Business Pandemic Planning

Imagine tomorrow morning you discover that 40% of your staff is out sick and the missing people are in clusters wiping out entire critical functions within your business for the NEXT 10 DAYS! How would you make sure that your business survives this very real situation? What would you do and who would you do it with? A well written policy can help your business survive.

In drafting that policy, it's important to keep in mind guidance just issued by the EEOC. That's right - as you develop your policy you have to keep in mind the ADA and other employment regulations.

The Society for Human Resource Management offers a number of practical tips to keep your business on track during this swine flu pandemic:

• Don't discriminate against people who might have H1N1 flu or have been exposed to the virus.
• Know your company's leave policies so that you can explain them to your employees. Apply them consistently to all of your employees.
• Identify critical functions and the skills needed to complete them.
• Inventory your employees' skills. Who has the skills to complete critical functions?
• Cross-train workers so more employees can complete more critical functions.
• Identify which workers can serve as substitutes for others.
• Keep an eye on absentee rates. If they appear to be rising, get ready to move your employees into their cross-trained roles. If any of those roles require certification or other preparation, make sure the cross-trained employees are up-to-date before moving into their new roles.
• Consider virtual meetings instead of face-to-face gatherings. Try to limit contact among employees to halt the spread of the virus.
• If possible, allow employees to work staggered shifts to reduce the number of people in the workplace. Allowing workers to commute outside of rush hour can also help reduce contact with potentially ill people on mass transit.
• Find out if you are authorized to make decisions about activating emergency plans.

If you have questions about your planning strategy and compliance YPP's HR professionals are available to assist.

The Holiday Office Party

Last year we joked about the grumpy HR Grinch, ready to shut down your rollicking good time this holiday season. You know, the anything goes office party where your employees leave their inhibitions at the door. The celebratory occasion that provides months of post party gossip.

This year, more employers are evaluating whether to even have that party and associated expense. We recommend that you reinvent the office party concept and try something new like a lunch event, group outing to an amusement park or volunteer activity with a local charity.

And the formal party isn't always what employees enjoy the most. At YPP, the CEO's have cooked lunch for our employees for the last several years, and that's been just as much fun as when we did more elaborate evening parties -and far less risky since we don't serve alcohol. We also treat everyone to the holiday show at our local theater, PCPA.

However you choose to celebrate the holidays with your employees this year, we want you to have a bright and "HR Safe" holiday season. We have a few tips to help our employers avoid the biggest holiday party danger zones, alcohol and sexual harassment.

The following tips were prepared by the U.S. Department of Labor, Working Partners for an Alcohol and Drug Free Workplace in an attempt to assist employers in minimizing negative consequences of alcohol consumption at their holiday parties.

Be honest with employees. Make sure your employees know your workplace substance abuse policy and that the policy addresses the use of alcoholic beverages in any work-related situation and office social function.

Post the policy. Use every communication vehicle to make sure your employees know the policy. Prior to an office party, use break room bulletin boards, office e-mail and paycheck envelopes to communicate your policy and concerns.

Make sure employees know when to say when. If you do serve alcohol at an office event, make sure all employees know that they are welcome to attend and have a good time, but they are expected to act responsibly.

Make it the office party of choice. Make sure there are plenty of non-alcoholic beverages available.

Eat...and be merry! Avoid serving lots of salty, greasy or sweet foods which tend to make people thirsty. Serve foods rich in starch and protein which stay in the stomach longer and slow down the absorption of alcohol in the bloodstream.

Designate party managers. Remind managers that even at the office party, they may need to implement the company's alcohol and substance abuse policy.

Arrange alternative transportation. Anticipate the need for alternative transportation for all party goers and make special transportation arrangements in advance of the party. Encourage all employees to make use of the alternative transportation if they consume any alcohol.

Serve none for the road. Stop serving alcohol before the party officially ends. Employers are encouraged to review their company policies regarding alcohol consumption and furthermore, to enforce their policies at all company celebrations.

Sexual Harassment
With or without too much alcohol a holiday party can become the opportunity for sexual harassment claims. As a California employer you must know that State law forbids sexual harassment under FEHA and Government Code section 12940.
The California Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC) enforces FEHA law and has found sexual harassment to include:

Verbal harassment, such as epithets, derogatory comments, or slurs;

Physical harassment, such as assault or physical interference with movement or work; and

Visual harassment, such as derogatory cartoons, drawings, or posters.
As an employer what can you do to help minimize the risk? The following tips can help you avoid holiday party harassment liability:

Remind employees beforehand that their liability for sexual harassment applies at all times, including during the party.

Make sure your supervisors' sexual harassment training is up to date, and you may want to redistribute the company's sexual harassment and substance abuse policies to everyone a week or so before the party.

If you know or suspect someone in your organization is putting you at risk for a sexual harassment claim take steps now to address it now, don't wait until it is too late.

YPP HR Managers can help you in planning an "HR Safe" holiday celebration. We want you to enjoy the season knowing you have done everything possible to avoid a post holiday legal hangover.

How poor managers threaten us

What have ineffective managers contributed to organizations around the world? No list would be complete without these "gifts" from those who manage poorly:

• The 80-hour work week
• Discouragement of initiative, creative thinking and risk-taking
• Massive turnover
• Ultimate failure of the organization

This is the story of business that gets repeated, often in scandalously public ways, year after year. One spectacular collapse of a poorly run company earlier this decade included a customer service vice-president who did not exist, even though his name appeared at the bottom of the company's form letters. The business received so many complaints from customers that it made up the name so that no one had to deal one-on-one with dissatisfied people.

Although poor management is the standard operating procedure at many places - and although poorly managed companies often seem to thrive - believing that they will prevail is like believing a house of straw can survive 150-mph winds. Unless the builder erected the straw house underground or reinforced it with steel, it cannot withstand a storm. So goes the poorly managed company.

We are devoting this issue of Profiles Advantage to the subject of incompetent managers because they are so prevalent and so destructive. A new Profiles International report, "Eight Signs of Incompetent Managers," notes that 40 percent of workers believe they have bad bosses. Yet organizations often manage to survive for years or even decades even though they are poorly run.

How does this happen? First, many of them likely provide important goods and services, something that a majority of the population needs or wants.

Second, if they are about to miss important deadlines, they are well versed in reactionary management. They throw more people and hours at a problem, forcing others to bear the burden of poor management.

Third, they reward poor managers for finishing the project on deadline. This ensures that nothing changes and sends the message to other workers - some of whom put in 20-hour workdays to help finish poorly managed projects on time, that:

a. Planning is not necessary or perhaps not even something the boss wants.

b. Poor performance is not only acceptable, we reward it.

c. Creative thinking is not welcome, even when the project is foundering

d. If you complain or offer ideas different from the boss's, you will not fit in.

e. If you don't like the way things are, here's the door.

Sadly, people who might offer courageous solutions and a brighter future to a troubled business either fall in lockstep with poor management, or they do leave. And when poor operation causes high turnover, we have a perfect storm. Because in most areas of commerce, there is too much competition for poorly managed organizations to survive.

Their failure might occur in stages, so that it's not all that evident. But it will happen, as surely as the house of straw will blow away in a hurricane.

Top leaders who are paying attention to detail will want to act quickly if they see any of these symptoms of incompetence:

• Managers discourage decision-making by failing to make decisions themselves, or refusing to own up to a decision if it might result in criticism.
• They prevent the completion of tasks because they give no one the responsibility to do things; often, they try to do too much themselves because they don't want to give control of a project to someone who might do it worse - or better.
• They react to problems instead of thinking ahead and planning. Projects are late; new initiatives are non-existent.
• Since they do not engage anyone, there is no team play. Communication is rarely face-to-face. They don't value people, or if they do, don't know how to show it.
• They don't often improve because they fail to see problems in themselves and problems they create.

Leading the managers is not easy, but it's not impossible, either. It requires paying attention to the big picture and, sometimes, to the details. This is the kind of foundation work that ensures an organization will stand up even to gale-force winds.

Contributed by: Jim Sirbasku, CEO, Profiles International