August 2015, Page 4 Archive

Finding the right HR software for your organization is essential to implementing and executing a transition from the old to the new. Many software companies have focused on developing integrated suites that allow HR departments to track an employee’s entire life cycle within an organization. But there are so many HR software systems available today, how do you find the one that’s right for your organization? Software Advice’s team of unbiased experts has reviewed 125 HR software systems and they’re ready to help you narrow down your choices so you can find the vendor that will give you the best pricing on systems that match your needs.

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If your company is tracking employee information and processing payments manually, payroll solutions could save you time, money and a lot of headaches by mitigating compliance risks. There are many payroll solutions available to streamline the task, but determining which solution is best for you can be overwhelming. Software Advice’s team of independent experts have reviewed 30 payroll software systems and are ready to provide you with reviews and price quotes from the vendors that best meet your needs.

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Workplace bullies have always been on the scene. But they’re now being recognized as productivity killers and potential legal threats to employers.

Some researchers claim one in every three employees will experience bullying at work. And the experts say bullying costs businesses more than $200 billion a year due to decreased productivity, increased absenteeism and high turnover.

A partial rundown of the corrosive effects of workplace bullying:

• reduced productivity, efficiency and profitability
• higher absenteeism, sick time and employee turnover
• decreased morale and loyalty
• increased costs due to recruitment and retraining
• increased workers’ comp claims
• indirect costs though time spent dealing with bullying situations
• negative effects on the company’s image
• potential fines for not abiding by occupational health and safety laws
• legal costs from employees who bring lawsuits, and
• potential increases to insurance and workers’ comp premiums.

Bullying isn’t automatically illegal. However, behaviors commonly associated with bullying often overlap with other behaviors that are illegal, such as harassment or bias.

The 8 most common bully personalities

Anton Hout, founder of OvercomeBullying.org, identifies these eight bully types:

1. The Screaming Mimi. This is the most easily recognizable type of workplace bully. Screaming Mimis are loud and obnoxious, and their abusive behavior is meant to berate and humiliate people. They thrive on the notion that others fear them.

2. The Two-Headed Snake. To a co-worker’s face, this employee acts like a trusted friend or colleague. However, when the co-worker is out of earshot, this person will destroy his colleague’s reputation, stab him in the back and even take credit for his work.

3. The Constant Critic. This bully’s goal is to dismantle other people’s confidence through constant – and often unwarranted – criticism. A critic will look for any possible flaw in someone’s work and labors tirelessly to kill that person’s credibility. Impeccable work? No problem: This type of bully isn’t above falsifying documents or creating evidence to make others look bad.

4. The Gatekeeper. Every office has at least one employee who gets off on wielding his or her power over others – regardless of whether that power is real or perceived. Gatekeepers deny people the tools they need – whether it’s resources, time or information – to do their jobs efficiently.

5. The Attention Seeker. This type of bully wants to be the center of the action at all times. They’ll try to get on their superior’s good side through consistent flattery and even come on as kind and helpful to their peers – especially the newer employees. However, if co-workers don’t provide the right amount of attention, these bullies can quickly turn on them.

Attention seekers are often overly dramatic and relate everything to something that’s going wrong in their own lives to garner sympathy and control. These bullies also have a tendency to coax personal info out of new employees – only to use it against them later.

6. The Wannabe. This is an employee who sees himself or herself as absolutely indispensable and expects recognition for everything. But Wannabes aren’t usually very good at their jobs. To compensate, these bullies spend a majority of their time watching more competent workers and looking for areas of skilled workers’ performance to complain about.

Wannabes will demand that everything is done their way – even when there are better ways of doing things. Because they’re automatically opposed to others’ ideas, they’ll do everything in their power to prevent changes to their work processes.

7. The Guru. Generally, there’s nothing wrong with this bully’s work performance. In fact, it’s not unusual for a Guru to be considered an expert in his or her own niche area. What these bullies offer in technical skill, however, they severely lack in emotional maturity.

Gurus see themselves as being superior to their co-workers. As a result, they don’t consider how their actions will affect others, aren’t able to fathom the possibility that they can be wrong and don’t accept responsibility for their own actions. In addition, because these bullies feel as though they’re “above it all,” they don’t always feel compelled to follow the same rules as everybody else.

8. The Sociopath. Intelligent, well-spoken, charming and charismatic, sociopaths are the most destructive bullies of all. Reason: They have absolutely no empathy for others, yet they are experts at manipulating the emotions of others in order to get what they want.

These bullies often rise to positions of power within the company, which makes them extremely dangerous. Sociopaths tend to surround themselves with a circle of lackeys who are willing to do their dirty work in exchange for moving up the ranks with them.

5 policy keys

The best defense a company can have against workplace bullying is a clearly worded policy that prohibits any type of bullying behavior.

Here are some components every good anti-bullying policy should include:

• a clear definition of what is considered bullying – along with a list of some of the actual behaviors that meet the definition
• an outline of how employees can report bullying, including guidance on what to do when the bully is the manager
• a detailed explanation of the complaint and investigation process that will take place
• a “no retaliation” clause to help employees feel safe about reporting problem behavior, and
• a list of consequences of violating the anti-bullying rules.

This is an update to the original article, which ran on 4/4/13.

What’s the biggest threat to retaining talented employees? We have the answer. 

It is this: How much it would cost them to stay loyal to your company.

Generally, employees get a raise of in the neighborhood of 10% to 20% when they switching jobs.

Compare that to the average 3% raise employees will earn this year for staying with their present employers and you begin to see just why people are so eager to jump ship.

Top talent most susceptible

Of course, not all workers can leave and get a 10% pay bump, but you can bet your best employees can.

Plus, recent pay freezes — followed by the economy’s shaky recovery — have made employees want to take every advantage of the earning power they have while they still have it.

New buzzword: Inboarding

So what’s an employer to do?

Enter the latest strategy in boosting retention: inboarding.

Yes, it’s another fancy buzzword for you to remember, but this one has some legs, says business management consultants David Sturt and Todd Nordstrom of the O.C. Tanner Institute, an employee rewards firm.

Inboarding is the act of creating growth opportunities for your existing employees, and Sturt and Nordstrom recently wrote on Forbes.com about some of the best ways companies use it to stave off turnover.

Here they are:

Hiring from within

A lot of companies feel they foster growth by promoting top employees. But you can take things so much further than that.

Example: Set up a system in which employees can express their interests in other areas of the company.

Then, when an opening pops up in one of those areas, the system flags the employee as a possible candidate.

Several cutting edge companies (Google, among them) have already adopted similar practices.

Breaking down silos

Create projects that break down departmental walls, and invite talented employees to lead them.

This gets them outside the confines of their usual roles and makes them feel they’re growing.

Showing their impact

Employees become a lot more passionate about their work (17 times more passionate, according to O.C. Tanner research) when they can see the impact it has on others.

When was the last time you arranged for your behind-the-scenes superstars to speak directly to your customers?

Rubbing elbows

The more connected an employee is to the people around him or her, the harder it is for the person to leave.

That’s why it’s so important to create ways to build camaraderie between co-workers, as well as between managers and subordinates.

It sounds simple, but it’s true: The more employees rub elbows with each other and upper management, the more attached they’ll get to your company.

Plus, the relationships forged can lead to growth opportunities within the organization.

Stopping to appreciate good work

Sturt and Nordstrom have built careers around employee recognition, so they’re obviously big believers in it.

But they offer up a very compelling stat to back up their beliefs: 79% of nearly 100,000 managers and employees said in a poll they’ve quit jobs because they felt unappreciated.

So it’s crucial to make sure those in leadership roles recognize their staffers’ great work.

Cite: “The ‘Inboarding’ Revolution: Do Employees Get More To Leave Their Job?” by David Sturt and Todd Nordstrom, Forbes, 8/8/14.

Testifying before Congress, a former DOL administrator, and an architect of the last changes to the FLSA’s overtime rules, shot holes in the federal agency’s proposal to more than double the minimum salary workers need to be paid to be considered exempt. 

On behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tammy McCutchen testified before the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections to express her concerns about the DOL’s proposed revisions to the “white-collar” overtime exemption rules.

If you’ve followed this issue on HR Morning, you probably recognize her name. McCutchen is a former DOL administrator-turned-attorney who now works for the firm Littler Mendelson P.C. She not only helped devise the previous revisions to the FLSA’s overtime rules, she sat in on a number of “listening sessions” with current DOL Secretary Thomas Perez when the DOL was still formulating the latest batch of proposed rule changes.

She hasn’t been shy about expressing her thoughts on the rulemaking process, her predictions for the rules and — now — her displeasure over what was introduced.

A transcript of McCutchen’s testimony can be found here.

Changes ‘unprecedented,’ ‘unsupported’

Some of McCutchen’s biggest concerns about the DOL’s proposal:

• The new threshold abandons the original intent. McCutchen said that the threshold was meant to serve as a method of “screening out the obviously non-exempt employees.” But setting it so high — to $50,440 — “expands the number of employees eligible for overtime beyond what Congress envisioned when it created the exemptions.”
• It’ll have a disproportionate impact on states with a lower cost of living. McCutchen pointed out that the proposed salary threshold would far exceed the threshold established in high-cost-of-living states like California ($37,440) and New York ($34,124).
• The DOL’s methodology is “unprecedented.” McCutchen pointed out that in its rulemaking in 1958, the DOL based the minimum salary level for exemption on the 10th percentile of average employee wages. In 2004, the DOL based it on the 20th percentile to account for changes in the “duties tests” made in 2004. She then said if the 2004 methodology were used today the threshold would be $30,000 annually. Instead, the DOL has chosen to use the 40th percentile. This, she said, is an “unprecedented,” “unsupported” leap.

If COBRA administration isn’t on the top of your priority list, it’s understandable. After all, with affordable coverage available on the ACA’s federal and state exchanges, nobody’s likely to opt for costly COBRA coverage, right? 

Not so fast. Even with the exchanges, there are plenty of reasons why some people may still choose COBRA – like broader coverage with more available services, better overall value and the ability to keep current providers.

The cost of common mistakes

So when employers slack off on COBRA administration, they’re leaving themselves wide open to major problems.

For one thing, COBRA mistakes can be costly. Examples:

• a $100 per day excise tax for failing to comply with COBRA requirements ($200 per day if more than one beneficiary is affected by the same qualifying event), and
• a $110 per day penalty for failing to provide COBRA notices.

And on top of that, employee lawsuits that include attorney’s fees and other relief can wind up costing employers a fortune.

That’s why a self-audit of COBRA processes can help.

Where to start

In addition to preventing mistakes and oversights, an audit can save your firm a significant amount of money by removing ineligible beneficiaries.

A good place to start is by looking at the IRS’ own audit guidelines.

These guidelines can serve as a checklist and can be found here.

The self-audit process

When it comes to a self-audit, employers should keep in mind that coverage generally lasts a max of 18 months for terminations or reductions.

But if covered employees become disabled while on COBRA, they and their covered dependents may qualify for an extra 11 months of coverage if certain conditions are met. Plus, a covered employee’s spouse who would lose coverage through a divorce can elect COBRA coverage under the plan for a max of 36 months.

Employers can ask beneficiaries to prove eligibility by providing:

• copies of a birth or marriage certificate, an adoption final decree or affidavits of dependency, and
• a copy of the top half of page 1 of the worker’s Form 1040 tax return.

If a disability is involved, you can also require physician certification.

Finally, if beneficiaries receive Social Security Disability Insurance, COBRA administrators must get a Notice of Award Letter from Social Security within 60 days of the award.

Do you have any concerns about using assessments? Assessments help you select better people, decrease turnover, and find the best candidates for your company. If you’re thinking about using assessments or are unsure where to start, The Complete Guide to Assessments is your #1 resource.

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Employers spend a lot of time looking for candidates that are a match with the company’s culture. But is that mentality shielding them from the best available talent? 

In short: Yes, if your “culture” isn’t well defined, says Lauren Rivera, a management professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

You can focus too much on ‘fit’

In an article she penned for The New York Times, Rivera warned the concept of company culture has become too vague, and can give managers the idea that they should make hiring decisions based on which candidates they’d rather hang out with.

Rivera researched hiring practices at top banks, consulting firms and law firms by interviewing 120 decision makers and observing recruitment practices over several months.

What she found was focusing too much on whether a candidate was a “good fit” often wasn’t used to find someone with similar organizational values. Instead, it drove managers to seek out people with similar interests to themselves.

Redefining ‘fit’

Rivera says companies can prevent this mistake by doing two things:

1. Be clear and consistent about what traits are needed to be a “cultural fit.” Ideally, these should be based on data about what values, skills and behaviors are associated with job success and high performance at your organization.
2. Give interviewers an idea of how different qualities should be weighed. In other words, what’s more important to your organization — a person’s skills, personality or work experience?