Managing types of conflicts in the workplace

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.

As most of us can kindly remember, this retort or variations of it is periodically used in various childhood settings, such as on the playground or in a classroom. It is indicative of ways that children proscribe to ignore or fend off conflicts. Well, growing up and becoming an adult doesn’t change things very much. Adults are faced with conflicts on a regular basis, especially in the workplace. Some conflicts can lead to litigation that can affect a company in such a negative manner that it can be very time consuming, costs a company millions a year to retain counsel, there’s a loss of productivity, settlement costs, and not to mention the amount of time it takes way from productive HR work.

HR can play a big role in this by helping to develop a system that will encourage employees to find an alternative dispute resolution process that works with their conflict. The purpose of this system would be to give employees and employers a way to communicate about issues that they may be experiencing in the workplace.

When I first read about a dispute system design, I thought it would serve as the perfect tool for employers and employees if managed properly. According to the conflict research consortium at the University of Colorado, “a dispute system design is the design of systems or mechanisms which are used routinely to handle similar repeated disputes”. It’s pretty basic and can be very rewarding if designed correctly.

There’s a lot of effort and analysis that goes into developing a system like this. But, here are some short steps that may assist you along the way:

• You would first begin by analyzing the number of disputes and conflicts in the workplace. Make a log of them so you capture as many repeated ones as you can. (Are any of the conflicts interest based, rights based or power based?)
• Develop the scope of the project. (Statutory vs. non-statutory complaints)
• Objectives that you would like to use for measurement purposes.
• Development of the design (Matrix, graphs, color coding)
• Implementation
• Evaluation

As always, prioritize, set boundaries, and live!

Social networking sites

Thank goodness for social networking sites. They’ve added a new communication vehicle that we never imagined existed. Instead of using the phone or meeting friends in person, you can easily chat with them online. Not that I’m saying that this should fully replace in person contact, but it should be supplemented with chatting online and using social networking sites. For some, it’s a quick way to keep in touch with friends that live far away, where it’s cheaper to chat online.

I love keeping in touch with my friends, updating them about myself, and inviting them to events that I’m having through these social networking sites. I do so by engaging them through email, chatting on yahoo/msn/Gmail, and using sites such as MySpace, Facebook, hi-5, LinkedIn and Skype. I haven’t started tweeting yet, but I’m sure that will happen in the near future. Each of these different tools serve a different function but they all have one thing in common. They are communication tools that I use to reach out to people. These tools have become a significant part of my life and because the “world is getting flatter” everyday, it will continue to be.

It can’t be reiterated enough. Becoming more aware and educated about these different types of tools should be a recruiting strategy for many companies. They will benefit from it if done the right way. How many external customers can you reach by simply using any of these tools in the right way? How easier would it be to reach hundreds of people without having to market yourself on billboards, buses, in the newspapers, etc., if done the right way…

Recruiting through these different mediums can surely be inexpensive, less time and effort, and a process that is fully controlled by you. Not only that, you could showcase different events such as job fairs, new company products, a glimpse of your competitive company benefits. The benefits are unending. Plus, it’s easy, free and quick to set up.
As always prioritize, set boundaries and live!!

Get focused!

A focus group instead of a steering committee? What about a task force? No, let’s try a work group. Any others?

When you decide to break your team down into smaller groups to reach an objective, how do you do it? What is the most effective way to use their time to meet a goal? Many people believe that breaking down your team into any of the aforementioned groups will deliver quicker results and help establish buy in from a broader group. No matter which version you choose, there are different benefits of using each of these. It all depends on your needs but don’t be surprised if you get some similar results. Let’s look at some of the definitions a little closer.

According to Merriam Webster dictionary, a focus group is defined as a small group of people whose response to something (as a new product or a politician's image) is studied to determine the response that can be expected from a larger population.

A steering committee, on the other hand, is defined as a committee that sets agendas and schedules of business, as for a legislative body or other assemblage. (www.answers.com).

What about a taskforce? A taskforce as a temporary grouping of individuals and resources for the accomplishment of a specific objective. (www.answers.com).

Let’s view these in a real life situation: an Online Feedback project

Your HR department wants to implement a new online feedback section on the company website. One of the objectives behind this would be to provide a confidential medium for employees to give suggestions, comments or air their disappointments with something. To get this project implemented, you can work with either a taskforce, focus group or steering committee. You could bring together a focus group, which would include a different mix of employees from different areas. This group will gauge how employees will react to the outcome of this project. They will provide immediate feedback on content areas as you move through your timeline. If you decide to use a steering committee, then that group is tasked with developing agendas that can help to move the project in the right direction. And lastly, the task force will include a number of people from several departments who are key players (project champion, key HR person, web group, etc.) who join together to work on the project from conception to the final phase that consists of the overall assessment of the project.

Each of these smaller teams are helpful in their own special way. It’s important to find out which one works for you and how your HR department can take advantage of each of them to reach your objectives.

As always, prioritize, set boundaries, and live!

On boarding

On-boarding is the practice of providing a new employee with the necessary information about their job, their department, and specifics about the new company. This process should be tailored against the goals of the organization and objectives should be set to make sure that the process is a focused one. The on-boarding process normally runs from the moment the person responds to the job listed on the company’s website until 60 days after--generally incurring some sort of feedback from the new employee and from the program itself.

The on-boarding process is important in the beginning of the employee’s life at the company because it allows them to become assimilated with the company and understand what their role will be. Studies have shown that an employee that goes through the proper on-boarding process is more engaged, loyal to that company and successful at their job. Generally, this responsibility mainly falls in the hands of two separate groups: Human Resources and Supervisors. (At times a mentor, co-workers, and the Executive team are involved, but mostly the HR representative and the new employee’s supervisor will provide the most support and information to that employee.) However, it is important to note that HR can’t be the only ones involved in providing employees with the appropriate on boarding experience. The Supervisor must play a significant role in this process because they understand the dynamics of their team members and expectations of that new employee.

The role of the HR representative is to handle all situations related to rules and procedures, such as providing the employee handbook, vacation and leave policies, performance appraisal systems, scheduled salary increases and other pertinent benefit information. (Believe me, there is a lot. The HR department should develop a disciplined way to relay that information to the new employee as to not be cumbersome.) The HR department should also provide a full or half day employee orientation to go over the mission, vision, values, company history, strategic goals, organizational structure, and company culture. (These presentations should be delivered by the leaders of the company and presented in a variety of different mediums.)

On the other hand, the role of the Supervisor in the on boarding process is to introduce the employee to their team members, show them their workspace, their surrounding work areas, tour the department and the facility, provide additional guidance on departmental goals and further speak to the employee on what is expected of them. It is also helpful to have a copy of the job description in order to make a more memorable dialogue.

The final portion of the on-boarding process should entail some sort of metric that assesses the turnover rate and the point at which employees leave the organization. This assessment will provide great feedback as to whether the objectives of the company’s on-boarding program were met.

All in all, this process should be an exciting moment for the new employee. It is a way for both HR and the Supervisor to capture the new employee’s attention and to provide that individual with the necessary information for them to be successful in their job.
As always, prioritize, set boundaries and live!

Lead and others will follow

What do you prefer more? A boss that motivates and develops you throughout your career. Or a boss that provides you with meaningful work. Why can’t you have both?

It took a while for it to all sink in. The Pittsburgh Steelers had won the Super bowl. Towards the end, they were able to make the plays that were necessary for the team to be victorious. Along with the very gifted defense and an offense that made it work, there was one person who really made a difference and was able to tie the team together. Mike Tomlin, the Steelers head coach. There are interesting qualities about this young head coach that I’ve always admired. Mike doesn’t like to take credit for what his team is out there doing. He enjoys talking about the actions they took to make the plays and provides constructive feedback when their plays are successful.

I like that about him and have often found that his success as a coach and leader relate quite well to the type of role a supervisor plays when developing employees in the workplace. Take a close look at your office relationships. What is the approach that you take when dealing with your employees? What approach would you like your boss to take with you when it comes to development?

There is an art form to use when enhancing an employee's life in the office. As a supervisor, your goal is to coach your team and provide them with opportunities to develop and maximize their skills. When a supervisor takes this approach with tempered knowledge, they are doing the company a huge favor because they are enhancing their employees and contributing to the growth of the department.

It’s as simple as each one teach one. Yeah, yeah, you’ve probably heard that one before. But it is true!! Develop your employees! Enhance their skills so they are confident and do a better job in the workplace. Talk to your employees about their performance on the job. Praise their efforts and offer your appreciation by recognizing the little steps that they are making when they do well. It’s not a specialized skill that only 5% of the population can perform. Everyone has the ability to develop their employees. It just takes a solid commitment to do so. Your daily mantra as a manager should be “As a leader, you are only as good as the employees that follow you.” Do you believe that? Then live it!

A friend of mine has a boss that pretty much lives this mantra in the workplace. When my friend first started working for her company, she came in as an assistant. Along the way, her boss has included her in the decision making, has provided her with opportunities to develop her skills, and encouraged and supported her decision to return to school for her Masters. Now, after being at her company for 7 years, and being groomed by her boss, she is now Director of her department and very devoted to working towards the company's mission.

Now, I can guess the main part of the story that you’ve noticed is that she moved from an assistant to a Director. But, I think the more important piece is that HER BOSS DEVELOPED HER ALONG THE WAY. ( I hate all caps.) Yes, her boss got it. (Mike Tomlin got it also!) A significant portion of an employee's career is based on the development and training that they attain while on the job. And yet there are naysayers. Some people claim that by doing this, you are developing and training employees to leave the company. But, that is a false argument. That should not be the mindset at all. Embrace the employees you have working for you and you never know, they may just stay with your company for 7 years or more!

As always,

Prioritize, set boundaries, and live!

20 Seconds

20 Seconds

Think of your best friend.

19 seconds

If they asked you to review their resume for a very important job, how long would it take you to review it? 10 minutes? 1 hour? 2 days? You would have to check for spelling, accuracy, grammar and whether that resume is adequately tailored to meet the criteria of the job description. Now, think of 200 people applying for that same position and they all asked you to review their resume. How long would that take you to complete?

15 seconds

This is probably one of the agonies that recruiters encounter when faced with recruiting for positions for their companies...especially today, where the market is bad, lay offs are occurring, and there are more qualified individuals searching for jobs. During that first round of scanning for the basic qualifications of the job, the recruiter gets in a zone and will skim resumes searching for the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities required for that position. By doing this, they are able to ween out the individuals they feel are not qualified.

10 seconds

The clock is ticking. What have you really done to set yourself apart from the other 199 applicants? Have you devised a plan for getting that job!! Here’s a tactic that may work. Get a copy of the job description and read through it highlighting the education, experience, job duties, and essential functions of the job. If you see that you have not met most of the qualifications for the job, then do everyone a favor and slowly move your hand away from the mouse and do not press “Send”! :-) But, if you do meet the qualifications, then develop a quick spreadsheet comparing parts of the job description to your qualifications. Once there’s a match, you should be on your way.

5 seconds

Next, update your resume. Are any of the key words, technical terms, education requirements, certificates, things I like to call “the catches” anywhere on your resume? If not, PUT those catches in your resume. Have you ever taken an exam where you had to write an essay? Didn’t you want to give the professor all the information that you gathered during his lecture, pretty much word for word in order to get that A+. Then proscribe this same tactic on your resume. Of course, please add the appropriate catches if they are true and if you have actually provided that type of service at your previous positions.

3 seconds

Nothing sucks more that stumbling during an interview and worse yet, failing a background check because you lied on a resume. :-( Integrity counts during the interview process, so please provided catches that complement your work history and provide a clear picture of your knowledge, skills and abilities.

0 seconds--Time is up!

So, there you have it. 20 seconds. That’s pretty much the average amount of time a recruiter will take during the first round of scanning resumes...whether they are reviewing a traditional hard copy or via an automated system such as People soft. How are things working out for you? Do you have catches in your resume? Did you spell check once, twice, three times! I hope this puts things in some perspective. Email me if you have additional questions about resume writing.

As always,

Prioritize, set boundaries and live!

How the stimulus package will affect COBRA?

Pfizer said it would cut 8000. Sprint/Nextel cut 8,000. Home Depot cut 7000. Since October 2008. "22 of the 30 companies that are part of the Dow Jones industrial average have announced job cuts since the economy took a nosedive in October." (Washington Post, Layoffs CutDeeper Into Economy As Recession Hits Most Industries, CorporateGiants Slash Jobs, by Annys Shin and Neil Irwin, January 27, 2009.) Companies are struggling to stay afloat and their alternative to going under is to get rid of their most valuable asset: their employees. But the strain is not only on the employer, it affects the millions of employees who have or will be laid off from their jobs. Being laid off adds an insurmountable strain to an individual's ability to make mortgage payments, pay their credit card bills, and care for their loved ones by providing health insurance to their families.

The recent stimulus bill signed into law (also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) by President Barack Obama will help employees who were involuntarily terminated afford health care for themselves and their families. Before this bill was signed into law, employers were required to provide continuation of an employee's health benefit throught the federal law called the Consolidated Omnibus Budge Reconciliation Act (COBRA). COBRA required companies to continue offering health insurance coverage to their covered employees, spouses, and dependents in certain situations when a loss of coverage occurs. Employers did not have to cover the entire cost of coverage; therefore most employees paid for the premium in addition to the administration fee of 2% bringing the total to 102% of the cost.

This new bill adds some relief to the 102% payment that some of the eligible employees would have to pay. Simply put, an employee who is involuntarily terminated by their employer is now eligible to receive a government subsidy of 65%, which means that after the employee pays the ~2% administration fee they are only left to pay about 35% of the cost of continuation of their health coverage with their company. When will this begin? This subsidy begins on or after February 17, 2009. How long will it last? The government subsidy is set to last for 9 months. Who does it cover? Only employees that were involuntarily terminated from their jobs. (There is no subsidy for voluntary terms, employees that make over 125,000 single/250,000 couple) However, the subsidy for eligible involuntarily terminated employees will end earlier if the employee signs up for health insurance with a new company, if they are eligible for Medicare, if they do not make the payments, and if the COBRA maximum period ends.

ROLE of the employer:
Employers need to get moving on this. They need to identify which employees were involuntarily terminated on or after September 1, 2008 and are eligible for COBRA. They need to provide a communication plan or an explanation to send out to these employees who are eligible. Employers need to get their house in order. Contact payroll and your COBRA administrator to find out what they are doing to comply. If not, you may be have to provide a refund to employees or their dependents that have overpaid.

ROLE of the employee/involuntarily terminated employee on or after 9/1/08:
Be proactive at your job. Understand what your company is doing to make sure you receive this subsidy in the event that you are involuntarily terminated. Plan ahead to cover your expenses and make sure that you have a small cushion ready in the event that something like this happens.


As always,

Prioritize, set boundaries, and live!

By: Tricia Riviere

Personal SWOT!

2009 is supposed to be a year of rebirth, renewal and change for me. I had 2 New Years Resolutions. I decided to give up red meat and eating pork. These were very conscious and important decisions that encouraged me to maintain a more healthy lifestyle.

But I wanted something more out of 2009 and thought about my professional ambitions and what my goals were for the next 5 or 10 years. I wanted to strive for the best in my professional career. But there was some planning that needed to be done before I could set any career goals. I thought about my personal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) and how understanding these four areas could help me develop goals not only for 2009 but for the next 5 or 10 years. I developed some goals and a plan to attain those goals based on a thorough analysis of my self.

Take a closer look at the SWOT method--an analysis recognized by many companies; that if done correctly will help the company to grow with the use of a strategic plan, goals and various action plans. How did you devise your goals for 2009? Did you develop a thought out plan that you can follow in order to attain your goals? Maybe the SWOT can work for you too. Think about how you can analyze your personal SWOT and develop a more structured plan for your professional life for the next 5 or 10 years.

Strengths
What are your strengths? What makes you stand out from the rest? Is there something unique that you do? DO you have some special skill set? Do you communicate well?

Weaknesses
We all have them. Do you have any weaknesses? Is there something about you that needs a little work? Are you always tardy for meetings/work? Do you wait until the last minute to get a project done? Are you inflexible?

Opportunities
What opportunities are out there for you to develop yourself? Can you go back to school to get a terminal degree? A second degree? Develop a skill? Can you take on extra projects at work? Do you have a mentor in your field?

Threats
Is there anything holding you back from moving up in your career? Lack of sales? Too much downtime? The economy?

Think about these four areas and come up with a plan that helps you move forward in your professional career. Develop a personal SWOT analysis and develop some attainable goals for the next 5 or 10 years!

As always,

Prioritize, set boundaries, and live!

Connect to your company

This is an interesting first topic for me because it delves literally into how an individual can perform well in an organization by understanding who the organization is and what it delivers to its customer. What is your company brand and how can you benefit from it? A company brand focuses on who the company is and what it delivers. The brand is a signature piece in what people understand that company to be about. Take for example a couple of well known brands: Google, Mercedes. Google is well known as a major search engine all over the world. And in most countries, Mercedes is known for it's luxury appeal. These two companies have distinct brands that set them apart from their competitors and allow them to thrive. Employees that work there understand this brand and must connect to it in some way.

Let's put it this way. You probably won't go very far in your organization if you aren't able to connect in some way with your company. You must know what you're buying into when you decide to work for any organization. For example, when you purchase a home, you're investing in the location, the price, the structure, and most importantly, the return on investment. Now, you won't out of the blue decide on purchasing a home for no reason. You want to connect with your home in some way. So, what do you do? You find things that connect or brand you to your home. Maybe it's the kitchen that's big enough to cook and dine in, or maybe it has a huge garage or a huge lawn space for barbecuing and throwing parties. Is it in a hip community? One that is commuter friendly or family oriented? Whatever the reason, the branding aspect makes your commitment to this investment even more important.

So, what about your company brands you to it. Do you love the investment that you have made or are thinking about making? You must in some way connect to your company brand. Take some time to look a little closer at your company. Does the mission and vision of your company reflect something that you are most passionate about? Do you like the company benefits? Does your company fairly compensate in line with your beliefs on being compensated? Do you see any potential for growth within the organization based on your present skills? Whatever the case, connecting your personal brand to the company brand should be an exciting new venture for you. One that can make your investment with a company even more enjoyable.

As always...

Prioritize, set boundaries, and live!

Welcome to my blog!

Hi all,

A warm welcome to my new blog!

I will focus on HR issues and discussion topics that many of us want to learn more about. The blog is entitled "Blog about HR" because I want to devote my thoughts and advice to issues related to the field of Human Resources. Human Resources is one of the most integral parts of a business. HR partners are not just there to hire and fire employees. HR is there to cultivate the workforce, to encourage employee development and to make sure that a company is moving forward with a workforce that is prepared to take on any challenge. So, as you read the articles in my blog, feel empowered to learn!

Finally, I will sign off with "Prioritize, set boundaries, and live!" for many reasons. That's been my mantra for a number of years and is pretty much how I live my life. When I decide on committing myself to something, this mantra is a great visual for me to get the best out of what it is that I'm doing. So, enjoy my thoughts, enjoy my advice and live!

By: Tricia Riviere