HR Morning News, Page 8 Category

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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Learning Management Systems (LMS) software helps educational institutions and businesses better manage online learning programs. Using a LMS, organizations can create curricula to educate students and/or employees, and allow them to demonstrate competencies or gain certification in areas relevant to their role. Analytics and reporting functionality also gives organizations more insight into training or learning program success. If you need help making an informed buying decision for your organization, let the unbiased experts at Software Advice help. They’ve reviewed nearly 40 learning management systems and can help you find the vendors that best match your needs.

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Talent management is a hot topic within the Human Resources (HR) software market. This software category refers to two primary functions: the acquisition of new hires and development of employees. There are more than 100 different software solutions available to improve your processes of interviewing, hiring, onboarding and retaining employees. Let the unbiased experts at Software Advice help. They’ve reviewed 46 talent management systems and can provide you with free demos and quotes to narrow your search and identify the vendors that best meet your needs.

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When you’re trying to increase your managers’ effectiveness, a little divine intervention can’t hurt.  

OK, maybe we’re not talking about direct intervention from above. But we’ve got the next best thing: management advice from Pope Francis.

Nick Pipitone, writing on ResourcefulManager.com, recently outlined the Pontiff’s rules for getting the best out of an organization. Here’s a taste:

Patience is a virtue.  Things rarely happen as fast as management hopes they will, and bosses need to build some patience into their expectations. Take one of your firm’s initiatives and compare it to making changes in the structure of an institution as old and rigid as the Catholic Church. Your project’s a piece of cake.

Foster an open dialogue. Open communication can be a messy process, but then so’s every other aspect of human behavior. Pope Francis’ first move was to create the “Vatican Eight,” Pipitone writes. It’s a council of eight cardinals from churches worldwide. Their goal: Give advice on how to open up the church’s hierarchy.
The cardinals describe council meetings as â€œfree, frank and friendly” — can your managers say the same about relations with their employees?

Give employees ‘your blessing.’ Yes, we know — few managers are qualified to confer blessings on their charges. But what this piece of guidance really means is that managers need to make their employees feel valued — and protected. Loyalty breeds loyalty.

Other pieces of the Pope’s wisdom:

• Don’t micromanage
• Put the big picture before your personal interests
• Know when to be assertive and when to step back, and
• Stay humble.

Timely ideas

How do the Pope’s suggestions fit with the real-world workplace?

A recent survey from the Society for Human Resource Management cited the following:

• the top contributor to job satisfaction was “respectful treatment of all employees at all levels,” rated as very important by 72% of employees
• the relationship with their immediate supervisor was seen as key by 58% of respondents, and
• 56% said they strongly valued their immediate supervisor’s respect for ideas.

If you’ve got any employees who are logging serious overtime week after week, you’ll want to take note of how the court handled this case.  

Judith Dietz v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal was a case that centered around a Pennsylvania municipal water department employee, Robert  Dietz, who had a deadly heart attack on the job. Dietz was a 48-year-old field maintenance worker who routinely logged more than 40 hours per week and was always on call. He was also a heavy smoker.

Dietz’s heart attack took place during a 14-hour shift.

Long hours or smoking habit?

After Dietz’s death, his widow, Judith Dietz, sued her husband’s former employer for death benefits. The company tried to get the case dismissed arguing that it was Dietz’s pack-a-day cigarette habit and not the long hours and constantly being on call that caused his death.

While Dietz’s widow did acknowledge the smoking habit, she relied on the testimony of a cardiac specialist, who said what killed Dietz was his long work day performing strenuous physical labor, to make her case.

On appeal, the court sided with the widow and said that the long work hours were to blame for Dietz’s death.

As Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt stated:

The overwhelming circumstantial evidence in this case shows that exertion from Decedent’s regular work activities over the course of a 14-hour workday caused his heart attack.

That means the employer is on the hook for up to 60% of Dietz’s wages as well as another $3,000 in burial costs, under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act.

Employee reviews are arguably the best opportunity an organization has to energize and motivate its employees. For many organizations, though, the process of scheduling, executing and documenting reviews can be incredibly arduous. Performance management software can help modernize and automate the process, but there are so many software solutions on the market, how do you know which one is right for your organization? Let the unbiased experts at Software Advice help. They’ve reviewed nearly 60 systems and are ready to help you narrow your search so you can find the vendor that’s right for you.

Click here to learn more!  

You’ve seen it happen: A standout line worker gets promoted to supervise his/her former peers. And the struggles begin.  

Liane Davey, a VP at Knightsbridge Human Capital, writing on the Harvard Business Review website, says she “can almost guarantee there will be awkward moments as [the newly minted supervisor] transition[s] from team member to team leader.”

But the hurdles aren’t insurmountable. A quick rundown of her advice for new supervisors:

First, meet one-on-one with each member of the team. The first benefit of this one-on-one, obviously, is that the new manager can take the opportunity to show they haven’t turned into some kind of maniacal manager overnight. Davey suggests the supervisor ask specific questions about where he/she can help the employee succeed, and what the worker’s hoping to achieve over the long term.

Davey acknowledges that the new boss needs “to balance the friendly and inclusive approach with some signs of strength. … You don’t need to provide much detail, but do share your early vision for the team and any priorities that you will tackle first.”

Finally, the manager should ask for the team member for support in a statement similar to this: â€œJuan, you’ve always been the software expert. I need your help to get up to speed and to make sure I’m keeping the software issues top of mind.”

Try to make the first team meeting a special event. Davey suggests a conference center outside of town or a room in your office with couches instead of tables. “If you can spend an afternoon and then go out socially after, it works even better,” she says.

The manager can start by discussing the purpose of teams – he/she’s been a member of this group, so it won’t be hard to discuss specifics about workplace dynamics. Then it’s time for the new boss “to to evolve the mandate in accordance with changing times,” Davey says.

The objective is to engage in a discussion about where the team needs to continue on the same path and where it should change the trajectory.

Finally, the team leader can describe the way she wants the group to operate day-to-day. Davey’s example: “If you know that the team tends to be somewhat passive-aggressive, be explicit about your expectation that concerns be addressed directly: ‘I want to be very clear that all issues need to be shared openly so they can be resolved. Please don’t come to me with an issue you haven’t addressed directly with one another first.’”

And now, the hard part

Davey also warns that there are likely some bumps in the road ahead. Her take on some common new-manager problems, and ways to deal with them:

A decision is made without your knowledge. If you learn that a decision has been made that you should have been privy to, talk with the person and make your displeasure clear. “I just learned that you authorized a reduced price for Acme. That’s a decision I should have been involved in. Let’s go over the types of decisions you can make autonomously and the ones I need to be part of.”

An issue that has been closed is reopened. Resistant team members will often attempt to reopen a decision as a way to test your authority. You can discourage that behavior with this approach: â€œWe made a decision on that issue last week. What is leading you to raise it again now? Let me reinforce that we need to move efficiently and my expectation is that once a decision is made, everyone is on board and executing it. Dissent is welcome, but only before the decision is made.”

A team member resists your leadership passive-aggressively. Often, resistant team members show irreverence with subtle and not-so-subtle body language such as turning away from you in meetings, rolling eyes, or disengaging from the conversation. When that happens, start with a subtle response such as sitting directly beside or across from the person in the next meeting or walking around behind the person while you’re talking. If resistance persists, provide direct feedback in a one-on-one. “In the last couple of meetings, you have been sitting at the back of the room and only providing one word answers to my questions. I’m concerned that you’re not making the transition to me being the leader of the team. What are you willing to do differently to show you’re on board?”

A group of people gang up on you. It’s distressing enough to deal with one passive-aggressive team member, but that stress is amplified if multiple people are questioning your leadership or badmouthing you to one another. If you face this challenge, repeat the process of meeting with everyone individually and then addressing the issues in a team meeting. Be direct in your feedback and don’t be afraid to make people a little uncomfortable: “I am concerned that you are challenging my decisions and that your pushback is encouraging others to do the same. What’s going on for you? How do we get things back on track?” Make it clear you expect people to address these types of issues with you directly in the future.

Wow. When this company does sexual harassment, it really does it up big.  

Bottom line first: VXI Global Solutions, a provider of call center services for major nationwide companies, will pay $600,000 and furnish other relief to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the EEOC, the feds have announced.

Nothing too unique there, although that’s a big piece of change. But what’s really interesting about this case is that the company was held responsible for harassment of both male and female employees — the rare double delinquency.

EEOC filed suit against the company in September 2014, alleging that beginning in 2009 two classes of employees — female and male — endured a hostile work environment, created by at least 13 harassers, including male and female supervisors.

Female employees were subjected to unsolicited groping and touching, constant or continued sexual propositioning, and grotesque comments of a sexual nature by male supervisors.

The EEOC also contended that male employees were subjected to repeated sexual advances with foul descriptions of proposed sexual activity, unwanted lap dances and physical rubbing by female supervisors. Male employees who refused to participate were targets of unlawful gender stereotyping when they were accused of being gay because of their objection to the harasser’s behavior.

Complaints blocked

Supervisors also allegedly threatened and intimidated the staff to prevent complaints, according to the agency: Numerous attempts to report the harassment to human resources personnel were stymied by their lack of availability. After VXI Global Solutions’ supervisors and/or human resources personnel were eventually advised of the harassment, several of the alleged victims were subsequently disciplined and terminated.

According to the consent decree filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the company will, in addition to providing the monetary relief:

• retain an equal employment opportunity consultant to revise the company’s policies and procedures with respect to sexual harassment and retaliation
• provide training in those areas to all employees nationwide along with additional training for management and human resources personnel on how to effectively deal with such complaints
• maintain a centralized system to track internal sexual harassment and retaliation complaints; conduct surveys at company sites in Los Angeles, Texas and Ohio, and
• post a notice on the matter at the Los Angeles site. EEOC will monitor compliance with the four-year consent decree.