The fresh New Year brings with it a host of “New Year’s Resolutions.” They range from fitness goals and eating healthy to changing jobs or better managing stress levels. Now is a perfect time to get inspired and make the much-needed changes that will enhance your organization.
I have prepared our top ten New Year’s resolutions that will really make a difference for the busy senior executive in 2015. All ten seem so simple, but they are often neglected because we get distracted by our daily responsibilities. They are all easy to follow and implement. Don’t get intimidated. The over-arching goal is to maintain the momentum that a new beginning brings.
- Improve your face-time. I am not talking about face time on your mobile device, rather the day-to-day communications with staff. Engaging employees often gets lost in our technology-driven workplaces. Remember employees’ birthdays, ask about their significant others and families, and build personal connections with them.
- Invest in your staff. Reinforce that learning is a constant, and invest in technology, product or service training. This way you can improve employee skill level. Make sure staff members are taking classes in areas that will develop appropriate skills and help your business advance. For example, our firm offers management skills training for individuals who are new to management. We cover issues such as delegation, coaching and counseling, feedback, managing remote employees, and what separates managers from leaders.
- Encourage volunteerism. Recommend to your employees that they volunteer for a not-for profit. Being involved in a non-profit of their choice allows your employees to cultivate very important social and communal contacts and skills. It also gives them an outlet where they can channel the passion they may have for art, community building, religion or social causes.
- Become a better “time manager.” In employment law, keeping track of employee’s hours worked, especially non-exempt employees, is critical. The Department of Labor at both the state and federal level are cracking down on employers of all sizes who do not maintain records of time worked. In New York, the statute of limitations is six years; in New Jersey two years. The penalties and liquidated damages can be huge.
- Prepare/update those job descriptions. The importance of maintaining current job descriptions cannot be overstated. They are valuable in three areas:
- Recruitment: to ensure that the candidate has the requisite qualifications.
- Disability: to ensure that employees who return from disability can perform the essential features of their jobs.
- Flexibility: maintain and update job responsibilities as positions evolve due to technology and business needs.
- Raise the bar on performance. Don’t be shy about improving levels of performance. Encourage your employees to develop their potential by giving them interesting and varied responsibilities. Provide ongoing feedback, as described in a prior post. If you have a challenging situation and you need advice as to how best to communicate with an employee whose performance is slipping, let us know.
- Take time to document employee issues. Documentation is still the critical way to win lawsuits involving performance. Take the time to prepare those “write-ups” or warning notices. We have template forms to make this easy. The return on your investment in preparing documentation will result in consistent treatment of employees, the setting of clear expectations for them and stronger performance.
- Go the extra step. When dealing with employees on disability leave, restrain yourself from spur of the moment terminations just because you must replace the job with someone else. Disability laws have become very protective and often you need to consult with counsel on the interplay of the Family and Medical Leave Law (if applicable) with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as state and local disability laws.
- Get your maintenance check-up. We encourage all our clients to give us a few hours to come in and review their employment practices to ensure that everything is in good working order. We look at a range of workplace issues, from hiring to termination. And we’ll prepare a list, in priority order, of what you need to fix in order to be fully compliant.
- Listen to those inner bells. Become attuned to that inner bell that goes off when you realize there could be legal exposure with an employee relations situation. Maybe the situation is a novel one. Perhaps there is an employment law that impacts on this situation. When that happens, check with counsel. In a brief conversation we can listen and advise you, often dramatically reducing the risk.
And remember, you are not the first employer to deal with any of these issues. We counsel employers of all shapes and sizes. With the proper planning and legal counsel you will maintain high compliance levels and gain an edge on the competition in 2015.