Be Effective with the Four Communication Basics

There’s not one ‘best’ way to communicate with your Teams, but rather a number of different ways. That being said, apply some fundamental communication options on most projects. Before you get too sophisticated with your approach to communication, make sure you know and use these fundamentals very effectively.

1. Status Meetings

Nothing communicates more effectively with your teams than a good status meeting. Early in the week, such as Monday or Tuesday, appears to be the best time for a group meeting. Ensure that expectations for the week are set. Therefore, the meeting will purpose to align everyone, address any issues or obstacles, and resolve them. Use this opportunity as a manager to address the needs of the group. Especially make sure everyone is on the same page.

2. One-on-One Meetings

One-on-one conversations with individual team members quickly become great opportunities to manage your teams. This type of conversation takes various forms. Set up to coach/mentor team members who may be new or have minimal experience. As a result, regular weekly or bi-weekly meetings become good habits.  For experienced team members, perhaps once or twice a month would be appropriate.

One-on-one meetings keep your pulse on team members. They also allow for a more confidential discussion which would be inappropriate at a team status meeting.

3. E-Mail

Maybe in ten years email will be obsolete. However, for now, email remains indispensable for most teams. Some of the uses for email includes one-on-one or group discussions, one-way notifications, fyi’s, decision-making, problem solving, etc. It can dramatically impact your ability to manage staff and engage stakeholders.

Be mindful that email may take the place of face-to-face meetings. Therefore, keep the personal meeting as a viable alternative. It’s easy to go down this path feeling that it’s faster or less complicated than talking in person. However, email should always be in addition to, not instead of, speaking to your team in person.

4. Reports

Reports cover a lot of ground – status reports, performance reports, issues reports, safety reports, etc. You may not typically think about reports as a way to manage your teams.  However, if you create your reports in the right way, they can be a useful tool.

What is the right way to create reports that can help manage your team? Make them actionable. Making a report actionable means that someone can read the report and then know what needs to be done next. Unnecessary details or information that could lead to confusion only muddle a report. Be clear and concise.

An out-of-date employee handbook is more of a liability than an asset. With ever-evolving laws and regulations, it is important to ensure that your company’s handbook is current. When reviewing and revising your handbook, take heed of the following hot-button employment law topics.

Handbook Trouble Spots

The workplace-law changes coming from the Trump administration demand constant compliance vigilance from HR. Plus, the National Labor Relations Board just issued an important new ruling that forces employers to justify their handbook rules as lawful. Here are some current handbook trouble spots.

LGBT protections

Laws continue to expand protections afforded to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees. Courts uphold protection by Title VII’s protection against discrimination “because of sex”, including transgender individuals.

The EEOC recently filed two cases against employers alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation. Many states and municipalities also enacted laws and regulations expanding employment protections to include LGBT individuals. Given this trend, ensure that your equal employment opportunity policies provide equal protection to employees without regard to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or marital status.

Moreover, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision recognizing same-sex marriages requires you to provide same-sex married couples with the same benefits as heterosexual couples. Revise your policies on employee benefits and leaves of absence to ensure that same-sex couples receive equal treatment.

Pregnant Employees

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy in any aspect of employment.  This includes hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, and benefits. The PDA also requires employers to treat pregnancy disability the same as other disabilities.  Thus, employers provide sick leave and temporary disability benefits for pregnancy.

Likewise, you must provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related disabilities. These accommodations should be based the same way you accommodate employees who are disabled for other reasons. Make sure your EEO policies include pregnancy in the list of protected categories.  Likewise, double check that policies on accommodations include accommodating expectant workers.

Dress Codes and Religion

In June 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that an employer can be liable for failing to accommodate a religious practice. Consequently, even if the employer lacks actual knowledge of a need for an accommodation, he or she is still liable.

The case was brought against Abercrombie & Fitch, which had a “Look Policy” that prohibited caps. A job applicant, who was a practicing Muslim, applied for a retail sales position. She wore a hijab to her interview. The district manager told the recruiter that the hijab violated the “Look Policy” and instructed her not to hire the applicant.

In light of this decision, ensure that your dress code policies are not biased against particular religious groups. According to the Court, even seemingly neutral policies like Abercrombie’s Look Policy are not discrimination-proof. Rather, Title VII gives religious practices “favored treatment”.  It “requires otherwise-neutral policies to give way to the need for an accommodation” in the absence of undue hardship to the employer.

Smoke-free Policies

Review your policies against smoking in the workplace to account for changes in state laws involving marijuana use (both medicinal and recreational) and the increased use of e-cigarettes.  Insure that policies expressly state that employees are prohibited from using or being under the influence of marijuana in the workplace.

Revise drug-testing policies to deal with employees who test positive for marijuana and claim a medicinal need for the drug.  Smoking policies should expressly state that e-cigarettes are treated the same as other tobacco products.

“Concerted Activity”

Many companies unlawfully impress upon their employees that they cannot discuss wages, hours, and other terms of employment with others.  The National Labor Relations Board recently reiterated that such handbook policies are overboard and illegal.

To avoid a National Labor Relations Act violation, define terms such as “confidential information” with specific examples. Expressly state that these policies never intended to limit employees’ ability to discuss employment conditions.

Multi-State Employers

Employers with employees in multiple states must consider legal variations in all the jurisdictions where they do business.

Numerous states and municipalities, for example, develop their own paid sick time rules. Some states provide family and medical leave laws beyond the federal FMLA requirements. Therefore, consider those state and local laws when drafting your policies and procedures. In addition, include a disclaimer specifying that legal requirements govern the final word in any case of inconsistencies between the handbook and the law of a particular authority.

Final Note

Distributing handbooks electronically provides many benefits.  Yet, employers considering the web as the sole method of distribution should consider whether or not all

Termination

“Dicey” comes to mind when considering a great description of most terminations.  My advice to you? Always move forward with a termination slowly, with great thought, and consult someone you trust.

The List

I compiled a list of ways terminations probably backfire.  In addition, I included the techniques to make sure it doesn’t happen to you.

1. Failing to understand the law. Some managers believe the adage, employment-at-will, means they can fire for any reason.  Not true.  Your move:  Persuade your leaders that all decision-makers need to be trained in employment law basics. Consequently, up-date your managers constantly.
2. Failing to document. Managers occasionally fail to track employee performance and behavior, therefore, making it difficult to support your defense.  Your move:  Make sure managers know how and when to document.  Require them, also, to consult HR before firing.
3. Failing to document objectively. Documents including managers’ personal comments, overstatements, and emotionally charged language undermine your defense.  Your move:  So, teach managers to leave out hyperbole and emotion.  “Just the facts, please.”
4. Failing to deliver a properly-formed termination message. Common pitfalls include making statements which could bind the organization.  In addition to binding statements, pitfalls consist of beating around the bush and trying to be too kind.  Your move:  Assist managers in rehearsing the message.  Use written points, if necessary.

In Conclusion

Produce a Training Handout. As a result, you will teach your supervisors how to conduct graceful, lawsuit-free terminations.  When an employee shows productivity or behavioral problems, interview that person frequently until the issues are corrected.  Document all of these conversations.

If you feel you need more instruction or consultation on this subject, call me at 940-228-0550.

Obese Applicants

In the past decade, two parts of our lives have grown: American’s’ waistlines and the desire for employers to reduce their employee-related health care costs.  Consequently, those two trends force many employers to consider a legally risky thought. Can they refuse to hire over-weight people?

The debate typically hinges on the question of whether or not obesity is a protected “disability” under the ADA.  As a result, simply being obese doesn’t typically entitle an employee to ADA protection.  However, the ADA does protect people who are morbidly obese.

Successful Claims

Overweight employees have brought successful ADA claims under the following arguments:

• The employee has a related health condition. Weight-related conditions include such diseases as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. These diseases usually “substantially limit” the employee enough to grant ADA protection.  Furthermore, the degree or cause of the obesity does not matter in these cases.
• The employer bases actions on stereotypes and assumptions.  Due to you perceiving employees or applicants as disabled, they may earn ADA protection.  An example of this is the truck driver who recently won $109,000 in damages.  His employer suspended him without pay based on the assumption that his obesity made him unfit to drive a truck.  (McDuffy v. Interstate Distributor)
• Men and women are treated differently according to weight standards. A Yale study found that overweight women face discrimination twice as often as overweight men.  Hence, treating overweight women differently, could end in a sex-bias lawsuit.

The Skinny

First of all, your best legally safe action is to ignore an applicant’s weight.  Most noteworthy, the only exception to that rule would be if extra weight prevents the employee from performing essential job functions. Furthermore, the problem could be tied to a medical condition, therefore triggering ADA protection.

Quality Solutions

A quality solution costs money and time to build. You may think skipping several quality management steps costs less, however, ultimately it costs much more. Learn to recognize that poor quality adds cost.  Though not be apparent as the project progresses, these costs must be considered as part of the full-life cycle cost of the delivered solution.

Examples of Poor Quality

Examples of the cost of poor quality include:

1. Rework proves that your quality management and administrative processes require more rigorous beginnings. The best example of rework is repairing deliverables you thought were already complete and correct.
2. Bad decisions, based on poor or misleading information, cause errors and long-term consequences in your solutions.
3. Troubleshooting takes time to investigate and determine the cause of errors and defects occurring throughout the project.
4. Poor morale due to poor quality solutions illustrates that employees don’t like working on poorly planned projects. In addition, increased absenteeism, high-rate turnover, and lack of productivity emerge as morale decreases.
5. Warranty work is performed on a product or application free or at a reduced price. Therefore, if your project produces a product with lower quality, warranty claims rise, and you lose money.
6. Repairs/maintenance after a poor quality solution goes live causes more work with higher repair and maintenance costs.
7. Client dissatisfaction caused by a poor quality solution never return. Consequently, poor quality internal projects cause clients to refuse to work with project managers and team members on subsequent projects.
8. Help desk sometimes causes users problems with project solutions or understanding how to utilize the solutions. Therefore, a help desk service requires much effort and maintenance costs.
9. Support staff requires effort and cost to maintain a solution because of problems, errors, questions, etc.
10. Mistrust develops when a project team or organization delivers poor quality products. The client begins to believe the project organization cannot produce a good product.  This leads to a mistrust of project team skills, processes, and motivation.

Quality Management

While quality management costs, delivering poor quality costs, also. A key point of formal quality management suggests that you spend quality time on internal quality management (prevention and inspection). You save substantially on internal and external failure costs. Spend more time focusing on a better product. The cost of operating the product long-term may be dramatically reduced.

For more information about managing your Quality Management System, contact Don Swift at 940-228-0550.