Getting Results with S.M.A.R.T. Goals

I’m sure most of you have heard have about S.M.A.R.T. goals, especially if you’re in any type of management field. The adage is that in order to reach your goals, whether personal or business, they need to be S.M.A.R.T - meaning Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely. 

Since learning about them twenty years ago, I have had the opportunity to create, assist in creating or review a LOT of S.M.A.R.T. goals for many different types of organizations. Some goals were very well written and others were quite honestly terrible. That’s why I wasn’t surprised when I was reading "Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It" by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson and discovered that they included a chapter on S.M.A.R.T. goals.

I call them my new HR gurus and they believe that while the S.M.A.R.T. goal methodology is sound, it lacks a clear outcome piece that is important to getting the results you want as a company. The book talks about their ROWE concept - ROWE standing for Results Only Work Environment.

Their premise is that in order to be successful nothing else matters except results. 

It doesn't matter if employees work 20 hours or 60 hours. It doesn’t matter if they work at home, a coffee shop or at the office. In fact, it doesn’t matter when, where or how long they work—the only thing that matters is results. 

They believe if you instill in your employees a crystal clear picture of the outcome (or the results) you are expecting they will achieve those results…IF they are responsible and self motivated and IF you don't let management get in the way. They feel that a lot of things companies do actually waste time, disengage employees and take the focus off results - therefore making them ineffective or financially off the mark. 

Things like mandatory meetings, sitting in traffic when you could be working (at home or the coffee shop down the street), meeting core office hour requirements and fielding constant interruptions because you have to be in the office and working with people who aren't held accountable and end up slowing down the process for others should be eliminated in order to make employees more productive and focused on results.

Holding everyone accountable especially for the results (notice I said "holding accountable," not blaming) and taking appropriate action when the employee doesn't achieve the expected results is crucial. 

One other thing they suggest is taking your wordy, paragraph long mission statement and asking "IF we actually do what our mission statement says, then what?" The example they give on page 121 is eye opening. I will let you read it for yourself. It really makes a company's outcome crystal clear and I believe them when they say if a company embraces a results-only work environment, higher success just happens.

So keep writing those S.M.A.R.T. goals but I am going to get clear on the ultimate outcome and results I want as a company and add it to my goals. 

Maybe you should, too. If you do, let me know how it turns out.

Bad Behavior in the Computer Age

A colleague and good friend of mine, Rob Joseph of FastTeks On-site Computer Services, recently shared an article with me that made me think.  The article was entitled "Bad Behavior, Not Maleware, Puts More of Your Corporate Data at Risk", written by Ken Hess. 

The article reveals:

63% of employees use remote storage devices to transfer confidential work files

45% of employees use consumer sites like DropBox and Box.net

30% of employees use cloud storage services

60% of employees use personal email to transfer work info

Nearly 75% think IT approves of this behavior

To top it all off "almost one third of the employees who use their personal e-mail to transfer work information know their computers have been hacked."  

In other words, without meaning to, your employees are opening the door to potential threats.  

In my opinion, this is a case of not supplying your "first most precious asset"—your employees—with the right tool to protect your "second most precious asset"—your company data. My friend Rob would say I have the first and second mixed up, but he is an IT guy and entitled to his opinion.

From an HR perspective it should go like this:

• Provide employees the tools, processes and procedures to protect company data the safest way.
• Train ALL employees on how to properly transfer files from one company location to another without using personal cloud services, USB sticks or SD cards.
• Occasionally monitor or spot check for compliance.
• Provide more training on a routine basis as a reminder or whenever technology changes.

My friend Rob can answer any technical questions and even provide training.  I can help you with writing an air-tight policy and help you enforce it.  Thanks Rob - it is great to have a colleague like you!  You can contact Rob at:  480-802-4007 or rjoseph@fastteks.com.

Putting “Heart” into Your Interviews Part 2

As a review from the last post…from a management stand point, during the course of employment, there can be all kinds of interviews like applicant interviews, performance interviews, employee satisfaction interviews, exit interview and others. There is one final component to consider.

All interviews require you to be clear on the outcome and the follow up or follow through on each situation. In applicant interviews you are deciding whether to hire or not. In investigative interviews you may be deciding whether to fire or not. Either way the third step that is often overlooked is the follow up (or fall out) that needs to take place to bring closure to the situation. Say you interview three great candidates for a position, decide on one, call her up and offer her the job. She accepts – done deal. What about the two you didn’t offer a job to? Who breaks the “bad news?" Or do you just wait until they call or email you and you can choose not to respond. In this day and age, is that something you want to risk? Did you consider that one of the applicants could be a close relative to your biggest customer? 

We don’t know what we don’t know, so why risk hard feelings when we can look at this situation as an opportunity rather than a curse? Being proactive with applicants can bring more good will to your company. I can’t tell you the number of times I have called applicants who weren’t offered a job who thanked me at the end of the call because I was professional, yet personable, gave them a true and straight forward reason for their non-selection and offered other alternatives for their job search. That’s what I call showing “heart” in the selection process. 

Again, if you want to find out how much “heart” your organization has in interview situations, give me a call.

Putting “Heart” into Your Interviews Part 1

Most of the time when I talk about interviews I am referring to hiring interviews but from a management stand point, during the course of employment, there can be all kinds.

Examples are:

• Applicant Interviews (sometimes 2nd and 3rd ones) 
• Job analysis interviews 
• Performance interviews 
• Investigative interviews 
• Disciplinary interviews 
• Employee Satisfaction interview 
• Succession planning interviews 
• Exit interviews 

Depending on the size of your organization you may not have cause to use all of these, but there are some common themes among them all. Today in part one, we’ll be talking about asking the right questions and doing more listening than talking.

All interviews require good, open ended questions. Remember, the goal of any interview is to gather information and you can’t get the information you need if the questions you are asking are irrelevant or even stupid. I will never forget the time early on in my career when I was asked if I squeezed the toothpaste from the middle or the top. What that had to do with my computer or accounting skills I still haven’t figured out. For applicant interviews, questions need to focus on the job requirements. For disciplinary interviews they need to focus on what occurred and how it relates to your policies, procedures and expectations. For exit interview questions, they should focus on what the company can change and improve upon for the current employees and future ones.

All interviews require a good amount of listening. I lost count of the number of different types of interviews I have sat in on with managers and supervisors that controlled the conversation by doing the majority of the talking. In each of these situations, the true goal is to solicit enough information to make a decision. You don’t get good information if you are the one doing all the talking. Listening to what the person is telling you and taking it to heart while equally weighing the facts adds up to a good employment decision.

Look for Part 2 next week about being clear on the outcome and follow-up with your interviews.

If you want to find out how much “heart” your organization has in interview situations, give me a call.

Jimmy Buffet and Employee Record Retention

Jimmy Buffet, the most popular song-writing pirate that ever lived, coined two phrases that can be applied to employee record retention requirements:

• “What we keep is what we can’t let go” 

• “Indecision may or may not be my problem” 

When it comes to employee files and other employment related documents, “what we keep is what we shouldn’t let go” until we don’t need it any more. Federal agencies have established requirements that say how long you need to keep certain documents and records to stay in compliance with employment laws, so “indecision doesn’t have to be a problem.”

Generally, you should establish the following retention periods for both electronic and paper-based records:

Employee Files	7 years after termination
Medical/Benefits	6 years after plan year
I-9 Forms	Not more than 3 years after termination
Hiring Records	1 year after the hiring decision (unless you are a federal contractor – then you need to retain for 2 years)
Payroll Records/Time Sheets, etc.	3 years
Withholding Tax Records	4 years from date tax is due or paid
Family Medical Leave Records (for those employers over 50 employees)	3 years
Healthcare Continuation	There are no recordkeeping requirements under COBRA, however experts agree that records should be retained for 6 years to stay consistent with ERISA requirements
Drug Test Records	1 year from date of test (up to 5 years for records pertaining to DOT drug testing requirements)

If you have an ongoing dispute or claim with an employee, it is a good idea to retain ALL documents relating to the employee until the dispute or claim is completely resolved. I advise erring on the safe side and hanging on to it for another year just in case.

The important thing is to keep these documents in a safe and secure location during the retention period. If at all possible, I recommend keeping old records off site. It is somewhat inconvenient but affords the best security and protection. Knowing what you have and what you don’t have is also important. A simple Excel spread sheet can tell you what you have and when it is time to let it go. Destroy records by shredding them to ensure that no confidential information gets in the hands of anyone who shouldn’t have it.

Being decisive about keeping (then letting go of) old employee files can be easy if you remember the words of wisdom from a singing pirate. Happy Shredding!

Are you working to prevent employee walk-outs?

In 2013 more than seven cities saw groups of workers go on strike demanding a "living wage" of $15 per hour. While these strikes were short lived, it makes me wonder what 2014 will bring. In Arizona our minimum wage increased to $7.90 on January 1, 2014. Would your business survive if it rose to $15 an hour in 2015?

Are you at risk for employees walking out?

The majority of striking employees last year were in the fast food, retail and home healthcare industries. These jobs were once considered temporary or transitional as they used to primarily employ inexperienced or new to the work force workers. Over the last two years a full 43% of net employment growth came from these industries. It appears these jobs once considered "temporary or transitional" jobs are now becoming careers for a lot of people nationwide. Representatives for the food service industry argue that raising wages would ultimately hurt workers since increasing wages would lead to a scaling back of hours, and less hiring in our yo-yo economy. Based on what my clients are telling me, I would have to agree. If your company is at risk there are other less expensive and more cost effective ways to keep employees happy and productive.

The key to happy employees? Knock their socks off. 

Here are a few tips from an article from Entrepreneur.com.

• Family Days – When kids have a half day of school, family days allow employees to take a day off without having to use up vacation or sick days.
• Yoga classes or chair massages – Bring in a yoga instructor or massage therapist once a week.Either one is inexpensive and will help relax your employees and lower stress levels.
• Movie days – A group movie outing or free movie passes can be a pleasant perk.For the sake of variety, you might also consider an outing to see a community theater group.
• Free car washes – The latest in “express exterior” car washes costs around $5 per wash, meaning for $100, you could give 20 employees a shiny car every few months.
• Fun and games – One Minnesota e-business has both foosball table and pool table in their break room. Ping pong or pinball machines are also good possibilities.
• Pass the perks – Companies often accrue perks by using corporate credit cards, such as airline miles or tickets to events.Pass these free perks along to your employees.

While an increase in wages is always at the top of an employee’s wish list, implementing some ideas like these may keep your employees off the picket line while protecting your bottom line at the same time.

Employee Relations: Is there an "app" for that?

Today’s technology 

Phones can do a lot of things – we can stay in constant communication with friends and family, pay our bills, translate our words into a foreign language, navigate around an unfamiliar city, read a book or play a game. Phones aren’t just phones any more – they are cameras, audio recorders, car starters, metal detectors, leveling tools and much, much more.

In business, phones are spell checkers and research tools, calculators and typewriters, calendars and schedulers, PowerPoint remotes and laser pointers. There are even applications that help you hire and staff, track production or sales and even market your products and services.

We’ve become so enmeshed in technological applications that we don’t do much without our phones.

Employee relations: is there an “app” for that? 

With technological advances, you may wonder, “Will there ever be an ‘app’ for employee relations?” I define employee relations as face to face, honest, open communication and performance feedback between an employee and their manager/supervisor. Employee relations also involves the synergy (or lack of) a company’s whole workforce and their understanding and adherence to rules, regulations, policies and procedures and actual work practices within an organization.

Recently I worked with two organizations that were struggling with employee relations issues.Their situations are similar in that the employees of both organizations are looking for consistency, fairness and a good place to work. The heads of each organization are too focused on reducing expenses, remaining profitable and just surviving, ignoring employees’ concerns or how reductions or recent change may have wreaked havoc on the workplace. Employee relations boil down to one thing: communication, communication, communication.

Improving employee relations the old-fashioned way 

How can an employer improve employee relations? First, periodically solicit (anonymously and without fear of retribution) employee opinions on the working environment of the organization. Ask specific questions about the benefits you offer, policies, processes and supervisory relationships. There are a variety of services you can use, but customizing an electronic survey using Survey Monkey is quite cost effective. Using the information you gather from the survey, own up to areas of needed improvement, then develop an action plan and follow through with those plans to address employee concerns.

The communication process involves trust. If you don’t follow through on your word, you’ll never have your employees’ trust. 

Secondly, meet regularly with your employees to announce changes, show appreciation and provide reminders of important issues and processes. This is like spending quality time with your kids. By publically agreeing to hold each other accountable for needed change, it solidifies the relationship and encourages a deeper level of commitment that leads to higher levels of productivity.

Finally, you or your managers (depending on how large your organization is) should also meet individually with employees and give them feedback on their individual performance and contribution to the organization. These talks should also reinforce job expectations and performance levels, as well as give employees an opportunity to ask specific and direct questions of you or their supervisor.

Use technology wisely 

In instances when you can’t meet face to face, use technology and send well thought out e-mails or use Face Time (for I-phone users), or Skype, Tango or Fring (for Android smart-phone users) to give specific, encouraging organizational information.

Technology is great and I never thought I’d hear myself saying “I love my phone,” but I do. Time will tell if an “app” will ever take the place of face to face, honest, open communication between an employee and their employer. In a way, I hope it never does. After all – it’s just a phone.

Let's Ring In the New Year

It’s my first post of the new year and—surprise!—I’m not going to talk about procrastination (which is clearly one of my favorite blog topics). I actually want to talk about the second-most popular topic for the New Year: CHANGE.

I’m not talking about changes you want to see in the economy, government laws or practices. I’m referring to changes that may be going on in your workplace that you may not yet be aware of.

Do you know your employees?

While the people in your workplace may seem to be mostly happy and productive employees, keep in mind that the pool of applicants we draw from for hiring is changing. That means that employee needs, goals and desires are changing.

Statistics show that:

• Since 2011 about 8,000 people are turning 65 every DAY and this trend will continue until 2029.
• Young people are transitioning into the workforce and earning money at a much later age than young adults 30 years ago.  
• The age at which young adults are hitting median wage earnings has increased from 26 to 30 between 1980 and 2012.
• Government projects suggest that Immigrants will account for as much as half of the net population growth over the next few decades.
• The number of women in the workforce with children under 6 rose from 63% in 2005 to 68% in 2011.
• Employee longevity is staying fairly flat within the private sector with the median years of tenure at 4.2 years.

Your employees are changing—are you?

This means that in order to stay with you as an employer, your happy and productive workers need and want more flexible schedules and time off due to health issues, family commitments or other outside interests.  Retirement, health savings accounts or other long term savings plans may be important to people as they move to different jobs for various reasons.  

The fact is, workers feel more valued and tend to stay longer with employers who offer benefits that better fit their needs. 

Give me a ring

As I mentioned earlier, I want to “talk” about these changes. That’s “HR speak” for “I don’t have all the answers.” But I am a creative HR consultant that can help look at your company’s situation and give you some creative solutions.  So let’s talk. Email me or give me a ring in the new year.

And You Wonder Why Employees Can't Support Their CEOs

The CEO of a well known company (GoDaddy) has pushed some limits in the past and recently irked PETA and others.  Seems this popular "leader" was enjoying a much needed vacation in Africa when his "help the masses" spirit kicked in.  He decided to help the local tribes people by killing an elephant that was destroying crops.

In part of his interview he seemed satisfied that he had provided a valuable service to the people by providing them with food and saving their struggling crops.

The old story of "give a man a fish" immediately came to mind.  In my opinion he fell short of providing a truly valuable service to the tribe by not spending a little more and providing them with tools that would provide a more permanent solution.  I can't help but wonder if he treats his employees the same way.  It's important that a company leader provide tools to their employees that offer more longer lasting solutions to their work problems.  This is the best way to empower and engage employees.

Another thing I wonder about is if he even considered that some of his thousands of employees may be PETA supporters.  While he may try cloaking his love of hunting behind a curtain of supposedly helpfulness, his employees can see right through it.  PETA awarded Bob Parsons the "scummiest CEO" of the year award - I'll just give him the most arrogant CEO of the year award for not considering his employees before boasting about his exploits.