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<b style="color: blue">Human Resource Associates</b>
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<span class="heading">HR - On The Job</span>
<p class="section">Giving Feedback the Right Way</p>
<p>Many HR writers and consultants are advising employers to scrap the annual performance review. They say it is too time consuming, requires too much paper work, is just another HR exercise, and is ineffective. When you examine their reasons, what they're really saying is that no one is doing them right. That's a little like saying we should stop scoring baseball games because we don't agree with the umpires. If we were to watch a group of players knocking a ball around without keeping score, we would quickly lose interest in that game. Keeping score is important.</p>
<p>The same is true for people in all walks of life. Wouldn't it be great if each of us had some sort of "life coach," who would help us define what we want and how to go about getting it, and tell us when we're on-track, doing the right thing, and when we're going off course? Well, you may not be able to provide your employees with a life coach, but you're the right person to provide job performance coaching or, in other words, feedback.</p>
<p>The annual review is the formal part of the feedback process. Like that baseball game, it's the score at the end of an inning. Where the annual review naysayers are correct is when they say that once a year is not enough. Feedback has to be constant. It's a continuous and sometimes written conversation about how you see your employees progressing. The more each employee knows about how they are doing, the more likely he or she will do it better.</p>
<p>Although it's important to provide positive as well as negative feedback, very few of us have difficulty givimg positive feedback, but many of us are uncomfortable giving negative feedback, so we may not be very good at it. Attorney Marie Burke Kenny, writing for the Employer Resource Institute, says that when an employee is not performing well and doesn't respond to verbal feedback, the manager needs to put that feedback in writing. To do that, she recommends keeping two acronyms in mind: CONTACT and SMART - contact is the first step and doing it smart keeps you on track.</p>
<style>.letter { font-size: 16pt }</style>
<p><b><span class="letter">C</span> stands for "comprehensive."</b> Make sure your memo is comprehensive in describing the history of the issue and why now is the appropriate time to write this memo about not meeting performance expectations.</p>
<p><b><span class="letter">O</span> stands for "objective."</b> A supervisor should get input from HR or someone else in authority on writing up performance problems. A second set of eyes can help the supervisor be more objective. It's also a good idea to hold onto that writing for at least 24 hours before having a discussion with the employee because a little break in time can change perspective.</p>
<p><b><span class="letter">N</span> stands for "no charity."</b> No charity means that this is not the time to be dishonest for the sake of easing your task or soothing the effect of this action. It's always a good idea to let the employee know what he or she is doing well, but only if it's the truth. You have a message, and it must be delivered and understood. Too many performance reviews and memos are full of charity which can come back to haunt you down the line in lawsuits.</p>
<p><b><span class="letter">T</span> stands for "timely."</b> Feedback that comes months after something has happened is just wrong. The message will not be as effective and may not even be remembered. The employee should be told about bad performance as soon as possible before it becomes a habit.</p>
<p><b><span class="letter">A</span> stands for "accurate."</b> Make sure the facts are absolutely correct and verifiable, through calendars, appointments, and other sources.</p>
<p><b><span class="letter">C</span> stands for "candid."</b> Be straightforward and honest about an employee's performance.</p>
<p><b><span class="letter">T</span> stands for "training."</b> Whenever an employee is promoted to a supervisory position, training should be provided on how to manage employees. A little "management 101" can save the company a lot of headaches and legal bills.</p>
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<p><b><span class="letter">S</span> stands for "specific."</b> You should specify what the performance issue is; that is, state the performance you want. Say what you are getting that you don't want, what they are to start doing, and/or what they are to stop doing. If your sales employee is not meeting his or her sales quota, says Kenny, you might say, "You've only hit 40 percent of your sales goal for the last two months. At the end of the next two months we expect you to hit 65 percent."</p>
<p><b><span class="letter">M</span> stands for "measurable."</b> Whatever you're asking of this employee must be measurable. "Generate $50,000 in sales per month," or "Meet all weekly report deadlines." An old saying goes, "If you don't measure it, you don't manage it."</p>
<p><b><span class="letter">A</span> stands for "achievable."</b> If you haven't addressed the issue with the employee yet and he or she has now fallen behind two months, then telling them that they have two weeks to catch it all up may be unachievable.</p>
<p><b><span class="letter">R</span> stands for "realistic."</b> Like the achievable point, ask if what you expect is realistic. Was the original performance expectation realistic? Is your expectation based on the previous work of a super achiever?</p>
<p><b><span class="letter">T</span> stands for "turnaround."</b> When do you expect to see the desired performance? And keep up the feedback to assure that this is not just a temporary fix but a true turnaround of this employee's performance.</p>
<p>There are few things that are as effective as feedback when it comes to developing good employees. Training is important, but without feedback even training can fail. </p>
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<p align="center"><b><i>Have an employment question?</i></b></p>
<p align="center">Send it to <a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=From HR On The Job">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p align="center">Please include Company Name and Association in your e-mail. Company identification will be kept confidential.</p>
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<p class="heading">Hitchhiking on the Information Highway</p>
<p><b>Dateline:</b> September 2010</p>
<p><i>(Note: Although we attempt to provide the HRU update on the first of each month, we are normally delayed awaiting the release of several monthly government statistical reports. We will hereafter update the information as each report becomes available without waiting for all of them to be released.)</i></p>
<p class="section">How Much Money Does It Take To Make You Happy?</p>
<p>Sharon makes $500,000 a year. She gets a 4 percent increase to $520,000.</p>
<p>Frank makes $200,000 a year. He gets a 4 percent increase to $208,000.</p>
<p>Jane makes $75,000 a year. She gets a 4 percent increase to $78,000.</p>
<p>Which one of these would you thereby choose as the happiest? Whichever choice you make would be wrong according to the experts at Princeton University.</p>
<p>Business & Legal Reports (BLR) recently reported on a Princeton University study that attempted to learn more about what makes people happy and how much income influenced that happiness. In their study that identified two categories of happiness, life evaluation and emotional well-being.</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Life evaluation</b> is "a person's thoughts about his or her life." The answer one might give to the question, "How would you rank the quality of your life?"</li>
<li><b>Emotional well-being</b> is "the quality of a person's everyday experience such as job, fascination, anxiety, sadness, anger and affection. The answer one might give to the question, "How happy are you in your daily life?"</p>
</ul>
<p>The study found that people's <em>life evaluation</em> actually does increase steadily with income. However, at each level of income people gradually adjust their expectations to see their current income as a norm or a base regardless of the income they started with. As such, the 4 percent increase to $520,000 Sharon got made her experience the same jump in <em>life evaluation</em> that Jane got getting a 4 percent increase to $78,000. Each felt the same amount of improvement in the quality of their <em>life evaluation</em>.</p>
<p>However, <em>emotional well-being</em> does not increase steadily with income. According to the findings, once the income level reaches $75,000 "people's emotional well-being" levels off and no longer affects the emotional happiness people feel. At that point happiness is "constrained by other factors such as temperament and life circumstances."</p>
<p>The message of the Princeton study is that people recognize that high incomes improve their living standards but they do not bring happiness.</p>
<p class="quote">"The hardest arithmetic to master<br />
is that which enables us to count our blessings."<br />
- Eric Hoffer</p>
<p class="section">Government Help Is On The Way!</p>
<p>Potential November changes in the Congress and the Senate may slow down the seemingly adversarial onslaught of anti-business and pro-union laws, but newly appointed agency Czars have been given the power to basically make the laws say what they like. The congress creates the laws but the regulations on how those laws are to be interpreted, to whom they apply and how they will be enforced are things that are done by the rule writers and the newly created Czars. In some cases a law is passed and the regulations are not completed for years. These approximately 50 new Czars do not need to be approved by Congress and in many cases their power has been expanded to include the creation of new laws as they see fit. We're may be in for a lot of surprises but here's a picture of some of the things we think will be affecting the workforce in the near future.</p>
<ul>
<li><i>New regulations on how workers are classified for overtime eligibility (exempt vs. non-exempt).</i> Part of the intent is to reclassify some supervisors, managers and salespeople as non-exempt.</li>
<li><i>New regulations on the definition of independent contractor vs. employee.</i> The government wants to see payroll taxes paid for independent contractors and to make more people subject to labor laws.</li>
<li><i>New interpretations of union authority over private companies.</i> The newly appointed members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) may find a way to get the unpopular Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) enforced under another name even though Congress has already turned it down. (EFCA allows the union to see how each employee voted in union elections.) One recent decision by the NRLB is an example of what to expect. It has long been illegal for unions to "secondary boycott", that is to picket or disrupt neutral companies in a labor dispute. They may do so with the company they are in dispute with, but not with uninvolved companies that do business with that disputed company. In the past it has long been the ruling of the NLRB and the courts that the use of banners (large signs placed in front of neutral companies) are also considered secondary boycotting and are thereby not allowed. However, the NLRB recently ruled that banners will be allowed to be used against neutral companies. Some members of the NLRB protested that ruling saying that this created a “startling new standard" and can be expected to result in many disruptions against neutral business operations.</li>
<li><i>Thousand of new workforce investigators have been hired and many more on the way.</i> And their agencies budgets have been enormously expanded. They will certainly be aggressive on safety and environmental issues but there will be a focused war on the issues of exempt vs. non-exempt, independent contractors and wage & hour issues.</li>
</ul>
<p>Other labor related items of interest include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Health insurance premiums are rising. Since the new health care bill was passed premiums have increased nationally 3 percent. Discussions with association members report premium increase notices of 8 percent to 19 percent.</li>
<li>Basic salary increases for 2010 are expected to average between 2% and 2.5%. When you factor in the 0% increases the national average is 1.5%.</li>
</ul>
<p class="quote">"There is no distinct<br />
American criminal class -<br />
except Congress"<br />
- Mark Twain</p>
<p class="section">Q&A</p>
<p><b>Q:</b> Since we have been doing background and reference checks the quality of our hiring has improved and our turnover rate has dropped. My boss wants to add credit checks to our process but I'm not sure that's a good idea. Is that likely to help and are there any precautions to be aware of?</p>
<p><b>A:</b> There are certainly precautions. In today's litigious society and workforce you need a good business reason to do anything. There is no acceptable data establishing that someone's credit rating has a direct correlation to their work performance. Unless the job you are filling is directly related to a credit rating you should not pursue it. For example, if you are recruiting for a VP of Finance, the credit rating may be pertinent. If the person you are hiring will be officially representing your company in a public relations capacity, or as a financial consultant to you or your clients, the credit rating might be pertinent. If the individual's reputation, financial standing or credit rating is a significant factor in the performance of the job, then the credit rating may be pertinent.</p>
<p>But if you intend to do credit checks, recognize that by doing so you are assuming the role and legal responsibility of a bank lending money or a merchant selling products. You are required to obtain the individuals consent, provide him or her a copy of your findings. If you reject the application based on the credit check, you must then allow him or her an opportunity to respond and to appeal the results. You are also required to at least reconsider your decision after the process is complete. There have been several Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charges as a result of candidates being rejected based on the results of their credit checks. Credit rating, in spite of what the banks say, is not a clear sign of character. If it's not job related don't do it.</p>
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<p style="text-align: center"><sub>© William J. Cook</sub></p>
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<span class="heading">Labor Stats</span>
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<b>Federal Minimum Wage</b>
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<p align="center">
<b>$7.25</b>/hour<br />
</p>
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<b>Average Income</b>
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<table>
<tr><td /><td class="u">August 2010</td><td class="u">August 2009</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Hourly</td><td class="b">$22.66</td><td class="b">$22.28</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Weekly</td><td class="b">$774.97</td><td class="b">$753.06</td></tr>
</table>
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<b>Federal Povery Level</b>
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<table>
<tr><td class="i">one person</td><td class="b">$10,830</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">family of four</td><td class="b">$22,050</td></tr>
</table>
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<b>IRS Mileage Allowance</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td class="i">business</td><td><b>50</b> cents/mile</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">medical or moving</td><td class="b">16.5</b></td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">charitable</td><td class="b">14</td></tr>
</table>
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<b>Postage</b>
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<table>
<tr><td class="i">1 oz</td><td><b>44</b> cents</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">postcard</td><td class="b">28</td></tr>
</table>
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<b>Population</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td class="i">world</td><td class="b">6.9 billion</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">U.S.</td><td class="b">309.7 million</td></tr>
</table>
<p align="center">
<i>one birth every </i><b>7</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>one death every </i><b>13</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>one new immigrant every </i><b>35</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>net gain of one person every </i><b>11</b><i> seconds.</i>
</p>
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<b>U.S. Civilian Workforce</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td /><td class="u">August 2010</td><td class="u">August 2009</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Total</td><td class="b">154,116,000</td><td class="b">154,426,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Employed</td><td class="b">139,250,000</td><td class="b">139,433,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployed</td><td class="b">14,760,000</td><td class="b">14,993,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Want A Job</td><td class="b">5,972,000</td><td class="b">5,609,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployment Rate</td><td class="b">9.6%</td><td class="b">9.7%</td></tr>
</table>
<br /><hr />
<b>U.S. Workforce Productivity</b><br />
<sub><i>(The amount of goods produced, divided by the number of work hours it took to produce it)</i></sub>
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<table>
<tr><td class="i">1992</td><td class="b">3.7%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1993</td><td class="b">0.5%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1994</td><td class="b">1.3%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1995</td><td class="b">0.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1996</td><td class="b">2.5%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1997</td><td class="b">2.0%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1998</td><td class="b">2.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1999</td><td class="b">3.3%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2000</td><td class="b">3.4%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2001</td><td class="b">2.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2002</td><td class="b">4.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2003</td><td class="b">3.7%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2004</td><td class="b">2.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2005</td><td class="b">1.7%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2006</td><td class="b">0.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2007</td><td class="b">1.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2008</td><td class="b">1.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2009</td><td class="b">+5.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2010 1st quarter</td><td class="b">+2.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2010 2nd quarter</td><td class="b">-0.9%</td></tr>
</table>
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