Workplace of Choice

I can't tell you how many times I receive a thank you note from someone I've recently interviewed and it's riddled with errors.  Once I see those errors, it's difficult for me to overcome and typically their candidacy falls to the bottom of the pack, even if they were previously a top candidate.  Am I putting too much weight on the thank you note?  Or, should I just be happy they actually wrote one verses the candidate who didn't take the time or extra effort.

In the world of recruiting we talk about behavioral or performance based interviewing.  Performance based interviewing is based on the premise that past performance is a predictor of future performance.  As such, questions are designed to get at how an applicant has performed in the past, in the hopes that we can predict how they'll perform if they got the job.  In the same vain, if they write a thank you note with grammatical errors and misspellings, isn't it fair to predict they'll do the same quality work once hired?

A thank you note to an employer following an interview should be taken as seriously as one's cover letter and resume.  Unfortunately too often thank you notes are written like they were done in a rush upon return from an interview.  Candidates need to remember that anything they send to an employer can have a direct impact on their candidacy for a position. 

When it comes to writing thank you notes, candidates should keep a few simple things in mind:

• Send it within 24 hours following an interview

• Use the note as another opportunity to tell the employer about your skills and experience and why you are the right person for the position 

•  Make sure there are no spelling (including the interviewers name) or other grammatical errors.

Do you agree?  Is it fair to dismiss a candidate (or at least move them to the bottom of the barrel) as a result of a poorly written thank you letter?  What are your thoughts? 

This article was written by Kendra Bissonette, Executive Recruiter at Insight Performance

Is your Company in compliance with the Department of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act? Don’t assume you are…here is a list of common pitfalls to avoid:

“Our salaried employees are automatically exempt from overtime”

Just because you are paying an employee a salary, no matter how large, does not mean that he or she is exempt from overtime. Each individual employee must qualify for one of the specific exemptions provided by the statute. Other less common exemptions include the executive exemption, administrative exemption, professional exemption, computer-employee exemption and outside sales exemption.

Each exemption has specific tests, and each employee to whom you pay a salary must be evaluated to see whether the exemption applies. Don’t forget that job titles and job descriptions aren’t the determining factor any more than paying a salary is—just because you call someone a manager or an assistant manager and pay them a salary does not mean they qualify for the exemption. The courts and Department of Labor construe all of the exemptions narrowly, and the burden of proof always remains with the employer.

"There's no overtime around here - our employees just volunteer some extra time"

There is no such thing as "voluntary unpaid overtime" or "donated" time under the FLSA. Any manager who expects or allows his or her staff to put in unrecorded work time, otherwise known as working "off the clock", is a wage claim or lawsuit waiting to happen. It is simply impossible under the FLSA for an employee to waive the right to receive at least minimum wage and applicable overtime pay for all hours worked. An agreement to the contrary (other than a wage claim settlement supervised and approved by the DOL) is null, void, and completely unenforceable. Employers must ensure that all non-exempt employees properly record all time worked and that they are paid for all such time. If an employer has true volunteers (generally accepted as possible only with governmental entities and non-profit charitable organizations), it should have all such individuals sign a volunteer agreement. 

“We don’t have to pay overtime because it was not approved in advance”

Many companies have a policy requiring employees to seek approval in advance before working overtime. The problem arises when an employer refuses to pay an employee for non-approved overtime. The FLSA, unfortunately, does not distinguish between approved and non-approved overtime—if the employee works the overtime, you are required to pay time and one-half the regular rate for that overtime. But the company is not without recourse: An employee who violates a company policy by working non-approved overtime can be disciplined or terminated for that violation of policy.

“We just give them comp time instead of paying overtime”

Employers cannot award comp time instead of OT pay for non-exempt employees. Overtime eligible employees must always be paid one and one-half times their regular hourly wages for all hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek.

Compliance with FLSA is required by all employers.  Understanding FLSA, that’s the tricky part!  Does your company understand the FLSA exemption tests and know how to apply the FLSA regulations correctly?

Question: if an exempt employee has used all of his allotted sick days and then is out for another day, can I deduct one day from his regular salaried pay?

Answer: If an exempt employee is absent for a full day, and does not have any sick pay left, the employer does not have to pay the employee for that day. If the employee works any part of the day, however, the employee must be paid in full for that day.

Here is a link to a page for the Department of Labor website that confirms the answer: http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/overtime/cr4.htm

Dave Wilson has spent over two decades litigating wage and hour, employment, real estate, maritime, and general commercial disputes in the state and federal courts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Dave spends a significant amount of his time acting as a business partner with his clients, counseling and training them in all areas of employment relations law. Please visit the Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP website for more information.

It's a new year which means, for many companies, their time off policies, such as vacation and sick, reset back to zero.  Based on your company's policy, employees may have carried over a week or two of unused vacation or PTO time or maybe you have a use-it-or-lose policy where they lost time unused.  Regardless of the policy, it's a new year with new accruals effective January 1st.  Good tracking and record keeping of time off will help manage the program for abuse, use and when it comes time to either pay out due to a termination or calculate the year end carryovers, you'll have accurate information.  Here are some tips to keep your time off records on track:

• There should be a system where employees request time off, time is approved by the supervisor and then tracked.  A Time Off Request Form can be one way to facilitate this process.  Also, many companies are turning to online systems where this can all be done automatically.  If you're going the electronic route, make sure employees and supervisors know how the system works and know what they're supposed to be inputting.

• Review balances regularly.  Stay on top of abuse rather than having it creep up on you when it's too late.  Abuse typically comes when employees are taking more sick time than allotted or more vacation than they've currently earned.  It's good to have a program in place where employees are not allowed to take paid time beyond what they've earned.

• Educate employees about your time off policy.  Many employees haven't read your Employee Handbook since they were hired.  Remind employees about what they eligible for with regard to sick, vacation and holiday time and how they should be requesting and tracking their time.

What better way to see how a job candidate might perform, if hired, than to ask them to do the job?  It's not unusual when recruiting for a senior role, or a role where presentations are a large part of the job, to ask a candidate to make a presentation during the interview process.  This can be done in a variety of different ways.  For example, scientists are commonly asked to present papers to the team as part of their interview process.  A sales candidate may be asked to pitch a product, either real or fictitious.  If you were hiring a strategic marketing person - how better to evaluate skills than to ask them to solve a problem and present the solution?  This step in the recruiting process seems to be a growing trend in many industries for jobs at all levels.  Having the candidate do a presentation allows you to assess the candidate on much more than how well they answer interview questions.  The interview team can assess key competencies and see the candidate in action.  As you listen to the presentation, evaluate the following:

• How prepared is the applicant?
• Is the information accurate, current, informative, etc.?
• How well does the presentation target the intended audience?
• Is the information presented in an organized fashion?
• How well does the applicant deliver the presentation?
• Were visual aids used and if so, were they helpful?
• Was the material organized well?
• How comfortable is the candidate with the subject matter?

For the candidate it is an opportunity to shine - or not.

This article was written by Patty O'Neil Messer, Executive Recruiter at Insight Performance

Now is a great time to think about cleaning up lose ends from the current year and getting ready for the new year.  When I think of year end Human Resources housekeeping, my 3 mop buckets include:  Compliance & General HR, HR Strategy and HR Budget. 

 As you dip your mop in to begin cleaning,  focus on the following:

Compliance & General HR:

• Federal and State Compliance
• FLSA
• I-9
• Harassment & Discrimination
• Posters and Notices
• Records Retention
• Internal Programs & Policies
• Updating your Orientation Pack
• Vacation carryover
• Employee Handbook review
• Performance Management cleanup
• Personal Information & Emergency Contact Information Update
• 2012 Company Holidays
• Benefits
• Communication to Payroll on new deductions
• FSA reminders and deadlines
• OSHA Form 300A posting
• Updating salaries for Life and Disability plans.

HR Strategy:

• Review the current year's strategy.
• Were goals achieved? 
• How was the timeline for achievement? 
• What priorities should be changed? 
• What can be learned from the current plan?
• Develop a new strategy in line with the overall business goals.

HR Budget:

• Using the HR Strategy Plan for the new year, develop a budget that supports reaching those goals.  The HR budget should cover the following areas:
• Salary and merit budget
• Training budget
• Rewards & recognition budget
• Hiring and recruiting plan
• Departmental budgets
• Benefits budget

Housekeeping is never "fun" but always worth the time and effort to have a clean start to the new year!

Happy New Year!

Question: I have an exempt hourly employee, Joe, who works two different jobs for us.  How do I determine the correct way to pay him overtime?

Typically Joe works:

40 hours at his $10 an hour job and 10 hours at his $20 an hour job.

What amount do you think should be included in Joe’s paycheck at the end of the week?
a. $600
b. $650
c. $660
d. $700

Answer: In order to properly figure out overtime, we need to calculate Joe’s regular rate of pay for the week. The regular rate is a weighted average based on the pay and the hours worked.
(40 hours) x ($10 per hour) = $400
(10 hours) x ($20 per hour) = $200
Total Straight Time Pay = $600

Regular Rate = (Total pay) ÷ (Total hours)
Regular Rate = 600 ÷ 50 = $12 per hour
Overtime Pay = One Half Regular Rate x Overtime Hours Worked
(since you already paid the straight time)
Overtime Pay = One Half of $12 = $6
Overtime Pay = $6 x 10 Hours = $60
Total Pay Due: $600 + $60 = $660

Dave Wilson has spent over two decades litigating wage and hour, employment, real estate, maritime, and general commercial disputes in the state and federal courts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Dave spends a significant amount of his time acting as a business partner with his clients, counseling and training them in all areas of employment relations law. Please visit the Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP website for more information.

With all the talk of holiday parties, I began to wonder what policies in a Company's Employee Handbook set the expectations for how employees are expected to behave at these functions?  Invariably, we HR professionals come up against some issue stemming from a holiday party every year.  Scenarios include the employee who drinks to much and makes inappropriate comments, the employee too hung-over to do their work the next day or, more seriously, the employee who gets into a fender bender on their way home.  It begs the question, are the parties worth it and are our HR policies and Employee Handbook set up to deal with the aftermath?   

A good Employee Handbook has the HR policies that promote professional and legal behavior in the workplace.  By law many of these policies also apply to behavior outside the office and would apply to the company holiday party.  Let's take a look:                                                        

Anti-Harassment & Discrimination Policy - Harassment law protects employees from harassment both in and out of the office.  Just because the setting has changed, employees are still bound by the same rules that apply in the office. 

Alcohol & Drug Policy - The Alcohol and Drug Use policy prohibits the use of alcohol and non-prescribed drugs while on company business or in the office.  Since the holiday party is company sponsored, this policy also applies during the party.  That being said, the line gets a little fuzzy when the company provides and serves the alcohol, so keep that in mind if you will be serving alcohol.

Confidential Information - Employees are instructed through the Confidentiality Statement to keep employer information private.  This applies at all times in the office and out of the office, even with a few drinks in you and a more relaxed environment.

Non-Violence Policy - Non-Violence Policies prohibit employees from bringing weapons onto company property and engaging in physical contact.  Leave the beer muscles at home. 

Standards of Conduct - Most Employee Handbooks have a general policy of behaviors that will not be tolerated in the workplace.  More often than not, problems stemming from the holiday are due to employees letting down their guard and disrespecting a fellow co-worker.  While this disrespect may also toe the line of sexual harassment, it is likely a violation of Company's Standards of Conduct.

It's fair to say that the standard Employee Handbook is set up to help manage employees in the face of a party.  You may, however, want to remind employees of expected behavior and those policies which are most likely to apply.

ASK DAVE from guest blogger Dave Wilson

Question: We are scheduling our holiday party, but are worried about problems like the ones we had after last year's blow out. What can we do to minimize problems and our company liability?

Answer:  Holiday parties can be a great opportunity for employees to celebrate and blow off some steam after a long year. They can also present opportunities for claims of harassment, discrimination and liability for the company. The most common complaints include excessive drinking, sexual advances, off-color or inappropriate jokes, even arguments and fistfights. Here are some tips for keeping your holiday party incident-free:

1. Make attendance voluntary.

2. Keep it religion-neutral. Respect the differences in your workforce and avoid religious references.

3. Remind employees that normal work rules and standards — including prohibitions on harassment — still apply.

4. Consider inviting spouses and significant others. They tend to help keep an eye on your employees, discourage interoffice flirting and may, if necessary, provide safe transportation home.

5. Don't hang mistletoe and don't have employees sit on Santa's lap. Your local Rent-a-Santa probably doesn't run background checks.

6. Do not invite customers or clients.

7. Avoid handing out awards or bonuses at the party.

8. If possible, don't serve alcohol. If you decide to serve alcohol, always serve food, and provide plenty of non-alcoholic beverage options as well.

9. If you do serve alcohol, do not have an "open bar" where employees can drink as much as they want. Instead consider a cash bar or a ticket system to limit the number of drinks. Remind employees to drink responsibly and to plan for safe transportation home.

10. Limit the length of the party and plan to close the bar an hour or so before the party ends.

11. Hire professional bartenders (not supervisors!) and instruct them to report and/or stop serving anyone they feel has consumed too much. Also have them request identification before serving any employee or guest who appears underage.

12. Arrange for complimentary taxi service for any employee who feels he or she should not drive home. Encourage supervisors to keep an eye out for employees who appear unfit to drive so that they can be directed to a taxi. If having your party off-site, consider providing discount hotel rooms for employees who are impaired.

13. Monitor any gift-giving. Remind employees that any gifts exchanged with co-workers must be appropriate and that offensive or inappropriate gifts, or those with romantic or sexual overtones are not permitted.

14. Check your insurance coverage for the event. Consider purchasing dram shop or liquor law liability insurance. If you hire professional caterers, bartenders or anyone else to provide and serve drinks, check to see if their liability insurance would cover any potential liability exposure for your business.

Best wishes for a safe, happy and lawsuit-free season!

Dave Wilson has spent over two decades litigating wage and hour, employment, real estate, maritime, and general commercial disputes in the state and federal courts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Dave spends a significant amount of his time acting as a business partner with his clients, counseling and training them in all areas of employment relations law. Please visit the Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP website for more information.

Similar to holiday shopping, there's no one stop shopping in Rewards & Recognition programs.  As you read on, think about what's going to work at your organization.  Use your imagination to create a program that will work for you. 

As you develop the program, there are a couple of questions you'll want to answer:

• What goals do you want the program to reinforce?
• Which employees is the program targeted at?
• What are the key measures for reward?
• What are appropriate rewards?
• How will you communicate the program and recipients?

The most common types of programs to consider are:

• Peer reward program - This type of program is designed so that coworkers and colleagues nominate peers for recognition.  Typically a person in senior leadership makes the ultimate selection from these nominations, however it can also be designed so that peers also vote on the finalists (akin to American Idol).
• Nomination/Selection Committee - This type of program can be designed so that a group of supervisors, coworkers or a combination of both make nominations.  It can also be designed so that another group, such as the peers, makes nominations and this committee is the one making the final selection. 
• Incentive program - Typically designed to drive sales and retain customers, an incentive program is  a less objective program where rewards are given designed based on meeting and achieving pre-set goals, quotas or objectives.
• Online programs - Online incentive programs are gaining popularity and can be customized to meet the organization's goals of the program.   There are a variety of different programs and many can be customized to meet your goals.

Types of Rewards - The list is endless of what can be considered a reward.  Again, be creative.  Think about the employees and what would be valued by them. 

• Cash - Who doesn't like a little extra money in their pocket?  While employees will often state they want cold hard cash, giving money can get buried in with their regular compensation and the R&R program may be less effective in reinforcing behaviors.  If you decide to go the cash route, think about how you can separate out the cash reward from regular pay.
• Non-cash rewards - Creating opportunities that might not otherwise be available can be desirable to employees such as offering flexible work time, a prime parking space, training or an extra day off.  Non-cash rewards can also be as simple as a thank you note from a top executive or recognition at a company meeting.
• Gift cards/gift certificates - gift cards are typically the most common type of corporate reward.
• Merchandise - Company logo merchandise will further enforce loyalty to the company. 
• Trophy or award - a visual keepsake of the company's appreciation can be a reminder for months to come.
• Travel - Employees will remember a trip long after the reward is over.
• Experiential - These types of rewards can range from hosting a company pizza party to sending people on elaborate experiences such as tickets to a sporting event or day of sailing lessons.

Developing a program that effectively rewards and recognizes employees can be equally powerful for the company and the employee.  We'd love to hear about your Reward & Recognition and successes or failures.