Employee Termination

The Decision Is Made

imagesYou’ve made the decision to terminate an employee for the good of the organization and your other employees.  This will be a very difficult and stressful time in your professional life.

To help you with the decision to terminate an employee, the first recommendation is to call an expert for help.  Don Swift and Associates are the experts you need.  It’s essential to “dot the i’s and cross the t’s”.

The Law in Texas

In Texas, an employee can be terminated for:

  • Cause – An employer finds that an employee has stolen company property,     continually not preformed to expectations, or may have breached other terms of employment.
  • A Reduction in Workforce – The workforce is being reduced.
  • Just Because – An employee may have an annoying personality or create problems with others in the workforce.
  • Voluntary Termination – The employee decides to terminate the employment relationship.

Any termination puts the employer at risk of being sued, even when the employee leaves voluntarily.  These are usually complaints of unfair treatment or discrimination.  Sorting out the legal and emotional issues to protect the employer’s interests and limit financial exposure to a claim requires expert assistance.

The Terminated Employee

Many terminated employees look for ways to take legal action against past employers.  There are three stages a past employee will go through when terminated.  First is the “I didn’t do anything wrong” stage. The second stage begins with anger, whereupon the past employee seeks a lawyer.  The final stage is the action against the former employer.

The Employer

Being accused of wrongful dismissal by a previous employee is one of the most emotional and financial issues you’ll face as an employer.  There’s the stress and emotion of the actual termination.  You’ll also face a full range of emotions when presented a claim for wrongful dismissal.

Be Prepared

The best way to protect your interests is to call an expert prior to a termination.  One call will help you address the stress and emotion of the decision to terminate an employee.  The best time to call is when you begin to address the performance of an employee.  The termination process needs to be done in a judiciously calculated manner.

You need experts who can help you with:

  • Ensuring the correct process for discipline is followed.
  • Ensuring the employee has been provided due process for discipline and the opportunity to improve performance.
  • Ensuring the correct documentation is provided to the employee
  • Ensuring the personnel records are complete.
  • Ensuring a witness is present to confirm the employee was addressed appropriately.
  • Ensuring you are prepared for the inevitable; legal action against you and your company.

The Expense

Some think, “I can save money and do this myself.”  Contracting a professional is your insurance policy.  You’ll be able to face any claim of wrongful dismissal with confidence.  You’ll know you’ve done everything possible to protect your interests and reduce your risk of legal and financial exposure.

Call the Experts

Termination of an employee is a very complex process.  Don Swift and Associates are the experts who will help you with the termination process.  They have the experience to protect your company and you from the emotional and financial attacks of a previous employee.

Call Don Swift at 940-228-0550 for help in the Wichita Falls, Texas area.

 

 

 

The Best Place to Work

 

I Want to Work There

Do you want to work there?  Why?  Because it’s a great company with a good reputation with its employees.  But, what makes it a good company for employment?

With a little advice, your business can be considered a great place to work. Steve Jobs said, “People with passion can change the world for the better.”  That’s true.  There are many benefits to a company with the reputation of being a great place to work.

The Most Valued Components

Glass Door compiled a list of the most valued components for making a company great.

  1. Culture and Values
  2. Compensation and Benefits
  3. Career Opportunities
  4. Work-Life Balance

Make these a priority in your company and reap the benefits.

What are the Benefits to My Company?

Do you have a hard time believing these changes make that much difference? Then, you don’t know what you’re missing.  Your company could save money in the long run.

If you don’t believe me, a Human Resources (HR) specialist can show you proof of the benefits of satisfaction in the workplace.  However, before the advertisement, here are some advantages you can appreciate.  They’ll save you money and make money for you.

  1. Less Employee Turnover

You already know the costs of hiring and training new employees.  Your staff loses time training, and you lose time with paperwork.  As well, lower productivity while new employees learn their job costs revenue.

  1. Engaged Employees

Employees who are engaged at work are more likely involved in the pursuit of the company’s success.  They’ll take ownership of their work and the responsibility of helping the business thrive.

  1. Happy Employees

Happy employees are the best ambassadors for their companies.  This is more relevant in today’s digital age, where potential customers look for a “personal connection”.  They find that connection on Social Media when your employees promote your company.  A good word from your staff can beat out the competition for that new client.

 Compensation to Employees

Employees value benefits from work other than just a paycheck.  Make no bones about it; pay is important.  But a reputation as a great company to work for doesn’t mean your pay scale has to be off-the-charts.  A happy employee will accept a lower pay range because better benefits make the difference.

What Am I to Do?

As a business owner, you need to understand the benefits of being a great company to work for.  To make the jump to that reputation, you need good HR management services.  The benefits of satisfied employees will actually save you money and increase your bottom line.  You need to hire an expert in the field of HR management services for your small or medium-sized company.

Call Don Swift and Associates

To get the competitive edge, call Don Swift and Associates.  With one phone call you can become one of the great companies to work for.  In addition to a full range of HR Management services, Don provides conflict resolution, life coaching, and mediation.

Call Don Swift and Associates today at 940-228-0550 or visit their [Website].

 

Basic Quality Control

Quality ManagementJoin Don Swift for a Basic Quality Control educational opportunity. Learn specifically about inspection and test & statistical process control. Quality managers, technicians, engineers, inspectors, and supervisors are invited to attend. The class will be held from 6:00 pm-9:00pm at the Vernon College Century City Center. Join us on Tuesdays from March 22, 2016 to May 24, 2016 at 4105 Maplewood Avenue, Wichita Falls, Texas. The cost is $270.00.

 

Your educator is Don Swift. Don is a consultant in quality management strategies, systems, and standards. He is founder of Don Swift and Associates, LLC where the “Human Side of Quality” is his goal. You’ll really enjoy his teaching techniques. He gives you information and training so you can put your new materials into practice.

 

You’ll enjoy hands-on development of the following concepts:

  • Product Realization: Voice of the Customer; Product Realization Activities
  • Engineering and Quality Control and the relationship to Inspection and Test; Quality engineering activities in developing inspection & test requirements
  • Understanding process/machine capability and its relationship to inspection activities; variation and SPC/Six Sigma
  • Gage selection and R & R requirements per measurements to be made.
  • Corrective and preventive actions; root cause analysis
  • Training the Quality Plan
  • Internal auditing
  • Developing a working training management system
  • Metrics-Making It Real

Your company and you will both benefit from this training. It’s a great opportunity for you and the employees with whom you work. Don will make the training interesting and enjoyable. You’ll be able to take it all back to the table at your business and put it to use. Don’t miss this excellent opportunity for improvement of quality and customer relations. The cost is minimal and the results will be more than you can imagine.

To register, contact Vernon College Continuing Education at 940-696-8752 extension 3214 or tbaker@vernoncollege.edu. You may also call Don Swift to sign up at 940-228-0550.

Overwhelmed by Employee Problems?

canstock26339921Many small and medium-sized businesses have their bookkeeper or another administrative person pulling yeomen’s duty as Human Resources (HR). They have a full-time job doing what they’re doing. Then get HR responsibilities are dumped on them.

They’re told, “Fix that problem.” There’s a look of perplexity and a feeling of despondency. The poor person just doesn’t want to get in the middle of an employee debate.

What Happens?

Being responsible for HR is okay when hiring, during holidays, and for any personnel administrative issues. Everything changes when the business turns into a battlefield.

The owners and managers don’t want to deal with HR problems and neither does the person not given the choice. The problems fester and boil. It begins when two employees argue. The situation escalates when more employees get involved. Sides are taken, grievances fan the flames, and then all hell breaks loose.

What are the Impacts?

The impacts have significant consequences. Some can be seen. Others are less obvious. Some of these are:

  1. Conflict causes a business to lose good employees. There are immediate costs associated with new employees, such as advertisement and training.
  1. A conflict on the shop floor can lower the day’s productivity. Work blockages, even for a few minutes, increase the costs of production. Long term costs are associated with quality and production losses.
  1. Sabotage risks increase and cause productivity, equipment, and production costs.
  1. Product quality can suffer, adding to production costs. Part of the added is cost is because unacceptable products must be disposed of.
  1. Legal action from the disparaged employee(s) can result. Management focus is taken away from production. This causes an increase in production and administrative costs.

What Can You Do?

Don’t become overwhelmed with employee problems. Don’t let employee morale drop to the point that problems occur. Sound simple? It is if you do it right. There is a simple solution to your overwhelming employee problems.

Yes, there is an appropriate HR strategy that will put your money to better use. You don’t need the in-house skills to manage your human resources. You just need to be introduced to the real opportunity.

How to Find Out?

The easy solution is Don Swift, an HR Specialist from Don Swift and Associates in Wichita Falls, Texas. Don can teach you an appropriate HR strategy for your business. Don Swift will use his life coaching skills to bring peace to your workplace. He’ll help your company learn HR skills which are important to your business.

Call Don Swift today at 940-228-0550.    He offers a low fee solution for all your HR needs.

Course: Conflict in the Workplace

Conflict Management for Supervisors and Managers

Every time there’s an argument or some other conflict in the workplace, work stops. The smooth flow of production breaks down and conflict costs you in the form of profit loss. Don’t let conflict in your workplace affect your company. Attend the one-day Conflict Management Course sponsored by Vernon College, Wichita Falls, Texas on April 7, 2016.

What You Will Learn

There are techniques supervisors and managers can learn to help recognize potential conflicts before they occur. Then the situations can be defused before becoming potentially serious.

During the Conflict Management Course, Don Swift will present a range of topics designed to help supervisors and managers handle conflict in the workplace. Penny Miller will teach you how to hone your conflict management skills.

Don Swift is a Human Resources Specialist in Wichita Falls, Texas. He is president of Don Swift and Associates, LLC. Penny Miller is a seasoned leadership coach and President of Venture HRO, LLC.

Some of the topics Don and Penny will present are:
• The cost of conflict
• Skills and Techniques to recognize and diffuse conflict
• Mediation techniques to address conflict

It won’t be boring! There will be case studies and hands-on exercises. You’ll leave here with a well-laid plan for managing conflict.

Don’t Miss Out

This is an exciting opportunity for supervisors and managers to better themselves in the workplace. They’ll learning the important techniques for conflict management. This will lead to a positive impact on your company’s bottom line. Don’t miss out. Spaces are still available for this one day course:

Date: April 7, 2016
Time: 900 AM – 400 PM
Location: Vernon College, 4105 Maplewood Avenue, Wichita Falls, Texas

Register today by contacting:

Vernon College Continuing Education Office
940-696-8752, extension 3214

You can also call Don Swift at 940-228-0550 to register.

Hurry! Slots are filling up fast!

The cost is only $169 per person. For two or more people from the same company, the cost is $150.