mbbp.com/resources/employment/noncomps.html" target="_blank">restrictive covenant</a>. Essentially, it is a promise by an employee to not work for competing businesses in a specific region for a specific time period following termination of employment.</p>
    <p>Employers use non-compete contracts to keep confidential information — intellectual property, client lists, financial data — safe from competitors. They see the agreements as a way to mitigate the risk of hiring and entrusting private material to employees, consultants, or contractors.</p>

    <p>The goal of non-competes is to provide an employer protection from unfair competition (competition involving the “misappropriation of good will” — a.k.a. stealing an employer’s relationship with customers, clients, or vendors and/or confidential business information) while not unreasonably prohibiting a former employee from earning a living.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">What Is Included In Non-Compete Agreements?</h4>
    <p>Non-competes specify the geographic scope, duration, and type of activity an ex-employee is prohibited from engaging in. For example, a car salesman might have a 50-mile non-competition radius so as not to steal customers from his or her previous dealership. A TV news reporter, on the other hand, might be forbidden from working for other local television stations for a period of time following termination; time frames can range anywhere from a few months to two years.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">When Are Non-Compete Agreements Enforceable?</h4>
    <p>Here’s where things get tricky. Whether or not a non-compete agreement is enforceable depends on <a href="http://www.mbbp.com/resources/employment/noncomps.html" target="_blank">whether or not it is reasonable</a>, and what is reasonable is determined by state courts on a case-by-case basis; <a href="http://www.beckreedriden.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Noncompetes-50-State-Survey-Chart-20130814.pdf" target="_blank">every state has its own laws regarding non-compete clauses</a>.</p>

    Non-compete agreements are typically considered enforceable if they:
    <ul>
        <li>Have reasonable time restrictions (generally less than one year)
        <li>Are limited to a certain geographic area (specific cities or counties, rather than entire states)</li>
        <li>Are necessary to protect certain employer interests, including trade secrets, confidential business information, and the company’s relationship with customers, clients, and vendors (including market position and reputation)</li>
        <li>Are "supported by consideration," meaning an employee receives a benefit (additional compensation, stock options, acceleration of benefits, etc.)  in exchange for promising to not work for a competitor</li>
    </ul>
    
    <p>Non-compete agreements must also be industry specific in order to be enforceable. For example, a newspaper writer could be barred from working for the other local newspaper, but not writing novels, even though that uses many of the same skills.</p>

    <p>Technically, a standard non-compete contract <a href="http://thedailyrecord.com/2014/09/26/should-your-company-use-non-compete-agreements/" target="_blank">is more likely to be upheld</a> if the time limitation is short, the geographic scope is small, the type of activity is narrow, and the employee is only prohibited from soliciting their former employer’s established customers.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">When Can Non-Compete Agreements Be Disputed?</h4>
    <p>Non-compete agreements can be disputed and are unenforceable whenever they are too restrictive — which is often. Every state has its own laws about whether or not non-compete agreements are enforceable. Some, <a href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=bpc&group=16001-17000&file=16600-16607" target="_blank">like California</a>, have deemed them illegal except in the sale of a business or a shareholder’s stock or dissolution of a partnership. Others, <a href="http://www.lindquist.com/files/Publication/5ad45f6f-fa73-4842-983d-e9cbd88bf37e/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/840cb492-f058-4199-8c2a-ecdb8e9c6636/Employer%20Beware%20-%20Is%20Your%20Noncompete%20Agreement%20Enforceable.pdf" target="_blank">like Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Arkansas</a>, allow reasonable agreements but will invalidate contracts that are too broad.</p>

    <a href="http://www.beckreedriden.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Noncompetes-50-State-Survey-Chart-20130814.pdf" target="_blank">This chart</a> outlines each state’s laws and rules about whether, when, and to what extent a non-compete agreement is enforceable, and demonstrates the complications involved in determining enforceability. It includes information like:
    <ul>
        <li>Whether non-compete agreements are permitted at all (in California, non-competes are illegal unless you are selling a business)</li>
        <li>Specifications for what is and isn’t allowed (for example, in Arkansas, customer relationships are only protected where the employee was the sole contact)</li>
        <li>Whether the state follows the <a href="http://www.natlawreview.com/article/how-50-states-differ-revising-non-competes-different-strokes-different-folks-or-red-" target="_blank">reformation rule, the blue pencil doctrine, or the red pencil doctrine</a></li>
        <li>Whether non-compete agreements are enforceable against at-will employees whose <a href="http://www.criminalwatchdog.com/resources/employment-law/how-performance-management-protects-businesses-when-firing-employees/" target="_blank">employment was terminated without cause</a></li>
    </ul>

    In general, courts will rule in favor of an employee in cases determining the reasonableness of a non-compete agreement. Some of the <a href="http://corporate.findlaw.com/business-operations/will-your-non-compete-agreement-withstand-a-court-challenge.html" target="_blank">factors judges look at when deciding on a ruling</a> for these cases include:  
    <ul>
        <li><strong>Geographical restrictions</strong> (state-wide won’t be enforced, but a local areal restriction might, if it is necessary to protect the employer)</li>
        <li><strong>Time period restrictions</strong> (the longer it is, the more likely it will be deemed unfair)</li>
        <li><strong>Type of industry, work, or specific company</strong> (businesses with direct competitors may indicate the company they don’t want employees going to)</li>
        <li><strong>Circumstance</strong> (whether the employee was terminated or left voluntarily)</li>
        <li><strong>Too broad</strong> (unnecessary restrictions, usually pertaining to geographic or time limits)</li>
        <li><strong>Type of work/job position</strong> (if an employee doesn’t have access to confidential information or trade secrets, the non-competition clause may be deemed automatically unnecessary)</li>
    </ul>
    <p>For prospective employees, it’s always a good idea to read the fine print of a non-compete contract. When doing so, ask yourself if the clause is relevant to your job, if it is fair, and if it is reasonable to you considering your location, position, and job responsibilities. Here’s <a href="http://www.kkrlaw.com/articles/noncomp.htm" target="_blank">an example of a general non-compete contract</a>, and the stipulations you might encounter.</p>

    <p>For employers, non-compete agreements should be used only to protect confidential information and only when absolutely necessary. If you do decide to require a non-compete, make the requirement known in a prospective employee’s offer letter. This inherently fulfills the consideration aspect of the agreement, with the benefit for the employee being the job. Asking employees to sign a non-compete later on in their tenure, or following a promotion, means <a href="http://www.mbbp.com/resources/employment/noncomps.html" target="_blank">a benefit must also be included</a> (raise, bonus, stock options, etc.), which adds additional complications to an already complicated process.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">So, are Non-Compete Agreements Actually Enforceable?</h4>
    <p>Non-compete agreements are complicated and multifaceted deals. In some cases, such as in the sale of an entire business, they are necessary and practical. In most situations, however, they are unreasonable and unenforceable. Being aware of state laws and the specific requirements outlined in a non-compete agreement are the best ways to avoid messy legal disputes and maintain positive employee–employer relationships.</p>





Are Employee Non-Compete Agreements Enforceable?



    
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    <p>You might have read stories about what it's allegedly like to job hunt in Silicon Valley; where 20-something applicants <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117088/silicons-valleys-brutal-ageism" target="_blank">get Botox injections</a> or go to other extreme lengths to hide their age because of rampant discrimination in the workplace against "the old" (that is, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/magazine/y-combinator-silicon-valleys-start-up-machine.html" target="_blank">anyone over 32 years old</a>).</p>

    <p>Despite crackdowns by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), there’s still a belief that “young people are just smarter,” as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2007/03/26/start-up-advice-for-entrepreneurs-from-y-combinator-startup-school/" target="_blank">famously said</a> (when he was younger). And Silicon Valley isn’t alone. Many employers discriminate against people on the basis of age, sex, race, religion, disability, and other factors by actions they may not ever consider to be discriminatory.</p>

    <p>For example, many companies run afoul of the law with job postings that ask for “able-bodied” employees or even jokingly say they’re “looking for a few good men.” Or some managers roll their eyes when organizing mandatory anti-discrimination trainings, which makes it seem like they don't take discrimination law seriously.</p>

    <p>Discrimination can accidentally creep up just about anywhere. Here are some ways organizations demonstrate or encourage workplace discrimination and strategies to avoid them.</p>


    <h3 class="h3__alt">Discrimination and Hiring Decisions</h3>
    <p>Job postings have to do so much in so few words. They need to include preferred skills and experience while also impressing applicants (so as to compete with other job listings). But all this careful consideration and "word wizardry" make it easy to accidentally slip in phrases that exclude certain people. For example, saying it’s a “young, energetic company” or that the job would be “perfect for a retiree or stay-at-home mom” could be interpreted as discriminatory. </p>

    <p>And it's not just about avoiding certain phrases altogether. How we say things needs to be considered, too. For example, it communicates something quite different to say we’re looking for a mature person versus a person who demonstrates maturity. The former positions maturity as a core characteristic, whereas the latter positions it as a skill. In other words, the former could be interpreted as age discrimination, the other not so much.</p>

    <p>Discrimination can even slip in when writing job applications or interviewing candidates. The EEOC <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/#pre-employment_inquiries" target="_blank">explicitly prohibits</a> pre-employment questions about disability (including pregnancy) and recommends avoiding any questions around professional organizations, which could reveal an applicant's race or religion. There are also regulations on <a href="/faq/employment-background-check">what kind of background check information employers can gather</a>.</p>


    <h3 class="h3__alt">Tips for avoiding discrimination when hiring new employees</h3>
    <ul>
        <li><strong>Focus on the job's typical activities</strong>. For example, a given job might require a candidate to be able to lift 50 pounds. But saying in the job description “must be able to lift 50 pounds” could be interpreted by people with disabilities, smaller people, and some women to mean “this job excludes you.”<br>
        So rather than positioning this as a required skill, <a href="http://hr.umich.edu/oie/Avoiding-Discrimination.pdf" target="_blank">The University of Michigan suggests</a> explaining candidates will be "routinely moving audio/visual equipment weighing up to 50 pounds…." This makes it clear that the chosen employee may be asked to perform this task, but doesn't exclude certain applicants.</li>

        <li><strong>Be mindful of any skills or requirements that may describe someone's character or physical ability</strong>. Re-read the skills listed on the job application. If any of them could be interpreted as characteristics or physical abilities — such as "a mature person," "able bodied,"  "young at heart," or "recent college graduates" — rephrase or delete it!</li>

        <li><strong>Read <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/" target="_blank">the EEOC guidelines</a> carefully</strong>. Avoid anything that refers to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, and pregnancy. Be careful when asking questions about financial information, as it could be discriminatory if applicants are denied based on their financial and/or credit history.</li>
    </ul>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Discrimination and Workplace Activities</h3>
    <p>Discrimination can happen even after an employee is hired. The EEOC outlines not only who we can't discriminate against, but also what is considered discrimination. For every single type of discrimination, <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/index.cfm" target="_blank">it states</a> the following: </p>

    <blockquote class="blockquote__alt">"The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoffs, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment."</blockquote>

    <p>Notice "fringe benefits." This is a vague term that can include anything from health insurance and 401K matching plans to morale activities and team bonding exercises. And it's also one of the areas where employers can most easily exclude certain individuals.</p>

    <p>Let's take team building events as an example. It’s fine to have a company softball league so long as there are other activities that, say, someone with a disability would also be able to participate in. One Halo tournament is okay, as long as other activities are inclusive of people who are less likely or unable to play video games. We need to have a diverse mix of workplace activities to ensure there's something for everyone and we aren't unintentionally offering "fringe benefits" to some employees and not others.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Tips for avoiding discrimination when planning workplace activities</h3>

    <ul>
        <li><strong>Make workplace activities accessible to all</strong>.  A single team building event doesn’t have to be inclusive of every single interest. Our morale programs collectively need to be diverse enough so that everyone has access to similar opportunities and benefits.</li>
        <br>That being said, all activities should be physically accessible to everyone. For example, people with disabilities should be able to actually get to the activity.</li>
        <li><strong>Avoid planning activities on key religious holidays</strong>. Employees of certain faiths might not be able to participate if you host events on holy days. You can see a full list of religious holidays <a href="http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
        <li><strong>Be mindful of activities employees of certain faiths can't participate in</strong>. For example, some Hindus might choose to not eat beef. Many Judaism practitioners follow kosher standards that prohibit the cross contamination of certain food products. Your events need to accommodate all the religious lifestyles of your staff.</li>
    </ul>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Discrimination and Workplace Policies</h3>
    <p>Discrimination needs to be considered beyond just event planning. It needs to also be factored into employment policies. For example, some organizations have guidelines for appropriate workplace attire and grooming habits. However, these policies can conflict with some employees’ religious practices if it prohibits, say, wearing headscarves or having long hair. </p>
    <p>And it's not only about having policies written down. Sure, these say our organizations won't tolerate people of certain faiths, races, genders, and disabilities being victims of workplace harassment. But we need to have procedures in place so we can act on any discrimination against employees who, say, take more frequent breaks to pray or choose to marry someone of the same sex. In sum, we need to plan proactively and follow through reactively to ensure no one falls victim to a hostile work environment.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Tips for avoiding discrimination when creating workplace policies</h4>
    <ul>
        <li>Allow flex time or swapping of schedules among employees. This gives parents and those of certain faiths options for missing work because of religious or childcare obligations.</li>
        <li>Develop a clear process for handling harassment. Just creating a procedure isn't enough. It also needs to be visible to everyone and constantly enforced by leadership. </li>
        <li>Create workplace policies inclusive of religious, race, or sexual expression. Workplace attire and break policies need to be inclusive of all sorts of expressions, such as the wearing of religious attire, clothes associated with the gender employees identify with, and symbols of national origin. </li>
    </ul>


    <h3 class="h3__alt">So, How Do We Avoid Unintentional Discrimination in the Workplace?</h3> 
    <p>Workplace discrimination can creep up just about anywhere; and it won't necessarily be blatant. Sure, it's our job as leaders and policy makers to make sure we're following federal and state discrimination laws. But it's about more than just legalities. It's also about creating a workplace environment that is inclusive of all types of employees. </p>

    <p>Respect for all people has to be a daily conversation within our organizations. By developing diversity education programs and holding managers accountable for enforcing discrimination-free policies, we'll be able to create more tolerant workplaces and increase the productivity and happiness among our staff.</p>




Ways Employers Encourage Discrimination in the Workplace without Even Knowing It



    
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    <p>As of January 2015, <a href="http://www.nelp.org/page/-/SCLP/Ban-the-Box-Fair-Chance-State-and-Local-Guide.pdf?nocdn=1" target="_blank">14 states, Washington, D.C., and 100 cities and counties</a> have adopted Ban the Box legislation. Ban the Box laws, also called Fair Chance Policies, require businesses to remove the conviction history question on job applications and delay background checks until later in the hiring process. Because there is no federal mandate requiring the elimination of this question, each Ban the Box state, city, and county has the freedom to create its own version of the law, which can complicate and, in some cases, conflict with already established hiring laws. </p>

<p>To help decipher Ban the Box legislation and its impact on the future of hiring practices, we’ve outlined why and where the law exists, variations that may appear within the law, how it impacts current policies, and tips for hiring managers.</p>


<h4 class="h4__alt">What is Ban the Box?</h4>
<p>Ban the Box legislation refers to removing the question from job applications that asks candidates about their criminal history. <a href="http://csgjusticecenter.org/reentry/posts/states-ban-the-box-removing-barriers-to-work-for-people-with-criminal-records-2/" target="_blank">The first state to pass such a law was Hawaii</a> in 1998, before the phrase “ban the box” existed. That came later, in the early 2000s, when an activist group called All of Us or None used the term to describe its California campaign. The phrase has been associated with the legislation ever since.</p>


<h4 class="h4__alt">Why Does Ban the Box Exist?</h4>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nelp.org/page/content/banthebox/" target="_blank">National Employment Law Project</a>, which promotes the Ban the Box movement, argues that the law helps support the employment opportunities of people with records, which in turn “creates safe communities, reduces childhood poverty, and strengthens families.” </p>

<p>Proponents assert that the increased use of background checks excludes too many applicants from jobs for which they are otherwise qualified and is partly to blame for high recidivism numbers (when people convicted of a crime commit another offense).</p>

<p>One such advocate is Ari Weisbard, deputy director of the D.C. Employment Justice Center. Weisbard says about <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/07/14/330731820/how-banning-one-question-could-help-ex-offenders-land-a-job" target="_blank">50% of people returning to society from prison re-enter the criminal justice system</a>, and employment has been shown to be one of the best ways to reduce recidivism.</p>

<p>The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) also supports this argument. <a href="http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/ex-offenders-2010-11.pdf" target="_blank">In a 2010 study</a>, CEPR reported that keeping people with prison records out of the workplace caused $57 to $65 billion in annual losses for the economy. It’s estimated that one in four adults in the U.S. has an arrest or conviction record. Many of these people, however, never faced charges or had charges dropped, but because arrest records aren’t automatically removed, the charge keeps them from being considered for employment.</p>

<p>The movement got an additional boost from the federal government in 2012 when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/arrest_conviction.cfm" target="_blank">recommended removing criminal history questions</a> from job applications. The EEOC called for businesses to reserve asking criminal history questions until later in the hiring process, and required employers to demonstrate how records’ restrictions are directly related to the job in question. It also mandated that applicants be individually assessed for positions.</p>

<h4 class="h4__alt">Which States have Ban the Box Legislation?</h4>
The 14 states with established Ban the Box laws are:
<ul>
    <li>California</li>
    <li>Colorado</li>
    <li>Connecticut</li>
    <li>Delaware</li>
    <li>Georgia</li>
    <li>Hawaii</li>
    <li>Illinois</li>
    <li>Maryland</li>
    <li>Massachusetts</li>
    <li>Minnesota</li>
    <li>Nebraska</li>
    <li>New Jersey</li>
    <li>New Mexico</li>
    <li>Rhode Island</li>
</ul>
<p>In addition to the 14 states and 100 cities and counties, some big-box stores with locations nationwide (<a href="http://www.startribune.com/business/229310141.html" target="_blank">such as Target and Wal-Mart</a>) have also removed the criminal history question from applications.</p>

<h3 class="h3__alt">What Ban the Box Does — and Does Not — Require</h3>
Ban the Box laws do more than just eliminate a check box. <a href="http://www.jonesday.com/Ban-the-Box-A-Discussion-of-State-and-Local-Laws-Restricting-Inquiries-into-an-Applicants-Criminal-History-09-16-2014/?RSS=true" target="_blank">Each individual law is different</a>, but a few mandates are included in most variations. Some common elements are:
<ul>
    <li>Requirements concerning the types of convictions employers can ask about and how far back an inquiry may extend</li>
    <li>A test requiring employers to consider the nature and gravity of the offense, the time that has passed since the offense and/or completion of the sentence, and the nature of the job in question</li>
    <li>Mandates to delay background checks until later in the hiring process</li>
    <li>A condition requiring employers to notify applicants when criminal information is being used</li>
</ul>

<h4 class="h4__alt">Actions Ban the Box legislation does NOT prohibit employers from doing</h4>
<ul>
    <li>Running background checks – employers can still do this, just later in the hiring process</li>
    <li>Taking into consideration an applicant’s criminal history – by moving the question to later in the hiring process, Ban the Box advocates hope it will be just one element taken into consideration, rather than the only thing employers notice about an applicant</li>
</ul>


<h3 class="h3__alt">How Ban the Box Affects Current Hiring Policies</h3>
<p>Every Ban the Box law is different and affects different businesses in different ways. For example, in Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, Ban the Box legislation extends to government contractors and private employers, whereas it only applies to public businesses with 10 employees or more in most other situations (exceptions include Washington, D.C. and 25 other cities and counties which also have the law).</p>

<p>Limitations outlined in different Ban the Box laws may also conflict with <a href="http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/articles/pdf/pdf-0111-fair-credit-reporting-act.pdf" target="_blank">Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requirements</a>. Under the FCRA, employers using third-party background check services are required to follow specific guidelines when obtaining reports on job applicants, such as obtaining applicants' written consent before running a background check on them. But without the criminal history question on applications, employers now need to find other ways to obtain applicants' written consent.</p>

<p>Another confusing element is that some states exempt certain job fields from Ban the Box regulations. New Jersey’s version of Ban the Box, for instance, exempts law enforcement, corrections, judiciary, homeland security, and emergency management positions. So employers filling these jobs are allowed to include a criminal history question on applications at the beginning of the hiring process.</p>

<p>Additional exemptions extend to fields in which an employer is legally required by the federal government to conduct a background check. This includes such areas as airport security screeners, law enforcement officers, child care workers, bank employees, and others.</p>

<p>Ban the Box especially poses a challenge for businesses that use the internet to gather applications and automatically exclude applicants based on criminal records, since this elimination process is forbidden by the new laws. Companies facing this situation are encouraged to use other criteria to limit the number of applications they receive, such as specific requirements based on experience or education.</p>

<h4 class="h4__alt">5 Ways to Work with Ban the Box Legislation</h4>
<ol>
    <li>Be aware of any <a href="http://www.nelp.org/page/content/banthebox/" target="_blank">Ban the Box legislation in your state</a>, city, or county, and be familiar with the specific requirements of the law </li>

    <li>Review job applications and other documents used in the hiring process (i.e. online questionnaires) to ensure they comply with the law<br>
    Tip: Consider having different applications and questions relating to criminal history for different positions or job classes</li>
    <li>Ensure everyone involved in the hiring process is aware of new regulations and is trained accordingly</li>
    <li>Review what is included in background check services to <a href="/background-check-products-explained">make sure you’re choosing to run a check that doesn’t violate Ban the Box</a> regulations</li>
    <li>Contact your state’s Department of Human Rights with questions</li>
</ol>

<p>Background checks are still very much a part of the hiring process despite the growing popularity and implementation of Ban the Box legislation. That means it’s still fully <a href="/faq/how-to-fail-background-check">possible to fail a background check</a> – it's just now there are regulations requiring employers to give all applicants a fair chance at earning the position.</p>

<p>To learn more about laws employers need to follow, check out this resource that outlines <a href="/faq/employment-background-check">what an employment background check entails</a>. </p>
  




How Ban the Box Legislation is Changing Hiring Practices



    
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    <p>You'd think interviewing should only be nerve-wracking for the job seeker, not the question asker. But that’s not always the case. Many hiring managers are unaware of just how many “wrong” questions they can ask an applicant — and by wrong, we mean illegal. </p>

    <p>That’s right: There are a whole host of seemingly innocent questions that are actually very much off limits for supervisors to ask potential employees. The good news is there are also many legal interview questions that can be used to get any touchy information needed to make smart hiring decisions. We’ll discuss both areas below, as well as provide a list of illegal interview questions and their legal alternatives to help you avoid sticky situations.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">(Surprisingly) Illegal Interview Questions</h4>
    <p>What makes an interview question illegal is determined by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in the <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm" target="_blank">Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964</a>. Title VII states that it is illegal for employers to ask about a person’s age, race, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability status, and marital status in any pre-employment stage: online applications, surveys, interviews, etc. </p>

    <p>The law also makes it illegal to ask questions regarding pregnancy status, if applicants have children, questions regarding arrest records, or military discharge status. These rules apply to everyone you’re thinking of bringing into your company, including temporary workers, interns, part-time and contract workers, and full-time employees.</p>

    The guidelines seem straightforward enough, don't ask questions like, "Are you married?" or "What religion do you practice?" But there are some surprising loopholes that you may not think of as illegal when creating a list of interview questions. <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm" target="_blank">Examples</a> of such illegal interview questions include:

   <ul>
        <li><em>What organizations, clubs, or societies do you belong to?</em></li>
        <ul>
            <li><strong>Why it’s illegal:</strong>: The applicant's answer could indicate race, sex, national origin, disability status, age, religion, color, or ancestry</li>
        </ul></ul>
        <ul>
            <li><em>Please include a photo ID with your application.</em></li>
            <ul>
                <li><strong>Why it’s illegal:</strong> It could indicate race, age, or other factors </li>
            </ul></ul>
            <ul>
                <li><em>Have you had any recent health problems?</em></li>
                <ul>
                   <li>Why it’s illegal: Medical information can’t be asked about until you offer someone a job, per <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/background_checks_employees.cfm" target="_blank">EEOC regulations</a></li>
               </ul></ul>
               <ul>
                <li><em>Do you have any disabilities that would affect your work?</em></li>
                <ul>
                    <li><strong>Why it’s illegal:</strong> It's illegal to ask about someone's disability status</li>
                </ul></ul>
                <ul>
                <li><em>Have you ever been arrested?</em></li>
                <ul>
                   <li><strong>Why it’s illegal:</strong> You need to give an applicant written notice that a background check into his or her criminal record will be conducted, according to the <a href="http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/articles/pdf/pdf-0111-fair-credit-reporting-act.pdf" target="_blank">Fair Credit Reporting Act</a></li>
               </ul></ul>
               <ul>
                <li><em>Tell me about your family.</em></li>
                <ul>
                    <li><strong>Why it’s illegal:</strong> The answer could indicate race, national origin, age, color, ancestry, marital status, sexual orientation, or if the applicant has children</li>
                </ul></ul>
                <ul>
                    <li><em>Where were you born?</em></li>
                    <ul>
                        <li><strong>Why it’s illegal:</strong> The answer could indicate race, national origin, color, or ancestry</li>
                </ul></ul>
                <ul>
                    <li><em>Did your parents also attend that university?</em></li>
                    <ul>
                        <li><strong>Why it’s illegal:</strong> The answer indicate race, national origin, age, color, or financial history</li>
                 </ul></ul>
                 <ul>
                    <li><em>We give employees the following holidays off. Are there any holidays you celebrate that aren’t included?</em></li>
                    <ul>
                        <li><strong>Why it’s illegal:</strong> The answer could indicate was religion an applicant practices</li>
                    </ul></ul>
                <ul>
                    <li><em>I notice you have an accent. Is English your first language? (Or: Where are you from?)</em></li>
                    <ul>
                        <li><strong>Why it’s illegal:</strong> It’s illegal to ask a job applicant about U.S. citizenship before making an offer of employment, according to the <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/inquiries_citizenship.cfm" target="_blank">Immigration Reform and Control Act</a></li>
                    </ul></ul>
                <ul>
                    <li><em>School’s pretty pricey nowadays; do you have any outstanding debt?</em></li>
                    <ul>
                        <li><strong>Why it’s illegal:</strong> You need to give the applicant a written notice that a background check into his or her credit history will be conducted, according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act</li>
                    </ul></ul>
                <ul>
                    <li><em>We go out for a lot of happy hours here. Do you enjoy going out?</em></li>
                    <ul>
                        <li><strong>Why it’s illegal:</strong> The applicant could be a recovering alcoholic, which is considered a disability; thus you'd be violating the <a href="http://www.ada.gov/q&aeng02.htm" target="_blank">Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990</a></li>
                    </ul></ul>
                <ul>
                    <li><em>Do you rent or own a home?</em></li>
                    <ul>
                        <li><strong>Why it’s illegal:</strong> The answer indicate financial status and violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act</li>
                    </ul></ul>

    <p>Some of these things are important to know, however, and need to be addressed before a job offer can be made. For example, if a job at a nursing home requires someone to work Saturday evenings, an Orthodox Jew would be unable to meet the job’s requirements due to the Sabbath. Or if a factory job requires workers to lift heavy loads throughout the day and a person has a disability, they similarly would be unsuited for the job.</p> 

    <p>So how does someone go about getting this “forbidden” information without asking?</p>


   <h4 class="h4__alt">Legal Interview Questions</h4>
    Fortunately, there are different — legal — ways to obtain these facts. Here’s a list of legal interview questions that can be used to get at the information you need:
    <ul>
        <li>What are the hours you’re available to work? </li>
        <li>Do you have any responsibilities that may interfere with your ability to travel (or a different, specific job requirement)? </li>
        <li>How many languages do you speak fluently?</li>
        <li>Are you available to work on Saturday evenings or Sundays?</li>
        <li>Have you ever been convicted of a crime?</li>
        <li>Can you perform the job’s essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation?</li>
    </ul>

    <p>By using rewording techniques to ask tough questions, you won’t be breaking the law and you’ll still get the information necessary to make a smart hiring decision.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Background Checks and the Interview Process</h4>
    <p>Although it may seem like there’s a lot you can’t ask potential employees, you can still gather quite a bit of information about them. All sorts of background information is still fair game during the hiring process: employment history, education, criminal record, use of social media, etc. And unless you’re asking for medical or genetic information, it's also legal to require <a href="https://www.criminalwatchdog.com/faq/types-of-background-checks" target="_blank">background checks</a>.</p>

    <p>It’s important to know, though, that when asking about someone’s background, the same laws still apply. You can’t treat someone differently due to race, national origin, color, sex, religion, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), or age. It is also illegal to ask for extra background information because someone is a certain race or ethnicity.</p>

    <p>That said, if you do decide to <a href="/criminal-background-check">run background checks on potential employees</a>, there are two things to keep in mind: First, you’ll need to get written permission from the person before getting the report.</p> 

   <p> Second, if you decide you might not hire someone based on something in the report, you <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/background_checks_employees.cfm" target="_blank">are required</a> to give the person a copy of the report and a "notice of rights" that tells them how to contact the company that made the report. This is because background reports are sometimes inaccurate and, according to the EEOC, the applicant in question should be given a chance to correct the error. If the applicant sees a mistake in the report, he or she can ask the background reporting company to fix it and send a copy of the corrected report to you. You can decide how to proceed from there.</p>

    <p>You can learn more about the <a href="/faq/employment-background-check">type of information employers can obtain through a background check here</a>.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Next Steps</h4>
    <p>Before making any hiring decisions, <a href="/resources/employment-law/hiring-interns-yeah-theres-a-law-for-that/">whether for interns</a> or full-time employees, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the above information as well as the other areas covered by the <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm" target="_blank">EEOC’s Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices</a> page. There are (unfortunately) many <a href="http://www.criminalwatchdog.com/resources/employment-law/ways-employers-encourage-discrimination-in-the-workplace/" target="_blank">ways in which discrimination can accidentally take place</a>, but by preparing for interviews and using the above list of legal questions — as well as having documents requesting background checks ready to go — interviews can be easy, smooth, and perhaps even enjoyable.  </p>

    </ul>




List of Illegal Interview Questions Supervisors Should Never Ask



    
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    <p>Getting to know the thousands of standards and regulations set by OSHA can be extremely daunting for HR professionals and business leaders, but we’re required by law to comply with them (and we can't <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm02012.htm" target="_blank">claim ignorance as our defense</a> in law proceedings).</p>

    <p>OSHA isn’t just for high-risk workplaces — violations happen every day in offices, medical practices, retail outlets, and leisure facilities all across the U.S. Blocked sprinkler heads, furniture obstructing fire exits, paper left near heat sources…these are all violations that can happen in any workplace.</p> 

    <p>This guide is intended to provide a quick overview of OSHA and answer some of the most frequently asked questions about OSHA laws. </p>


    <h3 class="h3__alt">First, What is OSHA?</h3>
    <p>The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (<a href="https://www.osha.gov/" target="_blank">OSHA</a>) is the main federal agency responsible for the enforcement of safety and health legislation in all workplaces.</p>

    <p>It sets workplace safety and health standards (either on its own initiative or in response to petitions from other parties) using a <a href="https://www.osha.gov/OSHA_FlowChart.pdf" target="_blank">rulemaking process</a> that includes public hearings about potential standards, which allows employers to help shape them.</p>

    In addition to setting these standards, OSHA also makes sure we follow them by carrying out a variety of enforcement activities, which include onsite inspections conducted without advance notice. These inspections are usually carried out on a priority basis, with precedence given to:
    <ul>

    <li><a href="http://safety.nmsu.edu/resources/forms/OSHA-imminent-danger-factsheet.pdf" target="_blank">Imminent danger</a>, such as an unstable building or the presence of toxic substances</li>
    Catastrophes/fatalities
    <li>Worker complaints and referrals</li>
    <li>Severe violations, such as hazards that could result in death or serious injury</li>

    <p>Targeted inspections are also carried out at workplaces where there are an unusually high number of reported injuries or illnesses.  </p>

    <p>It’s also up to OSHA to ensure safe and healthful work environments for employees by providing training, outreach, education, and assistance to both employers and workers. The aim of these programs is to help broaden knowledge on the recognition, avoidance, and prevention of safety and health hazards in the workplace.</p>


    <h3 class="h3__alt">Which are the Most Commonly Violated OSHA Guidelines?</h3>
    <p>At the end of October last year, OSHA released a <a href="https://www.osha.gov/Top_Ten_Standards.html" target="_blank">list</a> of the 10 most frequently cited standards following inspections of worksites. We’ve included the first five from that list here, along with a brief description of the relevant OSHA guidelines relating to these standards. We’ve also linked to the appropriate pages on the OSHA website which go into further detail.</p>
    <ol>
        <li><a href="https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/fallprotection/" target="_blank"><strong>Fall protection</strong></a><br>
        Falls are one of the most common causes of serious work-related injuries. OSHA standards require that fall protection (such as guards, toe boards, handrails, and harnesses) to prevent falling from overhead platforms and elevated work stations when working at heights of more than four feet in general industry workplaces, and at six feet in construction.<br>    
            In most workplaces, fall protection will mean more common slip and trip prevention. Violations include improper use of mats or signs when spillages occur or rain is tracked inside; as well as damaged, warped, or uneven flooring. </li>

        <li><a href="https://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/whatishazcom.html" target="_blank"><strong>Hazard communication</strong></a><br>
             Chemicals pose a wide variety of health and physical hazards, and not just in manufacturing and construction. In general industry workplaces, hazardous chemicals could include cleaning chemicals and some chemicals commonly used in printing, and these should be treated with the same precaution as industrial hazards.<br>     
             OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard is designed to ensure that information about these hazards and protective measures are distributed appropriately. This means putting up appropriate signage, making sure chemicals are stored correctly in properly labeled containers, and training staff on their appropriate use.</li> 

        <li><a href="https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/scaffolding/" target="_blank"><strong>Scaffolding</strong></a><br>
            Most scaffold-related injuries result from either the planking or support giving way, slipping, or being struck by a falling object. OSHA’s standards to prevent this happening include height restrictions, weight limits, fittings, restraints, and supports. Workplaces in all industries undergo construction, so if there's scaffolding, proper care needs to be taken to ensure OSHA guidelines are met.</li>

        <li><a href="https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/respiratoryprotection/" target="_blank"><strong>Respiratory protection</strong></a><br>
            In industrial workplaces, respirators protect workers from insufficient oxygen and harmful dusts, fogs, smokes, mists, gases vapors, and sprays, and providing necessary respirators could avert hundreds of deaths and thousands of illnesses every year.<br> 
        
            However, ensuring that everyday work environments have access to safe, clean air is also imperative. Indoor air quality is of the utmost importance, and violations could include overly humid environments, poor ventilation, mold from water damage, and exposure to other chemicals (including asbestos). </li>

       <li><a href="https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/poweredindustrialtrucks/" target="_blank"><strong>Powered industrial trucks</strong></a><br>
           Powered industrial trucks (forklifts) present a variety of operating hazards, including falling load accidents, pedestrian safety, and crashes and falls of the truck itself (off a dock, for example). OSHA requires that powered industrial truck drivers are over 18 years old and properly trained and certified to operate these vehicles.</li>
   </ol>


    <h3 class="h3__alt">Frequently Asked Workplace Safety Questions</h3>

    <p>The OSHA website answers many <a href="https://www.osha.gov/OSHA_FAQs.html" target="_blank">frequently asked questions</a>, and those particularly relevant to HR managers and business leaders in the everyday workplace have been expanded upon here. </p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Is workplace violence covered by OSHA?</h4>
    <p>"Workplace violence" is violence or the threat of violence against workers, and can range from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and homicide. Homicide is one of the leading causes of job-related deaths, according to the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/93-109/" target="_blank">CDC</a>, and some workers operate at a greater risk than others, such as those working alone in areas with a high crime rate, or those transporting goods or cash.</p>

    <p>Under the <a href="https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_id=3359&p_table=OSHACT" target="_blank">General Duty Clause</a>, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 states that employers <em>“shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which is free from recognized hazards that are causing, or are likely to cause, death or serious physical harm to his employees.”</em></p>

    <p>While OSHA does not include a specific regulation addressing workplace violence, the courts have interpreted OSHA's General Duty Clause to mean that we have a legal obligation to provide a workplace free of conditions or activities that are recognized as hazardous when there is a feasible way to do so. This means courts are increasingly holding us liable for our employees’ violent and dangerous behavior if it’s deemed that we didn’t take appropriate action to prevent the harm. This is known as negligent hiring.</p>

    <p>Negligent hiring involves a claim that an employer had reason to believe, or could have determined by reasonable investigation, that the applicant was dangerous but hired him or her anyway. This means that when negligent hiring results in the injury of another, the risk of harm is considered “foreseeable.”</p>

    <p>As well as using OSHA’s workplace violence prevention <a href="https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/workplaceviolence/evaluation.html" target="_blank">programs</a> for evaluating and controlling violence in the workplace, the best method of defense against being found liable for negligent hiring is carrying out a pre-employment screening process that includes a <a href="https://www.criminalwatchdog.com/faq/employment-background-check" target="_blank">thorough background check</a>. Once hired, it's our job to keep an eye out for potential workplace violence. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry’s <a href="http://www.doli.state.mn.us/WSC/PDF/WorkplaceViolencePreventionGuide.pdfhttp:/www.doli.state.mn.us/WSC/PDF/WorkplaceViolencePreventionGuide.pdf" target="_blank">Workplace Violence Prevention Guide</a> contains suggestions for how to identify the risk factors and symptoms of workplace violence, specifically when carried out by employees.</p>

    <h3>What are the penalties for violating an OSHA standard?</h3>
    Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, we, as employers, are <a href="https://www.osha.gov/as/opa/worker/employer-responsibility.html" target="_blank">responsible</a> for ensuring a workplace is safe and not hazardous to our employees’ health.  

    <p>The maximum penalty OSHA can fine a business is $7,000 for each serious violation, such as a failure to require employees carrying heavy loads to wear steel-toe boots, and $70,000 for a repeated or willful violation, such as when the failure to implement proper precautionary measures results in death or serious injury.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">What injuries and illnesses are we required to report to OSHA?</h4>
    <p>OSHA requires that any work-related fatality is reported to them within eight hours. All work-related, in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye should be reported within 24 hours.</p>

    <p>This can be done by calling 1-800-321-OSHA (6742), by calling into your <a href="https://www.osha.gov/as/opa/worker/employer-responsibility.html" target="_blank">nearest OSHA office</a> during normal business hours, or <a href="https://www.osha.gov/report_online/index.html" target="_blank">reporting it online</a>.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">How do we keep up to date with new OSHA regulations or changes to current ones?</h4>
    <p>To find out about changes to OSHA regulations or when new ones are issued, the best thing to do is to <a href="https://www.osha.gov/as/opa/quicktakes/subscribe.html" target="_blank">subscribe</a> to OSHA’s e-newsletter, QuickTakes.</p>

    <p>It’s a free, twice-monthly publication that provides all of the latest news about OSHA initiatives so that we’re able to find and prevent workplace hazards.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Does OSHA stipulate how many consecutive hours employees are allowed to work?</h4>
    <p>Surprisingly, OSHA doesn’t have any specific regulations on long working hours, and the Fair Labor Standards Act (<a href="http://webapps.dol.gov/dolfaq/go-dol-faq.asp?faqid=322&faqsub=Work+Hours&faqtop=Wages+%26+Work+Hours&topicid=1" target="_blank">FSLA</a>) also doesn’t limit the number of hours per day or per week that employees aged 16 or older can be required to work.</p>

    <p>Some <a href="http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/rest.htm" target="_blank">states</a>, however, do have break regulations. For example, California requires a paid, 10-minute rest period for each four hours worked (as well as a half-hour meal period after no more than five hours). Others require a minimum length of meal period based on the amount of time worked, and these can be found on the DOL <a href="http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/meal.htm" target="_blank">website</a>.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Is OSHA training mandatory?</h4>
    <p>The <a href="https://www.osha.gov/dte/outreach/index.html" target="_blank">OSHA Outreach Training Program</a> is voluntary, and provides education for workers and employers on the recognition, avoidance, abatement, and prevention of safety and health hazards in the workplace.</p>

    <p>However, many standards set by OSHA explicitly require us to train employees in the safety and health aspects of their job, and others require that we limit the responsibility for certain tasks to employees who are certified, competent or qualified. Therefore, it’s a good idea to get this training to make sure we’re providing the correct information. </p>


    <h3 class="h3__alt">Takeaways</h3>
    <p>It's our responsibility as HR professionals and business leaders to provide a safe work environment. OSHA is the governing body that makes sure we do so, whether we work at a big construction site or a two-person office</p>

    <p>It’s also important to remember that OSHA wants us to be successful in our efforts to provide a safe workplace. It doesn't exist just to penalize us — it also provides us valuable resources for keeping our employees out of harm's way.</p>

    <p>To find out more about how you can protect your employees and your business, check out our frequently asked questions.</p>




What is OSHA? And Other Workplace Safety Questions Answered



    
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    <p>Firing employees is never easy. As managers, we’re often painted as the bad guy, but it’s our responsibility to establish an efficient, happy, and talented workplace. We have to look out for the business and each individual employee, balancing the needs of both to bring about positive growth.</p>

    <p>Sure, the "sorry, we have to let you go" conversation can be emotionally-charged and difficult to initiate, but it can also lead to consequences if not handled properly. Thankfully, performance management can help spread the burden of responsibility when it comes to terminating employment, both legally and emotionally. It’s a way of ensuring employees are aware of their goals and duties, so that should they fail to meet them, appropriate steps can be taken to address the situation.</p>


    <h3 class="h3__alt">First, What is Performance Management?</h3>
    <p>Performance management is an organized, ongoing process that involves making sure employees continuously contribute toward business goals, and if they are not, provides a process for letting them know and helping them improve.</p>

    <a href="http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4668" target="_blank">According to management consultancy ACAS</a>, good performance management ensures that everyone knows:

    <ul>
        <li>What the business goals are</li>
        <li>How they can help the business achieve these goals</li>
        <li>The skills they need to do this</li>
        <li>The standards required of them</li>
        <li>How well they’re doing</li>
        <li>How they can improve</li>
        <li>When there are problems</li>
    </ul>

    <p>To be successful, performance management requires regular meetings between managers and team members so that they can discuss all of the above issues. This should happen both informally and formally, and detailed documentation should be made as both types of meetings occur.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">What Risks Do Businesses Take when Firing Employees?</h3>
    <p>Firing employees should be a last resort and should only be necessary when other steps taken to resolve performance issues have failed. This is because businesses assume a number of risks when they make the decision to fire someone. These include:</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Security risks</h4>
    <p>Firing employees can leave them feeling hurt and angry, and unfortunately this can lead to security breaches or retaliation. Terminated employees often have access to company resources (including digital ones) which could be abused and result in business interruption, sabotage, embarrassment, lost productivity, and other financial costs.</p>

    <p>Unfortunately, it’s also a sad fact that termination can result in injury and even death. In September 2012, a former employee of a Minneapolis signage company allegedly <a href="http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/19659885/minneapolis-office-shooting-chestnut-ave" target="_blank">shot and killed</a> five people at his workplace the day after he was fired, before taking his own life. </p>

    <p>A <a href="http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/09/22/settlement-reached-in-accent-signage-shooting-suit/" target="_blank">lawsuit</a> was later brought against the employer by the family of one of the victims. It stated that the shooting was reasonably foreseeable based on the shooter’s former behavior, and was later settled out of court.</p> 

    <p>This highlights the need for proper pre-employment screenings, regular <a href="/criminal-background-check">criminal background checks</a>, and constant <a href="http://www.doli.state.mn.us/WSC/PDF/WorkplaceViolencePreventionGuide.pdf" target="_blank">monitoring for high-risk employees</a>, as it's our responsibility to provide a safe work environment that <a href="http://www.criminalwatchdog.com/resources/employment-law/what-is-OSHA-and-other-workplace-safety-questions-answered" target="_blank">abides by OSHA standards</a>.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Legal risks</h4>
    <p>A number of different factors determine whether or not employees have the right to pursue a lawsuit against their employer, including the type of contract they’ve signed, union membership regulations, and the length of their service.  </p>

    <p> For example, employees who feel they were dismissed unfairly can file <a href="http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/termination/" target="_blank">wrongful termination</a> lawsuits. This often happens when employees aren’t given a reason for being fired, when they’ve been led to believe they’re good workers, or when their dismissal coincides with a complaint that they’ve made against an individual or the company.</p>

    <p>In addition to this, employees may also cite discrimination as the reason for their termination. Discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information is illegal, and it’s also illegal to retaliate against a person because he or she complained about discrimination to the Equal Opportunities Employment Commission (<a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm" target="_blank">EEOC</a>). It's <a href="/resources/employment-law/ways-employers-encourage-discrimination-in-the-workplace">surprisingly easy to unintentionally encourage or practice discrimination in the workplace</a>, so when firing employees we need to be able to prove that the decision had nothing to do with any of these factors.</p>


    <h3 class="h3__alt">So, How Does Performance Management Protect Our Businesses?</h3>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">It minimizes losses</h4>
    <p>When it comes down to it, we need to protect our business and our jobs. Performance management can help us do that. It gives us a clear process for making underperforming employees aware that they need to improve, and outlines the potential consequences if they don’t.</p>

    <p>What's more, this systematic approach can help us find employee inefficiencies faster. Why the haste? Apart from the direct effects that poor performers have on business objectives, holding onto disengaged, unfocused employees can result in a ripple of negativity across the organization. It’s demotivating for others to see other employees not pulling their weight and this can lead to low morale and reduced <a href="/resources/employee-engagement/">employee engagement</a> across the board. And poor morale and engagement can result in actual financial losses, since disengaged employees are estimated to cost the U.S. economy $450 billion to $550 billion annually, according to a <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/165269/worldwide-employees-engaged-work.aspx" target="_blank">survey</a> by Gallup. </p>

    <p>In a way, performance management is putting the ball in underperforming employees' court. By setting clear goals, giving them the right tools to achieve them, and offering performance reviews along the way, we’re giving them a fair chance to improve, while also ensuring that we won’t sustain further losses if any issues continue.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">It provides fair warning, which reduces legal risk</h4>
    <p>When performance evaluations are a consistent part of an organization's processes, employees are made fully aware of their responsibilities and growth (or lack thereof) on a regular basis. It means we're giving employees plenty of chances to fix issues and to ask for help. </p>

    <p>Employee turnover costs money, as much as <a href="http://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/why-employee-turnover-is-so-costly.html" target="_blank">150%</a> of each lost employee’s annual salary to be exact. Remember, <a href="/resources/employee-engagement/5-ways-to-motivate-employees/">having a performance management strategy</a> not only saves us money from an operational standpoint, it also saves us from expensive legal fees due to wrongful termination or discrimination lawsuits filed against us. Thus, we want to make sure we only terminate someone after a series of straight-talking discussions, performance improvement plans, and documented actions. </p>

    <p>Effective performance management is also a way of putting a human face to the dismissal process, which is a softer way to reduce the risk of someone filing a lawsuit after termination. If our employees feel that we’ve done everything we can to help them succeed, by the time dismissal occurs it won’t come as a surprise. They should leave feeling as though they’ve been consulted throughout the process, not victimized. </p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">It creates a trail of evidence</h4>
    <p>If employees are let go and they file a lawsuit, we want to make sure we can provide evidence that they were fired with just cause. Performance management is a way of preparing ourselves to do just that.</p>

    <p>Effective performance management involves keeping accurate and up-to-date personnel files on all employees. These serve as a historical timeline of their employment from hire through to termination, including evidence of all goals set, training undergone, and feedback given.</p>

    <p>These files are invaluable should a court case arise, and having them on-hand can save time and money when defending ourselves against a claim of unfair dismissal. So we need to make sure that our organizations have an employee performance review process that gathers documentation, such as through the help of employee evaluation software like <a href="https://www.small-improvements.com/" target="_blank">Small Improvements</a> and detailed "recap" emails sent to employees by managers after every one-on-one meeting.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Takeaway</h3>
    <p>Performance management is by no means a silver bullet; it takes a lot of work to maintain an effective, user-friendly, ongoing program, and it must be applied consistently across the board for it to be a success.</p>

    <p>However, when implemented properly, the benefits far outweigh the costs, both in developing a performance-driven culture and in protecting our business from legal disputes. As managers, we’re protectors of the workplace. Our employees are the key to our success and it’s down to us to do what's best for the majority of them.</p>

    <p>Are you having issues with under-performing employees? If their poor performance is due to lack of engagement, check out these <a href="/resources/employee-engagement/5-ways-to-motivate-employees/">five proven employee engagement ideas for motivating employees</a>.</p>



    <h3 class="h3__alt">Additional Resources You Might Find Interesting:</h3>
        <ul>
            <li><a href="/resources/leadership-and-management/">Management advice that will make you a better leader</a></li>
        </ul>




How Performance Management Can Protect Businesses When Firing an Employee



    
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    <p>The decision to hire interns can be a complicated one, especially when trying to navigate the legality of unpaid versus paid internships. Are unpaid internships ever legal? If so, when? If the internship has to be paid, how much should you pay the interns? It’s a lot to consider.</p>

    <p>But the truth is, internship programs are something every company should be seriously thinking about. The popularity — and necessity — of internships is booming. 55% of the class of 2012 had an internship during college, according to a study by the <a href="http://www.naceweb.org/uploadedFiles/NACEWeb/Research/Student/2012-student-survey-executive-summary.pdf" target="blank">National Association of Colleges and Employers</a>. A <a href="http://www.internships.com/eyeoftheintern/news/idc-news/internships-survey-2014-internship-trends/" target="_blank">2013 survey by Internships.com</a> revealed that 67% of the class of 2013 had completed at least one internship during college.</p>

    <p>These growing numbers demonstrate how important internships have become with regard to getting a job. They’re so important, in fact, that a <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-08-15/skipped-your-college-internship-youre-far-less-likely-to-get-a-job-in-business" target="_blank">2014 <em>Bloomberg Businessweek</em> study</a> showed students with internship experience are up to 43% more likely to get jobs out of college than those without.</p>

    <p>Whether you already offer internships or are just getting started setting up a program, there are a few things you should keep in mind. Below is information regarding the laws surrounding unpaid vs. paid internships, as well as resources explaining a few other details regarding the hiring of interns.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">The Only Way an Unpaid Internship is Legal</h4>
    <p>Debates surrounding the legality of unpaid internships <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/09/economist-explains-7" target="_blank">seem never-ending</a>. They also seem to be <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/01/29/unpaid-internships-legal-battle/" target="_blank">without rhyme or reason</a>. The truth is, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has laid out very specific laws to determine the legality of unpaid internships. Those laws are contained in <a href="http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm" target="_blank">Fact Sheet #71: Internship Programs Under the Fair Labor Standards Act</a>. </p>

    <p>The fact sheet identifies six criteria an unpaid internship in the for-profit private sector must meet in order to be legal. <strong>If the internship doesn’t meet all six standards, the intern must be paid “at least the minimum wage and overtime compensation for hours worked over 40 in a workweek”</strong> — just like a regular employee (Note: This applies <a href="https://icc.ucdavis.edu/lab/business/Differences.htm" target="_blank">only to for-profit private sector internships</a>. A note at the bottom of the fact sheet explains that the FLSA makes a special exception for unpaid internships in the public sector and at non-profits; interns are considered volunteers and therefore aren’t legally required to be paid.).</p>
    The six criteria for unpaid internships, as written by the DOL, are as follows:
    <ol>
        <li>The internship, even if it includes actions and responsibilities full-time employees would perform, is considered training</li> 
        <li>The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern, not the employer</li>
        <li>The intern does not replace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff</li>
        <li>The employer that provides the training should see no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded (a.k.a. the business should not rely on interns to perform vital operational functions that impact revenue and/or performance)</li>
        <li>The intern understands he/she is not entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship</li>
        <li>The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship (a.k.a. get it in writing that it's an unpaid internship)</li>
    </ol>
    
    <p>In general, the more an internship mirrors an academic experience, the more likely it will fulfill the six criteria. That’s not as easy as it sounds, however. Basically, the law holds that if an intern is engaged in any way with the operations of the business — clerical work, assisting customers, answering phones, etc. — then they are entitled to the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime requirements because the employer benefits from the interns’ work.</p>
    
    <p>Similarly, if you plan to use interns as substitutes for regular workers or to augment your existing staff during specific time periods — tax season, for example — then the interns should be paid. Another way to look at it: If you would have hired additional employees or required existing staff to work additional hours had the interns not been there, then the interns are viewed as employees under the FLSA.</p>
    
    <p>As for the legality of internships being “paid” for in school credit, no hard-and-fast rules exist. Recently, however, major schools such as Columbia University and New York University decided to <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/another-blow-free-labor-columbia-university-halts-academic-credit-internship-230554" target="_blank">no longer offer undergraduate students registration credits</a> in exchange for internship experiences. Other schools that don’t grant credit for internships include Dartmouth, Yale, and Harvard.</p>
    
    <p>Given these specific-yet-wide-reaching requirements, most interns at for-profit businesses should legally be paid at least the minimum wage and be treated as temporary employees with respect to labor law</p>.

    <h4 class="h4__alt">So You Want to Hire an Intern</h4>
    <p>As we’ve already established, interns in most cases should be treated as temporary employees, unless you meet the six criteria to legally have unpaid interns (or work for a company in the nonprofit or public sector). And the criteria should not be taken lightly, either: In 2011, two interns who worked on the movie Black Swan <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/business/interns-file-suit-against-black-swan-producer.html?_r=0" target="_blank">sued Fox Searchlight Pictures</a> for having them do work that should have been done by paid employees. In June 2013, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/business/judge-rules-for-interns-who-sued-fox-searchlight.html" target="_blank">the court sided with them</a>, ruling that they deserved minimum wages in exchange for their work.</p>

    <p>The lawsuit sparked an array of copycat suits filed by interns from such companies as <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-nbc-interns-lawsuit-settlement-20141024-story.html" target="_blank">NBCUniversal</a>, <a href="http://www.law360.com/articles/615313/interns-say-rolling-stone-others-failed-to-pay-them" target="_blank"><em>Rolling Stone</em></a> magazine, and <a href="http://www.law360.com/employment/articles/616184/cbs-faces-intern-class-action-after-aborted-late-show-suit" target="_blank">CBS Corp</a>. These suits and others like it have led some companies (Fox Searchlight, <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/nation-institute-to-pay-interns-minimum-wage" target="_blank"><em>The Nation</em></a> magazine) to restructure their internship programs to include minimum-wage pay, and made others, like <a href="http://fortune.com/2013/10/24/conde-nast-will-regret-cutting-its-internship-program/" target="_blank">Conde Nast</a>, to cut their internship programs altogether. 
    </p>
    <p>But the issue of paid vs. unpaid internships is still in limbo. While the Fox Searchlight interns won their court case, eight former Hearst Corporation interns <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-06-27/unpaid-intern-lawsuits-explained" target="_blank">who filed in 2011 with similar claims</a> — in the same district court (Manhattan) — did not. A case filed in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan in January 2015 will seek to address that inequality and answer the question: Is an intern an employee?</p>

    <p>Until then, assume that all interns should be treated as regular employees. That means you treat them just like any other employee you would hire. <a href="/faq/employment-background-check">Notify them when running a background check</a>. <a href="/resources/employment-law/list-of-illegal-interview-questions-supervisors-should-never-ask/">Avoid asking illegal interview questions</a> (some of which are easy to ask by accident). And yes, pay them at least minimum wage if you're filling a role at a for-profit company.  </p>




Hiring Interns? Yeah There's a Law for That

Employment Law

Government Resources



    
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    <p>There’s no way to predict how employees will react to organizational changes. Whether it be downsizing, moving locations, a change of leadership, or some other transition, managing change in the workplace is an ongoing—and tricky—task. </p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mergers-and-acquisitions-typically-disengage-employees-but-kenexa-research-institute-finds-that-effective-leadership-can-help-ensure-employee-retention-57937882.html" target="_blank">A 2005 WorkTrends study</a> of 10,000 employees representing 4,000 organizations found those from firms that had been engaged in a merger or acquisition reported significantly less favorable results than those who worked at companies not involved in a transition.</p>

    <p>Being prepared for how to handle employee reactions to workplace changes is key to a successful transition. To help you tap into your workforce’s emotions, we’ve compiled a few expert tips. </p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Alert Employees of the Changes</h4>
    <p><a href="http://ocfs.ny.gov/ohrd/materials/30370.pdf" target="_blank">Studies</a> have shown that people are more welcoming of change if they’re told about it at the beginning of the process. Be honest and direct when informing employees about the change; being open and transparent about how and why a change is taking place will lessen the distress employees are experiencing and put everyone on the same page, with the same vision. After communicating the message, be prepared—and willing—to listen to any and all feedback concerning the changes. </p>

    <p>Once information about the change has been shared, be ready for employees’ reactions by familiarizing yourself with the emotional phases of change.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Know the Emotional Phases of Change</h4>
    <p>Using Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s “<a href="http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief/" target="_blank">The 5 Stages of Grief</a>” as a model, the following are <a href="http://www.lamarsh.com/the-7-emotional-phases-employees-go-through-during-change/" target="_blank">seven of the most common phases of loss</a> employees may feel when faced with organizational change.</p>

    <ol>
       <li><strong>Immobilization</strong>: Mental paralysis following initial news of a change. During this stage, information about the change doesn’t stick.</li>
         <ul>
            <li><strong>What to do</strong>: Repeat key facts about the change as well as the underlying reasons for it. Interview employees about their feelings. As Peter Stark points out, it’s important to understand what employees are thinking in order to know what issues might need to eventually be addressed.</li></ul>
         
         <li><strong>Denial</strong>: Thoughts that include “They won’t do it,”  “They don’t have the nerve,” or “They’re just trying to scare us.”</li>
         <ul>
            <li><strong>What to do</strong>: Mr. Stark recommends breaking down the change into a series of steps to help employees understand what’s happening and why. The more they can understand, the more they’ll cooperate. If possible, delegate tasks to employees that will help make the transition period smooth. This will both ease your workload as a manager as well as give employees a sense of involvement and responsibility/control.</li>
        </ul>
         
         <li><strong>Anger</strong>: Reality sinks in and negative emotions take over. Employees can become distracted and less committed to the organization. They’ll spend time venting and, perhaps, sabotaging the company by not sharing information, being less collaborative, and treating customers badly.</li>
     
         <ul>
            <li><strong>What to do</strong>: Let them vent. Management should hold “vent meetings” and one-on-one meetings where employees can talk about their concerns, fears, and thoughts about the transition. Listen, acknowledge the anger, and offer stress management programs as an option for any anxious employees. </li>
         </ul>
     
        <p> During a big change, employees will be hungry for information and answers. By getting employees’ opinions and reactions, you’ll show them you care and that you’re accessible to them. Keep them updated, clear up rumors, and as Peter Stark points out, it’s impossible to over-communicate.</p>
     
         <li><strong>Negotiation</strong>: Prescribed roles are rejected and attempts to negotiate ensue. </li>
         <ul>
            <li><strong>What to do</strong>: Remind them, gently, that the change is a positive thing and that their role can’t be negotiated as it is part of the plan toward future success. Speak to the people who make negative comments, and ask them to stop doing so. Reminding them that they’re important to the team and that their team needs their best work is often effective. Ask them what you can do to help them.</li> 
        </ul>
     
         <li><strong>Depression</strong>: Failed last-ditch negotiation efforts lead to a depressed state.</li>
         <ul>
           <li><strong>What to do</strong>: Encourage employees to talk things through with colleagues, managers, HR, and stress counselors. Offer information about stress management programs again. Make an effort to keep morale high. Bring in lunch for the office, celebrate small victories, offer half-days, write a note of encouragement on paychecks, take them aside and tell them what a great job they are doing: showing your employees you appreciate them and their cooperation during the change goes a long way. Here are several other ways you can motivate your employees.</li>
        </ul>
     
         <li><strong>Exploration</strong>: The realities of change sink in and thoughts about the future begin to take place. </li>
         <ul>
            <li><strong>What do to</strong>: Continue to acknowledge how valuable employee cooperation is in making a smooth transition and keep emphasizing positive aspects about the change. Have training programs in place to begin the transition when employees are ready. In fact, training should be a top priority, because even though it will take time and money, it will help reduce how much productivity is lost through this change. </li>
        </ul>
     
         <p>Christine Corelli recommends asking exactly these three questions when considering a training plan:</p>
     
         <ul>
            <li>What is the level of competence needed to support the changes in our company and help us make it through these challenging times?</li>
            <li>What training will be needed to bring the staff up to that level of competence?</li>
            <li>What training is needed on new products, procedures, and especially product support? (This is the area where you are likely to make the most profit in the environment.)</li>
                  </ul>    
     
         <li><strong>Acceptance</strong>: Confidence and willingness to participate.</li>
         <ul>
            <li><strong>What to do</strong>: Praise the steps being taken to embrace the change until the employee is confident enough to give the change a chance. Be sure to lead by example and keep a positive attitude. This will be a major factor in determining the attitudes of employees and the workplace atmosphere. Your attitude is the one thing that you can control and by being upbeat, positive, and enthusiastic, you’ll be able to foster motivation in others.</li>
         </ul>
     </ol> 

    <p>Being aware of and sensitive to your employees’ emotions is a key part to being a good leader. This is always true, but especially so during times of change. By communicating the message of the change directly and honestly, welcoming a dialogue with troubled employees, and embracing employees as they take the steps through the seven phases of change, you’ll be able to reengage and motivate your workface much sooner than if you do none of the above. Change is hard, but it doesn’t have to be crippling.</p>



    



How to Manage Change in the Workplace



    
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    <p>Communication is key to the success of all relationships, including the one between an employer and employee. To guarantee everyone is on the same page when it comes to a business’s rules, expectations, and other guidelines, it’s important to provide a thorough, clearly written employee handbook to everyone involved in the business. Even if it’s a two-man shop, having all the nitty-gritty details of the business in writing will lead to fewer headaches in the future.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Why Employee Handbooks are Important</h4>
    <p>Employee handbooks help newcomers understand the business. When done well, they provide answers to frequently asked questions; clearly outline company policies and expectations; explain the at-will nature of the employment; contain health, safety, and benefits plans; and explain the company’s disciplinary and termination policies. </p>

    <p>That’s a lot to cover. To help you from feeling overwhelmed, we’ve broken up the process of writing an employee handbook into simple steps and included a general outline for what all handbooks should contain. We’ve also provided a few tips that will be helpful to keep in mind before, during, and after crafting your handbook. Just follow along, and soon you’ll be all ready to go!</p>

    <p><em>(Note: Employment laws vary from state to state, so the following information and tips are written as general advice that applies to most situations. Always consult an employment attorney licensed to practice in your area in order to guarantee your handbook correctly covers all the necessary information.)</em></p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">How to Make an Employee Handbook</h4>
    <p>The most basic function of an employee handbook is to communicate the rights and expectations of the employee and the rights and expectations of the employer. To do this, there are a handful of items every handbook must contain. </p>

    At minimum an employee handbook should contain the following eight items, according to <a href="https://www.nfib.com/documents/pdf/faststart/model-employee-handbook.pdf" target="_blank">the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Legal Foundation</a>:
    <ol>
        <li>An employment at-will disclaimer (meaning the employment relationship may be terminated with or without cause and with or without notice at any time by the employee or employer)</li>
        <li>An <a href="http://www.ksdot.org/Assets/wwwksdotorg/bureaus/offChiefCoun/Documents/Sample EEO Policy Statement.pdf" target="_blank">equal employment opportunity policy statement</a></li>
        <li>A policy prohibiting unlawful <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/" target="_blank">discrimination</a> and <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/harassment.cfm" target="_blank">harassment</a></li>
        <li>A section that describes the policy for use of company property and privacy rules (computers, email, voicemail, etc.)</li>
        <li>A section on employment classification and overtime rules</li>
        <li>A policy on family and medical leave (if you have 50 or more employees)</li>
        <li>A section on safety</li>
        <li>A disciplinary guide</li>
    </ol>

    <p>Keep in mind, these are just the bare minimum. Many other elements — history and culture of the company, dress code, attendance policies, vacation, review procedures, benefits, etc. — should also be considered and, potentially, included. Adding more detail about more topics leaves less room for confusion and error (a.k.a. legal trouble) if an employee needs to be let go later. </p>

    <p>Below we've created a sample employee handbook outline, which incorporates recommendations from the NFIB, you can use for your organization's handbook. Remember, this is only an outline: You can and should tailor your employee handbook to meet your company’s specific needs. There is no must-follow order and there is no must-include list of items (the legal requirements mentioned above being the only exception — definitely include those!). We just believe that the more information provided upfront, the better.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">The Ultimate Employee Handbook Sample Template</h4>

  <ol>
    <li>Welcome</li>
    <ul>
        <li>History, Goals, & Core Values</li>
        <li>Purpose of Handbook</li>
        <li>At-Will Employment</li>
    </ul>

    <li>Workplace Commitments</li>
        <ul>
            <li>Equal Opportunity Employment</li>
            <li>Non-Harassment / Non-Discrimination</li>
            <li>Drug Free / Alcohol Free</li>
            <li>Open Door Policy</li>
        </ul>

    <li>Company Policy and Procedures</li>
        <ul>
            <li>Code of Professional Conduct</li>
            <li>Dress Code</li>
            <li>Payday</li>
            <li>Company Property</li>
            <li>Privacy</li>
            <li>Personnel Files</li>
        </ul>

    <li><a href="http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/screen75.asp" target="_blank">Employment Classification</a></li>
        <ul>
            <li>Exempt, Non-Exempt, Part-Time, Full-Time, or Temporary Status</li>
        </ul>

    <li>Attendance Policies</li>
        <ul>
            <li>General Attendance</li>
            <li>Tardiness</li>
            <li>Breaks</li>
        </ul>

    <li>Leave Policies</li>
        <ul>
            <li>Vacation</li>
            <li>Sick Leave</li>
            <li><a href="http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/" target="_blank">Family and Medical Leave Act<</a>/li>
            <li>Holidays</li>
            <li><a href="http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/benefits-leave/juryduty.htm" target="_blank">Jury Duty</a></li>
            <li>Voting</li>
            <li><a href="http://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/userra/userra_fs.htm" target="_blank">Military Leave</a></li>
            <li>Leave of Absence</li>
        </ul>

    <li>Work Performance</li>
        <ul>
            <li>Expectations</li>
            <li>Reviews</li>
            <li>Insubordination</li>
        </ul>

    <li>Discipline Policy</li>
        <ul>
            <li>Grounds for Disciplinary Action</li>
            <li>Procedures</li>
            <li>Termination</li>
        </ul>

   <li>Employee Health and Safety</li>
       <ul> 
            <li><a href="/resources/employment-law/what-is-OSHA-and-other-workplace-safety-questions-answered/">Workplace Safety</a></li>
            <li>Workplace Security</li>
            <li>Emergency Procedures</li>
        </ul>

    <li>Benefits</li>
        <ul>
            <li>Health Insurance</li>
             <li>Retirement Plans</li>
             <li>Worker’s Compensation</li>
             <li>Disability</li>
        </ul>

<li>Termination Policies</li>
    <ul>
        <li>Voluntary Termination</li>
        <li>Final Paycheck</li>
        <li>COBRA Continuation of Benefits</li>
         <li>Exit Interview</li>
     </ul>

<li>Acknowledgments of Receipt</li>
    <ul> 
        <li>Employee Copy</li>
        <li>Employer Copy</li>
    </ul>
</ol>

    <p>One good employee handbook example of is this one from <a hfre="http://www.skidmore.edu/employee-handbook/documents/2004-Employee-Handbook.pdf" target="_blank">Skidmore College</a>. While specific to the college, the categories and information included provide guidelines any business can use.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Tips to Keep in Mind</h4>
    Here are a few things to keep in mind when crafting your employee handbook.
    <ul>
        <li><strong>Keep it simple.</strong> An employee handbook should be concise and provide necessary information without flowery writing. Remember the handbook is meant to aid employees in understanding company policies and expectations. Using obscure language could lead to misunderstandings and — in worst-case scenarios — legal issues later on.</li>

        <li><strong>Have a disclaimer.</strong> The disclaimer is what defines the nature of a handbook and should clearly state that the document is not a contract of employment. The disclaimer is so important it should be included both at the beginning and end of the handbook for emphasis.</li>

        <li><strong>Have a lawyer review it.</strong> Anything you say or don’t say in your handbook could lead to legal trouble. It’s better to seek legal help early rather than need legal help later.</li>

        <li><strong>Remember the law.</strong> Make sure your handbook complies with state and federal laws. Again, a lawyer can help you with this.</li>

        <li><strong>Stay up-to-date.</strong> Your handbook should reflect the world as-is: that is, it should include relevant information about technology, laws, and society. Keep such things as same-sex marriage laws, internet privacy issues, and other timely issues in mind when writing your handbook. Stay on top of these laws so that you can update your employee handbook as new legislation is passed. If you do end up making changes, make sure to notify all staff and provide them with the new version.</li>

        <li><strong>Make sure all employees have a copy.</strong> This includes temporary, part-time, and contract employees, as well as interns. It’s also a good idea to have it posted on your company’s internal website. That way, updates can easily be made and it is always instantly accessible to employees.</li>

        <li><strong>Consider Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs).</strong> NDAs aren’t legally required, but they can protect trade secrets. However, don't confuse them with non-competes, as these can be tricky to enforce and aren’t always necessary. If you do want to include non-compete agreements in your handbook, be sure to look into <a href="/resources/employment-law/are-non-compete-agreements-enforceable/">whether or not a non-compete agreement would truly benefit your business</a> before including one in your contracts.</li> 

        <li><strong>Clearly define compensation expectations.</strong> Explain the deductions that will be made for federal and state taxes, as well as voluntary deductions for benefit programs.</li>
    </ul>

    <p>By following the outline provided by NFIB and considering the above tips, you’ll be able to write a helpful, thorough, and legally sound employee handbook that keeps you and your employees on the same page.</p> 




What Should Go In an Employee Handbook? Sample Template Included.



    
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    <p>The phrase “servant leadership” was first used by <a href="https://greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/" target="_blank">Robert K. Greenleaf in his 1970 essay</a>, The Servant as Leader. Greenleaf, a longtime director of management development at AT&T, defined a servant leader as someone who feels naturally inclined to serve others, and who then consciously aspires to serve in a leadership role.</p>

    <p>This mindset, which directly opposes more traditional views of leadership that focus on accumulating and exerting power, has grown in popularity over the years. Today, it is considered by many to be the best form of leadership. </p>

    <p>But is servant leadership really the most effective management style? Here, we look at what it means to be a servant leader, what servant leadership looks like in the workplace, and how servant leadership compares to other management styles.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">What Is a Servant Leader?</h4>
    Servant leaders focus on the growth and well being of their employees above all else. They consider themselves “<a href="http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/leadership-ideas/servant-leadership/main" target="_blank">first among equals</a>” (rather than above others) and are willing to teach as well as learn. Servant leaders draw on the strengths of their employees and allow others to do what they do best instead of forcing a specific plan of action. They take equal responsibility for successes and failures, and are willing to step aside to let others lead when necessary.


    <h4 class="h4_alt">Servant Leadership Qualities</h4>
     In his essay, Greenleaf defines five key servant leadership qualities:
     <ol>
        <li>Listening</li>
        <li>Persuasion</li>
        <li>Access to intuition and foresight</li>
        <li>Use of language (communication)</li>
        <li>Pragmatic measurements of outcomes</li>
    </ol>

    <p>The first, <strong>listening</strong>, is the most important tool of a servant leader. Servant leaders must take the time to actively seek out the opinions and ideas of their followers, absorb what is being said, and then move forward appropriately. This builds mutual respect and shows that the leader is willing to grow alongside his or her followers. </p>

    <p><strong>Persuasion</strong> often has a negative connotation and conjures images of arm-twisting and trickery. That’s not the case here. Persuasion in relation to servant leadership means a servant leader uses his or her influence to point followers in the most beneficial direction for the team. They take various ideas and goals and combine them into one action plan that best fits a situation. </p>

    <p>The last three qualities — <strong>access to intuition and foresight, use of language, and pragmatic measurements of outcomes</strong> — are less action oriented and more individualistic. They require practice and effort, and are areas in which a successful servant leader is always looking to grow. </p>

    <p>Basically, these qualities mean that servant leaders gauge individual situations and respond to them in unique, rather than blanketed, ways. They are perceptive and go out of their way to effectively communicate their vision to followers. By asking questions, listening, thinking ahead, and taking every factor into consideration, servant leaders are then able to anticipate the needs of their followers and guide them toward an outcome that fosters growth, contentedness, and encouragement. </p>


    <h4 class="h4_alt">How Servant Leadership Affects the Workplace</h4>
    <p>A lot of literature talks about what an individual needs to do to be a servant leader. But what about the whole workplace? A workplace practicing servant leadership <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financialcareers/10/servant-leadership.asp" target="_blank">focuses on individuals and a decentralized organizational structure</a>, according to <a href="http://www.spearscenter.org/about-larry" target="_blank">Larry Spears</a>, president and CEO of the Larry C. Spears Center for Servant-Leadership, Inc. It serves all stakeholders in the corporation, everyone from the managers all the way to the customers. When properly implemented across the board in a workplace, servant leadership emphasizes relationships over returns. </p>

    <p>Servant leadership in the workplace means the qualities of a servant leader — listening, persuasion, intuition and foresight, communication, pragmatic measurement of outcomes — are applied in employee–customer relationships as well as manager–employee relationships. Employees need to stay connected to customers and industry developments, listen and remain receptive to clients, and practice empathy by taking the point of view of a customer.</p>

    <p>When a company employs servant leadership across the board it can help the business run more effectively and efficiently. A good example of this is Johnson &amp; Johnson (J&amp;J), whose mission statement puts the needs and well being of the customer first. This means that J&amp;J's upper management takes the time to serve employees and develop leaders who believe that what is good for the customer is good for business. That, in turn, motivates them to create products of high quality and value.</p>


    <h4 class="h4_alt">How Servant Leadership Compares to Other Leadership Styles</h4>
    There is no definitive list of leadership styles. Some experts consider Daniel Goleman’s 2000 Harvard Business Review study, <a href="https://www.haygroup.com/downloads/fi/leadership_that_gets_results.pdf" target="_blank"><em>Leadership That Gets Results</em></a>, the ultimate compilation. The study, conducted over three years with 3,000 mid-level managers, uncovered six leadership styles that the majority of managers use. The six styles, as well as examples of each servant leadership style, are:
    <ol>
        <li><strong>The Pacesetter Leader</strong> expects and models excellence and self-direction, sets high standards for performance, and is focused on doing things better and faster
            <strong>Example:</strong> Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon</li>
        <li><strong>The Authoritative Leader</strong> moves people toward a new set of shared goals, articulating where a group is going but not how it will get there
            <strong>Example:</strong> Martha Stewart</li>
       <li><strong>The Affiliative Leader</strong> emphasizes the importance of team work and creates harmony in a group by connecting people to each other</li>
        <br><strong>Example:</strong> Joe Torre, former manager of the New York Yankees (1996–2007) 
       <li><strong>The Coaching Leader</strong> employs a one-on-one style focused on developing individuals, showing them how to improve performance, and helping to connect personal goals to the goals of the organization
           <br><strong>Example:</strong> Andrew Carnegie (mentored Charles Schwab, first president of U.S. Steel)</li>
       <li><strong>The Coercive Leader</strong> (or Military Style) demands immediate compliance, rarely involves praise, and frequently employs criticism; leads with a “do as I say” mentality
           <br><strong>Example:</strong> Tom Coughlin, head coach of the New York Giants</li>
        <li><strong>The Democratic Leader</strong> builds consensus through participation, draws on peoples’ knowledge and skills, and creates a group commitment to resulting goals
            <br><strong>Example:</strong> Dwight D. Eisenhower</li>
    </ol>

    <p>In addition to these six, <a href="http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/ANowDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=241962" target="_blank">The Center for Association Leadership</a> outlines its own set of leadership styles. These are based on Louis Mobley’s teaching that leadership is based in experience and habit, not intellect. Mobley was the director of IBM’s executive school in the 1950s and ‘60s, and taught that great leaders don’t know different things from everyone else, but they think in different ways.</p> 

    The Center’s list includes the following six leadership styles, in addition to the Pacesetter and Coercer styles from above:
        <ol>
            <li><strong>The Charismatic Leader</strong> influences through power of personality, acts passionately, and spurs others to action through his or her own energetic efforts
                <br><strong>Example:</strong> Oprah Winfrey</li>
            <li><strong>The Innovative Leader</strong> breaks established norms and goes beyond the usual course of action, creating a climate of innovation that encourages others to think in new ways
                <br><strong>Example:</strong> Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group</li>
            <li><strong>The Laissez-Faire Leader</strong> takes a backseat approach, trusts others to do good work, monitors performances, and gives regular feedback without micromanaging
                <br><strong>Example:</strong> Donna Karan, of DKNY fashion</li>
           <li><strong>The Servant Leader</strong> puts service to others before self-interest, involves the whole team in decision making, teaches, and accepts successes and failures alongside employees
                <br><strong>Example:</strong> Herb Kelleher, cofounder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines</li>
            <li><strong>The Situational Leader</strong> changes plans according to a group’s readiness and skills, and is directing and supportive as well as empowering and coaching
                <br><strong>Example:</strong> Pat Summitt, former head coach of the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team</li>
            <li><strong>The Transformational Leader</strong> leads by doing and expects team members to take risks and give their best even when the going gets tough
                        <strong>Example:</strong> Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, of Ben & Jerry’s</li>
        </ol>

   <p>Lists aside, most experts conclude that the best leadership style is one that encompasses all the aforementioned styles — a combination style that addresses every employee and every problem in a unique way.</p>

    <p>If that’s the criteria for building the most successful leadership style, then it could be said that servant leadership is, in fact, the most effective type of management style. Not only does it approach every situation as a singular event, but, as we mentioned earlier, it also challenges leaders to read between the lines, find ways to effectively communicate their vision, ask questions, listen, think ahead, and anticipate the needs of their followers. It’s a leadership style that encompasses the best aspects of the other leadership styles and boils them into one wholesale approach.</p>

    <p>We agree with experts that every leadership style has its strengths and weaknesses, and each can be inspiring in certain circumstances. But while no person or approach is perfect, given the qualities displayed by servant leaders, we think it’s safe to say that servant leadership is one of the most effective approaches to guiding employees toward an outcome that fosters growth, contentedness, and encouragement.</p>



Is Servant Leadership the Most Effective Type of Management?



    
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    <p>Raising the minimum wage has been a key initiative for the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/raise-the-wage" target="_blank">Obama administration</a>. Obama wants to raise the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour. Putting his words into action, he even signed an executive order to pay new hires working on federal service contracts a minimum wage of $10.10/hour.</p>

    <p>Obama isn’t the only one seeking to pay his workers more. Currently, <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wage-chart.aspx" target="_blank">29 states and D.C.</a> have minimum wages above the federal minimum wage of $7.25. To see how raising the minimum wage affected job creation, economists at Goldman Sachs (GS) <a href="http://www.cepr.net/blogs/cepr-blog/2014-job-creation-in-states-that-raised-the-minimum-wage" target="_blank">conducted an evaluation</a> of the 13 states that enacted the change in 2014. GS compared the employment change between December and January in those 13 states to the states that didn’t raise minimum wage, and found that that the states with minimum-wage increases had faster employment growth than the states where the minimum wage remained at its 2013 level.</p>

    <p>Even some cities are raising their minimum wage. For example, <a href="http://murray.seattle.gov/minimumwage/#sthash.cvYB5lNy.dpbs" target="_blank">Seattle passed a new $15/hour minimum wage</a> that will begin going into effect starting April 2015. This will be the highest minimum wage in the U.S.</p>

    <p>Yet despite an executive order and positive results for some cities and states, many people still disagree with raising the minimum wage. Why should we raise the minimum wage? Why shouldn’t we? These are both good questions. Let’s take a look.</p>

  
    <h4 class="h4__alt">Why Businesses Owners Favor Raising the Minimum Wage</h4>
    <p><a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/02/25/maxx-marshalls-raise-minimum-hourly-wage/I5judyYzoQxvuzcULW9YXI/story.html" target="_blank">T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods</a>,<a href="http://blog.walmart.com/in-letter-to-associates-walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-announces-higher-pay" target="_blank"> Walmart</a>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/20/business/gap-to-raise-minimum-hourly-pay.html&_r=0" target="_blank">The Gap</a>, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/06/26/ikea-minimum-wage/11357843/" target="_blank">IKEA</a>, and <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/13/news/economy/aetna-wages/" target="_blank">Aetna</a> all raised their minimum wages in the last few years. There’s no law in place saying they have to, and no protestors boycott their stores in an attempt to bully them into it. No, these stores made the decision on their own. </p>
    <p>But why would a business choose to pay its workers more? There are a lot of reasons, according to Chris Sommers, co-founder of Pi Pizzerias and Gringo Mexican restaurant. Sommers recently raised his workers’ minimum wages to $10.10/hour and wrote an opinion piece that ended up on the <a href="http://blog.dol.gov/2015/04/07/chris-sommers-boost-business-by-raising-minimum-wage/" target="_blank">Department of Labor’s blog</a>. Sommers argues that one big reason is that business can help create more jobs. </p>

    <p>"Business owners don’t create more jobs when they have more money in their own pockets," he writes. "We create more jobs when other people have more money in their pockets to spend at our businesses.”</p>

    <p>Okay, that argument has been made before. But Sommers continues, calling out three key benefits that balance increased payroll costs.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Reduced employee turnover rates</h4>
    <p>Employees who can make ends meet stay longer, are less stressed, and are more productive. High employee turnover costs businesses time and money in recruiting and training new workers. </p>

    <p>The example Sommers gave: “We spend more than $500 training a new line cook. We threw away thousands of dollars in product a year due to inexperienced employees preparing it improperly. Eliminating just a portion of these expenses pays for increased minimum wages.”</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Increased productivity</h4>
    <p>The higher wages gave Sommers’ employees a morale boost and increased their loyalty. </p>

    <p>“It’s a win-win when employees can concentrate on serving customers, without worrying about how they are going to make rent or put food on their own table,” he says.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Greater customer satisfaction</h4>
    <p>“Our more experienced teams take better care of our guests,” says Sommers. “We’ve gained many new customers who have written us notes telling us how grateful they are that we treat our employees fairly. Those guests are visiting our business more frequently, further contributing to our bottom line.”</p>

    <p>Sommers isn’t alone in thinking we should raise the minimum wage. A <a href="http://www.dol.gov/minwage/mythbuster.htm" target="_blank">June 2014 survey</a> found that more than 3 out of 5 small business owners support increasing the minimum wage to $10.10/hour, saying they believe that a higher minimum wage would increase consumer purchasing power (58%), help the economy (56%), and benefit their businesses via lower employee turnover, increased productivity, and customer satisfaction (53%).</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">How Raising the Minimum Wage Would Look</h4>
    <p><a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/ib341-raising-federal-minimum-wage/" target="_blank">The Economic Policy Institute put out a report in August 2012</a> outlining who would benefit from an increase in minimum wage, looking at characteristics like gender, age, race and ethnicity, educational attainment, work hours, family income, and family composition. It also gave the estimated GDP and job creation impacts that would result from an increase in the federal minimum wage to $9.80/hour (not $10.10, which would be proposed by President Obama two years later).</p>

    Here’s what they found:
    <ul>
        <li>Increasing the federal minimum wage would raise the wages of about 28 million workers, who would receive nearly $40 billion in additional wages over the phase-in period</li>

        <li>GDP would increase by roughly $25 billion during the phase-in period, resulting in the creation of approximately 100,000 new jobs
        </li>
        <li>Women comprise nearly 55% of those who would benefit
        </li>
        <li>Nearly 88% of workers who would benefit are at least 20 years old
        </li>
        <li>Workers of all races and ethnicities would benefit from the increase; non-Hispanic white workers comprise the largest share (about 56%) of those who would be affected
        </li>
        <li>About 42% of affected workers have at least some college education
        </li>
        <li>Around 54% of affected workers work full time
        </li>
        <li>Over 70% are in families with incomes of less than $60,000
        </li>
        <li>More than a quarter are parents
        </li>
        <li>Over a third are married
        </li>
        <li>The average affected worker earns about half of his or her family’s total income
        </li>
    </ul>

    Fast forward two years to 2014 and Obama’s State of the Union address. After the address, the White House put together <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/raise-the-wage" target="_blank">an interactive web page</a> detailing how raising the minimum wage would positively impact people across America. Some of the facts it lists include:
    <ul>
        <li>A minimum wage increase would benefit more than 28 million workers across the country</li>
        <li>19 million workers from all types of households would see a direct increase in their wages</li>
        <li>The real value of the minimum wage has fallen by nearly one-third since its peak in 1968; today, a full-time minimum wage worker makes $14,500 a year</li>
    </ul>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Why Businesses Owners Are Against Raising the Minimum Wage</h4>
    <p>While many business owners are in favor of increasing minimum wage, more are actually against it. According to a 2013 <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/165995/small-business-owners-split-raising-minimum-wage.aspx" target="_blank">Gallup poll</a>, 50% of small business owners disapprove of a law that would raise the national minimum wage, compared to 47% who approved. Furthermore, 60% of small business owners think raising the minimum wage would hurt most small business owners. </p>

    <p>Generally, arguments against raising the minimum wage fall into the three categories below:
    </p>
    <h4 class="h4__alt">Creates fewer jobs</h4>
    <p>When the minimum wage increased between 2007-2009 from $5.15/hour to $7.25/hour, small business owner <a href="http://business.nmsu.edu/krwg-news-small-businesses-and-the-minimum-wage/" target="_blank">Mike Beckett</a> was hit hard. He had to lay off 5 of his 35 employees who worked at his small book store in New Mexico. When reflecting on those layoffs, Beckett said, “It was crippling to us….there were just all these things that happened.” </p>

    <p>The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) <a href="http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44995" target="_blank">released a report</a> in early 2014 that confirmed Beckett's experience was not unheard of. The CBO report estimates that by increasing the minimum wage to $10.10/hour, there will be a loss of 500,000 jobs (which is about .3% of total jobs). </p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Increases consumer prices</h4>
    <p>Higher wages means it costs employers more money to operate their business. Many business owners offset these costs by passing them off to consumers. 
    </p>
    <p>The CBO report suggests that if goods/services cost more, then consumers will buy less of them, which hurts the economy overall. </p>

    <p>Restaurants especially have passed the cost of minimum wage onto consumers by increasing menu prices. <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-02-25/when-minimum-wage-goes-up-the-menu-price-also-rises" target="_blank">BloombergBusiness reports</a> that "Cheesecake Factory operates about one-fifth of its restaurants in California, where it expects to sustain an additional $2 million to $3 million in costs from the state’s new minimum wage. This was part of the chain’s reasoning in boosting prices by 2 percent this year."</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Squeezes out unskilled employees</h4>
    <p>Hiring unskilled employees and taking the time to train them can be an expensive process. If the minimum wage is increased, employers might not want to invest as much money in unskilled workers, which can lead to those employees being squeezed out of the job market.</p>

    <p>US News <a href="http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2013/03/11/raising-the-minimum-wage-wont-help-the-poor" target="_blank">argues</a>, "Raising the minimum wage makes it harder for these inexperienced workers to find a job, because businesses will either eliminate positions or choose to hire someone with more experience at the higher mandated wage."</p>

    <p>This leaves unskilled workers unable to find a job that will train them in marketable skills that will help them find a job later down the road.</p>

    <p>Several studies have found conflicting results when it comes to the negative effects of increasing the minimum wage. To combat this, the DOL put out a <a href="http://www.dol.gov/minwage/mythbuster.htm" target="_blank">fact sheet</a> with “common myths” about raising the minimum wage, disputing many claims and offering new insights into the proposal.</p>
 

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Further Research on the Negative Effects of Raising the Minimum Wage</h4>
    Business owners aren't the only ones against raising the minimum wage. Economists and academics have also come forward against a wage hike. Here are some of the concerns <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-rogan/why-we-shouldnt-raise-the_b_4688701.html" target="_blank">voiced by those against</a> raising the minimum wage.
    <ul>
       <li><a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w5224.pdf?new_window=1" target="_blank">A 1995 study by David Neumark and William Wascher</a> found that New Jersey's 1992 minimum wage increase led to a 4.6% decrease in employment</li>
       <li><a href="http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/04/minimum-wage-debate.html" target="_blank">Harvard's Greg Mankiw</a> writes about evidence that suggests raising the minimum wage has a particularly negative impact on employment opportunities for teens, quoting his <a href="http://www.cengage.com/economics/mankiw/index.html" target="_blank">economics textbook</a>: “The typical study finds that a 10% increase in the minimum wage depresses teenage employment between 1 and 3%. In interpreting this estimate, note that a 10% increase in the minimum wage does not raise the average wage of teenagers by 10%.”</li>
    </ul>
    <p>There are myriad opinions about raising the minimum wage, differing from person to person, company to company, and state to state. That said, there seems to be more support rather than criticism for raising the federal minimum wage. Many of the anti-raise arguments are challenged in this <a href="http://www.dol.gov/minwage/mythbuster.htm" target="_blank">DOL fact sheet</a>; and the fact that small and large businesses alike are already deciding to raise their minimum wages on their own accord makes it seem as if the “pro” of the debate is winning. </p>



    



Should We Raise the Minimum Wage?

Leadership & Management



    
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    <p>Every company seems to have its own ideas about measuring employee engagement. They also seem to disagree about what exactly employee engagement means. But one thing almost everyone does agree on is that the best way to measure employee engagement is by using employee engagement surveys. To find out why surveys are the best way to measure engagement within your workforce, as well as best practices for the surveys and sample questions, read on. </p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Defining Employee Engagement</h3>

    <p>Honing in on one comprehensive definition of employee engagement is a tricky task. It also might not be the best way to approach the subject. Just like every business is different, so, too, should every <a href="http://www.workforce.com/articles/employee-engagement-define-it-measure-it-and-put-it-to-work-in-your-organization" target="_blank">business’s definition of employee engagement</a>.</p>  

    <p>A business should define employee engagement based on its expectations for its employees. When asked to define employee engagement in APQC’s 2009 and 2010 collaborative benchmarking study, “<a href="https://www.apqc.org/knowledge-base/documents/rewarding-engaging-and-retaining-key-talent-best-practices-report" target="_blank">Rewarding, Engaging, and Retaining Key Talent</a>,” companies came up different responses. One said it means “commitment, work ethic, and loyalty.” Another defined it as “an individual sense of purpose and focused energy, evident to others in their display of personal initiative, effort and persistence, that is directed toward organizational goals.”</p>

    <p>Although differing in exact wording, these definitions—as well as most others—share a common backbone that boils down to <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/06/22/employee-engagement-what-and-why/" target="_blank">this</a>: Employee engagement is the emotional commitment an employee has to the organization and its goals. Emotional commitment refers to the employee caring about their work and their company; they view their job as more than just a way to pay the bills. They work hard because they believe in the work.</p>

   <h3 class="h3__alt">Why Employee Engagement Matters</h3>

    <p>An engaged employee is a happy—and <a href="http://www.engageforsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/file52215.pdf" target="_blank">productive</a>—employee. In 2006, <a href="http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/27799/investors-take-note-engagement-boosts-earnings.aspx" target="_blank">Gallup</a> examined 23,910 businesses and compared how their financial success correlated with their employee engagement scores. They found that companies with engagement scores in the 
        top quartile averaged 12% higher customer advocacy, 18% higher productivity, and 12% higher profitability than companies with scores in the bottom quartile.</p>

    <p>In 2004, the <a href="http://www.ddiworld.com/DDI/media/monographs/employeeengagement_mg_ddi.pdf?ext=.pdf" target="_blank">Corporate Executive Board</a> in Washington, D.C. surveyed 50,000 employees in 59 organizations worldwide and found that employees with lower engagement are four times more likely to leave their jobs than those who are highly engaged. They also found that moving from low to high engagement can result in a 21% increase in performance.</p>

    <p>In response to Gallup’s results, Jim Harter, Gallup's chief scientist for workplace engagement and wellbeing, said, "These aggregated patterns show that engaged employees are more likely to stay with their organizations, are less likely to steal or experience accidents on the job, and are more likely to please customers and be highly productive. It all adds up to higher profitability, which over time, influences earnings per share."</p>

    <p>Proof of this is seen in the story of <a href="http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/24874/a-caterpillar-dealer-unearths-employee-engagement.aspx#1" target="_blank">Fabick CAT</a>. In 2002, Fabick CAT, a company that sells, rents, and repairs Caterpillar construction equipment, began measuring employee engagement. At the time, it was only at 16%. They started making culture changes based on the results, “putting the right people in the right jobs” and investing in developing the talents and strengths of its managers.</p> 

    <p>They also paid Gallup $500,000 to conduct an analysis to determine how the new initiatives influenced performance outcomes. After working with Gallup and using the results gathered to implement more changes to engage employees, by 2006 employee engagement rates were at 48%. Not only that, but Fabick CAT’s profits increased by $3 million from 2005 to 2006, a “600% return on investment” that company owner Doug Fabick credits to the higher employee engagement.</p>

    <p>With such benefits at stake, every business should want to know where its employees fall on the engagement scale in order to have the best-performing workforce possible.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">How to Measure Employee Engagement</h4> 
    <p>The most common and efficient way to measure employee engagement is through surveys. While you could have one-on-one, in-person conversations with employees in order to see how they’re feeling and ask them for feedback, this is a time-consuming and, often, uncomfortable approach. Putting people on the spot might make them feel too nervous to voice their real opinions, especially about management. </p>

    <p>Surveys, on the other hand, provide an anonymous, thorough platform through which employees can honestly express themselves. Not only that, but engagement surveys are an opportunity for management to <a href="http://www.explorance.com/5-key-reasons-to-conduct-employee-engagement-surveys-2/" target="_blank">establish two-way communication</a> with employees and involve them in the development process by giving them a direct voice to the management team. This involvement makes employees realize that they have a stake in the company and that their opinions are valued.</p>

    <p>Employee engagement surveys also benefit companies by providing clear sets of data to use for comparison purposes. By asking the right questions, businesses can compare results with industry-specific data to gain an understanding of their business ranks next to similar organizations. Not only that, but benchmarking also allows businesses to measure growth over the years by comparing data from one year to the next. </p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">What to Ask in Employee Engagement Surveys</h3>

    To get the best possible results, it’s important to know what questions to ask. While there are no standard drivers of engagement, some commonly assessed factors are: 

    <ul>
        <li>Recognition and feedback</li>
        <li>Pay and benefits</li>
        <li>Respect and fairness</li>
        <li>Training and advancement opportunities</li>
        <li>Leadership</li>
        <li>Work environment</li>
        <li>Mission and purpose</li>
    </ul>

    <p>Here are <a href="http://www.custominsight.com/employee-engagement-survey/sample-survey-items.asp" target="_blank">the exact sample questions that companies like CustomInsight</a> consider for each of these categories (to be answered in a 0-5 scale, ranging from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree):</p>

    <ol>
        <li>Recognition and feedback<br>
        a.  At work, my opinions seem to count.<br>
        b.  My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.<br>
        c.  In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.<br>
        d.  I receive useful and constructive feedback from my manager.<br>
        e.  When I do a good job, I receive the praise and recognition I deserve.<br>
        f.  Employee performance evaluations are fair and appropriate.</li>

<li>Pay and benefits<br>
    a.  I am paid fairly for the work I do.
<br>b.  My salary is competitive with similar jobs I might find elsewhere.
<br>c.  My benefits are comparable to those offered by similar organizations.
<br>d.  I understand my benefit plan. 
<br>e.  I am satisfied with my benefit package.
<br>f.  I understand the guidelines for receiving bonuses and raises.</li>

<li>Respect and fairness<br>
a.  My manager always treats me with respect.<br>
b.  The organization’s policies or promotion and advancement are always fair.<br>
c.  Favoritism is not an issue in any way.<br>
d.  My coworkers always treat me with respect.<br>
e.  This organization respects its employees.<br>
f.  My manager values my talents and the contributions I make to the company.</li>

<li>Training and advancement opportunities<br>
a.  I have adequate opportunities for professional growth in this organization.<br>
b.  I receive the training I need to do my job well.<br>
c.  My manager is actively interested in my professional development and advancement.<br>
d.  My manager encourages and supports my development.<br>
e.  I am encouraged to learn from my mistakes.<br>
f.  My work is challenging, stimulating, and rewarding.</li>

<li>Leadership<br>
a.  I am very satisfied with my manager.<br>
b.  I respect the senior leaders of this organization.<br>
c.  Senior management leads by example.<br>
d.  Senior management communicates well with the rest of the organization.<br>
e.  Employee job satisfaction is a top priority of senior management.<br>
f.  Senior management is held accountable for achieving results.</li>

<li>Work environment<br>
a.  My workplace is safe.<br>
b.  I have the resources I need to do my job well.<br>
c.  My workplace is a physically comfortable place to work.<br>
d.  I am comfortable sharing my opinions at work.<br>
e.  My ideas and opinions count at work.<br>
f.  I can disagree with my manager without fear of getting in trouble.</li>

<li>Mission and purpose<br>
a.  I have a good understanding of the mission and the goals of this organization.<br>
b.  I understand how my work directly contributes to the overall success of the organization.<br>
c.  My job is important in accomplishing the mission of the organization.<br>
d.  My supervisor provides me regular information about the mission and the goals of this organization<br>
e.  Doing my job well gives me a sense of personal satisfaction.<br>
f.  I agree with the mission and goals of this organization.</li>

</ol>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Next Steps</h3>

    <p>The myriad benefits of higher employee engagement and proof of success with employee engagement surveys are outstanding. Other ways to boost workplace morale and participation in addition to using employee engagement surveys include: putting <a href="/resources/employee-engagement/5-ways-to-motivate-employees/">these five proven ways to motivate employees</a> into practice, implementing <a href="/resources/workplace-culture/when-favoritism-in-the-workplace-is-a-good-thing/">healthy favoritism in the workplace</a>, and effectively <a href="/resources/leadership-and-management/managing-change-in-workplace">managing change in the workplace</a>.</p>





Measuring Employee Engagement with Employee Engagement Surveys



    
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    <p>The importance of employee engagement is no secret. Motivated employees put more effort into their work, which leads to better business outcomes. In fact, businesses with highly engaged employees <a href="http://www.engageforsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/The-Evidence.pdf" target="_blank">achieve twice the annual net income</a> of those who lag behind in engagement.</p>

    <p>However, coming up with new and interesting ways to motivate employees is challenging. That's because we're trying to influence and sometimes even change the behavior of our entire staff. Recruitment is exhausting enough. Add scalable behavioral modification to the mix and our jobs can seem impossible! </p>

    <p>Thankfully implementing an employee engagement strategy doesn't require an organizational overhaul. Rather, we can take baby steps and avoid catastrophic cultural or operational changes by looking at how other businesses motivate employees. Below we've outlined five employee engagement ideas that worked for other companies, and actions you can take right now to implement the engagement technique to your organization.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Motivating Employees Idea 1: Gamification</h3>

    <p> The use of games in the workplace to increase employee engagement is growing. In fact, the gamification market is expected to be worth $2.8 billion by 2016, according to <a href="http://gamingbusinessreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Gamification-in-2012-M2R3.pdf" target="_blank">M2 Research</a>. But what is it?</p>

    <p><a href="http://blogs.gartner.com/brian_burke/2014/04/04/gartner-redefines-gamification/" target="_blank">Gamification</a> uses game mechanics and design techniques in a non-gaming context to drive business performance. Much more than social networks, leaderboards, and badges, gamification is a unifying technique that helps employees of all levels connect with one another. It provides a system for recognizing and remembering things like employee cooperation, (friendly) competition, advancement, and success.</p>

    <p>For example, utilities company EDF used gamification to crowdsource ideas for how their organization might innovate, <a href="http://www.uk.capgemini.com/energising-edf-energy-through-gamification" target="_blank">generating</a> five times as many ideas from employees than previous attempts. Pretty impressive.</p>

    <p>Employees <a href="https://hbr.org/2011/02/making-sure-your-employees-suc" target="_blank">are more likely to succeed</a> if they know their companies' goals, and gamification is a way of tangibly quantifying their contributions toward business objectives. Also, gamification lends itself to analytics, which can provide interesting insights into the impact of our motivational techniques. </p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">How to implement gamification</h4>
    <p>The good news is we can start small. By thinking about our employees’ motivations and clearly identifying our business objectives, we can integrate game elements into existing processes.</p>

    <p>“Something as simple as a scoring system can motivate employees to change their behavior,” says Elena Bertozzi, a professor of digital game design at Quinnipiac University, when talking to <a href="http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-focus/technology-topic/gaming-in-the-workplace" target="_blank">The Institute</a>.</p>

    <p>For example, at the University of California Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco, nurses were given points for logging in their daily tasks as part of an effort to prevent hospital-acquired infections. </p>

    <p>“It’s difficult to teach motivation,” says Bertozzi. “That’s what games can do. Game developers look at a situation and figure out how to persuade people to engage in a specific activity by turning the situation into a more competitive one.” </p>

    <p>And competition in the workplace can be a <a href="https://hbr.org/2012/05/the-darwinian-workplace" target="_blank">good thing</a>, as it boosts productivity when managed carefully. Keep things simple and entertaining to make sure employees buy in (low barriers of entry make games easily accessible to everyone), and offer real-time rewards and feedback. For more implementation ideas, check out this <a href="http://www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Gamifying-Business-to-Drive-Employee-Engagement-and-Performance.pdf" target="_blank">paper</a> about getting started with a gamification process.</p> 


    <h3 class="h3__alt">Motivating Employees Idea 2: Peer-to-Peer Bonus Programs</h3>
    <p>Rewards shouldn’t always come from the top. After all, those who are around us on a daily basis really notice when we’re putting in the extra effort.</p>

    <p>Zappo’s <a href="http://www.zapposinsights.com/blog/item/four-peertopeer-ways-zappos-employees-reward-each-other" target="_blank">recognizes this</a>, and uses a peer-to-peer employee rewards program that allows its staff to acknowledge those who are an excellent example of company culture and who’ve been doing a fantastic job.</p>

    <p>Peer-to-peer rewards not only improve engagement, but they also foster a positive team spirit. They’re a great way of showing employees that the things they do make a big difference, and they’re not going unappreciated.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">How to implement a peer-to-peer rewards program</h4>
    <p>Set up a process whereby employees submit nominations with brief explanations to a designated team or individual. Make it so that each employee can nominate one person a month, then pick winners on a qualitative or quantitative basis.</p>

    <p>Rewards don’t have to be expensive. One of Zappo’s core values is “do more with less” and this means it works hard to keep its reward program affordable and scalable.  For example, give awesome parking spots, free lunch for a week, or small cash prizes. To give peer-to-peer rewards an extra boost, monitor them over time and hold an awards ceremony at the end of the year to recognize the employee who earned the most.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Motivating Employees Idea 3: Funded Social Events</h3>
    <p>Beyond salary, psychological and social fulfilment can determine whether employees are motivated to stay, perform, and contribute to an organization, says Sylvia Vorhauser Smith for <em><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/sylviavorhausersmith/2013/08/14/how-the-best-places-to-work-are-nailing-employee-engagement/" target="_blank">Forbes</a></em>. In other words, employees who have their <a href="http://smallbusiness.chron.com/motivating-employees-maslows-hierarchy-needs-11828.html" target="_blank">basic human needs</a> met by their employer are more likely to be engaged.</p>

    <p>UK-based Peninsula Business Services came third in the Sunday Times' <em>"Best Companies to Work For"</em> <a href="http://www.b.co.uk/Company/Profile/305891" target="_blank">list in 2014</a>, partly because it funds monthly socials for its employees. While this is just one of its many methods of boosting employee engagement (for example, its 759 staff receive a free breakfast every Monday morning to make the start of the week more palatable), hosting social events is something that even the smallest business can do.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">How to implement funded social events</h4>
    <p>From Friday afternoon beer o’clock to a holiday meal, funded socials are one of the easiest ways to improve employee engagement. Or try <a href="http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/maintain/reward-accomplishments/awards-ceremonies/main" target="_blank">reward ceremonies, which</a> are a great way to kill two birds with one stone — publicly recognize the efforts of high achievers and gather all employees in one place to bond. Just make sure that social events don't exclude certain employees — the last thing we want to do is to turn an employee engagement activity into an <a href="/resources/employment-law/ways-employers-encourage-discrimination-in-the-workplace">unintentional workplace discrimination</a> suit waiting to happen! </p>

    <p>Worried about actually funding social events? Compared to the cost of high staff turnover and poor engagement (disengaged employees are estimated to cost the U.S. economy $450 billion to $550 billion annually, according to a <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/165269/worldwide-employees-engaged-work.aspx" target="_blank">survey</a> by Gallup), a monthly, or even quarterly social event isn’t a huge expenditure in the scheme of things. Review the books for discretionary budget and stick to small-scale events to keep costs down.</p> 

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Motivating Employees Idea 4: Anniversary Celebrations</h3>
    <p>We know that employees who feel appreciated often go above and beyond what is expected of them, are more productive, and are less likely to leave a company. Well, celebrating employees’ workplace anniversaries is another way of letting them know that their commitment and loyalty haven’t gone unnoticed.</p>

    <p>It’s another two birds, one stone situation. On the one hand, it improves the confidence and happiness of an individual employee. On the other, seeing another employee's achievements celebrated boosts morale across the whole office, because other employees know that their milestones will be met with similar rewards.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">How to implement anniversary celebrations</h4>
    <p>This is another employee engagement technique that is extremely simple to set up. It only requires active management of a calendar to document employee start dates and some day-of preparations.</p>

    <p>What's more, it doesn’t have to be organized from the top down. Setting up a celebration committee is a great way of sharing the work and fun; and it can improve the engagement of committee members since they'll have ownership of something that increases their peers' happiness.</p>

    <p>What employees receive on their anniversary is limited only by our imagination. For example, employees celebrating their 20th anniversary with OhioHealth are <a href="http://fortune.com/best-companies/ohiohealth-35/" target="_blank">rewarded</a> with a shopping spree at an upscale mall before receiving a red carpet lunch with the CEO, while those reaching 10 years at Info-Tech Research Group get to join an exclusive veteran’s club and are <a href="http://www.greatplacetowork.ca/storage/documents/Publications_Documents/2013_Best_Workplaces_in_Canada.pdf" target="_blank">given</a> a $2,000 Air Canada gift certificate. From extra vacation days to simply an anniversary balloon, the options are endless.</p>


    <h3 class="h3__alt">Motivating Employees Idea 5: Offer Flextime</h3>
    <p>Flextime is a valuable tool for increasing employee satisfaction and engagement; considering it helps reduce absenteeism and staff turnover, improves the health of workers, and increases their productivity, according to a U.S. government <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/100331-cea-economics-workplace-flexibility.pdf" target="_blank">study</a>. </p>

    <p>In fact, workers value flexibility <a href="http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1528226" target="_blank">over almost anything else</a> — 66% of American millennials said they felt that an organization that adopts a flexible, mobile, and remote work model has a competitive edge over one that requires employees to be in the office from 9 am to 5 pm every weekday.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">How to implement flextime</h4>
    <p>Allowing more personal days, flexible working hours, remote working options, compressed hours (where employees work longer hours over a shorter period of time), and half-day Fridays can all contribute to a more engaged workforce. It makes sense — employees <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/159440" target="_blank">love</a> when employers are willing to contribute to a healthier work/life balance, and they work harder to ensure they can keep this optimal arrangement.</p>

    <p>Adopt a formalized flextime policy rather than allowing an ad-hoc approach (which could get out of hand), and make sure all employees are aware of it. Some businesses do this by enforcing core hours, which means that regardless of start and finish time, all employees must be at their desks between, say, 10 am and 3 pm. </p>

    <p>If it’s not realistic to implement this as standard, then why not take a leaf out of the Palo Alto-based law firm, Cooley’s, book? When its employees do a great job, they’re rewarded with “Snooze or Cruise” certificates, which allow them to come in two hours late or leave two hours early on a day of their choosing. The law firm's flexible initiative was <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/01/16/10-top-perks-from-fortunes-best-companies-to-work-for-2014/" target="_blank">featured</a> in Fortune Magazine’s “10 Top Perks from Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For” and is an affordable way to motivate and reward employees.
    </p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Takeaway</h3>
    <p>Motivating employees isn't just about providing perks. Employees want to work for organizations that support and reward excellence, encourage honesty, and operate fairly. It’s our responsibility to provide them with this type of work environment as best we can; and in return we'll be rewarded with engaged employees.</p>

    <p>Remember, we don’t have to make monumental organizational changes all at once. We can reduce risk by looking at the results achieved by other employers and adapting their initiatives to suit our own company objectives. We can also reduce the likelihood of internal resistance by starting small, measuring the impact of our employee engagement strategies, and collecting feedback before rolling things out on a larger scale. </p>





Employee Engagement Ideas: 5 Proven Ways to Motivate Employees

Employee Engagement



    
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    <p>When it comes to the business of people, change is a given. This means HR professionals are constantly dealing with a whirlwind of change—especially when it comes to trends. The top human resource trends for 2015 not only reflect an evolving workforce makeup, but also a growing skills gap, a lack of leadership, a focus on culture and employee engagement, and how technology is changing just about every aspect of the workplace. Here, we’ll look at the top five HR trends of 2015.</p>


    <ol>
        <li>Leadership Development</li>
        Leadership development ranked among the top human resources trends this year. This is an ongoing trend, according to Deloitte’s <em><a href="http://dupress.com/periodical/trends/human-capital-trends-2015/?id=gx:2el:3dc:dup1179:eng:cons:hct15" target="_blank">Global Human Capital Trends 2015</a></em> report: it ranked as the top trend in 2014, and was in the top three in 2013 and 2012.  

        <p>The report, which surveyed more than 3,300 organizations from 106 countries, found that 86% of respondents cited leadership as either “important” or “very important” when asked to identify the importance of the challenges facing them in the workplace. It also found that only 6% of people believe their leadership and leadership development programs are “very ready” to best serve their company.</p>

       <p> This capability gap is seen and felt on all levels of companies, but is especially prominent when it comes to a business’s ability to <a href="http://dupress.com/articles/developing-leaders-perennial-issue-human-capital-trends-2015/" target="_blank">develop Millennial leaders</a> (see Trend #4).</p>

        <p>The fix? Focusing on leadership at all levels and consistent year-over-year spending in leadership development. The need for good leaders isn’t going anywhere, and it’s an area that gets the unanimous nod from everyone asked if it needs improvement. </p>

        <li>Culture and Engagement</li>
        <p>Culture and engagement displaced leadership as the <a href="http://dupress.com/articles/employee-engagement-culture-human-capital-trends-2015/" target="_blank">most important issue</a> in Deloitte’s report this year, with 87% of organizations citing culture and engagement as one of their top challenges, and 50% calling the problem “very important.” Two-thirds of HR respondents reported that they are updating their engagement and retention strategies.</p> 

        <p>With increased transparency courtesy of the Internet and social media, businesses are more exposed than ever before. An organization’s culture—loosely defined by the report as “how things are done”—can be either a competitive advantage or a stumbling block to recruiting and keeping good workers. To be an advantage, companies need to focus on creating a culture defined by meaningful work, employee engagement, and strong leadership, attributes that are more likely to retain employees, outperform peers, and attract top talent. And considering that <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/08/05/job-search-career-change/" target="_blank">86% of employees</a> are currently looking for work outside their current positions, those attributes are more important than ever to an organization’s success. </p>

        <li>The Widening Skills Gap</li>
        <p>The June 2015 <a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> report shows that at the end of April 2015, there were 5.4 million job openings. Yet more than half of employers say that they can’t find <a href="http://careerbuildercommunications.com/skillsgapstudy2014/" target="_blank">qualified candidates</a>. This issue will progress until the college curriculum aligns with the current job marketplace, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2014/10/29/the-top-10-workplace-trends-for-2015/" target="_blank">says Schawbel</a>, noting that only 2% of companies are recruiting liberal arts majors in 2015, but schools still offer the degrees. “Companies need to start working with colleges so that students get the necessary skills to fill the gap,” he writes. </p>

        <p>The Deloitte report concurs about this trend’s importance: 80% of respondents listed workforce capability as an important issue. This demand to close the skills gap will “drive a trend toward greater use of hourly, contingent, and contract workers.” This can be seen in the rise of freelancing, which, thanks to the Internet, is a more obtainable career path than in years past. A recent study shows that <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/04/idUSnMKWLH6WQa+1f6+MKW20140904" target="_blank">53 million Americans are now freelancers</a> (34% of the American workforce) and 69% of them say that technology is making it easier to find freelance work.</p>

        <p>This trend toward more temporary workers means HR managers need to be prepared with the right processes, policies, and tools in order to source, evaluate, and reward the influx of non-traditional talent within their organizations.</p>


        <li>More Millennials</li>

        <p>This is the year when Millennials—defined by <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/millennial" target="_blank">Merriam-Webster</a> as “a person born in the 1980s or 1990s”—will displace Gen X employees to become the <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/11/millennials-surpass-gen-xers-as-the-largest-generation-in-u-s-labor-force/" target="_blank">largest percentage of the workforce for the first time</a>. More Millennials in the workplace means a different <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patrick-thean/millennials-in-the-workfo_b_6994968.html" target="_blank">work culture</a> that better reflects their “norm”—increased social media presence and different communication methods. It also means more Millennials are taking over leadership positions: a study commissioned by Elance-oDesk and Millennial Branding found that <a href="http://www.elance-odesk.com/millennial-majority-workforce" target="_blank">27% of millennials are already in management positions</a>. </p>

        <p>Having leaders in their 20s and 30s isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But according to a piece written by career and workplace expert <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2014/10/29/the-top-10-workplace-trends-for-2015/" target="_blank">Dan Schawbel for Forbes.com</a>, the big problem facing young managers is that they are unprepared for the positions. “They were never trained on how to be good managers and are being pushed into these roles out of necessity,” Schawbel writes. “Companies are losing older workers and positions are opening up fast.” And that’s where the Millennials step in—ready or not.</p>

        <p>This trend aligns with the first one and emphasizes the importance of having a solid leadership development plan in place at every level. That way, if a younger employee finds himself or herself in a management position, they will have had the training necessary to lead and succeed. </p>


        <li>Technology</li>
        <p>Technology—specifically smartphones and the Internet—is changing the way people look for jobs and evaluate potential opportunities, and how companies recruit potential employees and connect with customers. </p>

        <p>Mobile recruiting is an area that should not—and cannot—be ignored, as <a href="http://americasmarkets.usatoday.com/2014/07/01/job-seekers-are-increasingly-turning-to-smartphones" target="_blank">83%</a> of job seekers currently use smartphones to search for job openings and <a href="http://talent.linkedin.com/blog/index.php/2013/11/how-to-kickstart-your-mobile-recruiting-program" target="_blank">45%</a> of active candidates have applied to a job on their mobile device. To stay competitive in this mobile-oriented market, companies need to optimize their websites for smartphone compatibility in order to appeal to this new class of job seeker.</p>

       <p> Another way to appeal to and attract talent is to use social media. This ties in with workplace culture and engagement, as tools like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram offer a behind-the-scenes look into life within a company. This is something more and more employees consider important in their decision-making process: 58% of people are more likely to want to work at a company if they are using <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140710161411-2293140-relationship-economics-how-social-is-transforming-the-world-of-work-infographic" target="_blank">social media</a>; over 20% are more likely to stay at their companies if they are using social media. </p>

        <p>From leadership development to creating a successful social-media strategy, the HR trends of 2015 are wide-ranging and anything but simple fixes. However, they are also nothing new—and they are certainly able to be addressed with the right skills.</p> 

        <p>Resources to start with include this step-by-step outline for <a href="/resources/skill-development/how-to-create-a-personal-leadership-development-plan/">developing a personal leadership plan</a> and this list of <a href="/resources/HR-champion/hr-challenges-all-managers-know-too-well/">common challenges HR managers know all too well</a>—with tips for addressing each one included.</p>
     </ol>




HR Trends in 2015



    
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    <p>Not all recruiting strategies are created equal. Traditional resume screening, interviews, and reference checking—all of which are time consuming and often fail to produce the right match—are fine, but they aren’t the best.</p>

    <p>As social networking and smartphones transform the work world, top recruiting strategies need to transform, too. The best recruiting strategies utilize a mixture of social, technical, creative, and marketing elements. Here, we explore the top five innovative recruiting strategies for 2015.</p>


    <ol>
        <li>Making Your Competition Work for You</li>
        <p>Researching information about your closest competition in order to steal their employees might feel odd, but it’s <a href="http://www.theoverturegroup.com/blog/4-recruiting-trends-in-2015-and-how-to-succeed/" target="_blank">one of the most effective recruiting techniques</a> and is becoming more and more <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bigcommerce-tries-poaching-tech-workers-at-S-F-5378102.php" target="_blank">popular</a>. Landing top talent is difficult—<a href="https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/resources/recruiting-tips/global-recruiting-trends" target="_blank">LinkedIn’s 2015 Global Recruiting Trends report</a> found that competition and compensation ranked as the biggest obstacles for 45% for recruiters—and knowing what your competition is up to can give you a leg up.</p>

        <p>While recruiters have always had access to basic information about competitors, more detailed data is available today thanks to the Internet. <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/category/salarysurvey2015" target="_blank">Salary surveys</a> and <a href="http://www.cio.com/article/2387201/careers-staffing/top-8-sites-for-researching-your-next-employer.html" target="_blank">employer-rating sites</a>, for example, show what job seekers consider when looking at jobs. By studying this data, recruiters can make sure their company’s benefits packages and salary offerings are comparable and attractive to potential talent. </p>

        <p>Some companies go beyond just researching their competitions’ benefits packages: they actively recruit their employees. One such company is advertising agency <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hiring-creativity-out-box-ritesh-chudasama" target="_blank">Gyro International</a>. In 2010, Gyro wanted to grow its creative department by 50%. To do so, they researched their closest competitors, found out where their employees went to lunch, and asked the owners of those restaurants to use sandwich bags with Gyro’s recruiting messages for one month. The bags had Gyro’s website on them and soon, competitors’ employees were applying to join the Gyro team. Within a few weeks, the company saw an increase in web traffic and hired three people, including a senior creative manager. </p> 

        <p>To effectively research your competition and make sure you’re staying on the cutting edge for recruiting efforts, consider using such resources as Google Alerts, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Twitter, Indeed, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The more you know, the more you’ll be able to improve your recruiting techniques.</p>



        <li>Getting Creative with Challenges and Games</li>
        <p>Companies in need of candidates with specific, hard-to-find skills are finding their perfect fits not by scanning resumes but by creating games. Not just any games, of course, rather tests that identify people with the necessary set skills to thrive in certain positions.</p>
 
        <p>When <a href="http://fortune.com/2012/04/10/games-a-job-recruiters-new-best-friend/" target="_blank">Upstream Systems</a>, a mobile marketing firm, was looking for global marketing managers, they created the “Upstream Challenge”: seven timed exercises that measured a candidate’s analytical skills and marketing knowledge. Approximately 700 people completed the online test. Those who scored well were contacted and six people were hired. </p>

        <p>In 2004, Google put <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3916173" target="_blank">difficult math puzzles on billboards</a>. Anyone who solved the puzzle unlocked a URL with another puzzle. If solved, that person received an offer to apply to a job.</p>

        <p><a href="http://observer.com/2011/09/seatgeek-hacks-the-hiring-process/" target="_blank">SeatGeek</a>, the largest online event ticket search engine, tells engineers to prove their skills by inviting them to hack into their website to submit their resume. </p>

        <p>Using game mechanics is still an emerging technique and there’s much to be learned, but George Andes, author of The Rare Find: Spotting Exceptional Talent Before Everyone Else, told Fortune.com that <a href="http://fortune.com/2012/04/10/games-a-job-recruiters-new-best-friend/" target="_blank">it’s one way recruiters can widen their job searches</a> beyond paper credentials. It’s important to focus on candidates with “soft skills,” he said. Those skills include creativity, ingenuity, and resilience—hard to spot on a resume, perhaps, but things that come through in such nontraditional methods as games and challenges.</p> 


        <li>Training Employees as Recruiters</li>
        
        <p><a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/employee-referral-program.html" target="_blank">Employee referral programs</a> aren’t a new recruitment strategy, but they are an effective option for obtaining quality hires, <a href="http://www.theoverturegroup.com/blog/4-recruiting-trends-in-2015-and-how-to-succeed/" target="_blank">second only to social media</a> in effectiveness. Referral programs are recruitment methods in which current employees are encouraged and rewarded for bringing suitable job candidates to the hiring table. </p>

        A few reasons to consider using employee referral programs:
        <ul>
            <li>Higher employee retention: <a href="http://www.icims.com/hire-expectations-institute/for-employers/whitepaper-creating-a-successful-employee-referral-program" target="_blank">47% of referral hires</a> stay at the same job for more than three years</li>
            <li>Lower cost: 51% of employers said it was less expensive to recruit via referrals than traditional methods, according to the <a href="http://web.jobvite.com/rs/jobvite/images/Jobvite-SRP-2011.pdf" target="_blank">2011 Jobvite Social Recruiting Survey</a></li>
            <li>Shorter hiring process: Using employee referral programs can <a href="http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/infographic-employee-referrals-hire/" target="_blank">cut employee search times</a> from 39 days, using job boards, or 55 days, using career sites, to 29 days</li>
            <li>Better fit: 69.8% of employers say <a href="http://web.jobvite.com/rs/jobvite/images/Jobvite-SRP-2011.pdf" target="_blank">referrals fit with company culture</a> and values better</li>
        </ul>
    <p>Effective employee referral programs incorporate <a href="http://www.recruitingdivision.com/expert-advice-for-an-effective-employee-referral-program/" target="_blank">strategic planning</a> to engage employees and get quality hires. Such planning includes targeting referral requests to employees most likely to interact with the types of candidates needed, asking employees who worked at competitors or other desirable firms for their insight, and conducting networking events to encourage employees to compare and brainstorm possible referral options. </p>

    <p>In terms of employee motivation, it’s important to strike a balance between rewarding employees with recognition as well as financial incentives. A recent <a href="http://talent.linkedin.com/blog/index.php/2015/01/building-an-employee-referral-program-3-things-you-should-know" target="_blank">LinkedIn survey</a> revealed that only 40% of employees claimed to submit a referral because of a monetary reward while 68% of participants said they wanted to help their company. However, when asked what the most appropriate reward for a successful referral was, 96% said a cash bonus. </p>

    <p>Making rewards the most important feature of a program isn’t a good move, as it emphasizes quantity over quality and can lead to a weak referral culture. Instead, a good way to create a culture of referrals is by building recognition into the process. Giving referrers a thank-you note from leadership, a call out in the company newsletter, or recognition during a meeting are easy and effective ways to communicate appreciation and demonstrate how much quality referrals are valued.</p> 

    For the incentive options, consider the following rewards:
    <ul>
        <li>A charity donation option </li>
        <li>Non-cash awards such as a reserved parking spot, tickets to an event, etc.</li>
        <li>Different bonus amounts for each level of referring and results (i.e. $100 for name only, $200 for full referral with resume and formal introduction, $300 for hiring a referral)</li>
        <li>Paying the taxes on the bonus to give referrers a full payout on rewards</li>
        <li>Handwritten thank you notes from the hiring manager or other leadership</li>
    </ul>


   <li>Go Mobile</li>
    <p>Having a mobile recruiting strategy is necessary nowadays. Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) own a smartphone, according to a <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/" target="_blank">2014 Pew Research Center American Trends Panel survey</a>. Of those, 43% use their smartphone to look up information about jobs. </p>

    <p>To engage these potential candidates, <a href="http://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Jobvite_SocialRecruiting_Survey2014.pdf" target="_blank">51% of recruiters</a> say they plan to invest more in mobile recruiting efforts in coming years. Mobile recruiting efforts still trail social recruiting—93% of recruiters use or plan to use social to support recruiting efforts—but it is an important step to get ahead of the trend and stay competitive.</p>

    <p>Nearly 70% of 1,855 recruiters surveyed in <a href="http://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Jobvite_SocialRecruiting_Survey2014.pdf" target="_blank">Jobvite’s 2014 Social Recruiting Survey</a> said they expected hiring to get even more competitive over the next 12 months. To prepare for this increased challenge, 73% of the recruiters said they plan to invest more in mobile recruiting.</p>

    To keep in step with this trend, consider doing the following:
    <ul>
        <li>Create a mobile career site that lets job seekers apply for jobs directly from a mobile device</li>
        <li>Train hiring managers on mobile recruitment techniques so they can post jobs on the go and create postings that can be easily shared on social media and readily responded to</li>
        <li><a href="http://peoplescapehr.com/recruiting_trends_2015/" target="_blank">Target social media job posts</a> for the employees you want; use Facebook for and LinkedIn for Generation Xers, Twitter and Instagram for Millennials</li>
    </ul>

    <li>Develop and Promote a Talent Brand</li>

    <p>A company’s <a href="http://talent.linkedin.com/blog/index.php/2014/03/what-does-great-talent-brand-content-look-like" target="_blank">talent brand</a> is the things people think, say, and share about a company as a place to work. It’s a snapshot of how much a company values its employs, its corporate culture, the people who work there, and the typical employee experience.</p>

    <p><a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240951" target="_blank">Developing a talent brand is considered a top priority by 56% of global leaders</a>, according to <a href="http://talent.linkedin.com/blog/index.php/2014/11/the-global-trends-that-will-shape-recruiting-in-2015" target="_blank">LinkedIn’s 2015 Global Recruiting Trends survey</a>. As competition for qualified employees grows, corporate culture is becoming increasingly important for recruiting. A solid talent brand can help make the difference between a good company and a great one in the eyes of a potential employee. </p>

    <p>A talent brand should be an <a href="http://www.intervista-institute.com/talent-branding.php" target="_blank">authentic and clearly defined description of your company’s culture</a>, expectations, and values. A good example of a company that uses its talent brand to recruit top workers is Google. Google matches its internal workplace culture—in which employees are members of a self-contained, elite, 24/7 workplace community; have survived the rigorous screening process; and belong to a prestigious team—with its external brand. Both internally and externally, people know what Google is, what it expects of employees, and what it offers employees. This brand attracts the best of the best and keeps Google on track to continue developing these values as an employer. </p>

    <p>Building a talent brand is about more than recruiting. It’s about defining your company’s values and personality. It’s about creating culturally authentic programs, aligning the workforce on corporate goals and strategy, and driving initiatives for inclusion, change management, and workforce planning. And, once in place, a talent brand should help build or reinforce organizational culture.</p> 

    A solid talent brand <a href="http://www.m4ws.com/blogs/what_is_talent_branding.php" target="_blank">helps recruit top employees</a> by:
    <ul>
        <li>Targeting candidates through messages that define company culture</li>
        <li>Building a general awareness of your company</li>
        <li>Providing leverage to stay ahead of competition</li>
        <li>Putting employees, management, and job seekers on the same page in terms of what to expect from the company</li>
   </ul>

    <p>In recruiting, like in most areas in life, communication is key. A clear, attractive brand shows talent what they can expect from your company and brings them to you instead of making you go to them.</p> 

    <p>When it comes to recruiting and hiring, there are dozens of things to consider. Utilizing these top five recruiting strategies will help you attract top talent and one-up competition. </p>


     </ol>




2015’s Innovative Recruiting Strategies



    
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    <p>Human resource managers are the office super heroes: Not only do they have the expertise of HR generalists, but their professional portfolios also include general business and management skills. They are the designated hitters and pinch runners of businesses, always ready to pitch in wherever and however possible. </p>

    <p>Recruiting new employees, retaining current employees, keeping the peace: It all falls under the HR umbrella. We highlight the five most pressing HR problems below.</p>


   <h4 class="h4__alt">The Top Five Biggest HR Challenges</h4>

    <strong>1. Getting people to stay</strong>
    <p>More than half (59%) of HR managers said that retaining good employees will be the biggest human resource challenge over the next 10 years, according to a <a href="http://www.shrm.org/research/surveyfindings/articles/pages/challengesfacinghroverthenext10years.aspx" target="_blank">2012 poll</a> by the Society for Human Resource Management. People are restless. There’s a lot of <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2014/03/27/do-you-have-fomo-fear-of-missing-out/" target="_blank">fear of missing out</a> going on into today’s society — and that goes for career choices, too. </p>

    <p>One in four employers is seen as ineffective in retaining high-potential workers, according to a <a href="http://www.amanet.org/news/6927.aspx" target="_blank">2011 study by AMA Enterprise</a>. And only a little more than half of respondents said they think their organizations are somewhat effective at retaining high-potential employees.</p>

    <p>Unfortunately, changeover <a href="http://www.iftdo.net/Articles/2006-maywfpmahrglobalchallenges%5B1%5D.pdf" target="_blank">isn’t typically covered</a> in HR professional training and development, so change management can be a tricky for managers. It’s also, according to the World Federation of People Management Associations, the reason why change management is <a href="http://www.wfpma.com/sites/wfpma.com/files/publications/wlv15n3_0.pdf" target="_blank">cited as the foremost issue in HR</a> management on a global scale.</p>

    <p>So, next time you’re feeling frustrated about trying to retain your best employees, just remember: HR managers as far away as Singapore are feeling the same pain.</p>

    <strong>Helpful tips:</strong>
    There's no one solution to improving employee retention, but here are a few good places to start:
    <ul>
        <li><em>Outline clear growth paths:</em> Employees will be more likely to stick with a company if they feel they have a clear future there. HR managers should work with employees and their supervisors to create a clear path for growth and promotions. Make sure employees know what goals they need to hit in order to be promoted or receive a raise. Also be sure to ask for employee feedback along the way—you want to make sure workers are excited about their future.</li>  
        <li><em>Provide competitive pay and benefits:</em> With tools like <a href="http://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm" target="_blank">Glassdoor</a> and <a href="http://www.payscale.com/" target="_blank">PayScale</a>, employees can easily figure out what their peers at other companies are paid, and how much the market rate is for their job role. If employees know they can get better pay or benefits elsewhere, they'll be unlikely to stick with their current company. HR managers should make sure employees are paid competitively and benefits are comprehensive.  </li>
        <li><em>Ask for employee feedback:</em> HR managers should check in with employees periodically to ensure they're happy and productive. Ask employees for feedback on what needs improvement at the company. This helps employees feel like their opinions are valued. It also helps HR managers address any concerns that might cause employees to leave the company before employees put in their two weeks notice.</li> 
    </ul>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">2. Building strong leaders </h4>
    <p>In PricewaterhouseCoopers’ “Survey of Global HR Challenges,” 35% of HR managers said leadership development was the biggest challenge. Even worse: one reason <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-savage/people-dont-leave-companies_b_4277535.html" target="_blank">many people give</a> for leaving a company is a lack of strong leaders. So that means problems number one and two in this list are intrinsically linked. But training costs money, and money doesn’t grow on trees — as HR managers know too well — which can make these problems seem like never-ending cycles of frustration. </p>

    <strong>Helpful tips:</strong>
    There are a few ways to start developing leadership skills that don't take a ton of time or cost a lot of money:

   <ul> 
        <li><em>Create a mentorship program:</em> Matching less experienced employees with strong leaders in a mentor relationship can be an effective way to grow new leadership skills. Mentorship programs need to be well designed, with thought and consideration put into pairs, goals, and support. For more information on how to create a successful mentorship program, check out <a href="http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/04/start-mentoring-program.html" target="_blank">this resource</a>.</li>   
        <li><em>Encourage ownership:</em> HR managers and supervisors should <a href="https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-ways-to-create-an-ownership-mentality-within-your-team" target="_blank">encourage employees to own certain projects</a> and processes from end-to-end. Not only does this let employees take on more responsibility, but it also allows them to grow their project management, time management, and problem solving skills—all things a good leader needs. Giving employees the choice of which projects/processes they would like to own, also allows them to choose projects they're most interested in and passionate about.</li>   
   </ul>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">3. Cultural challenges</h4>
    <p>Perhaps not surprisingly, the issue of improving an organization’s overall culture contributes to the first two problems. It makes sense: if employees like the work environment, they will be happier and more likely to stay. The longer they stay, the more they’ll get to know the company, increasing the odds of them becoming a leader.</p> 

    <p>Not only does culture influence employee retention and leadership development, but it also impacts <a href="http://www.hraffiliates.com/biggest-challenges-facing-hr-departments/" target="_blank">organizational performance</a>. That can include customer satisfaction, attendance, safety, stock price, and productivity. But even though workplace culture is <a href="http://www.greatplacetowork.com/publications-and-events/blogs-and-news/2430-you-cant-legislate-a-smile" target="_blank">considered key</a> to a business’ success, it still gets shoved under the rug. And it falls to — you guessed it — the HR manager to find a way to build and maintain an attractive culture to fix problems one and two on this list.</p>

    <strong>Helpful tips:</strong>
    Improving workplace culture is a long-term goal, but there are a couple of ways you can get started immediately:

    <ul>
        <li><em>Start rewarding employees:</em> Everyone wants to be recognized for their hard work and successes. Rewarding employees is a great way to create a positive environment that acknowledges and validates outstanding effort. Rewards can be as simple as public praise: emailing the department or company and outlining the employee's successes for everyone. Or it can come in the form of other benefits: free team lunches if someone reaches a certain goal, raises, promotions, etc.</li>  
        <li><em>Spend time together:</em> One of the best ways to improve culture is to spend time together connecting outside of work-related activities. Host a team picnic or bowling tournament on a Friday afternoon, or schedule a potluck and lunch together. Getting people away from their desks and encouraging them to talk to each other about things other than work will foster a more personal and friendly environment.</li>
    </ul>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">4. Finding time to do it all</h4>
     <p>Big problem number four: Time management. HR personnel from some 200 companies in more than 35 countries were asked the following question: “Of the total hours worked by your HR Department, what percent of the total time would be allocated to each of these roles: Strategic business partner, employee champion, being a change agent, being a 'player,' and more traditional HR tasks?"</p>

    Here are the results, which can also be found on page 10 of <a href="http://www.iftdo.net/Articles/2006-maywfpmahrglobalchallenges%5B1%5D.pdf" target="_blank">this study</a>

    <ul>
        <li>24% of total work hours were devoted to being a strategic business partner (<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2011/03/21/whats-a-strategic-business-partner-and-can-i-be-one/" target="_blank">being in on conversations</a> about the future of the business, and having a real voice in those conversations)</li>
    
        <li>23% were spent in more traditional HR tasks (administrative tasks like the way work is organized and executed)</li>
    
        <li>16% were spent as an employee champion (vigorously representing employee concerns to senior management while simultaneously working to increase employees’ commitment to the organization and their ability to deliver results)</li>
    
        <li>19% were devoted to being a change agent (shaping the processes and culture that improve an organization’s capacity for change)</li>
    
       <li> 18% of hours were a “player” (doing things that make a difference by acting as a coach, architect, designer, facilitator, and leader)</li>
    </ul>

    <p>So: Business partner, administrator, employee champion, process and culture shaper, coach, facilitator, leader, and conflict manager. Simple, right?</p>

    <strong>Helpful tips:</strong>
    Managing all the different tasks HR managers are responsible for isn't simple. There are, however, a few ways to start managing the insanity:

    <ul>
        <li><em>Schedule time for non-urgent tasks:</em> Answering email as soon as it lands in your inbox or checking Twitter every 15 minutes can seriously derail productivity. Each day, schedule time to attend to these non-urgent tasks so you can get work done in uninterrupted blocks.</li>
        <li><em>Do one thing from start to finish:</em> Multitasking can often mean projects get done slower and less effectively. Schedule a time to complete a task from start to finish, and shut down all distractions while you're working on your task. This will allow you to accomplish one thing at a time, without interruptions.</li>
    </ul>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">5.  Application overload</h4>
   <p>Google gets two million applicants a year. Two million. Can you imagine what that would look like printed out and stacked up on your desk? Actually, don’t imagine it. It’s just too much. </p>

    <p>More seriously, though, the number of applications that come in for some jobs can be overwhelming, so much so that some companies are <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303491304575188023801379324" target="_blank">hiring outside firms</a> to sort through résumés and then present only a dozen or so qualified candidates for consideration for interviews. </p>

    <p>And once you select people for interviews, there’s no guarantee that they will be as qualified as their applications suggest. From arriving inappropriately dressed to being late to knowing nothing about the company, <a href="http://www.hr.com/SITEFORUM?&t=/Default/gateway&i=1116423256281&application=story&active=no&ParentID=1119278077613&StoryID=1119650993765&xref=https%3A//www.google.com/">some applicants waste time</a> rather than offer a hiring solution.</p>

    <strong>Helpful tips:</strong>
    While you can't limit applications, you can make the hiring process more effective:

    <ul>
        <li><em>Test applicants:</em> Asking applicants to complete a timed test relevant to the role is a great way to test for role-specific skills, as well as more general problem solving and time management skills. Ask applications to complete a writing sample on a particular subject or solve an accounting problem—whatever makes sense based on the role. The added bonus? This strategy can quickly weed out those who were dishonest on their applications.  </li>
        <li><em>Use software when necessary:</em> Recruiting software, like <a href="http://www.greenhouse.io/" target="_blank">Greenhouse</a>, <a href="http://www.bamboohr.com/" target="_blank">BambooHR</a>, or <a href="http://www.icims.com/" target="_blank">iCIMS</a> can save a huge amount of time for HR managers. And don't worry, these platforms certainly don't replace HR managers, but they can save time when it comes to tracking applicant information, structuring interviews, and onboarding.</li>
    </ul>  

    <p>Being an HR manager presents a unique set of challenges, to be sure. But we’re hoping that by offering some <a href="http://www.criminalwatchdog.com/resources/skill-development/time-management-strategies-for-hrs/" target="_blank">time management strategies</a>, you'll be able to embrace the challenges that make you a stronger professional at the end of the day. And hey, if that doesn't get you through the day, take comfort in knowing that fellow HR managers around the world are fighting the same battles and frustrations.</p> 






HR Challenges All Managers Know Too Well

HR Champion



    
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    <p>The average fulltime American employee spends 47 hours a week at work, according to a <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/175286/hour-workweek-actually-longer-seven-hours.aspx" target="_blank">2014 Gallup pole</a>. That translates to being at work for more than a third of the 120 hours from Monday to Friday. Given that work is such a huge part of most peoples’ lives, setting boundaries at work should be a big priority because it leads to people being more efficient and confident as well as less stressed. To reap these benefits and others, we’ll look into not only how to set boundaries but then also how to stick to them.</p>
    <h3 class="h3__alt">What Are Boundaries and Why You Should Set Them at Work</h3>

    <p>Boundaries can call to mind giant fences or “do not enter” signs. In relation to setting boundaries at work, however, what a boundary looks like is typically a bit less obvious. </p>

    <p>There are two basic things to know about boundaries, according Dana Gionta and Dan Guerra, authors of  “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stressed-Centered-Practical-Healthier-Happier/dp/0990835405/?tag=inccom028-20" target="_blank">From Stressed to Centered: A Practical Guide to a Healthier and Happier You</a>.” First, a boundary is a limit defining you in relationship to someone or to something. Second, boundaries can be physical and tangible or emotional and intangible. In most scenarios, the boundaries you’ll set with work fall into the “emotional and intangible” category.</p> 

    <p>There are <a href="http://www.inc.com/dana-gionta-dan-guerra/how-to-manage-boundaries-at-work.html" target="_blank">many ways in which boundaries function</a> and reasons why they’re important. For starters, boundaries help to protect us by clarifying what is our responsibility and what is another person’s. They serve to preserve our physical and emotional energy, to help us stay focused on our values and standards, and to identify our personal limits.</p>

    <p>All these things boil down to a simple truth: Setting boundaries at work leads to a <a href="http://www.pennbehavioralhealth.com/documents/setting_boundaries_at_work.pdf" target="_blank">more efficient, pleasant experience</a>. “Learning to set and keep clear boundaries with your boss and colleagues is essential if you want to remain happy and productive at work,” says best-selling author and productivity coach <a href="http://www.pennbehavioralhealth.com/documents/setting_boundaries_at_work.pdf" target="_blank">Valorie Burton</a>.</p>

    <p>Blurred lines with management expectations, job responsibilities, communication, or other areas of work can be stressful and frustrating. <a href="http://www.pennbehavioralhealth.com/documents/setting_boundaries_at_work.pdf" target="_blank">Setting clear boundaries</a>, on the other hand, helps to maintain good productivity and social dynamics in the work place. When professional boundaries and priorities have been clearly defined, everyone is able to function more effectively. Without boundaries, there are no firm guidelines for behavior.</p> 

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Examples of Boundaries</h3>

    <p><a href="http://www.pennbehavioralhealth.com/documents/setting_boundaries_at_work.pdf" target="_blank">As Penn Behavioral Health Corporate Services explains</a>, there are three main areas in which to set boundaries at work:</p>

    <ol>
        <li>Job responsibilities<br>
        These include boundaries a manager needs to set for his or her employees and boundaries a person needs to set for themselves.</li>
    
        <p>Manager-set boundaries involve clearly defining the employee’s role and responsibilities, which establishes accountability and leaves little room for blame or excuses.</p>
    
        Employees should be able to answer the following questions:
        <ul>
           <li> Who do you report to?</li>
               <li> Who provides you with feedback?</li>
                <li>Who decides what you should be working on?</li>
                <li>Who assigns you work?</li>
            </ul>
    
        <p>Once manager-set boundaries are in place, employees can establish and maintain the boundaries more effectively. </p>
    
        Examples of this include:
        <ul>
            <li>Asking people not to call at home after a certain time</li>
            <li>Telling people you’ll only check work email between certain hours</li>
            <li> Saying no to projects you are unable to take on due to a full workload</li>
            <li>Approaching your manager about situations you feel violate your boundaries and working together toward a solution.</li>
            </ul>
    
        <li>Interpersonal boundaries<br>
    
        These are boundaries between co-workers as well as between employees and managers.</li>
    
        Factors include:
        <ul>
            <li>The tone of voice used in the workplace </li>
            <li>Peoples’ attitudes toward one another</li>
            <li>The ability to focus on work even with people you are having a personal conflict with</li>
            <li>Limiting work conversations to certain topics (i.e. nothing offensive, religions, super personal, etc.)</li>
            </ul>
    
        <p>Interpersonal boundaries are integral for co-workers to be able to work together productively. Weak interpersonal boundaries can lead to bullying; an individual may be constantly taken advantage of because he or she has not created boundaries.</p>
    
        <li>Personal boundaries</li>
    
        These are boundaries that help you to keep a healthy work-life balance. They can include: 
        <ul>
            <li>Limiting access to your work email or voicemail while at home</li>
            <li>Leaving a work laptop at work</li>
            <li>Taking vacation time and leaving work at work during that period</li>
            <li>Taking time to actually be offline: no social media, no email, etc.</li>
        </ul>
    </ol>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">How to Establish Work Boundaries</h3>

    <p>Setting boundaries at work is a step-by-step process. It’s easiest to set boundaries <a href="http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/03/10/7-tips-for-setting-boundaries-at-work/" target="_blank">when you first start a job</a>; that’s when the basics are up in the air in terms of start and end times for the work day, overtime circumstances, working from home, etc.</p>

    <p>If you’re already at a job and don’t plan on changing anytime soon, not to worry: <a href="http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/03/10/7-tips-for-setting-boundaries-at-work/" target="_blank">these five steps to establishing work boundaries from PsychCentral</a> apply to you, too.</p>

    <ol>
        <li>Prioritize your values</li>
    
        <p>Knowing what is important to you is the first step to knowing how and where to set boundaries. Start by asking yourself what boundaries you need to protect your own happiness at work. Ask yourself: “What does that give me? How does it feel when I am operating at my optimal potential?” Also be sure to take the time to notice the times you feel frustrated, stressed or overwhelmed—indications that a boundary is being violated or needs to be established.</p>
    
        <p>For example, if physical fitness is important, block out clear times for exercise. If family dinners are a priority, set a boundary that you leave work at a certain time every day. You want to make time for the things that are important to you, therefore you need to have strict boundaries around working overtime or being available at all hours.</p>
    
        <p>This especially applies to leaving work at work. Make rules for yourself: for example, you can check email before dinner but then have to put away your devices so you can spend the rest of the evening being completely offline. Not only does this help separate work and life, but it also allows you to replenish your mental, emotional and spiritual reserves.</p>
    
        <li>Communicate your boundaries clearly</li>
    
        Be open, honest, and clear with coworkers and managers about your boundaries. Don’t, however, try to set all your boundaries at once. Take it one conversation at a time. Practice identifying, asking for, and keeping a boundary. Keep track of what works, change what doesn’t, and keep moving forward. 
    
        <p>Example: If your rule is to not gossip with coworkers, tell them clearly and politely that you don’t want to participate before it happens. Don’t let them spend an hour gossiping over lunch while you listen then tell them weeks later you wish they hadn’t said those things. That is passive and unclear, and therefore ineffective. </p>
    
        <li>Bring up a boundary or violation right away.</li>
    
        <p>When a boundary gets violated, say something. Clearly state the ways in which you are seeking to maintain the boundaries you’ve set to ensure you can successfully support yourself, your team, and your organization. Do this as soon as possible following a violation so it maintains its poignancy and the person violating it understands its importance. </p>
    
        <p>Concentrate on being compassionate when telling people you feel your boundaries are not being respected. Most people are likely unaware of how their actions impact you, and will appreciate being told they crossed a line so they can avoid making that same mistake. </p>
    
        <li>Focus on concrete rather than personal explanations</li>
    
        <p>For work boundaries, try to avoid talking from your personal perspective. For example, if your boss makes an unreasonable request, instead of saying, “I’m really stressed” or “I have too much to do,” which sound whiny, instead, frame your explanations in something concrete. Explain your objection in terms of how it’s going to affect other projects, clients or your bottom line: “If I spend my time on X, there won’t be enough time to do Y.”</p>
    
       <p> Another thing to keep in mind with these situations is to engage the person requesting something that feels overwhelming to you. Ask him or her to tell you more about why they need you to do the work. Dialogue about it. Doing this helps to diffuse anxiety and opens the door to negotiating a more reasonable and mutually beneficial option.</p>
    
        <li>Be ready for boundary breaches</li>
    
        <p>It’s inevitable that at some point, someone will violate your boundaries. Be prepared for this by visualizing a boundary getting crossed, then decide how you’re going to handle that situation.</p>
    
        <p>Imagine, for example, your boss emails you on Saturday. Visualize what your reaction will be, then create a plan of action. Will you reply right away with the answer he or she wants? Will you reply and say you’ll respond Monday, at work? Will you respond Monday morning and remind him or her of your boundary?</p>
    
        <p>Having a game plan in place helps you to be prepared and avoid being hijacked by emotions. </p>
    </ol>



    <p>Building boundaries takes time and practice. Boundaries will get crossed. Side steps will be taken. Instead of viewing violations as negatives, though, see them as opportunities to gain insight and improve on your boundary setting.</p>

    <p>As you set boundaries at work, also consider the following ideas for streamlining and improving your time and relationships at work:</p>





Why You Need to Set Boundaries at Work &amp; How to Do It



    
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    <p>Successful leaders come in all shapes and sizes. No two workplaces, situations, crises, or scenarios are the same, and no two leaders are the same. And while it’s fine to say that <a href="/resources/leadership-and-management/is-servant-leadership-the-most-effective-type-of-management/">servant leadership is the most effective type of management style</a>, that doesn’t explain how a manager can become an effective manager. That’s where the personal leadership development plan comes into play. </p>

    <p>The idea of developing a personal leadership development plan might seem a bit wonky, especially if you’re already in a leadership position. But having a plan — more specifically, a written list of leadership development activities — is important. </p>

    <p>Here’s why: on the most basic level, you want your personal leadership development plans to be readily accessible as both reminders and guidelines for the goals you’ve set for yourself. We’ve all made mental to-do lists — and promptly forgotten everything on them. Same goes with a leadership plan.</p> 

    <p>Not sure where to start? Follow this step-by-step guide and you’ll have a leadership development plan in no time. 
    </p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Step 1: Define What Generally Makes a Great Leader</h4>
    <p>The best way to make a leadership development plan is to draw inspiration from today's great leaders. To start, make a leadership skills list of qualities that you think make up the traits, competencies, abilities, and experience of a good leader.</p>

    Three <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/12/19/top-10-qualities-that-make-a-great-leader/" target="_blank">samples</a> of skills you might put on your list:

    <ul>
        <li>Honest, ethical behavior</li>
        <li>Being able to clearly and succinctly communicate a vision</li>
        <li>Using creativity and intuition to navigate difficult and unpredictable situations</li>
    </ul>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Step 2: Take a Self-Assessment</h4>
    <p>Next you want to identify your core characteristics. These are personality traits like "adventurous," "observant," and "impulsive." To do this, take a test like the <a href="http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/" target="_blank">Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)</a> or <a href="http://strengths.gallup.com/110440/About-StrengthsFinder-20.aspx" target="_blank">StrengthsFinder</a>. Or, rally a group of friends, peers, colleagues, and family to write down words they'd use to describe you. </p>

    <p>By breaking down your personality traits and strengths, you’ll have more insight into your personal style and be able to better answer the “Who am I?” piece of the personal leadership development process, which we'll get to later.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Step 3: Identify Your Core Values</h4>
    <p>Now that you've identified your core characteristics, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty details and identify your core values.</p>

    <p>Core values are the principles you use to make decisions and define integrity and ethics. They are the things that help you weigh choices in life, and are typically unwavering.</p>

    To help you identify what your core values might be, we've listed a few below. Choose 8–12 of the following values that are most important to you:
    <ul>
        <li>Achievement</li>
        <li>Advancement</li>
        <li>Adventure</li>
        <li>Affiliation</li>
        <li>Affluence</li>
        <li>Authority</li>
        <li>Autonomy</li>
        <li>Balance</li>
        <li>Challenge</li>
        <li>Collaboration</li>
        <li>Community</li>
        <li>Competency</li>
        <li>Competition</li>
        <li>Courage</li>
        <li>Creativity</li>
        <li>Duty</li>
        <li>Economic security</li>
        <li>Enjoyment</li>
        <li>Fame</li>
        <li>Friendship</li>
        <li>Health</li>
        <li>Helping others</li>
        <li>Humor</li>
        <li>Influence</li>
        <li>Inner harmony</li>
        <li>Integrity</li>
        <li>Knowledge</li>
        <li>Loyalty</li>
        <li>Personal development </li>
        <li>Responsibility</li>
        <li>Self-respect</li>
        <li>Spirituality</li>
        <li>Wisdom</li>
    </ul>

    <p>From your selections, identify 3–5 as your main core values. To see what these look like in action, <a href="http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/define-your-personal-core-values-5-steps.html" target="_blank">here's an example from Kevin Daum</a>, a journalist at Fast Company who revealed his own core values and provided guidelines for developing your own.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Step 4: Write a Personal Vision Statement</h4>
    <p>A <a href="http://bush.tamu.edu/pslp/deanscertificate/PSLP Individual Leadership Plan 2012.docx" target="_blank">personal vision statement</a> reflects your personal traits and core values. It seeks to answer the question, “Who am I and what is my higher calling?”</p>

    To narrow this broad objective, focus on the following things:

    <ul>
        <li>What you want to be (in terms of character traits – refer to your self-assessment!)</li>
        <li>What you want to achieve or contribute</li>
        <li>The principles/values you use to make decisions, big and small</li>
    </ul>

    <p>The personal vision statement will become your personal constitution — a physical reminder for you to see where you’ve been, where you are, and where you want to go. By outlining your vision, you will have something to look back on when it comes time to develop your goals and write an action plan. </p>

    <p>To give you an example of what this could look like, <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3026791/dialed/personal-mission-statements-of-5-famous-ceos-and-why-you-should-write-one-too" target="_blank">here is dailyworth.com founder, Amanda Steinberg's</a>, personal mission statement: </p>

    <blockquote class="blockquote__alt">"To use my gifts of intelligence, charisma, and serial optimism to cultivate the self-worth and net-worth of women around the world."</blockquote>

    After you’ve written your personal statement, ask yourself the following questions:

    <ul>
        <li>Does this represent the integrity I stand for?</li>
        <li>Are direction, purpose, and motivation signaled in this statement?</li>
        <li>Is this an accurate portrait of who I want to be?</li>
        <li>Does this inspire me?</li>
    </ul>

    <p>Remember: nothing is set in stone. Your personal statement will — and should — evolve over time. It should reflect where you are now and where you hope to go.</p>

    <h4 class="h4__alt">Step 5: Analyze What Others Think of You</h4>
    <p>You've done a lot of soul searching up to this point. However, being a great leader isn't just about what you think makes an effective leader. Other people — your industry, peers, and those you lead — need to also think you're effective. </p>

    To check if the personality traits, core values, and personal mission statement you settled on align with what others currently think of both you and leaders in general, answer the following questions:

    <ul>
        <li> What do you want your employees and coworkers to say about you when you are not in the room?</li>
        <li>Now, what do they actually say? (You might realistically know the answer to this already. If not, ask a trusted peer.)</li>
        <li>More generally, how do others currently perceive you?</li>
        <li>Do you care about others’ perceptions of you?</li>
        <li>What are the expectations for professionalism and leadership in your field?</li>
        <li>If your personal assessment doesn't align with the answers to these questions, are you capable of changing your image and are the benefits worth the costs (cognitive, psychological, emotional, physical effort) to change? Do you even want to change?</li>
    </ul>

    <p>The answers to these questions should serve as a checks and balance to all the work you did prior to this step. By identifying holes in what you want to be vs. what people already think you are, you'll be able to pinpoint exactly where you need to improve, which will help with the next step.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Step 6: Identify Current and Lacking Leadership Skills</h4>
    You now have in writing leadership qualities every leader should possess; your own personality traits, core values, and personal vision; and a list of what other people think of you. All this reflection allows you to accomplish this next step: Expanding on and further defining the skills needed to become your definition of an ideal leader.

    <ul>
        <li>First, identify the skills you already have. Skills are different than traits: Skills can be taught (e.g. Excel, communication, delegating, etc.). Traits are natural abilities that last a lifetime (e.g. thoughtful, risk-adverse, introverted, etc.). </li>
        <ul>
            <li>Writing a resume can help identify these skills. Or, draw inspiration from these types of skills:</li>
            <li><strong>Personal skills</strong>: Developing self-awareness, managing personal stress, solving problems </li>
            <li><strong>Interpersonal skills</strong>: Coaching and counseling, other supportive communication, influencing and motivating others, managing conflict</li>
            <li><strong>Group skills</strong>: Empowering and delegating, building effective teams and teamwork, managing change</li>
            <li><strong>Technical skills</strong>: Making presentations, making policies, personnel management, budgeting, project management</li>
        </ul>

        <li>Once you’ve made your list, mark each item with an “S” if it is one of your strengths or a “D” if it’s something that needs development. If you’re unsure, ask a mentor, friends, and/or colleagues to offer their insights.</li>
        <li>Lastly, cross reference the skills you identified with the lists you made of "skills all great leaders have" and "the skills others think I have (or lack)." Ask yourself, "Are there gaps in which I need to improve?"<br>
            <br>Remember, you do not need to embody every trait a great leader may have. You also don't need to improve on every single skill others think you need. Narrow down which ones you should focus on by cross referencing them with your core values and personal mission statement. If the skills don't align with these, deprioritize or bag them altogether.</li>
    </ul>

    <p>Once you have a list of skills prioritized in descending order by "need development" and strengths, it's time to make some goals.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Step 7: Set Goals</h4>
    <p>Here’s where all this prior self-analysis and research come into play. Using the prioritized personal leadership skills list you developed in step six, write 2–3 stretch leadership development goals (goals that are challenging) and 1–2 manageable goals (goals that are “SMART”) that will help you achieve each of your reach goals. </p>

    <p>A good example of a leader who used this model is <a href="http://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/strategic-leadership-short-term-stability-and-long-term-viability/" target="_blank">Jorgen Vig Knudstorp</a>, who took over as the CEO of LEGO in 2004. The family-owned business was not in good shape, but over the next five years, Knudstorp turned the company around. His stretch goal: To improve the company in every area. The SMART steps he took to get there: building better relationships with employees and customers, empowering employees to make decisions at all levels of the hierarchy, and introducing tight fiscal controls.</p>

    SMART goals are: 

    <ul>
        <li><strong>Specific</strong>: Ask who, what, where, when, why, and which</li>

        <li><strong>Measureable</strong>: Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress; ask “How much?”, “How many?”, and, “How will I know when it is accomplished?”</li>

        <li><strong>Attainable</strong>: Just about any goal can be attained when you plan steps wisely and establish a realistic time frame; ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish the goal</li>

        <li><strong>Realistic</strong>: Goals should be things you are willing and able to work toward — things you believe can be accomplished and that you actually want to accomplish</li>

        <li>Timely: Goals should be grounded within a specific time frame</li>
    </ul>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Step 8: Write an Action Plan</h4>
    <p>You have your goals. Now it's time to make an action plan for achieving them.</p>

    <p>The action plan lays out the specific steps you’ll take, resources you’ll use, and the support system you’ll build to reach your stretch and SMART goals. If paper isn’t your thing, tools such as <a href="https://trello.com/" target="_blank">Trello</a> are available to help you keep track of everything.</p>

    Organize your stretch and SMART goals in the following format:

    <ul>
        <li>GOAL #1: (Enter goal here)</li>
    <ul>
        <li>SPECIFIC ACTIONS TO TAKE: (Pro tip: Start with a verb to incite action!)</li>
        <li>RESOURCES TO ASSIST DEVELOPMENT: (Including any training you may need)</li>
        <li>TIMELINE:</li>
    </ul>
    </ul>

    <p>Then, put them in order of importance and/or time it will take to achieve said goals. You now have a road map for achieving your goals and becoming the leader you want to be! To see what all of personal leadership development planning can look like once complete, see this example provided by <a href="http://www.yale.edu/hronline/idp/docs/IDP-4-Samples.pdf" target="_blank">Yale University</a>. </p>


    <p>Remember: your finished personal development leadership plan represents where you are now and where you hope to go. Revisit your plan often, updating it and tweaking it as needed, so that it reflects where you are on the road to becoming a great leader.</p>




How to Create a Personal Leadership Development Plan

Skill Development



    
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    <p>Organizational culture, corporate culture, workplace culture: these phrases are tossed around a lot in discussions of what makes for a positive—or negative—place to work. But what is organizational culture and why does it matter? We’ll look into both of those questions and more as we dig into the definition and meaning of organizational culture.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">First, a Little History</h3>
    <p>Before diving into what organizational culture is, a disclaimer: A fixed, universal understanding of what organizational culture is does not exist. In his essay “<a href="http://www.thercfgroup.com/files/resources/Defining-Culture-and-Organizationa-Culture_5.pdf" target="_blank">Defining ‘Culture’ and ‘Organizational Culture’: From Anthropology to the Office</a>,” Bruce M. Tharp points to a 1998 study as an example of how complicated it can be to define organizational culture. The study, he says, identified 54 different academic definitions of organization culture between 1960 and 1993.</p>

    <p>While defining organization culture isn’t simple, it isn’t impossible, either. The next few paragraphs will explore what it means, why it’s important, and tips for establishing a positive workplace culture.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Breaking Down the Definition of Organizational Culture</h3>

    <p>The definition of organizational culture crafted by Edgar Schein, former professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and author of “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Organizational-Culture-Leadership-Edgar-Schein/dp/0470190604" target="_blank">Organizational Culture and Leadership</a>,” is often used as a general jumping off point. </p>

    <p>Schein defines organizational culture as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.”</p>

    <p>In other words: shared beliefs within an organization that have been proven to work well in external and internal communication, are embraced by management and employees, and are used as guidelines when addressing problems or other situations.</p>

    <p>Schein states that culture can be seen in three key ways within an organization: in observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic underlying assumptions.</p>

    <p><strong>Observable artifacts are an organization’s attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs—what it considers important and meaningful.</strong></p>

    <strong>Examples include:</strong>
    <ul>
        <li>A company’s physical surroundings (the building, interior design, landscape, etc.)</li>
        <li>Products</li> 
        <li>Technologies</li>
        <li>Style (clothing, art, publications, etc.)</li>
        <li>Published values and mission statement</li>
        <li>Language, jargon, tone, and humor</li>
        <li>Myths and stories</li>
        <li>Practices, rituals, ceremonies, and taboos</li>
    </ul>

   <p>Google is a great example of a company that uses observable artifacts to define its organizational culture. Some of the <a href="http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/locations/" target="_blank">observable artifacts found at Google’s</a> 70+ offices in more than 40 countries that tie into their organizational culture include:</p>
    <ul>
        <li>Murals and decorations expressing the local personality of the different offices</li>
        <li>Shared cubicles, yurts, and “huddles”</li>
        <li>Video games, pool tables, and pianos</li>
        <li>Cafes and “micro-kitchens” stocked with healthy food</li> 
        <li>Whiteboards for “spur-of-the-moment brainstorming”</li>
    </ul>

    <p>All this reflects <a href="http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/culture/" target="_blank">Google’s statement about their culture</a>, which says: “Although Googlers share common goals and visions for the company, we hail from all walks of life and speak dozens of languages, reflecting the global audience that we serve. […] We strive to maintain the open culture often associated with startups, in which everyone is a hands-on contributor and feels comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. […] Our offices and cafes are designed to encourage interactions between Googlers within and across teams, and to spark conversation about work as well as play.”</p>

   <p><strong>Espoused values are the things advocated by a company’s leadership and management.</strong></p>

    <strong>These can be defined as:</strong>
    <ul>
        <li>Beliefs upon which the company is built—the company’s code of conduct</li>
        <li>Demonstrated traits; managers serve as examples by modeling the values they wish to see in their company</li>
        <li>Promotional efforts (in-office posters, company newsletters, special events, seminars, lectures) that further communicate these core beliefs </li>
    </ul>

    <p>Google works well as an example here, too. In the company’s weekly all-hands (“TGIF”) meetings, over email, and in the cafes, Googlers are <a href="http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/culture/" target="_blank">encouraged to ask questions directly to Larry Page and Sergey Brin</a>, Google’s co-founders and CEO (Larry), and other executives about any and all company issues. This open communication models the value management places on transparency and humility; by inviting all 40,000+ employees to have a conversation about the company with senior management, Google is demonstrating that this is a core belief.</p>

    <p><strong>Basic assumptions are underlying determinants of an organization’s attitudes, thought processes, and actions. These are defined as:</strong></p>
    <ul>
        <li>Assumptions central to an organization’s culture</li>
        <li>Values that are so ingrained and taken-for-granted that individuals are usually unaware of their influence</li>
        <li>Aspects of a workplace that provide an unspoken sense of security</li>
        <li>The “it” factor of a place—it’s vibe, atmosphere, etc. that is present, but unable to be defined in a tangible way</li>
    </ul>

    <p>Since basic assumptions by definition are intangible, they can be hard to pin down. Staying with the Google example, however, this aspect of organizational culture can be seen in number 10 of its “Ten Things We Know to be True” statement that was written to answer the “<a href="http://www.google.com/about/company/philosophy/" target="_blank">What We Believe</a>” question. Here are excerpts from that statement: </p>
    <blockquote class="blockquote__alt">10. Great just isn’t good enough. 
    We see being great at something as a starting point, not an endpoint. We set ourselves goals we know we can’t reach yet, because we know that by stretching to meet them we can get further than we expected. Through innovation and iteration, we aim to take things that work well and improve upon them in unexpected ways. […] We try to anticipate needs not yet articulated by our global audience, and meet them with products and services that set new standards. […] We’re always looking for new places where we can make a difference. Ultimately, our constant dissatisfaction with the way things are becomes the driving force behind everything we do.</blockquote>

    <p>“Greatness” isn’t something a corporation can buy, but it’s something Google strove to include within their organizational culture at the beginning and strive to maintain today. It’s also a great example of a basic assumption that determines an organization’s attitude, thought process, and actions.</p> 

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Why Organizational Culture is Important</h3>

    <p>Organizational culture, as defined by the <a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/organizational-culture.html" target"_blank">Business Dictionary</a>, is “the values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization.”</p>

    <p>It includes a company’s expectations, experiences, philosophy, and values that hold it together.</p> 

    <p>It is expressed in its self-image, inner workings, interactions with the outside world, and future expectations.</p>

    <p>It is based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time and are considered valid.</p>

    <p>Basically, it affects every aspect of a company and determines not only the corporation’s present, but also its future. By building the right culture and environment, a company can: </p>

    <ul>
        <li>Increase productivity and performance</li>
        <li>Provide better customer service</li>
        <li>Ensure better product quality and safety</li>
        <li>Increase employee attendance and punctuality</li>
        <li>Make better products</li>
        <li>Have more impactful marketing and advertising practices</li>
        <li>Be more innovative with product creation</li>
    </ul>

   <p><a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865567183/Building-a-great-organizational-culture-is-a-win-win-for-employees-managers.html?pg=all" target="_blank">That’s according to an article written by Ann Rhoades</a>, one of the founding executives of JetBlue Airways, winner of the JD Powers award for customer service. She explicitly outlines a few of the benefits she’s seen from building a strong, positive culture, from different points of view, including:</p>

    <strong>For the company:</strong>
    <ul>
        <li>Lower levels of absenteeism and turnover</li>
        <li>Increased employee engagement</li>
        <li>Increased alignment of employee performance and corporate objectives</li>
        <li>Increased customer satisfaction scores</li>
    </ul>
    <strong>For the employee:</strong>
    <ul>
        <li>An increased feeling of well-being and job satisfaction</li>
        <li>Increased trust in management</li>
        <li>Higher engagement scores</li>
        <li>Higher productivity overall</li>
    </ul>
    <strong>For the customer:</strong>
    <ul>
        <li>Increased responsiveness to customer needs</li>
        <li>Higher service quality levels</li>
        <li>Increased levels of trust due to higher transparency and open communication</li>
        <li>Increased customer satisfaction</li>
    </ul>

   <h3 class="h3__alt">Tips for Establishing a Good Organizational Culture</h3>

    <p>Now that we’ve discussed what organizational culture is and why it’s important, here are a few <a href="http://www.inc.com/sam-bacharach/how-to-establish-your-companys-organizational-culture.html" target="_blank">ways to establish your company’s culture</a>. </p>

    <ol>
        <li>Articulate a core cultural statement.</li>

    <p>A company’s core cultural statement should be embedded in its mission statement and seek to further explain the concept. For example, <a href="http://www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia.go?assetid=2047" target="_blank">Patagonia’s mission statement</a> is “Build the best products, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”</p>

    <p>That in and of itself is explanatory. But then they go on to explain the “why” behind the statement, a further definition of their values (simplicity, utility, donating time, services, and money to grassroots environmental groups, etc.) to establish a deeper core cultural statement and understanding.</p>

   <li>Develop a cultural vocabulary.</li>

    <p>Once a core cultural statement is established and paired with the mission statement, a company should consider the words it wants to use to define the sentiment in question. What reinforcing words, adjectives, and nouns best reflect your core cultural statement? Identify a list of words that define your culture and use them regularly in internal and external communications.</p>

    <p>A great example of this is demonstrated at <a href="http://www.inc.com/jay-steinfeld/words-matter-why-corporate-vocabulary-matters.html" target="_blank">Blinds.com, where CEO Jay Steinfeld says</a> words are used to inspire (projects are named things like “Everest,” to emphasize “taking customer product customization to new heights”), establish accountability (trainees are called “future stars,” call centers are called “academy bay,” sales reps are called “design consultants”), and support core values (the word “failure” is forbidden within the office, called “learning experiences” instead).</p>

    <li>Model your behavior.</li>

    <p>Leaders need to practice what they preach, especially with culture, where modeling behavior is particularly important. Act in such a manner that shows employees that you live the culture. Organizational culture should be reflected in leaders’ behavior in a natural, consistent, and unobtrusive way so the modeling is authentic. If it is, employees will follow suit. </p>

    <p>Examples of this are often seen with <a href="/resources/leadership-and-management/is-servant-leadership-the-most-effective-type-of-management/">servant leaders</a>, who demonstrate expectations to employees by showing them how to act.</p>

    <p>HR professionals can also help foster an atmosphere that reflects a company’s organizational culture by <a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/1244-organizational-design-how-hr-professionals-can-become-effective-sustainability-leaders" target="_blank">acting as stewards of cultural practices</a>. HR is often responsible for helping to shape or reshape an organization’s culture by developing programs that align to and support it, as well as by measuring how employees engage with it. Serving as the person that helps others manage change or adapt to these workplace cultural norms is critical to driving systemic change.</p>

    <li>Avoid cultural drift.</li>

    <p>After organizational culture is defined and established in the above ways, take strides to continue to support it through actions, words, and attitude. No matter what, leadership should reinforce, recognize, and reward behavior that's consistent with the company’s core cultural statement.</p>
</ol>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Conclusion</h3>

    <p>Organizational culture involves the values and behaviors that contribute to a company’s social and psychological environment. It involves the expectations, experiences, philosophy, and values that hold a business together. A positive organizational culture can motivate and inspire and propel your business forward, while cultivating a positive work environment that everyone can appreciate.</p>






What Is Organizational Culture?



    
    <div class="img__right">
        
    </div>

    <p>Favoritism in the workplace is generally perceived as a <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/10/25/how-to-deal-with-favoritism-at-work/" target="_blank">negative thing</a>. Experts and business leaders like Lynn Taylor (workplace expert and author of <a href="http://www.tameyourtot.com/" target="_blank"><em>Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant; How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job</em></a>) talk about how favoritism has a toxic effect on the workplace culture, saying it can start as something benign but develop into a hostile environment for others. </p>
    <p>But favoritism in the workplace doesn’t always lead to terrible outcomes. Sometimes, it can even create better, more productive workplace cultures. To build up rather than tear down via playing favorites, it’s important for managers to take careful, well-thought-out approaches to the tactic. But we’ll get to that. Here, we discuss the dos and don’ts of playing favorites at work.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">Playing Favorites: Everyone Does It — But Not Always Right</h4>
    <p>A whopping 92% of senior business executives have seen favoritism at play in employee promotions, and a quarter of executives admitted to practicing favoritism themselves according to a <a href="http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2011/08/29/new-study-reveals-objective-decision-making-on-promotions-a-sham/" target="_blank">2011 survey conducted by Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business</a>.</p>

    <p>The study respondents defined favoritism as giving preferential treatment to employees based on factors other than qualifications and performance, such as friendship or connections. It’s there that the problem lies.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">The Wrong Way to Use Favoritism in the Workplace</h4>
    <p>Misplaced priorities cause most of the negative impacts attributed to favoritism. Misplaced priorities, of course, being those that choose favorites due to factors not related to the workplace. </p>

    <p>Disparaging others — “Why can’t you be more like so-and-so?” — or favoring people based on arbitrary factors like shared interests or similar personalities leads to negative outcomes. When managers prioritize things that are unrelated to work, and are therefore unable to be achieved by everyone, it makes the workplace feel like a constant popularity contest.</p> 

    <p>Instead of motivating other employees to strive to do better, this type of favoritism can lead to envy, discontent, and an atmosphere of resentment. This, in turn, can de-motivate employees and damage team unity. It can also cause managers to overlook growth opportunities and unique skill sets offered by others — the “unfavorites.”</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">The Right Way to Use Favoritism in the Workplace</h4>
    <p>Now that we’ve talked about how not to play favorites, let's focus how to do it correctly and how it can benefit an organization. The right way to use favoritism in the workplace is to be transparent, careful, and selective about methods and to show favoritism for the right reasons — a.k.a. reasons related exclusively to job performance and at-work behavior. This type of favoritism can actually make employees feel more motivated and empowered. </p>

    <p>Proof of these positive outcomes was outlined in a <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-012-1287-5" target="_blank">2013 study by the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business, which was published in the <em>Journal of Business Ethics</em></a>. The study found that employees who were favored a little more than others experienced heightened self-esteem and were more likely to follow workplace norms and perform tasks that benefit the entire group. The favored employees were also perceived as both more social and more productive by coworkers.</p>

    <p>“There’s a risk that treating some employees better than the rest can turn others off," said Professor Karl Aquino, one of the study's authors. "The key is to find the right balance — treat everyone reasonably well, but treat those whose work counts most or who have been most productive just a little bit better.”</p>

    <p>Although the study only focuses on how those being favored react to the favoritism, evidence suggests that favored employees are motivated to comply with norms and to engage in tasks that benefit the group as a whole, which means non-favored employees also benefit. When done right, everyone wins.</p>

    <p>That said, let’s get into the dos and don’ts.</p>


    <h4 class="h4__alt">What Not to Do When Playing Favorites in the Workplace</h4>

    <ul>
        <li><strong>Don’t</strong> just favor the employees you hired yourself over ones you inherited</li>
    
        <li><strong>Don’t</strong> favor employees based on factors other than work, such as friendship or shared interests (have children, own pets, like the outdoors, like a genre of music, etc.)</li>
    
       <li><strong>Don't</strong> compare one employee to another</li>
    </ul>

    These things send the message that favoritism isn’t earned but bestowed, based not on performance but on unspecified preferences. That can be damaging to workplace morale and productivity.


    <h4 class="h4__alt">The Right Way to Play Favorites in the Workplace</h4>

    <ul>
        <li><strong>Do</strong> show preference to employees who work or try harder, perform better, and deliver more consistent results </li>
    
        <li><strong>Do</strong> reward employees who are willing to collaborate and compromise</li>
    
        <li><strong>Do</strong> motivate and empower employees in ways that benefit the entire team — when someone performs above and beyond, praise them, reward them, and then include everyone in the celebration to encourage them all to aim high and achieve</li>
    </ul>

    <p>In sum, favoritism in the workplace can be a good thing. By showing preferential treatment to employees from time to time based on performance, they can feel a greater sense of self-worth in their jobs, tend to stick around longer, and, eventually, may become effective leaders themselves. For more tips on how to positively engage employees, see this article on alternative ways to encourage employee engagement.</p>




When Favoritism in the Workplace is a Good Thing



    
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    <p>It sounds odd at first, encouraging employees to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites at work. But social media in the workplace isn’t the taboo thing it once was. In fact, 90% of companies use social media for business purposes, according to a <a href="http://www.proskauer.com/news/press-releases/proskauer-releases-2014-social-media-in-the-workplace-global-study/" target="_blank">2014 global survey</a>. That’s right: 90%.</p>

    <p>There are many benefits to using social media in the workplace. A few include improved communication within the company, promotion of the company brand, recruiting talent, and better customer service (which leads to increased customer loyalty). Of course, the benefits only come with proper management and communication with employees. But done right, using social media in the workplace can be a benefit to your company, your employees, and your customers. Here’s how.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Improved Communication Within the Company</h3>
    <p>Once upon a time, companies used newsletters to keep employees informed. Social media is the new newsletter. Private Facebook pages and events can keep employees up to date with current events and changes, as well as act as a sort of interactive “who’s who” page, putting faces to names for coworkers that work in different offices.</p>

    <p>Beyond serving as a way to keep employees informed, social media can also be an avenue for <a href="http://www.gwava.com/blog/social-media-in-the-workplace-benefits-and-growth/" target="_blank">creating a sense of community and affirmation</a> among employees and business partners. That is, after all, what social media is intended for: bringing people together, even when they can’t physically be together. And <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/09/24/how-much-coworker-socializing-is-good-for-your-career/" target="_blank">happy employees are productive employees</a>, says Alexander Kjerulf, author and speaker on the topic of happiness at work. “Employees who have positive workplace relationships are happier at work…and we know that people who are happy at work are more productive, more creative, and more successful overall.”</p>

    <p>A <a href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2014/05/01/case-for-embracing-social-media-at-work/" target="_blank">report</a> by David Maxfield, co-author of Crucial Conversations, and Mike Rognlien, learning and development manager at Facebook, backs Kjerulf’s claim. The report studied 2,698 people and found that for three in five workers, social media has resulted in better relationships at work; one in three have used social media to further work-related projects.</p>

    <p>Since social media is prevalent, popular, and here to stay, it’s best to take <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/03/business/opinion-keen-social-media-office/" target="_blank">CNN</a>’s advice and embrace and utilize it, treating it as the new coffee break.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Promotion of the Company Brand</h3>
    <p>It used to be enough to have a good company website. But now, to reach the most people—and the right demographic—social media is also important. <a href="https://about.twitter.com/company" target="_blank">Twitter</a> has 302 million monthly active users. <a href="http://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> has 1.44 billion monthly active users. That’s a big market, and it’s right at your fingertips.</p>

    <p>If employees are tweeting and retweeting company news, posting photos of products on Instagram, and inviting people to “like” your Facebook page, they are essentially acting as social media marketers. But instead of having to pay them overtime, all you have to do is allow them to do what comes naturally to them: multitask, balancing work life with their virtual life.</p>

    <p>As for your sales and marketing team, social media can be used to promote products and services instantly and widely. Once the promotion is out there, consumers are able to interact with it, communicate with one another about it, and share their ideas and experience with it. This creates a personal connection to your company and, with it, brand loyalty.</p>

    <p>Another thing to consider: When employees are on social media—even their personal pages—they are able to keep tabs on competition and news stories in real time. This instant access to information gives people “an ESP-like sense of what other people are thinking,” says Clive Thompson in his book, <em><a href="http://www.penguin.com/book/smarter-than-you-think-by-clive-thompson/9781594204456" target="_blank">Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better</a></em>. That kind of insight can give your company the leg-up on competition and information that helps you better communicate with your customers.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Recruiting New Talent</h3>
    <p>Online professional networks are an incredibly rich area to find talent you might otherwise never know about or be able to reach. The largest, <a href="https://press.linkedin.com/about-linkedin" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>, has over 364 million registered members in over 200 countries. That’s instant worldwide access to potential job recruits: the best and the brightest, from new college graduates to established talent. </p>

    <p>Beyond websites structured specifically for recruiting, other social media venues allow business partners, employees, and co-workers present and past to keep in touch and inform one another about potential hiring opportunities. The better connected your company is, the more possibilities there are for improving your hiring prospects. </p>

    <p>One more thing to keep in mind is that prospective employees use the social media profiles of companies to <a href="http://techranchaustin.com/opportunities-and-challenges-of-social-media-in-the-workplace/" target="_blank">make lists of places where they might want to work</a>. By creating an attractive, up-to-date, interactive profile, your company can better attract top candidates.</p>

    <h3 class="h3__alt">Better Customer Service</h3>
    <p>Once you establish your social media presence, customers will expect to use it as a way to connect with you—think of it as the new “contact us” page, but instead of email and phone numbers, there are Twitter handles and Facebook messages. </p>

    The key to using social media as customer service is to be timely and effective. Only 36% of consumers that make customer service inquiries via social media reported having their issue solved quickly and effectively, according to NM Incite’s <a href="https://soulofbrands.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/nm-incite-report-the-state-of-social-customer-service-2012.pdf" target="_blank">2012 “State of Social Customer Service Report.”</a> You want to do better than that. Here’s why:

    <ul>
        <li>Customers end up spending <a href="http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/putting-social-media-to-work.aspx" target="_blank">20-40% more</a> when companies engage and respond to customer service requests over social media (as opposed to not responding)</li>

        <li><a href="https://soulofbrands.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/nm-incite-report-the-state-of-social-customer-service-2012.pdf" target="_blank">71% of customers</a> who get a quick and effective response are likely to recommend that brand to another</li>
        <li><a href="http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/commerce/live-help-on-demand/oracle-live-help-wp-aamf-1624138.pdf" target="_blank">43% of customers</a> say that a direct response to their questions is most important at a social media site</li>
        <li><a href="http://www.maritzresearch.com/~/media/Files/MaritzResearch/e24/ExecutiveSummaryTwitterPoll.ashx" target="_blank">86% of social media customers</a> would like or love to hear from a company regarding a complaint</li>
    </ul>

   <h3 class="h3__alt">Potential Problems—and How to Avoid Them</h3>
    <p>Allowing and encouraging social media in the workplace can be beneficial to a company, but it needs to come with guidelines or problems—like wasted time (see below)—will creep in.</p>

    A <a href="http://www.salary.com/2014-wasting-time-at-work/" target="_blank">2014 Salary.com survey</a> of 750 people revealed the following information about people wasting time at work on social media:
    <ul>
        <li>389% of people reported wasting time at work every day—up 20% from their 2013 survey compared to last year</li>
        <li>31% waste roughly 30 minutes daily</li>
        <li>31% waste roughly 1 hour daily</li>
        <li>16% waste roughly 2 hours daily</li>
        <li>6% waste roughly 3 hours daily</li>
        <li>2% waste roughly 4 hours daily</li>
        <li>2% waste 5 or more hours daily</li>
    </ul>

    <p>The best way to combat this is by having a <a href="/resources/leadership-and-management/what-should-go-in-an-employee-handbook-template/">social media policy in your employee handbook</a>. The policy should spell out exactly what is and is not allowed for social media use during the workday. Be sure to think about the following <a href="http://www.reinhartlaw.com/Publications/Documents/ea20130506LL.pdf?utm_source=Mondaq&utm_medium=syndication&utm_campaign=View-Original" target="_blank">legal considerations</a>:</p>

    <ul>
        <li><strong>Understand your employees' rights</strong> to use social media under the <a href="http://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/fact-sheets/nlrb-and-social-media" target="_blank">National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)</a>. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) says that <a href="http://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/whats-law/employees/i-am-not-represented-union/social-media" target="_blank">employees have the right to discuss work conditions on social media sites without retribution from their employers</a>.</li>
    
        <li><strong>Restrict behavior that is not protected under the NLRA</strong>. For example: employees should be forbidden from disclosing trade secrets, posting anything that contains offensive language, posting harassing or disparaging comments about other employees that could lead to discrimination claims (such as comments related to sex, race, disability or religion), etc.</li>
    
        <li><strong>Be specific</strong> and include examples of the types of behavior that violate the policy.</li>
    
        <li><strong>Include that all forms of communication on company-owned property may be monitored</strong>. Tell employees this in advance so there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. Require employee signatures to acknowledge that you told them and that they understand the policy.</li>
    
        <li><strong>State that you can modify the policy at any time</strong>. Social media is constantly changing, and you need to be able to modify it as needed. Notify employees when there has been an update and require them to familiarize themselves with the updated policy.</li>
    
        <li><strong>Train employees on the policy</strong>. Make sure employees understand what the policy says and how it applies to their jobs. They also should understand the risks associated with social media as well as the benefits of appropriate use. Train them on <a href="/resources/skill-development/time-management-strategies-for-hrs/">tips for time-management strategies</a>. Conduct re-trainings to update employees about policy modifications.</li>
    
        <li><strong>Enforce the policy</strong>. Create, communicate, and incorporate disciplinary actions to apply to social media violations. Courts are likely to evaluate the policy's validity based on equal enforcement, so all activity should be treated equally. This may require collaboration among HR, IT, and legal departments.</li>
    </ul>

    <p>There are many benefits born of using social media in the workplace. Improved communication within the company, promotion of the company brand, recruiting talent, better customer service, increased customer loyalty—it would be imprudent not to fully utilize the many mediums available online. </p>

    <p>By educating your employees on proper social media etiquette and expectations, there’s no reason your company can’t thrive online. Use it right, and let social media be a benefit to your company, your employees, and your customers</p>





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