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Best Practices, Employee Relations, Employment Law

Top 5 Reasons To Have A Employee Handbook

Top 5 reasons a business needs an Employee Handbook:

5. Employees appreciate knowing the rules, and how their employer will handle a given situation. I like to think of a handbook to being similar to the white-lines along the side of the road (they’re called guidelines for a good reason). They are there to help drivers know what the boundaries are. They keep everyone out of the “trouble zone.”

4. Employees don’t need to come to you with every question they have. Many of their questions can be answered just by checking in the handbook. This is particularly effective when managers encourage using the Employee Handbook like a tool.

3. Handbooks give employers protection when hiring, firing, and making any number of other employment decisions. Employers have a greater chance of winning unemployment claims and discrimination/wrongful discharge claims if they have a quality employee handbook. Quality, in this instance, requires policies that are written to reflect legal compliance.

2. Managers make better, more consistent decisions when clearly written, easily understood policies are readily available to reference.

1. An Employee Handbook gives your employees the sense their work environment is professional. They understand they work for a business that knows it is a BUSINESS; and isn’t being run as if it were a “hobby.”

A word of advice to business owners — NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use someone else’s handbook or download one from the internet. You are legally-binding your company to those policies. Even if you think you’ll revise the handbook later, you may not be familiar with all the potential legal issues that can arise from having policies in place that don’t pertain to your company. You need an employee handbook written to be legally compliant for your business.

For personal attention to personnel matters, call Kathleen Lapekas – SHRM-CP, PHR @ 812.457.1068.

Need help putting together a handbook that’s meaningful for your employees?

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Best Practices

It’s Always Best To Be Gracious

My mother, by her example, taught me that we should always do our level best to be gracious. As I see people serving the public in retail, restaurants, housekeeping, home services, hotels, etc., I remember that these folks recognize and truly appreciate kindness. And they really need it daily.
Tip servers, leave kind notes (and tips) for housekeeping staff, write Google reviews about a company and specifically highlight the person who made your experience worthwhile. And if you didn’t experience an exceptional “over-the-top” event, still be gracious. We all have occasional bad days.
 
 
Kathleen Lapekas and her son Jacob Lapekas

Lapekas HR Consulting – Personal Attention for Personnel Matters

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Best Practices, Employee Relations, Feedback in the workplace

Accountability in the Workplace

I believe that accountability in the workplace has been given a bad rap over the years.  We associate the word, “Accountability” with something negative. Hearing the phrase, “I’m going to hold you accountable” feels like a a finger pointed at us. 

However, what accountability really means is our performance will be “noticed” by our manager.  A manager who pays attention and tells employees, “I’ve noticed,” understands – accountability motivates employees to perform.

Good performers actually WANT accountability. They WANT their performance to be noticed.  It’s very un-motivating to work very hard on something, only to have it go unnoticed.  I once saw a sign at a dentist office that said, “If you ignore your teeth, they’ll go away.”  The same is true for ignoring a good performer. If you ignore a good them, they’ll go away and work for someone who will give them accountability and recognition for their good performance.

Bad performers prefer that their actions are overlooked. They’re the ones who truly need accountability to keep their feet to the fire.  Accountability does a beautiful job of naturally weeding out people who don’t want to work, and rewarding those who do.

Need help establishing a processes for accountability in the workplace?

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Employment Law

“At-Will Employment”

Many people are confused about the term with “At-Will Employment.”  Some employers I have met feel that “At-Will Employment” means they can hire / fire anyone they want for any reason under the sun, and they’re off the hook from being sued. 

Technically, “at-will” in regard to employment means that there is no “contractual obligation” on either the part of the employer or employee to retain employment.  In short, both the employer and the employee retain the right to end employment with or without cause and with or without notice – so long as the company is not in violation of local, state or federal employment laws.

An “At-Will” employer can still be sued for discrimination, but cannot be sued for a “breach of contract” (since no contract is in place with this kind of working relationship).   

Need some assistance navigating “At-Will Employment?”

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