TheSamBowers.com

Alright, why does the Human Resources Department always get off the cuff when businesses fail?  We are calm, analytical, people oriented, we give you your paycheck.  Oh and one more, we are usually quiet and innocent.  Right?  Wrong!  Perhaps we are the sole reason why businesses fail!  That’s right!  It’s not the CEO, it’s not the executives, it’s not the sales staff.  Ok, perhaps there might be a little blame to put on their shoulders, but if you take all of the layers of the problem apart piece by piece and think outside the box, HR plays a crucial role in the success or failure of the business.  Prime example is Toyota.  Yes the designs failed.  Yes the executives overlooked safety.  Here is the kicker, who was in charge of designing the training program, reviewing talent’s success, ensuring that responsibilities were detailed in writing?  Yes the executive have some responsibility, but look beyond the executives.  It’s HR.  Granted we don’t sell the product, we don’t manage the production floor, we don’t draw the blue prints, we don’t know how to make cars, we don’t make the big corporate decisions.  We are  the eyes of the executives, designing the training program, handle policies and procedures, etc.   Now in Toyota’s case there is blame to go all around, not just HR and their CEO, Akio Toyoda.  In many of the cases where businesses have been struggling HR plays a crucial role.  I know it’s a bold statement, but I truly believe that we are overlooking the source of the problem.  Perhaps businesses need to completely digest their HR Department to ensure that there aren’t any cracks open.  Think about it.  What department is usually the last department to be reviewed and analyzed?  Human Resources.  Now I know I have confused a lot of HR professional who read this blog daily, but it’s true.  Yes we may seem to be in a little bubble, but perhaps we need to get out of it and take a look at the business from a big picture and not just look at policies and procedures, benefits, compensation, employee relations, etc.  Maybe we need to be involved with the corporate decisions, because we are the people who deal with Humans everyday.  It’s not machines that run the business, it’s the people.

No, I did not get yelled at, no I didn’t piss off a client, no I am not ranting for the heck of it.  I have been thinking about why businesses have been struggling so much recently.  And after analyzing businesses here in Milwaukee who have been struggling, in almost all of the cases there are key components that impacted their struggles that lie in the Human Resources hands.  Think about businesses in your city that are struggling.  Why do you think that they are failing?  Oh and don’t listen to the news.  I used to work in television, believe me, we looked for words that made the story great.  It’s all about the ratings.  Out of respect I am not going to tell you who I worked for.  In other words, do your own research and don’t let others impact your conclusion of the problem.

This is why when I work with businesses I always look at the big picture.  Strategic planning in HR is absolutely crucial.  Not just 2 – 5 year plan, but 3, 5, 10 and 15 year plan.  Lay out what the executives want to accomplish and draw out a plan that will be in line with those goals.  This will help lay down the foundation of how you will train staff, improve your orientation program, and so on.  It is a failure on your end if you are not communicating with the executives of your firm.  Don’t get comfortable, because you control the success and or the failure of your firm.  You may be on the hot seat and you don’t even know it.

“Do I need an employee handbook if I have a small start up business?” This is a question that I have been getting a lot lately. The answer is: Yes you do.

Even if you have a small family owned business and have employees, you still need to have one. Why? It protects you from the unknown, the what ifs, the little disagreement you have with an employee, and so on and so forth. An employee handbook is a tool. A tool, that lays out the guidelines of the firm; keeps you in compliance; helps prevent you from loosing potential law suits.

“But I trust my employees. We have a level of understanding that other businesses don’t have.” Great! I am glad to hear that. Here is my question: How fast can that trust be broken? In some cases very quickly and if you have nothing in place to protect yourself you might be in trouble, especially if the EEOC finds out or other agencies.

Do you have the cash on hand to settle a disagreement, a lawsuit, a fine? I am not talking about a few hundred dollars, I am talking about $20,000 to $200,000? And this might just be the fine, what about the costs of hiring an attorney, the legal fees and other misc. costs?

“But isn’t that why we have an LLC or liability insurance?” No. An LLC or a liability insurance policy protects your personal finances. So in other words, the employee can’t come after you, they have to go after the company. Now, I am not an expert in LLC’s or liability insurance. If you want more information I would talk with your business attorney or accountant.

“Yeah, but I AM A SMALL BUSINESS OWNER! There aren’t any compliance issues that we have to deal with.” Are you sure? “Yes I am sure, we don’t have 15 employees.” You are right, there are laws that don’t apply to you until you have 15 employees like Affirmative Action. However there are a lof of laws that do apply like: American Disability Act, Discrimination Acts, Age Discrimination Laws, Fair Labor Standards Act (Fair Pay), Sex Discrimination, Equal Opportunity Employer, Immigration and Naturalization Service Compliance, Confidentiality Compliance, Personal Days (National and State Compliance), and on and on and on. There are a lot of laws that still apply to your firm, even if you only have one employee!

An employee handbook isn’t just about being in compliance, it’s also about how to handle different situations. For instance, if you allow your employees to use either company or personal vehicle during work hours how should your employee(s) handle accidents? What type of insurance must they have to use their personal vehicle? Even better, where to go when there is a tornado, fire, hurricane, earthquake, etc. Where do you meet after the incident is over or communicate to see if everyone is alright? Who documents attendance after one of those natural disasters? Who calls the fire department? Who is CPR certified?

Even non natural disasters need to be explained too. Including where is the paper shredder, what gets shredded, where are the supplies, etc. How to open the store, how to close the store, how to handle customer compliance, etc.

Your employee handbook is more than a compliance tool. It’s an orientation tool, a resource to find information on different aspects of the firm. An employee handbook informs your staff on how you treat your employees. This won’t hurt your relationship at all, its a communication tool to make sure that everyone knows what their responsibilities are and in the event that something happens you and your staff are now prepared.

“Wow, I have never thought about that. When should I hand it out?” The employee handbook should be handed out upon the orientation process. You can use it as an outline to structure your orientation process or as reading material for your new hires.

“But how do I know if they read it or not?” That’s a great question. You may never know. That is why it’s extremely important to have them sign the acknowledgment form stating that they have read it. Why is this important? In the event that they come back and sew you, you have proof that they read and agreed to the handbook guidelines (hard evidence that can be used in court, etc.).

However, an employee handbook is not a contract of employment! Let me repeat: AN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK IS NOT A CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT. It’s a guide for you and your staff. The best part about an employee handbook is that it can be adjusted at any time by management and should be reviewed once a year.

If you have any questions about employee handbooks or any other HR questions I answer questions live on Twitter Wednesdays and Fridays from 10am – 11am CDT. My Twitter name is TheHRExpert_Sam. If you are unable to make that time or don’t have a twitter account you can contact me through email or give me a call. Just click on my contact me page.

Recently I have seen an increase of activity regarding poor use of words when discussing disabilities in the workplace.  For your conveinence I have created a Do’s and Don’ts comparison list for you to use when training employees on disabilities in the workplace.

Do’s                                                                                                                                                  Don’ts

1. person with an intellectual,                                                                                  retarded; mentally
   cognitive or developmental                                                                                 defective
   disability
2. person who is blind; person                                                                                  the blind

   who is visually impaired
3. person with a disability                                                                                          the disabled;
                                                                                                                                             handicapped
4. person who is deaf or                                                                                              the deaf; deaf and

   hearing impaired                                                                                                      dumb
5. person who has multiple                                                                                      afflicted by MS

   sclerosis
6. person with epilepsy; person                                                                             Epileptic

   with a seizure disorder
7. person who uses a wheel-                                                                                    confined or

   chair                                                                                                                             restricted to a wheelchair
8. person with a physical                                                                                         crippled; lame;

   disability; physically                                                                                            deformed

   disabled
9. unable to speak; uses                                                                                            dumb; mute

   synthetic speech

10. person with a psychiatric                                                                                    crazy; nuts

    disability

11. person who is successful,                                                                                    has overcome his

    productive                                                                                                                or her disability; is

                                                                                                                                           courageous (when it

                                                                                                                                           implies the person has

Happy New Year to you, your family and your staff.  The other day I was thinking about my personal resolutions and then started to think about what resolutions would be for HR departments.  If you don’t have any resolutions for your department why not?  Is your department that perfect?  I highly doubt it.  What I suggest you do is sit down with your staff and seriously brain storm resolutions for the department as a whole and then have them pick a resolution for themselves, career wise.  This will help you out tramendously in getting your new year off on the right foot.  Here are some New Years HR Resolution ideas:

1.  Improve employee relations efficiency by 30%

2.  Develop an Employee Volunteer Program

3.  Survey the corporate atmosphere

4. Prepare for HealthCare reform by implementing a employee wellness program

5.  Reduce company turnover by 50%

These are just a few HR Resolutions that will help you jump start your HR Department for a successful 2010.

Last week reminded me vividly that Wisconsin has winter!  Especially for an HR Consultant, like myself who travels all the time.  With well over 12″ of snow in parts of the area I was trying to remind myself that winter is now one day shorter and that warmth would soon cover Wisconsin again.  This got me into thinking about all of HR Departments and businesses who are planning holiday parties.  A lot of businesses have been cutting back on their budgets and not even organizing their holiday parties, however there are businesses who are still putting them on.  If your organization will be having a holiday party it is absolutely vital that you do it the right way.  I am not talking about decking out the ball room with all of the trinkets, treats, and entertainment but how are you going to maintain it legally and prevent HR nightmares?

Yes this can be an HR nightmare!  Especially if alcohol is involved, employees dressing suggestively, employees failing to attend for good reason, co-workers flirting with other co-workers or even their significant other, employees brining uninvited guests or children, employees forgetting that the company holiday party is an actually company party not some wild insane dance club (see  picture to the left), etc.

Even more vital is how you are organizing the event and communicating to your employees.  There have been countless HR Managers who have been terminated because they communicated the event to the employees the wrong way.  Especially with how they title the event, like Christmas Party.  “But Sam, it is a Christmas Party.  Why would we not call it that?” you ask.  Discrimination, that is why.  Remember, not everyone celebrates Christmas.

A friend of mine sent me an email joke last week with a series of memos that were arranged by an HR Director of a company.  I won’t go into details because of the grammar, but the messages where constantly offending employees like people who celebrate different holiday traditions, eat different types of foods, people who don’t drink, etc.  Basically the HR Director offended so many people, that management terminated them immediately and the Holiday Party was cancelled.

Here is what I highly recommend if you are having one, call it “Holiday Party” and don’t have Santa there, gift exchanges, or anything related to any particular denomination.

“But Sam, how can you have a “Holiday Party” without being discriminating?”, you ask.

Here are some ideas:

1. Have festive material, like tinsel, multi colored lights, or new year decorations (No-Noes: wreaths, symbols of a particular denomination, Santa, gifts, christmas or other holiday music)
2. No Games that relate to any particular denomination, instead how about games that relate to new years or end of the year games.  This could be trivia of major events or events that happened this past year in your business, or trivia on the history of the company, or new years trivia, etc.
3. Break out into groups, pick a topic that would get people to interact and get to know each other (especially if you have a lot of employees, this is a great way for people to get know each other and their families and build relationship that will help your business out down the road, etc.) etc.

There are palethera of ways to have fun at a “Holiday or New Year or End of Year Party” just as long as you aren’t discriminating and making it an all round encompassing event. 

If you have any particular questions or need ideas for your event feel free to contact me.  Have a wonderful Holiday Season and New Years!  Enjoy!

Due to the H1N1 pandemic there has been a new bill that has been proposed in Washington.  On 11/10/2009, Seth Harris, Deputy Secretary of Labor, testified in front of the Senate on children and families regarding workplace flexibility and paid leave in the context of the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic.  He announced to the Senate that the Obama Administration has endorsed the Healthy Families Act (HFA). 

This potential law will drastically affect your business if it is signed into law.  If this passes you must allow your employees to take days off and can’t terminate them because they are sick, no matter how long they are out.  This would include parents who have to take care of their kids if they are sick or if their school is closed.  These days would not count against any personal time or vacation time.   This bill was created because of the severity of the H1N1 flu pandemic and the increase of employees being terminated because they are taking too many days off to care for themselves or their kids.

Keep your eyes peeled for further updates on this bill.  In the mean time boost up your efforts to help prevent the spread of the seasonal flu and H1N1 virus by keeping your office clean and have plenty of hand sanitizer throughout the office.  Remember you can’t discriminate against your employees for being sick, if you have specific questions about your employees being sick feel free to call me.

I have heard a lot of people talking about the Employee Free Choice Act and the changes that will come with it.  Yes, it is currently on the table in Washington, just not the number one issue on Obama’s plate.  Regardless if the bill passes or not, I can guarantee that Labor Reform will happen and businesses must prepare for it.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), is very volatile by nature.  Most people know about the NRLB, but do you know how it is structured and how it works? 

The NLRB is consist of five members, who are appointed by the President for a five-year term.  “Traditionally two of the members have management background, while two more are aligned with organized labor.”  The fifth person is a swing person, primarily used for voting purposes and may come from either side, pending on what the President decides.

The NLRB primary purpose to manage and implement new rules for unions, not laws.  This does not limit them from proposing new bills to the President.  These rules and policies arise from case decisions, decisions that can be appealed in federal court.  Normally the board doesn’t like making huge changes, the fear is that with the new NLRB members, that President Obama will put in place, will aggressively use the power to change rules and policies to reform the union marketplace.

Currently Wilma Liebman is the Board Chairperson, who often was the “swing vote” and outspoken critic of decisions from the Bush-era.  Before she appointed on the board she served as legal counsel to the Teamsters union.  There is one other person currently on the board from the Bush Administration,  Peter Shaumberg, a Republican.

Some potential nominees for the remaining seats include:

Craig Becker: A Service Employee International Union (SEIU) council member, has drawn the most fears from employers.  Why?  He is pro-union and has expressed aversion to the so-called captive audience meetings and an insistence upon “equal access” for unions.

Mark Pearce: Union-side Attorney

Once the NLRB members are in place with Chairperson Liebman, they will become a very formidable aggressive pro-union team who will presumably push for several things.  The first is eliminating restrictions on employees to communicate during work through email about forming a union.  This was put in place back in 2007.  Other employer areas of concern include the right to counsel non-union employees outside of the presence of a representative, excluding temporary workers and front-line supervisors from bargaining units, and the long-standing entitlement to permanently replace economic strikers.

So how do you prepare for this potentially strong union push?  There are several things that you need to look at and do.  Everything from discussing this with your management team, to reviewing your employee recognition program, to constantly communicating with your employees to ensure that they are happy.

I strongly suggest having a strategic planning meeting with management to established a well-rounded Union Prevention Plan.  This meeting will look at all aspects of your employee relations program.  Specifically, your employee recognition program.  Are you really paying attention to what your employees are talking about?  The following people need to be involved in this meeting:

1. CEO/President
2. Vice President
3. Human Resources Director/ Manager
4. Director of Operations
5. CFO/Controller/VP of Finance
6. Anyone else who is involved with business decision-making

I have provided a free Management Meeting Agenda outline for you to use.  This is a basic outline that can help you get started.  If you would like assistants structuring a solid agenda for the meeting that fits your business or if you have any questions on this topic, please let me know.