Blog #9 - Progressive Discipline

Last Monday, a good friend of mine was terminated from her job.  We all saw it coming . . . she was going through some personal problems and it was definitely affecting her work.  She was late to work almost every day because she had to get her 3 children ready and over to her mom's house, which was no easy task.  Not to mention the illnesses, the head-lice incident, and the parent-teacher meetings.  She started taking longer lunches and leaving work early.  She began missing work deadlines and meetings.  About 2 weeks ago, her boss and a HR representative had a meeting with my friend to discuss her work issues.  They presented her with a 5 page document outlining her poor performance issues including 3-4 examples of each offense.  It also included a plan of what she needed to improve, what needed to be corrected, and how she would be evaluated.  They gave her a deadline to meet these goals, which was 30 days.  Within the first 2 weeks, she was late to work 1 day due to a child illness and (her boss said) she missed a deadline.  They let her go, providing her with 2 month severance package and continued benefits, and paid-out her unused vacation time.

Did her employer follow all the necessary steps?  5 Step of Progressive Discipline outlines the correct process.  1. Oral Reprimand.  I know my friend did make her boss aware of her personal problems.  This was an informal conversation and, to her knowledge, nothing was documented.  2. Written warning.  This was provided, as mentioned above.  3. Final written warning.  Since she was terminated before the 30 day deadline was reached, there wasn't time for a final written warning.  4. Termination Review.  We can only assume the was completed by her boss.  5. Termination.

What could have been done differently in this process?  Was her boss justified to terminate her before the 30 day probationary period?  Do you think her boss was more than generous with the severance package provided?  Let me know your thoughts.

Blog #8 - Employee Assistance Programs

While reading about Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) in Chapter 15 of our text book, I found it hard to imagine a downside to this employer-offered benefit.  Wow, my employer will actually pay for me to get help if I had an alcohol or drug problem, I need legal help or require tax assistance (by the way, I don't need help in these areas - I mean, I really like wine but I'm pretty sure I don't have a problem!)?  To reaffirm this opinion, in the article The Top 10 Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Employee Assitance Program the top 5 benefits are:   1. Improved Productivity, 2. Reduced Company Costs, 3. Third Party Assistance, 4. Increased Morale and Workplace Harmony, 5. Reduced Absenteeism  (you can read the rest in the article).  These are some pretty convincing reasons.  Why wouldn't an employer offer such a program?

Here's why.  The article The Disadvantages of Employee Assistance Programs explains the downside to these programs.  1. The cost.  It is not always clear there is a positive return on investment and the cost to implement these programs can be substantial. 2. Confidentiality.  At work, it isn't always easy to keep your personal life private.  Although counselors have an obligation to confidentiality, co-workers may find out you are participating in these programs.  You may be embarrassed and choose not to continue treatment.  3. Effectiveness.  This depends on the provider.  The employer must choose wisely, and, as the saying goes "you get what you pay for".  4. Misuse.  I believe this is the bigest disadvantage.  Personally, I know some people who use this as another form of PTO (Paid Time Off).  Obviously, this can be very costly to the organization.

So, are these programs good or bad?  Effective or a waste of time?  As in many circumstances, it depends.  It depends if the programs are well planned, successfully implemented, and well-run.  Rationally, it only makes sense that a happy, well-adjusted, problem-free employee would be more productive.

Blog #7 - The Do's and Don'ts of Implementing an Incentive Pay Plan

Incentive pay plans can be great motivators.  What could be better than the almighty dollar to get employees to work harder, faster, and safer?  There are many forms of monetary incentives:  sales commissions - a percentage of a successful sale; bonuses - supplemental pay;  profit sharing - employees share in the profits of the company; and stock options - employees can purchase company stock.  But how do you implement these incentives into an already existing pay structure?  And how do you do this successfully?

I found 2 articles that address these questions.  The first article, How NOT To Do Incentive Pay, discusses an experiment performed by Hewlett-Packard that went horribly wrong.  The experiment taught HP (and others) a valuable lesson - how not to implement an incentive pay plan.  Lesson #1 - Setting Goals.  Goals that are too easily attainable will increase costs and affect the bottom line.  Lesson #2 - Adjusting Goals.  Avoid this!  A moving target causes distrust in the system and poor attitudes among workers.  Lesson #3 - The Effects of Different Performance Levels.  Employees can become competitive and uncooperative toward their co-workers, which leads to decreased productivity.  The experiment was abandoned and the old pay structure was restored.  What could HP have done differently?

The second article, Incentive Compensation, gives advice on how to implement an incentive pay plan the right way.  When setting goals, make sure they are clear-cut, understood, and communicated to employees before the plan begins.  Also, tie individual goals to the company goals.  Focus on what behavior is desired, and make sure the incentive drives that behavior.  Next, the plan design should link goals to increased performance.  This is important for 2 reasons:  1. Increased performance leads to increased profits and 2. The increased profits will help cover the costs of the incentives. 

Companies and employees can benefit from a well designed incentive pay plan.  Don't let what happened to Hewlett-Packard happen to your company.  Pay attention to the do's . . . . and be aware of the don'ts.

Blog #6 - Working from Home

It was a cold February day.  It had snowed steadily all night long and accumulated more than 6 inches.  Schools were closed.  No way was I driving an hour and a half to New Jersey!  So, by 6am, I was logged in and working on the sales tax information that needed to be submitted by the end of the day.  No problem.  I was finished before 11am.  Now, time for the conference call.  I grabbed my cell phone and dialed in.  Lunch time!  I made lunch for my husband and the kids, started some laundry, then back on the computer.  Wow, 35 e-mails in the 40 minutes I was away from my computer?!?!  I answered all of them and made a few more phone calls.  Then, I started my reconciliations.  I worked till about 5:30pm, then started dinner.  I ate, cleaned up, put the laundry in the dryer and started another load, then back on the computer.  I finally logged out around 8:30pm.  I really got a lot of work finished.  It was a good day!  Okay, so I didn't get to take a shower, but I was otherwise productive.  I think I actually have time to watch a TV show . . . .

Working from home does have its advantages.  I can put more hours in to actually working instead of three hours commuting.  Also, there are fewer interruptions.  No one is stopping by your desk to ask a question or to talk about what they watched on TV last night.  Instead, they send an e-mail and you can answer them at your convenience.  Less interruptions leads to less errors.  I find I can concentrate and finish what I'm working on, which usually means my work is more accurate.  And, my favorite advantage, I can also get some housework done!  I'm also available to the kids if they need me - and they usually need me to be the referee!

The article Working Remotely Alleviates More Stress Than It Creates discusses additional advantages to working from home as well as suggests other ways to increase job satisfaction.  The work place is changing due to technological advances and working from home will become more the norm than the exception.