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Archive for Leadership – Page 10

Creating Your Compensation Plan

Last time we talked about establishing your pay philosophy. Once you’ve done that and have committed it to paper (to be periodically updated) the next step is to understand the market so you can develop pay rates for each of the positions you identified in your workforce plan.

There are several ways to do this. You can speak to other people within your industry to learn what they are paying, or you can search sites such as Salary.com, Glassdoor, or the Bureau of Labor Statistics for salary information, or you can use a salary survey such as PayScale. As you look at salary information, determine a salary range to use. You could use the median or 50^th percentile, or you could establish a range, for example 25^th to 75^th percentile. This will help you decide on your own pay ranges. And remember, you need to consider your budget as you are making these decisions.

Make sure that your compensation plan fully complies with state and federal laws and regulations. This includes classifications such as exempt and non-exempt, overtime pay, independent contractor regulations, required benefits such as health insurance and Worker’s Compensation, minimum wage laws, etc.

Another component of your compensation plan is “pay for performance.” How and when will you reward employee performance? Will you use rating and rankings to determine salary increases or will they be determined purely on the basis of individual performance? Will performance reviews and salary increases happen in concert or separately? Will you have a discretionary fund for employee incentives and what are the criteria for those awards?

Once you’ve developed your compensation plan, it’s important to communicate it to your employees. Explain that salaries are based on market rates, pay philosophy and employee performance. Discuss total compensation – that is, base salary, incentives and benefits. Employees who have a clear understanding of how they contribute to the success of the organization and who feel recognized for that contribution are more engaged and motivated. Everyone wins.

If you need some help understanding the market for your job positions, or selecting a salary survey to use, please contact me.

Achieving Growth Through Effective Workforce Planning

In my last blog, I discussed the importance of taking some time – now – to plan for the various HR activities that need to occur throughout the year. A good place to start is with your workforce planning. We all want to grow our businesses. But without a clear understanding of the knowledge and skills that will be required to move the business to the next level, this is a difficult goal to achieve.

Workforce planning helps consider the size, type and quality of the workforce you will need to achieve your company objectives. It helps you strategically recruit, hire and develop employees to ensure that you have the right people in the right place at the right time.

Workforce planning can include operational considerations such as work schedules and hours, distributing talent among divisions and departments, identifying functions no longer needed and reassigning workers, and maintaining employee engagement. The more strategic side of workforce planning looks at identifying skills sets needed as the company grows and changes, transferring company knowledge as employees leave, and defining recruitment strategy for future workforce needs.

An effective workforce plan keeps talent in the pipeline for when you have an immediate need. It improves your bench strength by helping you identify and prepare future leaders. And it ensures that you are ready for future opportunities.

Start by defining job roles: the work that needs to be done, and the skills and competencies required for that work. If you’re starting from scratch, you may want to use an employee who is currently doing the work successfully as a model to identify required skills, experience and behaviors, but remember that a job should be designed around the role requirements, not a particular person.

Once you’ve defined and designed the critical job roles to meet your needs today, spend some time thinking about skills/job roles you may need in the future. This will be helpful in identifying skill gaps, and determining whether it makes more sense to hire for those skills gaps or to develop current employees to fill the gaps.

Next, create formal job descriptions. Job descriptions should be reviewed and updated at least annually, and whenever someone leaves. Job descriptions should be as detailed as possible. This will help you recruit the right person for the job. It will also give you a legally defensible document, or ‘benchmark’ for performance management. Be sure your job descriptions include at least the following:

Job title
Job location
A summary of the job objective/purpose
Scope of responsibility
Reporting relationships
Qualifications required (experience, skills, competencies)
Key functions and duties (including standards)
Physical requirements of the job

Please contact me if you need help creating your workforce strategy.

Now is the Time for Your HR Planning

As the New Year gets underway, this is the perfect time to do some planning for the various HR activities that need to occur throughout the year. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend that you get out your calendar to schedule the following HR activities and begin developing a plan for each of them. It’s very easy to get so caught up in day-to-day operations that these activities sneak up on you, and then are either delayed, not done well, or missed entirely.

Here’s a framework of common activities you can start with. You may have additional ones, based on your business.

Company goals. What are you planning to/need to accomplish this year? This is important in driving your planning and decisions for all HR activities. And also, in driving individual and team goals.

Workforce planning. To accomplish your goals, what are the skills, knowledge and number of employees you’ll need? Where are the gaps in your current workforce? What plans do you have in place for upskilling current employees to meet new demands of the business?

Budgeting for headcount. If you’ll be adding to your workforce this year, what’s your budget?

Job descriptions. Job descriptions should be reviewed at least once a year or and/or whenever a job position’s responsibilities change. As new positions are created job descriptions need to be created. Up-to-date, accurate, and detailed jobs descriptions as essential for effective hiring, employee development and performance management.

Employee Handbook. Your Employee Handbook should be thoroughly reviewed and updated annually, with periodic updates as new laws are implemented. When was the last time you updated your Handbook to reflect new company polices or employment laws?

Open enrollment. Even though this activity typically occurs in the fall, it’s important to plan for it well in advance, especially if you are thinking about changing brokers or adding or changing benefits.

Performance reviews. Waiting until the performance review date to manage performance is a disservice to employees and to the company. Make performance management an ongoing activity and then plan well in advance for the annual or semi-annual performance review.

Salary increases. What is your budget /criteria for salary increases? What surveys will you use to determine current market data?

Employee surveys. Giving employees the opportunity to provide feedback (and then doing something in response) is important in keeping employees engaged and motivated. Questions need to be thoughtfully prepared and relevant. You also need to consider how you will administer the survey (paper, online, focus groups…) and develop a plan for reviewing, communicating and implementing any changes resulting from the survey. Don’t conduct a survey unless you plan to do something with the information!

The most important thing is to be proactive rather than reactive. It’s much better to carve out some time now – as busy as you might be – to plan for these items ahead of time. Leaving it until the last minute or overlooking an activity altogether can be very costly in time, money and employee morale.

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

Remember to Thank Your Employees

The last month of the year can often get so busy with wrapping things up for one year and preparing for the next that we forget a very important activity – saying “Thank You” to employees.

Before you take off for the holidays, be sure you show your appreciation for the work that your employees have done in 2016. Recap the successes, share lessons learned, and tell them your hopes and plans for the New Year. Let them know how important they were in the organization’s accomplishments this year, and how you are relying on them for continued success next year.

Many companies have gone through changes this year – big and small, planned or unexpected. As you thank employees – both in group settings and individually – keep your message positive. Here are some ideas for showing your appreciation.

Say “thank you” in person. Encourage managers to make the time to walk around and thank each person on their team for contributing to the success of the organization. A personal thank you is much more meaningful than an email or a thank you during an “all hands” meeting.

Give a gift or cash award. Include a gift, cash or gift card with the personal thank you. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it should be meaningful.

Take your team to lunch. Have each manager take their team out to lunch to celebrate the holidays and say “thank you.”

And now I would like to thank you for following my blog, and for providing your comments and feedback!

My best wishes for very Happy Holidays and a Successful 2017!

Employee Surveys: Don’t Just Ask…Act!

For the first 6 months of this year, only 32.9% of employees were engaged at work, according to Gallup, who regularly measures employee engagement. This means that nearly 70% of employees were not engaged. Lack of employee engagement translates into less productivity and lower morale, and may ultimately impact business results.

There are multiple factors that contribute to employees being engaged and motivated – a sense of purpose, opportunities for growth, a positive culture, learning and development, and effective leadership, to name a few. Often companies, especially small ones with limited resources and time, are hard pressed to know where to focus to move the engagement meter in the right direction. A good way to determine how to improve your employees’ satisfaction, engagement and motivation is to ask them.

Conduct an employee survey.

Perhaps you’ve done one before. But there are surveys and there are surveys. And…it’s not just about asking a bunch of questions. It’s about asking a few good questions that encourage an honest response, and then actually acting on the information you receive. Too often employees are asked to spend 20 minutes or so providing input to a survey and then they never hear anymore about it. This is most likely not the intent when the survey is sent out, but sometimes there are so many ideas and suggestions for improvement that leadership can’t get their arms around them, or they compete with other priorities. Good intentions get lost in the shuffle.

There is a better way.

Start by creating a list of questions that will help you identify some areas that employees want to see improved. Common ones are training and growth opportunities, communication, and understanding how their role fits into the big picture. Pare the list down to 3 or 4 effective questions. Communicate to employees the purpose of the survey and that you will be selecting one or two areas to work on based on the results. An alternate way to gather responses to the questions is through employee focus groups. Once you’ve gathered and analyzed the data, communicate results to employees and involve them in prioritizing the areas to work on. Select one or two areas to focus on in the short term. Be open and honest about what’s achievable. Consider setting up employee work groups to create solutions for the improvement areas selected. Make progress updates a regular part of your employee communication. The important part is to ask and to ACT. When employees see that you are true to your word, they will be more willing to provide you with feedback and ideas and to be part of the solution.

“Research indicates that workers have three prime needs: Interesting work, recognition for doing a good job, and being let in on things that are going on in the company.” –Zig Ziglar

6 Tips for Developing a Performance Improvement Plan

As I’ve often said, performance management is an ongoing process not just an annual event. As such, when there’s a performance issue it’s important to deal with it in a timely manner. The goal should be – if possible – to turn the situation around and get the employee back on track versus terminating them. This requires a plan. Here are some tips for developing an effective Performance Improvement Plan (PIP).

Keep detailed documentation. When it’s clear that there’s an issue – the employee is regularly late, absent without an excuse, or submitting sloppy/incomplete work, for example – note the dates and description of the incidents. This will document a pattern of poor behavior and will serve as a backup in the event of a legal dispute down the road.
Have an informal performance discussion. Hopefully you are having regular one-on-ones with your employees. If so, that is the perfect time to clarify expectations and alert the employee that there’s an issue. Give the employee the opportunity to explain and to offer ideas for a solution. It may be that the issue could be resolved by a change in work schedule or additional training. Be sure to share the impact of the employee’s under-performance and that without improvement, the next step will be a formal PIP.
Create the plan. If the performance doesn’t improve after the initial performance discussion, it’s time to create a formal PIP. The plan should clearly describe the expected behaviors and specific goals – with deadlines – for achieving those behaviors. Goals should be SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. Establish a reasonable timeline for the behavior change – long enough to determine whether the behavior change can be sustained, but short enough to take the next step (possible termination) before other people/processes are impacted by the poor performance.
Obtain employee’s agreement and signature. It’s essential that the employee commit to the goals on the plan. If possible, co-create the goals. If the employee feels they’ve had the opportunity to provide input to the plan they are more likely to follow it. As part of your documentation process, and to reinforce the formality of the PIP, get the employee’s signature.
Monitor performance. As part of the plan, schedule regular check-ins to discuss progress. Acknowledge any progress, and also remind the employee that you are looking for sustained improvement.
Formally close out the plan. If the employee fails to meet the expectations defined in the plan, the next step is determining whether termination is appropriate. If the employee follows the plan and shows the expected improvement, acknowledge that improvement and close out the plan. If the employee makes a good effort but doesn’t complete all the goals or you are unsure whether the performance will be sustained, you may want to extend or create a new PIP.

When it comes to Performance Improvement Plans, prevention is the best medicine. You will have fewer PIPs to write if you deal with performance issues in a timely manner, keep lines of communication open with your employees through regular one-on-ones, and are consistently clear about performance expectations.

Family and Medical Leaves – A Refresher

On July 1, new regulations under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) go into effect to align more closely with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). I thought this might be a good time to do a little refresher on FMLA, especially for those of you who have employees outside of California. I discussed the changes to the CFRA in a previous blog. Note that there are still some differences between CFRA and FMLA, so be sure you are familiar with both.

The Family and Medical Leave Act entitles eligible employees of “covered employers” to take unpaid, job-protected leave for up to 12 workweeks in a 12-month period for specified family and medical reasons. FMLA “covered employers” refers to private sector employers with 50 or more employees; public agencies regardless of the number of employees; and public or private elementary or secondary schools, regardless of number of employees.

To be eligible for a leave under FMLA, an employee must have worked for the covered employer for at least 12 months and must have completed at least 1250 hours of service for the employer during the 12-month period immediately preceding the leave.

Eligible employees may take a leave under FMLA for one or more of the following:

The birth or adoption of a child
To care for an immediate family member who has a serious health condition
For a serious personal health condition that prevents the employee from performing the essential functions of his or her job
For a qualifying event when a spouse, son, daughter or parent is a military member on covered active duty

Additionally, an eligible employee who is the spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of kin of a service member with a serious injury or illness may take up to 26 workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for that covered service member.

FMLA requires that covered employers:

Post a notice explaining rights and responsibilities under FMLA
Include FMLA information in the employee handbook or provide information to new hires
Provide requesting employees with a notice of eligibility, rights and responsibilities under FMLA
Notify employees who take an FMLA leave of the amount time that will be deducted from their FMLA entitlement

On return from an FMLA leave, the employee must be restored to his or her original job or an equivalent job with equivalent pay, benefits and other terms and conditions of employment. Using the leave cannot be counted against the employee’s attendance. Also, employers are required to continue group health coverage for employees on FMLA. Find more information about FMLA here.

Be sure you have updated your employee handbook to reflect the new CFRA regulations and that you are routinely providing employees with the required notices. If you need assistance with updating your handbook, please contact me.