HR Girl 4'11" Blog

Keeping Your Employees Cool & Safe This Summer

It’s official; summer is here, and so far it has been a hot one! So what should you do in order to keep your employees cool this year? You need a plan of course, especially for your employees who work outside of the office environment. Workers who are constantly exposed to the sun should be aware of the possible dangers affiliated with the heat. An open line of communication from you to your workers in the field will be the starting point. They will be depending on you for guidance and safety, so make sure you are aware of their work environment.

Here are 6 things to share with your workers this summer, which are all critical to their health as well as reducing your risks:

Sun Screen & Block Application

On a daily basis, sunscreen and/or sun block should be applied, and reapplied as necessary throughout the day. These lotions will help reduce the amount of damage to the skin, due to it’s direct exposure to the sun. Remember, SPH 15 and higher is recommended in order to protect your skin from UVA and UVB damage. The most popular makers of these lotions are ww.bananaboat.com, www.coppertone.com, and www.neutrogena.com.  IDEA: You may furnish small bottles of sunscreen to your employees, so they can always have a small back-up supply.

Heat Stroke and Exhaustion Awareness

Knowing the signs of heat exhaustion or stroke is critical knowledge that your staff should be armed with. Heat exhaustion can occur if your employee has been doing heavy work in the heat, accompanied by lack of fluid intake. Signs of heat exhaustion include: rapid heartbeat, rapid and shallow breathing, dizziness / lightheadedness, confusion or irritability, and nausea. Heat strokes have similar signs, however, a heat stroke can be deadly. IDEA: Train your staff about the signs of heat stroke & exhaustion and how to respond to such emergencies such as these. If all employees cannot be trained, make sure at least one person on site has the proper training, preferably First Aid & CPR certified.

Staying Hydrated

It’s imperative that your employees remain hydrated by taking in plenty of fluids throughout the day. It is recommended that a person should drink 8 to 10 cups of water a day, but if your employees would like to mix it up a bit, and add a little flavor to quench their thirst, they may choose a sports drink such as Gatorade or Powerade which provides a healthy amount of electrolytes for their bodies so they may remain hydrated throughout the course of the day. IDEA: Provide a cooler for your employees to keep in their vehicles at all times. If not, furnish them with a coupon to purchase a cooler.

Shade Provisions

You may find it beneficial to provide your employees with adequate shade near their outdoor workspaces. A 10X10 or 8X8 canopy (www.canopycenter.com or www.dickssportinggoods.com) can be purchased for less than $200, perfect for the employees who remain stationary for long periods of time. This will cost a fraction of an emergency room visit. And whether your company provides vehicles or you require the use of your employee’s personal vehicle, you can suggest frequent breaks to their vehicles. This will allow them a place to access some cool air throughout the day.

Heat Advisories

These advisories are normally issued in the morning on your local news station as well as the national weather service (www.nws.noaa.gov).  So it’s critical for these warnings your priority is to communicate these warnings to your staff, because their lives depend on you. IDEA: Up to date weather can be accessed via cell phone applications, and you may choose to utilize texts notifications in effort to keep your employees in the know.

Weather Flag System

Depending on your geological location, you may develop a flag system that informs employees of the weather conditions along with your companies requirements for working in those conditions. The military uses a similar system that alerts the troops to the current weather conditions so they will know when to limit outdoor activities during those peak hours of high temperatures throughout the day. Here’s an example of a flag system that you can use:

Green Flag – Calm conditions and safe 70° – 89°

  Yellow Flag – Stay alert and safe. Temperatures range in between 90° – 97°.

Red Flag – Extreme caution with frequent breaks. Stay alert and hydrated.                                Temperatures range in between 98° – 102°.

Black Flag – DO NOT WORK! Temperatures exceed 103°.

IDEA: These flags may be disbursed to your staff on the site supervisor vehicle or via text alerts.

Get ready to enjoy a safe summer with your employees by keeping them in the loop. Doing so will reduce your risks as well as furnishing a great and safe working environment for your employees.

Disclaimer: Products mentioned are not being endorsed. These are merely suggestions offered in effort for you (the reader) to make an educated decision in regards to providing a safe working environment for your employees.

Which Expression Would Your Employees Pick? - Employee Pain Scale

There are many creative ways to monitor your internal retention strategies, regardless of the size of your organization. However, the larger the organization, the likelihood of employees slipping through the cracks of satisfaction and eventually choosing to leave your organization.

Remember to make speaking with your managers, key staff and employees throughout the year a customary practice, in effort to take an active role in monitoring the turnover rates within the company.

Below, you will see my user-friendly Employee Pain Scale, which you can use in the event of an emergency, or during routine employee check-ups. Enjoy!

How Are We Doing? - Feedback Slips For Your Employees

Many companies offer a feedback slip to it's customers in order for them to receive critical feedback whether it be good or bad, in order for the company to monitor it's customers' satisfaction. Likewise, feedback should be an assurance that it's customers will continue to come back on a regular basis.

But what about your employees? Have you ever thought about a comment slot for them? Do you fear what will be said? Are you certain that your top talent will remain on board with your business?

Offering employees an opportunity to write down their thoughts and provide feedback in a confidential space is one of many positive steps towards retaining top talent and monitor your employees' overall satisfaction with their job, regardless of your industry.

A simple feedback program is of ZERO cost to you, therefore it is not necessary to purchase fancy software and/or facilitate long meetings. Simply print out a slip for them to fill out anonymously. Once they have completed it, they may place it into an assigned slot or with a trustworthy staff member (non management).

Here are a few questions that should be included on the slip, feel free to use this as your actual form:

Is your boss knowledgeable about the requirements for your position?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Do you receive feedback on the tasks performed; either correctly or incorrect?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Are decisions made promptly enough for you to have the materials necessary to complete your tasks?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Is your work space efficient for you to perform your tasks within reason?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Is your work space safe and cleared of possible hazards?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Do you feel as if you received proper training / orientation for the position?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Is there more training that you would like to have access to in relevance to your position?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Are you currently enrolled and utilizing the benefits offered by the company?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Are there more benefits that you would like to see offered by the company?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Do you feel as if you are able to use your skills for your position?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Overall satisfaction with your immediate boss?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Overall satisfaction with company benefits?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Overall satisfaction with company culture?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Overall satisfaction with your job?	0	1	2	3	4	5
What can we do to improve?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Cleanliness of the building (if outside company is responsible for cleaning)?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Quality of foods available in the lunch area?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Responsiveness of the HR Department?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Responsiveness of the IT Department?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Responsiveness of the Maintenance?	0	1	2	3	4	5
How likely are you to refer qualified candidates to work for this company?	0	1	2	3	4	5
Please share your thoughts on what we can do to improve your work life experience with us.:	0	1	2	3	4	5

My 11 Year-Old's Point of View on Filing Out A Job Application

I know what you're probably thinking, and no, he isn't in the job market. However, he is currently taking a Career Decisions course, which requires them to fill out a job application.

He really wasn't excited about filing out several pages of information about himself of course. However, after seeing this section of the application below.........

he said, "What in the heck does this have to do with anything?!?! It's none of their business." I tried to explain to him that many companies including federal agencies, collect this sort of information to make sure that they are being fair by recruiting and attracting candidates from different backgrounds. Sinking.... Plus, if a person files a complaint against that company for discrimination, that company will have proof that other candidates from various backgrounds have applied for the job as well. Sinking further.... 

His response, "So let me get this straight, people discriminate on purpose, but make up forms like this to prove that they really don't? This makes me feel weird, when will they make better applications?"

Which makes me wonder, how do you feel when you have to fill out one of these applications? What is the difference between including your picture on your resume and/or using social media, versus filling out one of these forms?

Let's be honest, we know who looks at these forms. They may come with a proliferated line, but who tears them off?

He noticed that there were a missing check boxes by saying, "I see the boxes for the other countries, but where is America? I'm confused, why aren't there more countries here? And not to seem as if I am blind to the racial issues around us. I actually teach my kids not to address people by the color of their skin. So his reaction was right on.

Continuing onto the disability section, he really couldn't believe that people could be turned down or called-in for an interview based upon of their physical and mental disabilities. He said, "So if I were blind, they would call me in for an interview just to prove that they are being fair?" I again, tried to explain that sometimes when a person is hired for a job, the employer has to accommodate in the best way possible, so the employee can perform his/her job.

What do we have to do as professionals to change the application process? Is there an alternative?

Set Up Your Internal Guidelines for Using Social Networking Sites - Qualify Candidates

So you've narrowed down your choices of job candidates, and you are ready to bring them in for an interview. Perhaps you have already started the verification process, starting with Google. Now this is a powerful tool that crawls for information across many many websites. So if you're not ready to use it with discretion, then don't do this! Step away from the internet!

Before you set out on this Googling adventure, you must first figure out what it is that you are looking for. What's your purpose? Do you want to disqualify or qualify these candidates for this position?

If you don't know the answer to these questions, then it's time for you to set up your own guidelines. Why? Because there is a strong possibility that you will spend a bunch of unwarranted time surfing without knowing where the brake is.

Ok so here we go:

1.Determine what you are looking for, such as to verifying education, experience, work history. Wondering around aimlessly and finding information that may not belong to them, could cause you to disqualify them for the wrong reason. So have a plan.

2. Decide which information is going to be considered relevant. Understand that you will view both their personal and professional histories, you can choose to give them an opportunity to list the sites that they currently use professionally in order to gather information that's relevant to the applied position.

3. Based on the information found, what will happen to that data? Will it be recorded including the source? You may beg to differ and say that you don't want to create a paper trail. But contrarily, you will need to get a paper trail started in the event that your company falls under an investigation for unfair hiring practices. And if you are one of the employers who offer feedback to the candidates who weren't selected, you would want to have legitimate information available for them.

4. If the candidate has several profiles, does the information match? If they listed a GED on their resume, but a PhD posted on their profile, then there may be a problem. A simple education verification will straighten this issue out. Just remember, you are  generally searching for accurate information on their profiles.

5. Will their personal profile outweigh their professional (more relevant) profile? If you knew this candidate used to live in Louisiana and you saw that their picture was tagged amongst a crowd of people at Mardi Gras (non flashing, with a Pepsi can in hand), would this be a negative impact on their ability to do their job? Instead of using pictures as ammunition, remember there may be more to the story than what the picture has shown.

6. Will there be a scoring system for the number of groups, profiles, blogs, and network strength? You could set up a simple sheet that rates their profile content, participation, and quality. Many candidates will have skills and knowledge well above the allowance of their previous positions. Therefore this candidate may be a great asset for your company.

7. What will be considered recent activities? For both negative and positive findings, you have to determine if 1 month or up to 10 years of history will be considered as applicable to the job in which they are applying.

8. How many resources and medias will be used in all to complete the checking process? Will you use the favorite 3 (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook), or will you search newspapers, magazines, and many other social sites? This will be an easy answer if the candidate has already provided their site addresses.

9. How much time are you going to dedicate per candidate? We know that the internet has an interesting way of making time disappear. Set your timer, after time has expired, move on to the next candidate.

Use these questions to establish your guidelines in writing and make sure that you follow them. Because you never know when you will be required to show proof of your screening processes and the basis of your hiring decisions.We never know if the law will make a shift in the near future to exclude the use of personal websites to make hiring and termination decisions. So it's important to cover your assets.

Any comments?

Using Social Media to Qualify Instead of Disqualify Candidates

As mentioned in an earlier post, Social Media sites should be used in the character reference portion of the background checking phase once you have narrowed down your top 10 or 3 candidates for the position. Avoid using these sites as the only verifying source for your candidate's skills, education and abilities. This would be a smart choice.

Don't Do This Yet

If you are still a little uncertain about using social media, then give yourself a little time to adjust, because at the present moment, you may not be ready. Keep in mind, checking out your candidates' social networking pages may not be for you if:

1. If you want to control what your employees do in their personal time outside the workplace.
2. If you have an excessive need to check their pages for updates and conversations. And seek out to follow their friends and their conversations.
3. If they are a fan of a particular group that you don't agree with. Particularly racial, sexual, political, theoretical, or religious groups.
4. If you are prone to discriminate based on marital status, sexual orientation, race, and religion etc.
5. If you quiver at the fact that you get a chance to see the candidate prior to the interview.

Once you overcome these 5 obstacles, you are well on your way to forming a more open minded approach to screening and qualifying candidates without the threat of being discriminative or judgmental.

Qualify Your Candidates

Should you find a candidate who has a social presence, understand that this is a great benefit that adds on to their overall portfolio. However, you may have other strong candidates who do not have on online presence. In this case you will have to use professional judgment in order to determine who will be the best fit for your organization. 

Here are some qualifying factors for your candidates who use social media:

1. They are knowledgeable enough about technology.
2. They are willing to learn new things and adapt to the current economy in order to survive.
3. They are competitive and realize what it takes to be recognized.
4. They are fearless enough to interact with other professionals.
5. They are outgoing enough to build their network and join groups.

All of these things listed are indeed character based reasons. Therefore, and I state my case, that social networking sites should be used for character referencing purposes. Not as the one and only reason to disqualify candidate. I will discuss later how to Set Up Your Internal Guidelines for Using Social Networking Sites-Qualify Candidates.

Any thoughts?

Stay There Til You Get It Right

Sound familiar? You may have been told that as a child, but it does not always apply as an adult. If you have ever been in a position that doesn't allow the slightest amount of brain power, or if you have been overwhelmed with an assignment, then you are familiar with the amount of frustration that some of your employees may be facing. 

 If you have a staff member who is obviously having some difficulties with their position to the point where they are struggling to adjust, grasp new concepts, or their frustration has almost reached boiling point here are some options:

A. Analyze the situation. See how long the employee has been in their current position. They may be too green for an accurate performance evaluation, therefore they may have a minor adjustment issue. Make sure that they have been given proper training and the tools needed for their position along with a clear understanding of what the company expects. If the employee has been with the company for several years, they may be experiencing burnout, so it may be time for them to expand their knowledge & skills in order to apply them somewhere else within the company.

B. Employ mentorship. Having an experienced member available to answer questions and provide insight can make a huge difference. Some employees need a little extra time in order to familiarize themselves with the functionalities of their job. Having someone there as a professional guide can take a load off of their immediate manager. Three (3) months is long enough for a person to get the majority of their questions answered through their mentor.

C.  Offer them the option of transferring to a different position or department (if available). The employee may have a set of skills that aren’t a match for their current position. This could occur if you have heavily relied upon outdated assessments to place candidates in certain positions. If transferring is an option, make sure that they not only qualify, but have the drive to make it work. At any rate, they still have to prove that they are capable of assuming a new role, so first make sure that they are evaluated properly through the use of personality profiles and skills assessments before recommending them for a new role in the company, “show me the money”.

D. Wait another 6 months so they will have a poor performance evaluation. Besides the proof is in the pudding. Once they've shown that they are incapable of doing their job and it is well documented, then you can't be sued. (Many companies do this all the time.)

E. Just fire them because they can't get it together. There are thousands of other people who can replace them right now. You don't have time, everyone that comes on board should be able to hit the ground running. (Nice mentality, don’t you think?)

Let's face it, ruling your employees with an iron fist is out. But retaining good talent is in and will be here to stay for a while. If you selected D or E, I really feel sorry for your employees, because they will be joining the 60% of workers who are waiting for the economy to pick back up so they can leave.

Remember, every employee contributes to a company, through their position. Giving them the right tools and a reasonable amount of time to do their job, is a small step in the right direction towards retaining good talent. Avoid at all cost forcing an employee to stay at a dead end job, because it's a sure fire way of showing that you really don’t care, and therefore they won’t either.

Longevity Doesn't Equal Contribution

Finding a candidate with some staying power is such an awesome thing. There are a lot of candidates out there who are willing to stick with a good employer, and there are others who are just looking to build their resume.

Though you may find candidates who have been with a company for several years. They may appear to have staying power, or they could have a bad case of the "Warm Body Syndrome". 

Before your recruiting campaign kicks off, look at your current employees to see what their track record has been and how much they are contributing to your business. Think about it:

• When was the last time your employees were evaluated for performance?
• When were they held accountable for the things they do?
• Does your company have an invisible grandfather clause?

Ask them for some feedback on how they enjoy their job and what could happen in order to make their job a little better. Besides there is always room for improvement. Some of your old timers may not like the fact that you are asking questions, however, it is critical to your bottom line. Be brave and just do it! You both will have a lot to gain from it.

The idea here is simply to slow down the hiring mistakes. You don't want a warm body migrating from another company, to sit in your chairs for another 15-20 years. It doesn't necessarily mean that an employee who has managed to stay under the radar for a long period of time without any spots, has the capability to make a contribution to their employer.

Here are some critical questions to ask your candidates:

1. When you participated in a team project, what position are you normally nominated for?
2. When was the last workshop / seminar you attended? Was it mandated or voluntary?
3. What are some of the goals that you foresee setting in this new role?
4. How would you like to grow with this company?
5. How do you stay on top of your field?

The goal here is to hire staff with some staying power, along with the ability to contribute and grow. The bottomline is you have a business to run. Though there is no such thing as a perfect person or candidate, you still should strive towards a contributor and steer away from the warm body.

Girl Bullies in the Workplace

The fact that 40% of workplace bullies are women, should make you wonder who's really getting their work done. That victim has to put up with a lot of crap from a bully, while maintaining their quality of work. The reality is, bullies are a drain to your business, and could cost you thousands down the road. Even though the person doing the bullying is a manager or a top performer. So what should you do at this crossroads?   

If your company doesn't have a culture, now is the time to get one established along with a set of behavioral standards. A policy has to be written and signed off by all employees, even those out in the field. This policy will fall somewhere in between harassment and hostile workplace tolerance. Which actually should be ZERO. It should cover all the events that are considered bullying, i.e. screaming, shoving, setting traps, nagging, scheming and physical contact etc.

Now wouldn't it be nice if women solved problems similar to men? Like either dukeing it out followed by a handshake and a beer. But this isn't the case. What we have here is simply one woman picking another woman to pick on who appears to be a little weaker or presents some sort of threat to her position. Other factors could include stress on the home front, or just the need to be evil.

But if you would like to hear my opinion, i think that if a woman is taking her career seriously she wouldn't have time to worry about what other women are doing and if she poses a threat, so MYOB.

No body likes a bully, and no business owner wants their profit to suffer because of a bully. Nor wanting to end up in court or face an act of violence in their place of business as a result of retaliation from the victim. At any rate, action should to be taken immediately in order to exterminate the fire so everyone else involved can get back to work.

Oldie But Goodie

Now that the playing field is wide open with cross generational competition, employers need to be cautious in their selection processes. Why? Well, in order to avoid being sued, a new way of making things more fair and less discriminative should be in place right now.

Older workers (watch my mouth), 50 plus are finding themselves at a disadvantage because of their level of experience. In a study done by the AARP, they found that "the same resumes got more calls for interviews if they appeared to come from a 32-year-old than from a 57-year-old." That's right, apparently employers are reluctant to consider older workers. Smells like a strong brew discrimination cooking, if you know what I mean.

At any rate, older workers should not be made to dumb down their resume and throw out all of their experience and hard earned time out the window. Keep your head up gang!

Employers, look alive, because these seasoned professionals have a lot to offer. And so what if their next boss may be young enough to be their child, they still deserve respect, and they still have seen things that no one fresh out of college could possibly relate to or provide input.

Here are a few adjustments to make it a little better:

1) Stop discarding the resumes that are more than one page.

2) Don't narrow your educational requirements. Not everyone with a major followed in that particular career path.

3) Using social networking sites to find pictures, is a no-no.

4) Viewing them as a liability for your health insurance plan is absurd.

5) All interview questions should be the same, including the one that allows them to share their scenarios.

6) Stop being so easily intimidated.

7) Younger doesn't always mean cheaper labor.

All-in-all, make sure that you have your organization's best interest at heart. Will this person be able to adjust and represent your company culture? Will they be able to contribute effectively for your company? And by the way, remember, you won't be in your 20's forever.