The way a boss or leader within an organization acts has changed drastically in the past decade. Management styles have shifted from command-driven to explanation- driven. This shift has facilitated more open communication between leader and subordinate, an increased sense of teamwork and has produced higher productivity levels than ever before. Today we at Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) share with you a few ways you can revamp your leadership style.

Stop Commanding, Start Explaining

As we mentioned before, there is a shift in leadership styles from command to explanation. When giving instructions to employees, stress the importance of how this task will enhance the company instead of simply assigning tasks. This creates a dialogue in which the employee can ask any questions he/she may have about the task.

Don’t Punish Mistakes

Office culture used to have a strict no mistake policy – one where employees were frightened to show an unsuccessful product to a superior. Instead, let employees learn from mistakes. This will enhance quality of products once you can see what does and does not work moving forward.

Foster Self-Initiative

The days of forever employment are gone. In today’s economic times leaders should not mislead employees by telling them they are safe if their performance reads like their job description. Encourage employees to take their work to the next level. This creates not only more driven employees but also an increased sense of value in the company for employees.

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team believes that collaboration is the key to success. In order for successful collaboration to occur all team members must have a complete understanding of both the goals of their organization and the role that each individual must play in order for the organization to be able to reach that goal.

While it is true that familiarity with a certain leader may act as a positive influence on employees, leaving them feeling secure or confident in their boss’ leadership style, it can also lead to decreased efficiency. A recent study found that familiarity could have major disadvantages.  Employees tended to feel betrayed or personally offended when leaders were given more responsibility and thus delegated more work to employees. In response, many employees exhibited decreased effort and productivity as their way of showing their feelings toward their leader.

Leaders must be highly aware that employees react differently to direction. If a leader disregards individual reaction, the team may have not only decreased productivity individually but a decreased sense of collaboration as well. If a leader is conscious of these differences when giving direction, they will be able to avoid a diminished sense of teamwork and be able to carry out projects at an increased rate of speed and effectiveness.

In order to keep efficiency at peak levels, leaders must gain trust in employees and remain objective when providing feedback on employees work. The same applies when new members of the team are brought in. Efficiency levels will remain consistent when leaders exhibit unchanging behavior, regardless of responsibility levels, in order to maintain trust with all employees.

When a team has trust in its leader it can work at an efficient level. This efficiency allows the team to collaborate at the highest possible level and therefore accomplish the goals of the organization.

Do you have a social media policy for your workplace?  Or, if you do, is it properly enforced?

If not, the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team thinks that you need to understand how preventing workers from accessing social media on the job is only getting harder.

Three-out-of-every-four employees are accessing social media on their personal devices once a day, with 60 percent saying they check multiple times per day.

But only 43 percent of those same staff members work for companies that allow social media access.

That’s according to the new Social Media and Workplace 2012 Report, courtesy of SilkRoad.

“Social Media & Workplace Collaboration — 2012 Latest Practices, Key Findings, Hottest Topics” confirms what many HR pros already know: Employees are going to use social media at work, whether you approve of it or not.

That doesn’t mean you should ditch your social media policy, though. What it means is that firms might be better off crafting a forward-thinking social media policy than one that completely forbids social media use.

And, if you can figure out a way to get those workers involved in your own in-house social media efforts, all the better.

Here are a few more of the key findings from the research:

• Companies’ efforts to guide employee use of social technology are mixed: Only 23 percent of workers received a specific social media policy from their employer, and the same percentage reported having no policy at all. Just 17 percent were issued informal guidelines, and less than 10 percent received social media training.
• Twitter is the most popular social media site accessed at work: 70 percent use Twitter and 65 percent use Facebook, while only 19 percent use corporate intranets.
• Virtually no employers are asking for social media passwords: Despite the media and political buzz around the topic, 97 percent of respondents said that their employer or potential employer had not yet asked employees for social media passwords.
• Employees use personal mobile devices frequently during work hours to access social media: 60 percent check social media multiple times throughout the day on their mobile devices, and 75 percent say they check it at least once a day or more.
• Interacting with co-workers was the primary motivator for social media engagement at work: 49 percent of respondents said that connecting with co-workers was the top reason to use social media while at work. The second and third most popular reasons were connecting with others on a fun social platform (47 percent) followed by connecting with customers (44 percent).

“Companies can no longer ignore social tools, nor the ways that their employees use them to share and access information,” said W. Edward Vesely, chief marketing officer of SilkRoad, in comments from the executive summary.

He added: “These new technologies can be used to create business value, share information, engage employees — and even create dialogue with customers and prospects.”

Workforce Management has published its annual Hot List of top HR providers, products and services that help keep businesses up to date, on track and focused on what matters most—its people.  The listing features some of the most innovative companies in the human capital solutions business.

The top five vendor packages on the Workforce Hot List are:

1. ADP – HR/Benefits Solution, RightThingRecruit, SourcePoint, VirtualEdge, WorkforceNow
2. Ascentis – Ascentis Recruiting
3. Bond International Software – Bond Adapt
4. General Information Services – Pangea Human Capital Solutions
5. HR Services, Inc. – myStaffingPro

The Hot List inspired the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team to take a look at the latest developments in Human Resource Information System (HRIS) solutions.

An HRIS fits into a category of business software that helps organizations track employee data such as name, position, hire date, manager and salary.  HRIS software helps control the data entry, data tracking, and data information needs of the HR, payroll, management and accounting functions within a business.

HRIS software is normally packaged as a data base, but because hundreds of companies sell some form of HRIS, every system has different capabilities. Pick your HRIS carefully based on the capabilities you need in your company.

Costs drop in the Cloud

The introduction of scalable software-as-a-service (SaaS) HRIS tools in recent years has made it easier for smaller firms to implement HR systems without draining their IT budgets. The market has changed dramatically, and there are a lot more options for small companies today than there were five years ago.

The interest by smaller companies in HRIS tools is part of a broader uptick in the HR technology market. Nearly a third (31 percent) of companies plan to increase their spending on HR software in the coming year, shows a Towers Watson survey of 628 global organizations released in August.

The top three areas of investment include:

• Rolling out additional functionality from existing vendors
• Upgrading HR management systems
• Expanding existing self-service functions.

They are making these investments because they believe they will create greater efficiency, encourage collaboration, improve quality and lower costs.

Beyond the core costs of owning and operating technology, it seems that not only is HR technology seen as “needed to play,” but also that organizations recognize that investment in it is needed for them to remain current, expand capabilities and continue to improve operations.

There are limitations, though, to entry-level HRIS products. SaaS tools are configurable but not customizable, meaning they have some flexibility but cannot be tailored completely to match all unique business methods. So companies need to choose a tool that either accommodates their existing processes, or be willing to adapt their processes to work with the tool.

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team is sharing some hard-won business insights directly from the source.

 ”A Practical Guide to Human Resources Management” is a 266-page guidebook to the intricacies of the world of employment from Jeff Stinson, founder and president of Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO).

Chapter 14 – So You Thought It Was Okay to What?

 I have been amazed at what some folks think passes for acceptably behavior in the workplace.  With so many stories to tell and so little space, I thought I would group these stories into four categories:

1.     Interpersonal issues among employees
2.     Social Media and technology
3.     Ways to “beat the system”
4.     Alcohol, drugs and safety

Just for fun, I’ve also included some travel stories of passenger mistreatment that make you wonder what the airlines are thinking.

Interpersonal Issues

The workplace is made up of human beings and, as such, many unpredictable things can occur.  These interpersonal issues can lead to some strange situations.  I the early stages of my career, the concept of sexual harassment was just becoming accepted, and little case law existed.

So, what do you do when a very attractive woman who has a job that consists of installing computers, cables, printers and the like chooses to wear micro minis to work?

In those days, the in the shop would whistle and hoot and holler.  This is easy to deal with, and once the guys understood the rules and she understood the dress code, I thought there would be no problem.  Unfortunately, a few weeks later she had enhancement surgery and, as a result, the mini-dresses became even more micro.  When the general manager of the facility heard about her “new look,” he raced upstairs to her work area and pronounced for all the world to hear, “Where is she?  I want to see them.”  Fortunately, no lawsuit followed.

Other areas of potential interpersonal conflict that I discuss in the book include body odor, cultural differences, office affairs (best to avoid those email containing naked pictures), illegal activities, etc.

Social Media and Technology

Interpersonal issues in the workplace have been complicated by the use of social media and technology.

While I think Facebook, Twitter, texting and other such services are wonderful advancements in communication, they can be problematic in the workplace.  On many occasions we have had to remind employees that unless they take special precautions, Facebook posting are available for most anyone to see.  What you do on your own time is your business, but when the reputation of the company is damaged, it becomes a work-related issue.

Ways to ‘Beat the System’

Employees can also be very entrepreneurial.  Perhaps a better way to say this is that they feel a need to “beat the system.”  We once terminated and employee for running a catering business out of my customer’s kitchen.

Don’t have a car?  No problem—borrow the company car and use it for personal business.

Many employees don’t realize that stealing time is the same as stealing money, and you can see this in the creative use of time cards and time clocks.

Falsifying documents is another big problem in many organizations.  Many of my clients are government contractors, and the penalties for incorrect documentation can be substantial.

Alcohol, Drugs and Safety

Perhaps the area where I have seen the most damage has been in the area of alcohol and drugs.  Many careers have been severely damaged by drinking in the workplace, and more than once I have had to send someone home who either smelled of liquor or failed an alcohol test.  Drug use is similar, but not always as blatant.

As for safety, 99 percent of accidents are preventable, but you have to pay attention to what you are doing and follow the rules.

Travel

I have flown nearly three million miles over the years on various airlines, and I am constantly amazed at what this industry passes off as customer service.  Read this chapter for the horror stories.

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team is sharing some hard-won business insights directly from the source.

 ”A Practical Guide to Human Resources Management” is a 266-page guidebook to the intricacies of the world of employment from Jeff Stinson, founder and president of Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO).

Chapter 13 – What the Future Holds

During my thirty-year career in human resources, I have watched the evolution of the workplace in awe and amazement.  In 1980, the two-cocktail lunch was still common and technology was limited to the telephone and the copy machine.

In the area of technology alone, if you had told me then that I could work on a thing called a computer with 24/7 access to the world on a thing called the Internet anywhere in the world, I would have thought you had one too many of the cocktails I mentioned.

I thought it would be fund to predict what will happen over the next 30 years based on what I have seen to date and the trends I have seen going forward.  If I am still around then, I will be eighty-four and hopefully working on another book with similar predictions.  For those of you who are still around, give me a call and let’s see how I did.

Specifically, I will discuss these predictions:

• No one needs to work anymore.
• Everybody and everything is protected.
• Unions are back in style.
• Lawsuits continue…with the government’s help.
• No one is in the office – where are they?
• The younger generations have take over, and are they different!
• Work life and the family are keys to talent acquisition.
• Regulation is the lifeblood of the profession.
• Technology will be more interesting.
• What is an employee, anyway?

You will have to read the book to get my take on the first nine items on the above list.  But I will say this about the last point.  The contingency workforce will expand dramatically, and more and more people see themselves as free agents moving from one employer to another on a contractual basis.  The days of working for a company for 40 years and getting a gold watch are gone.  For the new generation of HR leaders, the emphasis will be on attracting the right talent rather than on keeping them forever.

Next: Chapter 14 – So You Thought It Was Ok to What?

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team is sharing some hard-won business insights directly from the source.

 ”A Practical Guide to Human Resources Management” is a 266-page guidebook to the intricacies of the world of employment from Jeff Stinson, founder and president of Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO).

Chapter 12 – How to Manage Them Internationally

While I realize that many of you will not have international employees and this chapter may not apply to you, there may come a time when you decide to expand your operation.

Whether this expansion comes in nearby Mexico or Canada or you move to Europe or Asia, managing international employees is somewhat different, and you need to be aware of the potential issues.

In this chapter, I will discuss two types of employees:

• Locals you are relocating overseas
• Locals who are actually natives of the country you are operating in

Relocating Expatriates

Locals who are relocated overseas are known as expatriates or “expats”  The selection of the expat is critically important, given that their annual costs can easily be two to three times their salary.  While the proper selection criteria are beyond the scope of this book, here are a few things to consider:

Career Blockage

The assignment has to make sense form a career perspective.  Often, expats are sent overseas for two to three years and return to find a job that is not as “big” as they were used to. Repatriation is a key to success.  Upon their return, be sure their assignment allows them to take advantage of their new skills.

Other key points discussed in this chapter include:

• Culture Shock
• Lack of Pre-Departure Cross-Cultural Training
• Overemphasis on Technical Qualifications
• Family Problems
• Compensation

Working with the Local Nationals

Over time, most organizations replace all or most of their expats with local nationals.  There are some general rules in dealing with your overseas employees.

Rule #1: Think Globally, Manage Locally

Rule #2: Don’t Believe Everything You Hear

Rule #3: Don’t Fall into the Religion Trap

Rule #4: The Paradigm May be Different There

Rule #5: You Really Can Hold Them Accountable

Rule #6: People Are People

Dealing with employees’ issues can be a bit easier in most of the world, but only because there are a series of very strict rules employers need to abide by.  Again, this will vary by region and country.

Read the chapter for details.

Next: Chapter 13 – What the Future Holds

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team is sharing some hard-won business insights directly from the source.

 ”A Practical Guide to Human Resources Management” is a 266-page guidebook to the intricacies of the world of employment from Jeff Stinson, founder and president of Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO).

Chapter 11 – How to Deal with the Unions

Unions today make up a very small part of the workforce.  In the 1950s, union membership stood at around 35 percent of the working population.  Today, the number is less than 12 percent, with most of these in the public sector.  Why the fall?

I would like to say it is because you have all ready my book and are using excellent HR practices that keep people from wanting to join unions.  Wishful thinking.  In fact, there are a number of reasons, including these:

• Many of the issues that originally brought unions to the workplace, such as minimum wages, child labor and workplace safety, have all been legislated both federally and located.
• A number of industries where unions once dominated, such as textiles and steel, have moved offshore.
• The old concept of “personnel” evolved into the practice of human resources (HR), and companies made a much greater effort to meet the needs of their employees, thus giving them much less reason to organize.

Given the above, I would suggest that in the 21^st century, if you wake up one morning to find a union at your door, it will constitute a failure of management…not of the employees.

Unfortunately, if you do wake up that morning with this new problem, your work is really cut out for you.

Labor Relations Management

Like most things in HR, labor-relations management is a process consisting of three steps:

1. Union organizing
2. Collective bargaining
3. Contract administration

Union Organizing

The union organizing process is the attempt by the union to convince a sufficient number (30 percent) of employees to sign authorization cards allowing for an election.  The election campaign will be a lively one, and there are a number of things you should remember regarding your conduct – the dos and don’ts.  These include:

• You can give your opinion, telling them why you think the union is NOT good for them, and why.
• You can tell them if they strike, they may be replaced.
• You can tell employees that they don’t have to talk to union representatives if they don’t want to.

There are also a number of things you cannot do, including:

• You cannot question employees about the union.
• You cannot spy on their meetings.
• You cannot visit them at their homes to discuss union issues.

Collective Bargaining

This is the phase where you must negotiate in good faith toward the goal of reaching a collective-bargaining agreement or union contract.  Generally, you must negotiate things like rates of pay, overtime, grievance procedures, etc.

I would suggest that you always hire a professional to assist you in this process.  The union will certainly be using one, and you should as well.

Contract Administration

Administering the contract once it has been negotiated is by far the most time-consuming element of the union relationship.  Most of this effort will involve interpretation of the contract.  There will likely be issues that come up that were not anticipated at the time of the negotiation.  When this occurs, there is typically a grievance and arbitration procedure, which I discuss in detail in the book.

At the end of the day, the best policy is to pay attention to your employees’ needs, provide a safe workplace for them, and pay them competitively.

Next: Chapter 12 – How to Manage Them Internationally.

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team is sharing some hard-won business insights directly from the source.

 ”A Practical Guide to Human Resources Management” is a 266-page guidebook to the intricacies of the world of employment from Jeff Stinson, founder and president of Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO).

Chapter 9 – How to Train Them

Let’s be honest.  Have you ever been sufficiently trained?  I have always subscribed to the concept of being a lifelong learner, and I appreciate any training I can get.  While each employee’s situation will be different, we need to ask how much training is really required and whether the results justify the expense.

In looking at employee training, I would suggest you ask the following questions:

• Why are we doing this training?
• Is it to provide new skills, or is it in response to an employee performance problem?
• Is training really the solution to the employee’s performance problem?

Oftentimes, when an employee is not performing, the natural assumption is that the problem is lack of training.  I would suggest that before you reach this conclusion, you consider whether the employee is willing and/or able to do the job.

Willingness is the interest, motivation and confidence to improve, whereas ability is the knowledge, skill and resources to improve.

In the book, we provide a “Willingness & Ability Table” as a useful tool for you to use when trying to decide if a performance issue represents an employee’s lack of willingness to perform or is really because of lack of ability.

Are the goals of the training clear and realistic?  Far too often, we enter into training without considering its real goal.

Are you trying to provide information?  Improve skills?  Do you expect a real change in performance?

Do you know if the employee is ready for training?  The necessary employee characteristics to ensure readiness of training include:

• Ability to learn the subject matter
• Favorable attitudes toward the training
• Motivation to learn

All of these factors need to be present for training to be a success.  The planned training program should directly relate to the needs identified by the needs assessment, which we have already discussed.

Effective training objectives have three components:

What the employee is expected to do, the quality or level of performance that is acceptable, and the conditions under which the trainee is expected to apply what is learned.

Once you are convinced that your employee can and is willing to learn, it is time to figure out what the best training method would be.  A wide variety of methods are available for conducting training, such as:

• Classroom training
• Training videos
• Role-plays
• Case studies
• Computer-based training
• Learning games
• Experiential programs

Some measures of training success might include:

• Trainee satisfaction with the program.
• Knowledge of abilities learned.
• Use of new skills and behaviors on the job.
• Improvements in individual performance.
• Improvements in organizational performance.

At the end of the day, training needs to improve performance.  That is the bottom-line measurement.

Next: Chapter 11 – How to Deal with the Unions

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team is sharing some hard-won business insights directly from the source.

 ”A Practical Guide to Human Resources Management” is a 266-page guidebook to the intricacies of the world of employment from Jeff Stinson, founder and president of Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO).

Chapter 8 – How to Stay Out of Court

There was a time we could resolve employment problems internally, and utilizing the court system was rarely an option.  This began to change 20 or so years ago, and today just about any employee issue should be viewed as a potential lawsuit.

What would you do if one of your employees lied on his application for promotion and told you he had a degree when he didn’t?  Some of you might fire him, some might not.  What if he did it again and again, and finally a fourth time?  No kidding, this really happened.  At some point he lost his job and sued.  Did my customer “win” the case?  Of course he did – at the cost of $100,000.

It is not always unavoidable and sometimes even preferable to allow a case to go to court.  There have been times when a certain plaintiff’s attorney had decided to send his kids to college by representing my client’s ex-employees.  The case I shared earlier was the first of three this attorney would file.  The first case needed to go to court to show them that my customer would not roll over and settle.

An employee’s perception of a claim is his or her reality, and there is no shortage of plaintiff attorneys to take these cases.  If there was a legal area in this country that I would consider legalized extortion, this would be it.  Many of these cases are filed hoping and knowing that a company will quickly settle to avoid the cost.

I am not an attorney and would never offer legal advice.  What I do know, though, is that life at work is complicated and if you don’t believe me, consider the many federal laws with which employers must comply.

I believe the key to all of these laws is understanding the basic concept that you cannot treat one group of people differently from others for reasons like:

• Age
• Physical or mental disability
• Medical condition
• Height/weight
• Marital status
• Sex
• Sexual orientation
• Pregnancy
• Religion
• Race/color
• National origin
• Veteran status
• Language

Please remember that this list is constantly evolving, and your state may have additional protected groups.

Unfortunately, you may be discriminating without even knowing you are doing it.  There are two concepts in this area with which you should be familiar.

Disparate Impact

Disparate impact is the result of policies that appear neutral on their face but have an adverse impact on a protected group.

Disparate Treatment

Disparate Treatment involves treating similarly situated employees differently because of some prohibited factor.  Ever seen Tootsie?

Another thought is to not rely on the concept of “at-will” employment.  Under this theory, employees can be terminated at will.  There are so many exceptions to this concept that it will rarely keep you out of court.

And then there’s arbitration, the advantages of which are many.  This chapter has a detailed section on this topic.

Next: Chapter 9 – How to Train Them