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February 2006 CONTENTS Where's the Love? Managing Cupid's Arrow in the Workplace Make Time Work for You Part Five: Who are the Strategizers Building a Better Workforce Part One: How to Face Problems Head-on
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The Online Newsletter for Clients of Express Services, Inc. Where's the Love?
Love: it can make us happy, healthy and productive. Yet we hear all too often about how it’s hard to find. With work hours increasing along with the number of women in the workforce rising, the office is becoming a popular place to go looking for love. In fact, studies show that one-third of relationships are started at work. The debate rages, however, on whether office romance constitutes looking for love in one of the wrong places. Here are some ideas to keep in mind when considering your organization’s stance on the subject. First, address the subject before it becomes a problem. It’s important for employers to create a policy on office romance to avoid possible sexual harassment lawsuits and workplace problems. According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), only 13% of companies surveyed reported that they have a written policy on the matter, while 14% report an unwritten understanding and an overwhelming 72% say they have no policy at all. When creating a policy, an all-out ban of office relationships is never the best option because it opens your organization up to the risk of accused privacy invasion, and experts warn that this strong-arm approach can have disastrous effects on the workplace. Hidden relationships often result, and these are much harder to handle in sexual harassment lawsuits when a relationship ends badly, because hearsay rather than observable behavior comes into play. Other organizations opt for a less-strict policy, discouraging office romance in general but laying out guidelines for appropriate and professional behavior. Keep in mind that it is advisable from all standpoints to ban direct supervisor-subordinate romance. To deal with this potentially difficult situation, many companies have policies of reassigning one partner in a supervisor-subordinate relationship to another area. Remember that creating a policy is only the first step in addressing office romance. The policy should be well publicized and reviewed by legal professionals, managers and supervisors. Additionally, employees, should be trained in how to properly address office romance issues. For example, supervisors and employees need to know when they should report a relationship to HR or the appropriate manager. Training employees on proper conduct in the workplace regarding personal relationships is also important. Keep in mind that healthy relationships rarely pose problems, but you should never assume that employees will automatically know what constitutes proper behavior with a star-struck co-worker. According to SHRM, managers said the most possible outcomes of workplace romance include marriage, complaints of favoritism, claims of sexual harassment, decreased productivity for those involved and their co-workers and decreased morale of co-workers. Obviously, the hopeful outcome would be for a relationship to remain positive, but it is important to know how to handle workplace romance when it ends, as well as the disruptions that can occur, such as retaliation, stalking and physical violence. Keep on the lookout for problem signs in relationships but resist the urge to become personally involved, unless an area pertaining directly to their ability to perform their job is at risk. If sexual harassment is reported, take quick and decisive action to resolve the issue. Knowing how you will handle office romances will help keep your employees’ healthy relationships safe from uncomfortable or difficult problems and will enable you to properly handle problems should they arise. Part Five: Who are the Strategizers? Do you often find yourself pushing for new, innovative ways of doing things instead of traditional systems and practices? Do you tend to think in terms of the big picture instead of focusing on each small thing by making lists? Do you organize your work according to multiple simultaneous priorities and projects? Are you motivated to do your best work if the task is stimulating and challenging? If these characteristics sound like you or someone you know, whether you realize it or not, you are well-acquainted with the time temperament of the Strategizer. Essentially, a Strategizer is someone who is in tune with the long-term mission or goals of an organization - to the extent that they are often frustrated with immediate, daily tasks and can even ignore the more mundane parts of a job. They are motivated by learning and improvement. Often the source of change and creativity, they can cross the line by championing for innovation to the point of being argumentative or ultra-critical. They desire their work to be characterized by challenges and problems to solve.
Time management for Strategizers is often difficult because they tend to dislike closely adhering to a specific routine and are prone to procrastinating on tasks they deem uninteresting or not connected to overall change or improvement.Overcommitment can become problematic for Strategizers, and they risk compromising their standards to get some types of work done. Strategizers should try not to commit to too many tasks. They are most motivated when tackling projects that directly tie into the organization or department's goals. They can keep things interesting by coming up with new ways to do things and finding ways to add value to the tasks they find mundane.
Employers should remember when working with Strategizers that they welcome a meaningful challenge. Assign new or difficult projects to Strategizers and watch them work wonders. But beware: don't load Strategizers down with meaningless, detailed projects they can find no value in. This will only zap their creative juices and spawn procrastination as they attempt to balance the exciting or challenging tasks with those they dread. Don't take offense if they speak out against tradition or procedure. Instead, try to find a way to integrate their ideas or view them as the conceptual challenge they often are.
Discovering the Strategizers in your workforce can help you identify excellent people to collaborate with for innovation, change and big-picture thinking. By working together with Strategizers, you can help make them feel invested in the organization and inject their creativity and vision into your team. Stay tuned for next month's edition of e-Xchange to learn about Expeditors and how to work with them. Part One: How to Face Problems Head-on
Problems are bound to occur in any workplace, and handling them well can be challenging for employers. Typically, the first instinct when facing a problem is to let it slide and hope that it smoothes itself out. Unfortunately, problems rarely resolve themselves, and ignoring the issue often causes problems to fester and grow. But, the good news is that if you address workplace issues with positive techniques such as good communication, you will earn employees' respect and increase their loyalty. That adds up to an improved workforce, impacting the bottom line positively. Research shows that the top three reasons people don't perform well in the workplace are a lack of clear performance expectations, a lack of feedback and inappropriate reinforcement or recognition. As a manager or employer, you can maintain and enforce a healthy, balanced workplace by remembering two key concepts.
First, you must establish what is acceptable. Creating an employee handbook that includes information about punctuality, attitudes and work ethic with clearly defined penalties and rewards is a great start. Think of your handbook as a backup or reinforcement for handling tough situations. Remember that setting written limits and standards for employees empowers you to confront them when issues occur. By setting these limits, foggy areas of concern will become clear so that small issues do not escalate into larger ones. Offering seminars on your employee handbook or ethics can also help to ensure proper communication between you and your employees about these issues as well.
Second, handle unacceptable behavior with a proactive attitude. Focusing on the good behavior and work of your employees should be your first priority, but don't be afraid to deal with the negative behavior as well. Remember to keep a positive attitude when confronting serious issues. It is important to see the big picture when dealing with negative employees. Most likely, they are affecting many others around them, so action should be taken for the sake of the team. Equal consequences should be enforced in a timely manner after an instance occurs. Facing these issues with consistent and fair disciplinary actions is important to maintaining a smoothly-run workplace. �
Keep in mind that dealing with negative issues doesn't mean that you need to become negative or act as a merciless tyrant. Focusing only on the negative issues is never the way to go, and honest, consistent praise is a must. However, allowing negative situations to continue in your workplace is never an option. Dealing with these issues is not only important, it is also a crucial role for managers and employers. For more on dealing with workplace issues, check out next month's article on building a better workforce.
United States Non-farm employment rose by108,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.9%. Major Industry Employment for December 2005 • Construction: - 9,000 • Manufacturing: + 18,000 • Professional & Business Services: + 33,000 • Educational & Health Services: + 25,000 • Leisure & Hospitality: + 23,000 • Government: + 14,000
Canada Employment increased by 36,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.5%.
Major Industry Employment for December 2005 • Finance, Insurance, Real Estate & Leasing: +23,000 • Public Administration: + 11,000 • Natural Resources: + 6,000 • Health Care & Social Assistance: - 24,000 |
e-Xchange is a publication of Express Services,
Inc., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Copyright 2006.