Mutiny at Work

In the year 1787, a young British Naval Officer by the name of Lieutenant William Bligh was given the assignment of sailing to Tahiti to collect breadfruit saplings for transport to the Caribbean. His first officer on the voyage was Fletcher Christian, and the ship was the now famous HMS Bounty. What exactly transpired on that ship two years into the voyage is still up for debate; however, the facts are clear. Mr. Christian with the help of twelve crewmembers took over the HMS Bounty and cast Captain Bligh and his crew adrift on the high sea in a small 23-foot open boat. What is still in dispute is the reason for the mutiny. Did Mr. Christian retaliate under the inhumane treatment of Captain Bligh, or did he lead the mutiny only for his own selfish desire to live an indulgent life in Tahiti?

The mutiny that occurred on the HMS Bounty has all the trappings of a mystery novel, a love story, and psychological thriller all in one high seas adventure. It has inspired over 2,000 articles and books, five major motion pictures, and numerous documentary films produced about the mutiny; nevertheless, speculation as to the motive for the mutiny still abounds. Was Captain Bligh a foul-tempered authoritarian with a superiority complex, or was Mr. Christian a rebellious hedonist?

How does what transpired on the HMS Bounty apply to your company or organization? It's applicable because a company is a lot like a ship at sea. Similar to a ship, your company has a mission to accomplish, a captain and first officers, and there are many hazards that can cause your company to run aground. A mutiny at sea is just one of many hazards that a company can experience while sailing. Mutiny at work is called insubordination, and it can be as intriguing as a true mutiny on the high seas. So, when you hear of an employee being insubordinate, it is best to investigate the mystery behind the insubordination before jumping to any conclusions about who is to be blamed.

There are three basic causes for any insubordination incident:

1.) Stress: Employees under stress are insubordinate because they are overwhelmed. An employee may be under stress due to factors occurring in the workplace or in their personal life. Whatever the reason for their stress, they reach a point where they simply cannot function anymore. So, they tell their supervisor "no." They cannot do anymore work or tasks.

An employee who is insubordinate due to stress is worth saving and not terminating. These employees usually recognize their stress and shortcomings and are willing to change in order to improve their performance.

2.) Rebellion: Employees in rebellion are usually rebelling from their own Captain Bligh or intolerable work situation. These employees usually have a legitimate reason for being insubordinate; however, they often do not take the appropriate action to notify the proper authorities in the company about what is happening to them.

An employee who is insubordinate because he/she is rebelling is worth saving and not terminating. These employees need three things: listening, educating, and discipline. (A) Listen carefully to the reason(s) of the employee for being insubordinate. The employee might say "my supervisor is a jerk," but if you listen carefully you may find out that the supervisor has been calling the employee names, sexually harassing him or her, or constantly criticizing the employees performance. (B) Educate the employee about the proper course of action to take to address a supervisor who is acting inappropriately with his or her subordinates. (C) Discipline the employee, usually verbally, notifying him or her that it is important to following proper procedures versus taking inappropriate actions.

(Note: Do not discipline an employee who is reporting they rebelled because a supervisor was sexually harassing him/her, or because a supervisor was acting in a discriminatory manor against him or her. Also, remember that it is legal for employees to engage in Union forming activity.)

3.) Power: Employees, who are insubordinate because they are seeking power, are employees who want to control either their supervisor or their employers. These employees are usually very calculated in their use of insubordination. By constantly testing the limits of their supervisor through insubordination, the power-seeking employee gradually starts to build their power against their supervisor and within the company.

Consider "power" being the cause of the insubordination when you have ruled out stress and rebellion as causes of the insubordination. The power-seeking employee is not worth saving and should be taken through your company's progressive discipline procedures.

(Note: An attorney should always be consulted before you terminate the employment of any employee.)

The next time you are faced with an insubordinate employee remember what happened on the HMS Bounty. Is your Mr. Christian under stress, subject to a Captain Bligh supervisor, or out to take over the ship in order to sail back to Tahiti?

Happy Working,

Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP
Employer-Employee.com

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Team-Building in Secret

Corporations have been going about building teamwork in some of the strangest ways known to employer and employee. It all began when corporations started having employees hang from ropes, next came having employees shoot each other with paintballs, and now some corporations are trying to build teamwork by having employees participate in inflatable-sumo-wrestling. What will the future hold? Will corporations be asking their employees to swim with dolphins to build teamwork, or perhaps group parachuting will be the key to transforming your squabbling employees into a winning team.

Conduct a search on the Internet, and you will quickly realize just how ridiculous team-building exercises are becoming for both employers and employees. Therefore, if I may take a moment to speak on your employees' behalf: "PLEASE…PLEASE…do not make your employees participate in human foosball, comedy karaoke, or sing in a music video with the company CEO in order to build teamwork." Now, if I may take a moment to speak to the HR manager(s) in the company. "Team sailing, employee Olympics, and having all your employees ride around on All-Terrain Vehicles may be fun, but ask yourself this question: does a fun team sport really add up to more teamwork back in the office?"

If comedy karaoke and human foosball will not develop your employees into a well-oiled self-directed team, what will? It's simple, if you want to build employee teamwork, do it in the office and do not tell your employees you're doing it. Why keep it a secret? It is important to keep any teamwork activities that you do a secret for three reasons.

First, employees are human, well most of them anyway, and humans are social animals that gravitate to work in groups versus individually if given the opportunity. Therefore, employees are already naturally geared to work in teams (groups), and making them swing from ropes will not add any more "group behavior" to their genetic makeup.

Secondly, since employees are already geared to work in teams, your primary goal is to integrate teamwork practices into everyday work patterns. It is up to the leaders within the organization to integrate teamwork practices, not the employees.

Lastly, if you announce that the company plans to build teamwork, most employees will respond by asking when the team building practices will be over, so they can get back to work. By announcing your team-building efforts, you will not create additional motivation in your employees to suddenly get them to develop team cohesion.

Steps to Team-Building in the Office:

1.) Define your teams. Most large organizations will have one main team with numerous sub teams. A sub team may be composed of just one employee and employees may be on several different sub teams.

2.) Setup a meeting and ask each sub team to define their goals, and what would be helpful for them to have from the other sub teams within the department. You will need to prepare your employee for this meeting by letting them know ahead of time what they will be asked, so they can prepare proper responses. End the meeting after all participants have reported to each other their goals and needs. Do not mention the words teamwork or team building.

3.) In future meetings, ask employees to report what assistance they are receiving from other sub teams. Focus only on the positives, and applaud those sub teams that have assisted other sub teams. It may take a few meetings for employees to pick-up on the trend of asking how other sub teams are assisting, so don't give up if your employees are slow to report. Remember, be mindful not to mention the words teamwork or team-building.

4.) Incorporate sub team assistance as a performance review item during employees' performance reviews. Be direct by asking employees to report how they have assisted other sub teams while they met their own goals.

These are the basic skills necessary to build teamwork within your organization's various sub teams. Remember that your employees are already geared to operate in groups; all you need to do is integrate teamwork practices into your organization's operations. Hence, please cancel the inflatable-sumo-wrestling team-building exercise you have planned for next week.

Happy Working,

Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP

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Motivating Employees From Afar

Today more and more supervisors are given the task of supervising employees who they rarely see face-to-face. These employees may be working at home, in different states, or sometimes even in different countries.

Luckily, when a supervisor is given the task of supervising remote employees, those employees usually are fairly autonomous and self-sufficient; therefore, they are not likely to require a supervisor monitoring their every move. However, remote employees still require the same amount of motivation as office employees, and in some cases even more than what office employees require.

Tips for motivating remote employees:

1.) Out-of-sight should not be out-of-mind. Yes, this tip is obvious; however, it is the one that most supervisors adopt when supervising remote employees. Supervisors should not forget that remote employees should be teleconferenced in during staff meetings, team meetings, and goal setting meetings. You may also want to consider placing pictures of your remote employees in your office or cube so you and other employees will remember them.

2.) Remote employees should not be declassified as UNIMPORTANT PEOPLE because they do not come into the office. A supervisor of a remote employee should frequently ask for his or her opinions, and they should champion his or her opinions with their coworkers.

3.) Allow remote employees to built friendships with the office workers and other remote workers by using the telephone, e-mail, or by using a company based Internet chat-room. Remember, if you want "sticky" remote employees; allow them to build friendships with the other employees in the company.

4.) Short-term goals work best for your remote employees, and long-terms goals work best for your office employees. It is okay for office employees to have long-term goals because they frequently receive informal short-term feedback while accomplishing their long-term goals. However, remote employees frequently do not receive the same informal feedback; therefore, by setting up short-term goals it will force you to provide them with the positive feedback to keep them motivated.

5.) Communicate value to your remote employees by helping them understand how their work adds to the overall success of the company. Office employees require less "value" communication because they can see what they are creating, while remote employees can usually only see their own work.

6.) Build company loyalty with your remote employees by sending out coffee cups, hats, and shirts with emblazon with your company's logo. Instead of sending out your remote employee's paycheck in a plain white envelope, stick it inside a logo emblazon coffee cup in a nicely wrap gift box.

Happy Working,

Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP
Employer-Employee.com

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The Art of Employee Procrastination

Procrastination zaps employee motivation when it interrupts workflow. One characteristic of motivated employees is their ability to move from one task to another with ease and without long delays or "stall-time" between tasks. Employees who easily move from task to task are known as having "flow."

Procrastination stops employees from moving from task to task and therefore it stops their flow. Procrastination undermines flow because it causes the employee to stall between tasks in order to focus on their negative emotions.

Managers and supervisors can help employees overcome their procrastination stalls. In order to help employees, it is important that supervisors understand that procrastination is a behavior that is caused by negative feelings and negative thoughts. The negative emotions that lead to procrastination include fear, anger, and hopelessness. The negative thoughts that lead to procrastination include perfectionist thinking, last-minute-crisis thinking, and denial thinking.

A supervisor, who notices that an employee is constantly late with his or her tasks, should check to see if the employee is procrastinating. Simply ask the employee if he or she sometimes postpones starting their projects or tasks, until it is too late to complete the type of high quality work that is expected within the organization. Some employees will have logical excuses for being late, e.g., they depend on other employees to get their work done or they were out ill. However, unless the employee can provide a logical explanation, it is fairly safe to suspect that procrastination is the cause.

Once the employee admits that procrastination is the cause or part of the cause of their poor work performance, a supervisor's next step is to discover the negative feeling and/or thought causing procrastination to develop and hinder the employee's workflow.

Procrastination can be caused by negative feelings:

1.) Fear: An employee fears that a negative outcome will occur if they engage in a task; therefore, the employee avoids engaging in the task. Since most fear is unfounded and irrational, a manager can help reassure the employee that they will not be blamed for the negative outcome that he or she is worrying about.

2.) Anger: An employee is resentful that he or she was given the task or project to complete; therefore, he or she rebels by delaying the task. In this situation, the supervisor should provide the employee with a choice in how they complete the task or project; thereby, reducing the amount of rebellion.

3.) Hopelessness: An employee is hopeless when they feel they are in a lose-lose situation. Here the employee may feel that they will lose if they complete the task, and they will lose if they do not complete the task or project. This employee is truly stuck between no two good options. Supervisors can help employees by coaching them on the best alternatives, and what future wins may occur down the road for the employee.

Procrastination can be caused by negative thoughts:

1.) Perfectionist Thinking: This employee's thinking tells him or her that the project or task he or she is completing must be absolutely perfect or the conditions must be perfect before the task or project can be completed perfectly. A supervisor can help an employee with this type of procrastination by coaching an employee about the balance between efficiency and quality. Also, that high quality work does not mean the work must be completely free of minuet errors.

2.) Last-minute-crisis Thinking: These employees believe that they work best under crisis; therefore, they delay projects or task in order to perform under pressure. This thinking may work well for some, but if the employee works in a team-it will drive their teammates crazy. A supervisor can help this employee by coaching him or her that last-minute-crisis thinking creates crisis for their coworkers even if it makes them productive at the last minute.

3.) Denial Thinking: These employees believe that they do not really need to complete the task or project given to them in the allotted time. Perhaps this employee is so bogged down in other work that they cannot think about another task until they are more caught up. A supervisor can help employees procrastinating due to denial by offering time management training.

 
Happy Working,

Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP
Employer-Employee.com

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Managing the Challenging Boss

A challenging boss is a boss who does not understand the emotional needs of his or her employees. Challenging bosses also lack skill and tact when addressing their employees' emotions; thus, they end up creating additional problems on top of not understanding their employees' emotions. As a result, of not understanding their employees' emotional needs, these bosses are not able to appropriately distribute work assignments equally, do not treat all employees fairly, and are unable to separate their personal life from their work life.

Other characteristics of a challenging boss include:

* A boss who favors certain employees and grants them special privileges.

* A boss who is not able to regulate an employee's workload.

* A boss who continuously develops new policies or procedures for employees to follow.

* A boss who is not able to regulate his or her own emotions when dealing with employees.

* A boss who rewards employees for liking him/her versus their work performance.

Challenging bosses used to be called jerks! Today we refer to these bosses as having low emotional intelligence (EI), which is the inability to read and best utilize the emotions of other people, i.e., employees. In other words, low EI bosses are unable to understand their employee's emotions, and the damage that they create because they have no understanding of social dynamics involved in an office environment.

So when you are pulling your hair out because you get reprimanded for being late to work once, and your coworker leaves work early and takes long lunches because he or she is your boss's favorite employee; instead of calling your boss a jerk and holding your breath until he/she changes-first try taking a more effective approach.

Bosses who have low EI require employees who are able to set boundaries, set limits, and provide them with direction and structure. In other words, you need to manage your work and your boss.

1.) Set Boundaries: A boss with low EI usually does not understand where the boundaries of other people start and end. Therefore, employees need to politely inform their boss where their boundaries are in terms of space, language, and authority.

2.) Set Limits: A boss with low EI usually does not understand how his/her behavior impacts other people. Therefore, employees need to politely point out, e.g., that new projects need to come at the beginning of the day and not when you are walking out the door to go home.

3.) Set Direction & Structure: A boss with low EI requires direction and structure. If your performance review is already a month late, instead of getting angry, offer to help your boss by writing the performance review yourself, offer to help him/her to complete it at the time of the review, and set an appoint time to complete it.

You can stomp up and down and hold your breath all day long, if you want, but your low EI boss will not change until you start to act proactively instead of reactively.

Happy Working,

Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP

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Work Life Balance: Self Care, Whether You Deserve It Or Not

 

by Molly Gordon, MCC

Do you ration the self-care you need to maintain work life balance based on how well you have behaved or performed lately or how much you have left to do? If so, you run the risk of running out of gas in the middle of the night on a deserted highway.

The image is vivid, yet it can still be difficult to care for ourselves and for each other when we lose work life balance getting caught in a frantic pattern of busy-ness. It can even be hard to get enough perspective to acknowledge that we are running in circles and on empty.

I'm no stranger to these difficulties, and I have good news. Even the most frenetic busybody can learn to treat herself at least as well as she would treat her car.

1. Make a list of things that fill your tank, without which you cannot expect to function as a loving human being. For example: Exercise; eating well; prayer and meditation; petting the cat; eight hours of sleep. If you are really stuck in busy-ness, ask a friend to gently point out what you are overlooking.

Keeping gas in the tank is a non-negotiable precondition to being able to drive. It needs to be tended to every day. Take a few minutes to fully appreciate that when you skip these things you are running on fumes. With this in mind, make the decision that these tank-filling activities are the functional equivalent of work and will no longer be treated as optional extras or self indulgence.

2. Make a list of things that are akin to getting the oil changed in your car. These do not need to be tended to as often, yet, when you are honest with yourself, you will find that know what the appropriate intervals are. Schedule them into your calendar and keep your commitments. Breaking these commitments reduces the life of your engine! Examples might include getting a bi-weekly massage or having your teeth cleaned every six months.

3. List those things that are the equivalent of getting a car wash. Strictly speaking, these items may not have a direct effect on your car's performance, but it sure seems to run better and it is definitely more fun to drive. (In my family, we call a good car wash the poor man's tune-up.) For me, a visit to the hot tubs, a pedicure or a haircut fall into this category.

The above examples are of personal self care. How about doing this exercise with your mate or with the whole family as the basis for setting priorities for the future? How would establishing these priorities affect your ability to enjoy work life balance?

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Are You a Mediocre Motivator?

A manager who is a mediocre employee motivator is a manager who provides employee recognition under the following circumstances.


1.)Recognizes the length of time an employee has been with the company versus their specific successes with the company. A good or motivated employee is not identified by the length of time he/she has worked for the company.

2.)Provides an employee with a "pat on the back" instead of giving the successful employee more responsibility and say in the direction of their work.

3.)Recognizes an employee for having the best attendance record, versus recognizing an employee who has a great teamwork attitude. An employee who is present at work each day may also be a "pain" to work with for his/her coworkers.

4.)Rewards individual employees when the company requires employees to work in teams. Nothing zaps teamwork more than rewarding an individual employee when the whole team was responsible for one employee's success.

5.)Recognizing an employee for all the hard work he/she has done over the past year, versus recognizing an employee for his/her hard work right after or when it is actually occurring.

6.)Praises employees only when you are having a good day. Many managers believe if he/she is having a bad day, why should anyone else be happy. These managers usually end up going down with their ship.

Happy Working,

Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP
Employer-Employee.com

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Just-In-Time Employee Motivation

Employees respond best to informal and timely recognition of their efforts. Therefore, a manager who allows special moments to go unnoticed is missing prime opportunities to motivate their employees.

Listed below are employee recognition ideas that are simple, easy to utilize, and provide targeted recognition.

1.) Create recognition business cards (RB-cards) to give after an employee completes a difficult project, achieves his/her goals, or after an employee receives special acknowledgement from a customer or coworker. RB-cards are simply a business size card that you carry with you at work. RB-cards can be either elaborately or simply designed. What is important to have on them is a blank space where you write the employee's name, an area where you can write down the specific behavior being recognized, and a pre-printed statement telling the employee to bring the RB-card to their next performance review.

2.) Create recognition memos on gold paper. A recognition memo is similar to the RB-card. It also has a blank space to fill-in the employee's name, specific behavior being recognized, and a pre-printed statement telling the employee to bring the memo to their next performance review. However, the recognition memo is read and signed by the CEO and all relevant department managers. The key to making recognition memos a successful motivational tool is to have all signers sign the memo within 48-72 hours. A recognition memo that takes 3-4 weeks to get to an employee is no longer useful to producing additional employee motivation.

3.) Create an employee "freedom" card. An employee freedom card allows an employee to take a certain amount of time off of work, usually 1-2 hours, at their leisure. The employee freedom card works best with salaried employees who have a certain degree of freedom over their work schedules. It also works best when given to an employee who has just completed a difficult work project that required him/her to put in long work hours. Similar to the RB-card, the freedom card has a blank area to write the employee's name, a blank space to record the specific behavior being recognized, and a time limit in which the employee needs to take their time off, usually within one or two weeks. The employee is not allowed to save up freedom cards. The point of the freedom card is to allow the employee to take a couple hours off work to help them recharge their batteries and to lower their stress levels. The manager should tell the employee, "In order to recognize your hard work, I would like for you to take a couple of hours off, on company time, in order to relax and recharge yourself."

Happy Working,

Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP
Employer-Employee.com

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Use the Performance Review to Motivate Employees

For most managers and supervisors the annual employee performance review is about as much fun as completing a 1040-tax return followed by a root canal. So, it is no wonder that many supervisors put off doing performance reviews and some even skip them altogether. Supervisors who delay or skip annual performance reviews are missing a great opportunity to motivate their employees. For the supervisor, the annual performance review may be just another work task, but for the employee the annual performance review is equivalent to the Super Bowl.

I have seen employees get nervous prior to their annual review similar to how athletics get nervous prior to a big game. Most employees, prior to their review, are nervous because they are wondering if their supervisor will recognize their accomplishments, overlook their failures, and acknowledge that he or she is a productive and worthwhile member of the organization. Employees are also nervous because they are worried that their supervisor will not provide them with an accurate performance review. Above all else, employees want to receive an accurate evaluation of their performance.

Employees define a "winning" performance review not only by a pay increase but also by how accurate he or she is evaluated. An employee defines a "losing" performance review by the number of inaccuracies in his or her performance review. Too many inaccuracies in the performance review will cause an employee to feel unmotivated to further perform their job--even if they did receive a pay increase.

The following formulas demonstrate the relationship between performance review, pay, and motivation.

Inaccurate Performance Review + Pay Increase = Decreased Motivation

Inaccurate Performance Review + No Pay Increase = Decreased Motivation

No Performance Review + No Pay Increase = Decreased Motivation

No Performance Review + Pay Increase = Decreased Motivation

Accurate Performance Review + Pay Increase = Motivation

Accurate Performance Review + No Pay Increase = Motivation

As the above formulas indicate, the most important step a supervisor can take to motivate any employee is to provide him or her with accurate performance reviews.

Inaccurate Performance Review + Pay Increase = Decreased Motivation

Inaccurate Performance Review + No Pay Increase = Decreased Motivation

Employees who receive inaccurate performance reviews, plus pay increases, will not be more motivated to increase their performance for two reasons. One, these employees quickly come to understand that pay increases are not contingent on improving their performance levels. Two, these employees develop a "why try" attitude when faced with working with a supervisor who is not able to accurately measure their performance.

Employees who receive an inaccurate performance review plus no pay increase, are likely to develop a "why try" attitude along with a "what's the use" attitude. An employer, who provides employees with inaccurate performance reviews with no pay increases, is an employer who is likely to have a high turn over rate.

No Performance Review + No Pay Increase = Decreased Motivation

No Performance Review + Pay Increase = Decreased Motivation

Employees who do not receive yearly performance reviews plus no pay increases, are likely to develop a "why try" attitude which says, "If no one in the company is likely to notice or reward my effort, why try to improve my performance?"

Employees who do not receive yearly performance reviews, but still obtain yearly pay raises, do not obtain additional motivation because they learn that no performance increases are necessary in order to obtain more money. These employees may not be complaining about their lack of performance reviews because they are obtaining yearly pay raises; but are you, as a supervisor, really increasing employee motivation when you provide a pay increase without a performance review? No, you are not! In fact, you are in danger of decreasing an employee's motivation level if you provide a pay increase without an accurate performance review attached. In this case, an employee is likely to develop a "why improve if no one monitors" attitude.

Accurate Performance Review + No Pay Increase = Motivation

Accurate Performance Review + Pay Increase = Motivation

Employees who receive an accurate performance review that indicates their work performance does not warrant additional pay can be encouraged to improve their work performance-provided the supervisor sets up conditions which encourages under performing employees to achieve success.

In cases where an employee receives an accurate negative performance review, a supervisor should setup a 3-6 month time interval in which the employee will be given a second chance to obtain a more favorable performance review. During the 3-6 month interval the supervisor should set clear performance expectations along with coaching/mentoring in order to help the employee improve their performance. If the employee improves their performance, the employee would be provided with the same pay increase they would have received during their first performance review.

An employee who receives two negative performance reviews should be asked if they have any personal problems that are interfering with their success, and if their current position is the right "fit" for their abilities. A good book to read on the topic of employee performance improvement is "Discipline Without Punishment: The Proven Strategy That Turns Problem Employees into Superior Performers" by Dick Grote.

Employees, who receive both accuracy and a pay increase during their performance review, are likely to be the most motivated. Emphasis, in this scenario, should be placed on the accuracy of the review versus the amount of money the employee receives. A 5% pay increase is likely to motivate an employee as much as a 10% 15% or 25% pay increase. An employee who is paid $40,000 a year is likely to be as motivated as an employee who is paid $50,000, $60,000, or $70.000 a year.

As the above formulas indicate, money alone does not increase employee motivation levels, only accurate performance reviews can increase employee motivation levels. In order to complete an accurate employee performance review follow these tips:

1.) Keep the performance review as objective as possible. This means that you want to measure the employee's performance level and not their personality traits. For example, you can measure the number of times an employee has been late to work, their absenteeism rate, the number of projects completed successfully, the number of coworker complaints received, the number of goals met, and the number of customer complaints or complements received.

2.) Understand that an accurate performance review is not done within a few hours, but instead is an ongoing yearlong process. Keep a file open for each employee where you can easily add monthly performance measures, compliments and complaints, along with dated memos regarding your observations of the employee's performance. An employee can tell the difference between a rushed review and one that is carefully crafted.

3.) Do not surprise an employee with either an accurate or inaccurate performance review. A motivated employee requires ongoing feedback on a regular basis, so do not save it all up for a once-a-year praise or criticism meeting. If an employee created a negative accurate performance review for him or herself, do not give him or her the impression that you are pleased with their performance.

4.) Use the same measurement standards and criteria for all employees who have the same job descriptions. Do not evaluate an employee in areas that go beyond his/her job description.

5.) Use the employee's last review as a benchmark standard for their next performance review. Also, if you are a new supervisor, you need six months of observation time before you can complete an employee's review by your own observations. A new supervisor should ask the employee's last supervisor to help complete an upcoming employee review. If the employee's last supervisor is not available, ask for feedback from other supervisors that have observed the employee's work.

6.) Professionalism, both in writing the review and in your presentation, is an important standard. An employee performance review can either be your friend or enemy if you are sued for wrongful termination.

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Avoid Legal Trouble With Employees

Nolo's Legal Tips

Can you afford to ignore or mishandle employment problems? Definitely not. In addition to the negative effects on your business -- declining morale, retention problems and poor productivity, to name a few -- a botched employment situation can cost you millions of dollars if it turns into a lawsuit. Protect yourself using these commonsense tips:

Treat your workers with respect. Workers who are deprived of dignity, who are humiliated or who are treated in ways that are just plain mean are more likely to look for some revenge through the legal system -- and juries are more likely to sympathize with them. For example, if you march fired workers off the premises under armed guard, publicize an employee's personal problems or shame a worker in public for poor performance, you can expect trouble.

Communicate with your workers. Adopt an open door policy and put it into practice. This will help you find out about workplace problems early on, when you can nip them in the bud. And it will show your employees that you value their opinions, an important component of positive employee relations.

Be consistent. Apply the same standards of performance and conduct to all of your employees. Workers quickly sour on a boss playing favorites or punishing scapegoats. Successful discrimination lawsuits start when you treat workers in the same situation differently.

Give regular evaluations. Performance evaluations are your early warning system regarding employment problems -- and your proof that you acted reasonably if you end up in court. In the best situations, they can turn a poor performer into a valued worker. In the worst, evaluations can be valuable proof in a lawsuit, illustrating that you put a poor performer on notice and gave him a chance to improve. You can find detailed information about giving performance evaluations in Dealing With Problem Employees: A Legal Guide (Nolo).

Make job-related decisions. Every workplace decision made should be guided by job-related criteria -- not by a worker's race or gender and not by a worker's personal life or your personal biases. Making sure that your personnel decisions are business-related, make economic sense and will keep you out of lawsuits for discrimination, violation of privacy and wrongful termination.

Don't punish the messenger. Employers get in trouble when they discipline whistleblowers or workers who complain of harassment, discrimination or unsafe working conditions. Take action to deal with the problem itself, not with the employee who brought the problem to your attention.

Adopt sound policies and follow them. An employee handbook is an indispensable workplace tool that can help you communicate with your employees, manage your workforce and protect your business from lawsuits. But once you adopt policies, you have to follow them. If you bend the rules, your workers won't take them seriously. Some courts have found that employers who don't follow the policies set out in their employee handbook or personnel manual might be on the hook for breach of contract.

Keep good records. If a worker sues you, you'll have to not only explain what happened, but also prove that your version of the story is accurate. To make your best case, keep careful records of every major employment decision or event with each worker -- including evaluations, disciplinary warnings and reasons for firing.

Take action when necessary. Once an employment problem comes to your attention, resist the temptation to hide your head in the sand. Take action quickly, before it turns into a real mess.

Be discreet. Loose lips about employee problems are a surefire way to bring the law down upon your head. An employee could sue you for defamation -- she could also haul you into court for causing her emotional distress, for creating a work environment that is hostile toward her or for poisoning prospective employers against her. The stakes are high, so protect yourself by giving information on a need-to-know basis only. You can find more information on employee privacy rights and other workplace issues in Everyday Employment Law: The Basics (Nolo).

Copyright 2003, Nolo

Happy Working,

Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP

Employer-Employee.com

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How to Manage Rejection at Work

It is likely to happen to all of us at some point in time during our career-rejection! You may get passed up for a promotion, your project may get turned down, or you may fail to get the dream job. No matter what the cause, rejection feels the same for nearly eveyone.

When a person gets rejected he or she immediately feels terrible. People feel terrible because they frequently believe that they are unworthy, unwanted, and no longer desirable. People who have experienced rejection may also develop both anger and depression. After a rejected person comes to believe that he or she is unwanted, becomes angry or depressed, it can take months instead of days to recover to their normal personality.

In August's Workplace Tip article "Work is Not a Spectator Sport," dealt with the importance of seeing work as a "sport" versus a "family." (If you did not get a chance to read that article click on the above link.) The article encouraged employees to view themselves as athletes and not as family members at work. When employees change how they view themselves at work many new ways of resolving workplace problems develop.

When an employee views himself or herself as an athlete he or she can recover from rejection within days versus months. Employees can recover from rejection within days when they learn the same skills athletes learn when they must recover from rejection.


Skill 1: Increase your performance and do not decrease your performance following being rejected.

A professional athlete must learn to handle being rejected by his team, coach, or fans without it affecting his performance in the next game. In order to manage being rejected, the athlete must mentally separate his performance from how he feels about himself as a person. A good athlete knows that when the fans are rejecting his performance, the worse thing he can do is to reduce his skills and performance level. A time of rejection calls for the athlete to feel good enough about himself that he can develop the inner strength necessary to create an even better performance in the next game or event.


Skill 2: Reframe rejection as performance disappointment.

A good athlete tells himself that he is disappointed with his performance, not himself, when the fans reject him. An employee can learn to do the same when he feels workplace rejection. When you are faced with not obtaining a promotion, it is better to tell yourself, "I am disappointed in my performance" rather than, "I am disappointed with myself."

The failure to obtain a promotion is only one of many events in your career. Some workplace events you will "win" and some you will "lose"-it's all part of the game. Remember that Babe Ruth struck out more than he hit home runs.


Skill 3: Evaluate your own performance.

Who is the best person to most accurately evaluate your performance, you, or another person? You are the most accurate judge of how well you are performing; therefore, it is best not to lose sight of this fact after being harshly evaluated or rejected by another person.

In order to bounce back, you need to continue to believe in yourself.


Skill 4: Reframe rejection as a "bad inning."

Your career is at least nine innings, and in the words of Yogi Berra, "It ain't over until it's over." One bad inning does not lose the ball game. Regroup as quickly as possible and start making new plans and new goals.

Happy Working,

Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP
Employer-Employee.com

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The Secrets of Successful Networking

By Nathan Newberger

Looking for a job is a job itself. We have all heard this. So those on a serious job quest polish their resumes and dutifully distribute them around town. When I found myself in the job market last year, it was the way I began. Then I discovered aggressive networking.

For many, the concept of networking conjures thoughts of calling up people they know and having lunch or coffee with them and talking about opportunities that may exist in that person's company. Aggressive networking carries this a step further.

First, make a list of people you know who have jobs in your line of work or related to your line of work. Then sit down and call each person on your list, and suggest that you meet for a coffee or something equally brief. There are two reasons for this. One, you do not want to take up a lot of the other person's time, and two, lunches and dinners get to be expensive if you have many of them to buy.

Take networking seriously. That is, do not spread the meetings with your list of contacts out over a month-long period. Start on a Monday morning, and call everyone to book a get-together for later in the week or at the latest, early next week.

When you have the meeting, keep it light. Do not show up with your resume, and ask, "Do you know of any jobs?" This is simply a reconnaissance mission. The person you are having coffee with is in the business and knows what is happening. Ask for this information. Try saying something as simple and straightforward as: "You are aware of what is going on around town. Any suggestions on who I can talk to about what might be coming up in the future?"

And here is the secret: Get three names from each contact. If I knew the person really well, I out and out asked for three names of contacts. If I didn't know the person that well, I listened, and, if they mentioned a company, I asked something like: "Oh, XYZ Industries. Do you have any suggestions as to whom I could speak to over there?"

By the end of the week, you may have a couple of dozen names of people in the industry. Sit down the next Monday morning, and call them. Introduce yourself, explain where you got their names, and ask if you can have 15 minutes of their time. Suggest meeting for a coffee near their office. Often, the person will say something like, "Why don't you drop in around 3 p.m. We can talk here in my office."

Schedule your week, filling in time slots to meet people, and, again, get three names from each of these people. After a while, you may notice an overlapping of names as your contacts give you names of people you have already contacted.

Do not ask for a job. Just the same as meeting with your acquaintances, keep it light. Say that you are looking for a place in the industry, and, in the meantime, you are making an all-out effort to remain aware of what is happening.

Ascertain, if possible, what interests the people you meet. Keep a record of who you met and what their interests are. This gives you a good opening for recontacting them if you see an article or hear about something that might interest them. Keep in gentle contact with them.

You not only get your name spread around town, so that when something does come up in your line of work, you hear about it, but also there are ancillary benefits to this kind of dedicated and aggressive networking. You get to meet a wide variety of interesting people, and you keep your working muscles intact by having a specific task to do each week: meet more contacts.

Did it work for me? Yes, and in the best possible way. I had worked in communications previously, and, as I talked to more and more people, I began to have small contract jobs come my way. Something would come up at an office, and someone I contacted would remember me and give me call. (Yes, I left business cards with everyone I met. Nothing fancy. My name, phone number, and a line describing the type of work I do). I did not take a corporate job after all, because I got so much contract work and discovered that I not only like it better, I make more money at it, and the self-imposed discipline of making contacts trained me to be my own boss.

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10 Ways to Go Green at Work

Greener homes are in the spotlight these days, but what about the other places where many of us spend huge chunks of our time--our offices? Some simple changes of habit can save energy and resources at work, and these small steps can be multiplied by persuading the powers-that-be at your workplace to adopt environmentally friendly (and often cost-effective) policies.

1. Be bright about light

Artificial lighting accounts for 44 percent of the electricity use in office buildings.

> Make it a habit to turn off the lights when you're leaving any room for 15 minutes or more and utilize natural light when you can.

> Make it a policy to buy Energy Star-rated lightbulbs and fixtures, which use at least two-thirds less energy than regular lighting, and install timers or motion sensors that automatically shut off lights when they're not needed.

2. Maximize computer efficiency

Computers in the business sector unnecessarily waste $1 billion worth of electricity a year.

> Make it a habit to turn off your computer—and the power strip it's plugged into—when you leave for the day. Otherwise, you're still burning energy even if you're not burning the midnight oil. (Check with your IT department to make sure the computer doesn't need to be on to run backups or other maintenance.) During the day, setting your computer to go to sleep automatically during short breaks can cut energy use by 70 percent. Remember, screen savers don't save energy.

> Make it a policy to invest in energy-saving computers, monitors, and printers and make sure that old equipment is properly recycled. Look for a recycler that has pledged not to export hazardous e-waste and to follow other safety guidelines. Old computers that still work, and are less than five years old, can be donated to organizations that will refurbish them and find them new homes. (You may even get a tax deduction.)

3. Print smarter

The average U.S. office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year.

> Make it a habit to print on both sides or use the back side of old documents for faxes, scrap paper, or drafts. Avoid color printing and print in draft mode whenever feasible.

> Make it a policy to buy chlorine-free paper with a higher percentage of post-consumer recycled content. Also consider switching to a lighter stock of paper or alternatives made from bamboo, hemp, organic cotton, or kenaf. Recycle toner and ink cartridges and buy remanufactured ones. According to Office Depot, each remanufactured toner cartridge "keeps approximately 2.5 pounds of metal and plastic out of landfills...and conserves about a half gallon of oil."

4. Go paperless when possible

> Make it a habit to think before you print: could this be read or stored online instead? When you receive unwanted catalogs, newsletters, magazines, or junk mail, request to be removed from the mailing list before you recycle the item.

> Make it a policy to post employee manuals and similar materials online, rather than distribute print copies. They're easier to update that way too.

5. Ramp up your recycling

> Make it a habit to recycle everything your company collects. Just about any kind of paper you would encounter in an office, including fax paper, envelopes, and junk mail, can be recycled. So can your old cell phone, PDA, or pager.

> Make it a policy to place recycling bins in accessible, high-traffic areas and provide clear information about what can and can not be recycled.

6. Close the loop

> Make it a policy to purchase office supplies and furniture made from recycled materials.

7. Watch what (and how) you eat

> Make it a habit to bring your own mug and dishware for those meals you eat at the office.

> Make it a policy to provide reusable dishes, silverware, and glasses. Switch to Fair Trade and organic coffee and tea, and buy as much organic and local food as possible for parties and other events. Provide filtered drinking water to reduce bottled-water waste.

8. Rethink your travel

> Make it a habit to take the train, bus, or subway when feasible instead of a rental car when traveling on business. If you have to rent a car, some rental agencies now offer hybrids and other high-mileage vehicles.

> Make it a policy to invest in videoconferencing and other technological solutions that can reduce the amount of employee travel.

9. Reconsider your commute

> Make it a habit to carpool, bike, or take transit to work, and/or telecommute when possible. If you need to drive occasionally, consider joining a car-sharing service like Zipcar and Flexcar instead of owning your own wheels.

> Make it a policy to encourage telecommuting (a nice perk that's also good for the planet!) and make it easy for employees to take alternative modes of transportation by subsidizing commuter checks, offering bike parking, or organizing a carpool board.

10. Create a healthy office environment

> Make it a habit to use nontoxic cleaning products. Brighten up your cubicle with plants, which absorb indoor pollution.

> Make it a policy to buy furniture, carpeting, and paint that are free of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and won't off-gas toxic chemicals.

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