Small Business & Hiring...

It appears the outlook for hiring by small business is grim.  In a recent CNN Money article, small business employers are saying they plan to stay at their current employee numbers for the remainder of 2011 and in 2012.  In a survey released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, two-thirds of small businesses stated they have no plans to add employees through 2012.  This is not good news for the labor market or unemployment rate.

For more on the story, click HERE.

Many Firms Find Social Media Workplace Misuse Problematic: Study

Of 120 employer respondents, 43.4 percent said social media network misuse has been an issue for them, and 31.3 percent said they have had to take disciplinary action against an employee because of misuse, according to the survey.

For more on this article, click HERE.

Assertiveness

The other day, I watched a supervisor accuse an employee of being too aggressive in their communication.  The supervisor stated the employee's style was intimidating and cited specific examples of how the employee's aggressiveness intimidated her co-workers.  I quietly listened but quickly found myself pulling the supervisor aside to have a chat with him.

The supervisor made a classic mistake.  The mistake the supervisor made was believing aggressive communication is the same as assertive communication.  There is a distinct difference.

Assertive communication is basically ensuring your message is heard and understood.  Aggressive communication is ensuring your message is heard (often times by beating the receiver over the head with it) and you don't care if it is understood or not.  It is that simple. 

The employee used confident, unapologetic language and initiated active listening to ensure the message sent was understood.  But because the employee was so straight-forward with the communication, the co-worker found it intimidating and the supervisor deemed the communication as aggressive.  Talk about a mess!

Here are some clear examples of aggressive/assertive communication differences:

Aggressive style:
• Strident, sarcastic or condescending voice
• Fluent, few hesitations
• Often abrupt, clipped
• Often fast
• Emphasizing blaming words
• Firm voice
• Tone sarcastic, cold, harsh
• Voice can be strident, often shouting, rising at end
• Use of threats, e.g., “You’d better watch out” or “If you don’t...”
• Put downs, e.g., “You’ve got to be kidding...” or “Don’t be so stupid”
• Evaluative comments, emphasizing concepts such as: should”, “bad”, “ought”
• Sexual / racist remarks
• Boastfulness, e.g., “I haven’t got problems like yours”
• Opinions expressed as fact, e.g., “Nobody want to behave like that” or “That’s a useless way to do it”
• Threatening questions, e.g., “Haven’t you finished that yet?” or “Why on earth did you do it like that?”

Assertive style:
• Firm, relaxed voice
• Fluent, few hesitations
• Steady even pace
• Tone is middle range, rich and warm
• Sincere and clear
• Not over-loud or quiet
• Voice appropriately loud for the situation
• “I” statements (“I like”, “I want”, “I don’t like”) that are brief and to the point
• Co-operative phrases, e.g., “What are your thoughts on this”
• Emphatic statements of interest, e.g., “I would like to”
• Distinction between fact and opinion, e.g., “My experience is different”
• Suggestions without “shoulds” or “oughts” e.g., “How about…” or “Would you like to…”
• Constructive criticism without blame, e.g., “I feel irritated when you interrupt me”
• Seeking others opinions, e.g., “How does this fit in with your ideas”
• Willingness to explore other solutions, e.g., “How can we get around this problem?”

So before labeling an individual's communication style, be sure you truly understand the differences between assertive and aggressive.  After all, it is those assertive communicators you want in the workplace.

Employee Use of Earned Paid Time Off

I ran into an interesting situation the other day.  An employer, who offers Paid Time Off (PTO) hours to employees instead of separate sick and vacation time, enacted progressive discipline on an employee who used those PTO hours.  Normally, I would ask the employer these questions:

• Did the employee have the PTO hours banked?
• Did the employee violate the attendance policy (i.e. call in too often)?
• Did the employee not follow established protocols for calling in?
• Is there some other on-going issue I am unaware of with the employee?

I ask these question to establish a framework for the progressive discipline (since the "write up" did not go through me before issuing it to the employee).  This covers the employer for questionable decisions.  When I asked the questions, these were the responses I received.

• Did the employee have the PTO hours banked?  Yes.  They had more than enough time to cover the time they called in sick for.
• Did the employee violate the attendance policy (i.e. call in too often)?  No.  The employee has called in sick a total of 5 times in a year, while the attendance policy clearly states an employee cannot call in more than 6 times in 6 months.  However, the supervisor listed this policy as one of the reasons behind the disciplinary action.
• Did the employee not follow established protocols for calling in?  No.  The employee actually went beyond the established protocols.  The established protocols state an employee must call in at least 2 hours in advance to ensure proper coverage for their shift; however, this employee called in 6 hours in advance.
• Is there some other on-going issue I am unaware of with the employee?  No.  There are no other performance issues with this employee.

Upon further discussion with the supervisor (supported by their manager), it came out they felt the employee was excessive in their use of using PTO for sick leave - even though the employee did not violate the policy.  This is what I find interesting - employment policies enacted but not followed by supervisors and management.  One of the primary policies where you can find this is in a PTO or sick leave policy.

While employers give the PTO or sick leave benefit as an incentive for people to work for them, I have found employers do not really want you using that time.  And while they will verbally tell you they would rather you stay home then come to work sick - that is not always the case.  They would rather you come to work, demonstrate that you are truly sick, and then send you home.  This becomes even trickier with PTO hours because PTO hours are not technically distinguishable between sick/vacation.  An employee can use the hours as they need - as long as they follow policies (which this employee did).

My recommendation was to have the progressive disciplinary action reversed or at least down-graded to a verbal warning, while having the supervisor and manager retrained on progressive discipline and organizational policies.  However, this recommendation (not surprisingly) was shot down by the higher tiers in the organizational chart. 

What the employer failed to realize (or accept) is this inconsistency in policy and practice can get the employer in a world of trouble.  Regardless of "At Will" statutes and policy disclaimers about contractual agreements, courts are increasingly recognizing policy manuals as official employment agreements.  And when there are inconsistencies in the policy and application - it becomes and employment attorney's dream.  So make sure your supervisors and managers are schooled on those policies and how you, as the employer, expect them to apply those policies.  Additionally, it doesn't hurt to have any sort of progressive disciplinary actions go through several pairs of eyes to ensure everything is spot-on.  Those little slips of paper become official documentation and prized evidence for an employment attorney, so employers should be exceptionally careful in how they use them.