|
Server : Apache/2.4.62 System : FreeBSD fbsdweb2.web.rcn.net 14.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE releng/14.1-n267679-10e31f0946d8 GENERIC amd64 User : www ( 80) PHP Version : 8.3.8 Disable Function : NONE Directory : /domains/highlandlabs/cqi-bin/ALFA_DATA/alfasymlink/root/domains/hrahg/hru/otj/ |
Upload File : |
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>HRA - On The Job</title>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<meta name="robots" content="noarchive, nofollow" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="hronthejob.css" />
</head>
<body>
<div id="header" align="center">
<img src="../../graphics/logo.jpg" style="height: 100px; margin: auto; display: block; text-align: center" />
<b style="color: blue">Human Resource Associates</b>
</div>
<div id="wrapper">
<div id="content">
<h2>HR - On The Job</h2>
<h3>Bad Boss Quiz</h3>
<p>Although a timid boss can prove to be unproductive, most complaints about bad bosses say they are too abrasive. An Illinois study on employee turnover showed that forty percent of all turnover is directly related to bad bosses.</p>
<p>So how do you know if you're a bad boss? One author, Laura Crashaw prepared a self test on bad bosses, based on her years of experience helping employers improve their retention of good employees. You can score your own test and consider the recommendations at the end.</p>
<h4>Bad Boss Quiz</h4>
<ol>
<li>
Have you ever been asked to:
<ol type="a">
<li>Improve your communications skills</li>
<li>Control your temper</li>
<li>Learn to get along with others</li>
<li>Not to get so “worked up”</li>
<li>Not be so hard on coworkers</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Have you been passed over for a promotion and can't get anyone to give you a specific reason?</li>
<li>Have you ever been passed over for a promotion because of your people management skills?</p>
<li>
Do you find yourself in intense and unresolved confrontations with:
<ol type="a">
<li>Supervisors</li>
<li>Peers</li>
<li>Subordinates</li>
<li>Human resource staff or office administrators</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>
Have complaints been brought against you for inappropriate conduct, such as:
<ol type="a">
<li>Harassment</li>
<li>Discrimination</li>
<li>Hostile treatment</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Do you have a nickname that refers to tough behavior such as (“Axe-Man”, “Terminator”, Doctor Death” or tough animals (such as “Pit Bull”, Wildebeest”, “T- Rex”)?</li>
<li>Do people avoid you at work?</li>
<li>Do employees attempt to transfer out of your group or avoid transferring in?</li>
<li>Do you have enemies at work?</li>
<li>Do you frequently find yourself intensely frustrated by co-workers or staff?</li>
<li>Do you generally feel that you are smarter than your coworkers?</li>
<li>Do people seem to choose their words very carefully so as not to offend you?</li>
<li>Have you received low performance evaluations for team building, participative management or other so called “soft skills”?</li>
<li>Do you dislike co-workers who are less competent than you are?</li>
<li>
If so, do you openly refer to them as:
<ol type="a">
<li>Lazy</li>
<li>Stupid</li>
<li>Incompetent</li>
<li>A bunch of idiots</li>
<li>Any other pejorative descriptions</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>
Do you engage in any of the following behaviors at work?
<ol type="a">
<li>Publicly criticizing others</li>
<li>Hostile humor or teasing others</li>
<li>Shouting</li>
<li>Profanity</li>
<li>Making threats</li>
<li>Publicly humiliating others</li>
<li>Temper outbursts</li>
<li>Physical intimidation (such as throwing objects or slamming doors)</li>
<li>Ignoring others or giving the silent treatment</li>
<li>Name calling</li>
<li>Making condescending statements</li>
<li>Non-verbal expressions of disdain (such as rolling your eyes, snorting, snickering etc.)</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
<h4>Scoring</h4>
<ul>
<li>If you answered yes to any of the following questions, there is a possibility that <em>you are perceived</em> as being too abrasive. 2-3-7-9-10-12-13-14.</li>
<li>If you answered yes to any of the remaining questions, <em>you are behaving abrasively</em>. 1-4-5-6-8-15-16-17. These questions refer to unacceptable behavior or extreme co-worker reactions to your abrasive behavior. Or, being a bad boss.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Recommendations</h4>
<p><b>Get as much feedback as you can, as soon as you can.</b> Make it easy (in other words, not threatening) for others to give you feedback. Tell them you are concerned that you may be coming across in ways that you do not intend, and reassure them that you will be grateful for their frank input. Listen calmly, take notes, ask questions for clarification and above all <em>do not attempt to defend yourself</em>. The goal is to collect data on how you are perceived.</p>
<p><b>Apologize.</b> “I see now that when I interrupt, it may give the impression that I think my thoughts are the most valuable. I don't mean to give that impression and I'm sorry that it came out that way.”</p>
<p><b>Ask for further feedback.</b> “If you see me doing that again, will you let me know? I'd really appreciate it.”</p>
<p><b>Thank coworkers for having the courage to open up and reassure them that they are helping, not harming you.</b> “Thanks again for speaking frankly. It really helped. It opened my eyes.”</p>
<p>Get help if you are unable to change your abrasive behavior. Ask your employer to refer you to a specialist who works with abrasive individuals. If that's not a viable option, seek help on your own.</p>
<p>Being a Bad Boss, particularly in today's litigious environment, is a life changing issue. And the changes can be for good or for bad.</p>
<hr />
<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>
<hr />
<h2>Hitchhiking on the Information Highway</h2>
<h3>We Need More Buggy Whip Makers</h3>
<p>The city of Detroit pays $56,000 ($27,000 in wages plus $29,000 in benefits) annually for a “Ferrier” in the sewer department. Most of us have never heard of a Ferrier. Well, It's the professional title for a horse shoer! Shoing horses is still a viable occupation in Detroit. But the city has no horses and hasn't had any for generations. So why are they paying someone to shoe horses? Because union rules do not allow the employer to abolish a job without the consent of the union and the union doesn't consent.</p>
<p class="quote">“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain”<br />
- The Wizard of OZ</p>
<h3>Socialism Comes to Your House</h3>
<p>Business leaders in Montgomery County MD are batting a national union over a proposed new law that would require employers to pay workers for an additional three months after their work ends. And it applies to homeowners! The bill would require homeowners who hire contractors to continue paying the workers if the contract is discontinued. If a new contractor is replacing the old one, the new contractor must either hire all those employees or the homeowner will be required to continue paying them anyway. Incompetent contractors? Job taking forever to finish? Job costs higher than contracted? That's your problem. If you fire the contractor you become the employer. The law, if passed will also apply to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, apartment buildings and public projects. This is the same county that requires an $11.00 minimum wage.</p>
<p class="quote">“The problem with socialism is that eventually<br />
you run out of other people's money.“<br />
- Margaret Thatcher</p>
<h3>Unemployment Sleight of Hand</h3>
<p>The unemployment rate dropped from 8.2 percent down to 8.1 percent in August. 163,000 new jobs were added last month. So are we on the road to recovery? You can't tell by those numbers. The reason for the drop is that 368,000 unemployed workers stopped looking for work and are no longer being counted as unemployed. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, if you add the number of unemployed workers who aren't being counted and the number who have been reduced to part-time the actual unemployment rate is 16 percent.</p>
<p>Not so rosy:</p>
<ul>
<li>43 months of unemployment above 8%</li>
<li>It takes 150,000 jobs per month just to keep pace with the population growth.</li>
<li>At the present rate of job growth it will take approximately 8 years for the economy to return to 2007 rates.</li>
<li>There are 300,000 fewer jobs in August then there were in January 2009.</li>
</ul>
<p>Interesting facts:</p>
<ul>
<li>The unemployment rate for men is 8.4%. For women it's 4.9%.</li>
<li>The unemployment rate for college graduates is 3.9%. For high school dropouts it's 13%.</p>
</ul>
<p class="quote">“If you put government in charge of the Sahara Desert,<br />
in five years you would have a shortage of sand.”<br />
- Milton Friedman</p>
<h3>Who's Getting All The Jobs?</h3>
<p>There were 163,000 new jobs added in August, so who got them? Hang on for a surprise. 69 percent of all the new job hires in 2012 have been workers over the age of 55! Surveyed employers said that they chose older workers because:</p>
<ul>
<li>They're more experienced</li>
<li>More dependable<li>
<li>Their expectations are realistic</li>
<li>They show up on time</li>
<li>They miss fewer days for illness</li>
<li>Fewer worker relations problems</li>
</ul>
<p class="quote">“Twenty years ago my grandfather started walking five miles every day.<br />
Today we don't know where the hell he is.”<br />
- Ellen DeGeneres</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center"><sub>© William J. Cook</sub></p>
</div>
<div id="sidebar">
<span class="heading">Labor Stats</span>
<hr />
<b>Federal Minimum Wage</b>
<hr />
<p align="center">
<b>$7.25</b>/hour<br />
</p>
<hr />
<b>Average Income</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td /><td class="u">August 2012</td><td class="u">August 2011<td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Hourly</td><td class="b">$23.52</td><td class="b">$23.12</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Weekly</td><td class="b">$809.09</td><td class="b">$793.02</td></tr>
</table>
<hr />
<b>Federal Povery Level</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td class="i">one person</td><td class="b">$10,956</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">family of four</td><td class="b">$21,954</td></tr>
</table>
<hr />
<b>IRS Mileage Allowance</b>
<hr />
<p>July 1, 2011 through December 31, 2012</p>
<table>
<tr><td class="i">business</td><td><b>55.5</b> cents/mile</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">medical or moving</td><td class="b">23.5</b></td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">charitable</td><td class="b">14.0</td></tr>
</table>
<hr />
<b>Postage</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td class="i">1 oz</td><td><b>44</b> cents</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">postcard</td><td class="b">29</td></tr>
</table>
<hr />
<b>Population</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td class="i">world</td><td class="b">7 billion</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">U.S.</td><td class="b">314.3 million</td></tr>
</table>
<p align="center">
<i>one birth every </i><b>8</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>one death every </i><b>14</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>one new immigrant every </i><b>44</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>net gain of one person every </i><b>13</b><i> seconds.</i>
</p>
<hr />
<b>U.S. Civilian Workforce</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td /><td class="u">August 2012</td><td class="u">August 2011</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Total</td><td class="b">154,645,000</td><td class="b">153,674,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Employed</td><td class="b">142,101,000</td><td class="b">142,558,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployed</td><td class="b">12,544,000</td><td class="b">12,696,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Want A Job</td><td class="b">6,957,000</td><td class="b">7,031,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployment Rate</td><td class="b">8.2%</td><td class="b">8.2%</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>
<hr />
<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</td><td class="b">+3.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2011</td><td class="b">+0.7%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1st quarter 2012</td><td class="b">(-0.9%)</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2nd quarter 2012</td><td class="b">(+2.2%)</td></tr>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>