How to Handle Unreliable Employees

If you are saying things like “I just can’t rely on [insert employee name]”, you have an unreliable employee.

By tolerating unreliable behaviour, you are effectively asking your other staff to do their own work plus a portion of the unreliable staff member’s work. Over time, the stress and fatigue they experience will affect their productivity. In turn, this could lead to other problems in your business.

What makes an employee unreliable?

Unreliable employees tend to fall into 2 groups – those who have been unreliable from the start and good performers who are now unreliable.

1. Unreliable from the start

Initially you may have blamed unreliable behaviour on youth, being new to the organisation or any of the excuses the unreliable employee may have given you. However, you now realise it’s more than that.

Your inaction will communicate you are happy to accept unreliable behavior so you need to act promptly. Talk to the unreliable worker. Be specific about what they are doing and how it needs to change. In addition, try to uncover the reason for their unreliability. Things to look for are:

• The wrong position for their skillset or personality
• A lack of training so they don’t have the knowledge to perform the job well
• Interpersonal issues with other members of the team
• Problems at home or with their health
• Lifestyle issues such as mid-week partying or addictions

2. Formerly good workers who are now unreliable

When formerly productive and reliable workers change, you need to uncover what has caused the change. Things to look for are:

• A lack of challenge or boredom in their current role. If you value your employee, look for ways to advance their skill set otherwise you will lose them.

• A dispute with other team members or their supervisor. This needs to be resolved quickly before more staff become involved.

• Being the target of workplace bullying or other inappropriate actions. Again, this needs to be resolved quickly for both moral and legal reasons.

• Family problems distracting the employee from their work. In this case, find ways to support them at work and help them find support services to assist them outside of work hours.

• Health issues or addictions that may be affecting their ability to work efficiently. In this situation, always seek advice from experienced HR experts before attempting to handle this type of personnel problem.

Whatever the reason, never ignore the behaviour of an unreliable worker. By doing so, you are asking your other staff to do more than their fair share of work.

End2End Business Solutions offers business owners a range of support services to help them deal with unreliable staff members. To discover if End2End can help you, call 02 8977 4002.

Unreliable Employees - The Domino Effect

While you might be willing to tolerate an unreliable employee, there is actually a domino effect on the rest of your staff. Whether you mean to or not, by ignoring the problem, you are asking your most reliable, high performing staff to carry the extra workload of your unreliable worker.

In effect, you’re punishing your good performers and rewarding your unreliable one.

If you allow the problem to continue for too long, it will take its toll on everyone. As a result, you risk losing your best staff because they feel you are taking advantage of them.

If left unchecked, you also risk staff burn-out as your reliable staff carry the responsibility of achieving their own KPIs as well as a portion of the unreliable employee’s workload.

How to recognise an unreliable employee?

The symptoms of an unreliable employee include:

• Absenteeism
• Frequently missed deadlines
• Habitually arriving late for work
• Inconsistent work quality
• Regularly making simple mistakes
• Repeating the same mistakes after follow-up training
• Failure to follow instructions
• Frequently missing team meetings or appointments with clients

Of course, no employee is perfect but if these symptoms become frequent or even predictable, you need to take action before they start to affect your whole team.

Implement an action plan

If you have an employee exhibiting any of the above symptoms, you need to address the situation promptly. Start with explaining what behavior needs to be changed and how.

Next, put together a performance management system that you both agree on. It should include the behavior and goals you expect the unreliable worker to achieve. Be very specific about the timeframes and outcomes you require.

If you are uncertain about how to manage an unreliable employee or would like expert advice, speak to the team at End2End Business Solutions. They have a range of services that may be suitable for your business.

Don’t wait until your unreliable employee is affecting the productivity of your whole team. Call End2End Business Solutions today on 02 8977 4002.

It is not always about the money

Time off in Lieu has been extended by the Fair Work commission into the Modern Awards.

It is not uncommon for workers to want to enjoy the rewards of their hard work with something other than cash.  

For many, time off in lieu for overtime worked (TOIL) can be put towards creating a long weekend or used for family and personal activities.    This can be a greater motivator than money.  

For business it can be a win-win arrangement as it can save a owner money and also good workers will use this time for person reasons, rather than taking a “sickie”.
  

83 of the 122 modern awards already provide for (TOIL).   Of those, 60 provide the TOIL is calculated at the ordinary rate and the remaining 23 modern awards provide TOIL at the overtime rate.   

The Fair Work Commission has ruled that the TOIL should be inserted into the remaining awards.   

What steps do you need to take in implementing a TOIL arrangement?

1)  You may agree in writing to the employee taking time off instead of being paid for a  particular amount of overtime that has been worked by the employee.

2)  A TOIL agreement can also be made by an exchange of email or SMS messages with you.

3)   The period of time off that an employee is entitled to take is the same as the number of overtime hours worked e.g. three overtime hours = 3 hours of TOIL.

4)   TOIL must be taken within the period of six months after the overtime is worked at times agreed by the employee and employer.

5)  Copies of any TOIL agreements must be kept as an employee record.

6)  No undue influence or undue pressure is to be exerted onto an employee to make or not make a TOIL agreement.

7)  An employee may request a TOIL agreement as a flexible working arrangement. You cannot refuse the agreement except on reasonable business grounds.

8)   A policy outlining the TOIL and how it works should be developed and all employees made aware of what the agreement will include.

9)   You must pay out the overtime if:

(a)   TOIL is not taken within six months;

(b)   The employee requests it to be paid out; or

(c)    The employee’s employment ends

You must not knowingly or recklessly make a false or misleading representation about an employee’s entitlements under a TOIL agreement.   

You should know what the modern award that applies to your business has in terms of a
TOIL arrangement.  

Help is available

End2end can help a business get ahead of their competitors with tailored staff management strategies, call us on 02 8977 4002 to see how we can help you.  

How to turn an underperformer into a star performer

On average, managers spend 14% of their time correcting the mistakes of poor performers according to research conducted by The Future Foundation. That equates to 33½ work days each year.

Yet many managers prefer to avoid having difficult conversations with their under performing staff so the poor performance continues.

Here are 5 steps to help you turn your under performer into employee of the month. 

Step 1: Act now or you’ll regret it later

Under performance needs to be corrected as soon as you notice there’s a problem. The faster you act, the less impact it will have on your business and other members of your team. Don’t wait until a small performance problem becomes a large and irritating one.

Step 2: Define the problem and be specific

Delve under the surface to seek the real reasons for your employee’s poor performance. Can it be improved with more training? Do they have an issue with motivation or team dynamics? Perhaps they are a poor fit for the job but have skills that could be better utilised elsewhere in your organisation?

You will achieve the best results when you truly understand what’s stopping your employee from achieving greatness.

“Take care of your employees and your employees will take care of your customers”.

                                                                                                            - Richard Branson

Step 3: Have an honest conversation

Arrange a private meeting with your employee. Be empathetic, honest and factual when delivering your feedback. Provide your employee with specific examples demonstrating when their performance was lacking and how the task should have been performed.

Step 4: Develop a resolution plan with your employee

Give your employee every chance to succeed by working together to find ways to implement performance improvements. Clearly communicate what is expected, provide measurable outcomes and reasonable timeframes.

Step 5: Monitor progress and give feedback

Schedule regular follow up meetings to review your employee’s performance based on the agreed plan. Continue to provide specific feedback (whether good or bad) and monitor their performance. Importantly, don’t forget to recognise and congratulate them on their efforts and improvements.

Honestly, when you take the time to manage an under performing employee, your efforts will usually be rewarded.

Don’t wait until you’ve lost all patience or the situation reaches a crisis point. Contact End2End Business Solutions to help you manage your under performing staff. Call 02 8977 4002.

What do you do when your staff ask for flexible workdays?

Under Fair Work Legislation, every business must provide a family friendly work environment for their employees. Providing staff with the option to work different hours or work from home does not have to mean a loss of productivity. In fact, even smaller businesses are finding it advantageous to accommodate their staff’s needs for flexible work arrangements.

However the initial request for more flexibility is often confronting for many employers. Here are 3 points you need to consider.

1.  It’s not a one-way exchange

While it may not be applicable to every member of your team, most employers have loyal, hardworking staff members they know they can trust. If you wish to keep these people, you need to be adaptable as they balance their work and family obligations.

Unhappy workers leave their current jobs – especially if their new employer promises more opportunities to gain work/life balance. So if you want to keep your best workers, you will need to consider their request for flexibility.

Building a culture of trust

Accommodating a staff member’s needs for flexible work arrangements makes a strong statement that you trust and value their contribution to your organisation.

When workers feel valued, they tend to work harder and be more loyal to their employer. So while the initial request for flexible work arrangements may seem inconvenient for your business, it could provide a boost in productivity.

2.  A request for flexibility is the start of a conversation

The legislation around providing flexible work arrangements clearly states that a business can refuse requests for flexible working arrangements “on reasonable business grounds”. The key word here is reasonable and this is where personal biases can cloud an employer’s decision.

The legislation also states the request for flexibility must be made in writing describing what the request is and the reasons for it. The employer must then respond within 21 days. Use this time to become less emotional about the request. Instead, focus on the impact to your business if the staff member takes unplanned leave or resigns from your organisation.

Negotiate if you can’t say “yes”

If you are unable to completely satisfy your employee’s request for flexibility, try to negotiate a middle ground that satisfies the needs of both the employee and the business. For example, if your employee asks to work from home 3 days a week, maybe they could work from home 1 or 2 days a week with a review of the situation after 3 months.

3.  Explore ways to create a flexible workplace by redesigning work flow practices

Technology and customer service expectations are both changing the way the world does business. Many industries now operate in a 24/7 environment with businesses of all sizes embracing the cost savings of running virtual offices.

For some businesses offering 9 day fortnights or longer work days in exchange for rostered days off are proving a viable way to remain profitable and customer focused. They often report other benefits such as reduced unplanned leave because workers have the flexibility to balance their work and home responsibilities.

A fresh approach could help your business

In order to adapt to the changing expectations of employees and legislators, many businesses seek help from experts in the field. End2End Business Solutions offers SMEs a range of outsourced HR services tailored to your needs.

To discover if End2End can help your business, call 02 8977 4002.

50% of the workforce will be Millennials by 2020. Are you ready?

In 4 years, Millennials will make up 50% of the Australian workforce. Yet many businesses are finding this group hard to attract, manage and retain. What do you need to do to make your business attractive to this growing workforce demographic?

The Values Generation

It’s important to Millennials to stay true to their own personal values. In fact the Deloitte Millennial Survey 2016 found 44% of the Millennials surveyed have turned down a job offer because of the organisation’s values.

Millennials want their employer to value people and community over profits. So to effectively manage a Millennial employee, you must demonstrate that being a good Corporate Citizen is important to your organisation. You also need to empower Millennial workers to express their concerns when faced with a task or situation that challenges their personal values.

Career development is important

On the whole, Millennials are highly educated and informed about what’s going on in the world. They want to continue to learn and be challenged. They also need to see there are opportunities for advancement.

To retain your Millennial workforce, show them a clear path for career advancement. Show them you value their contribution to your organisation and assist them to fulfil their ambitions by providing training opportunities so they can expand their skill set.

Provide flexibility

With device in hand, Millennials are working longer hours than previous generations by using their commute to and from work as part of their work day. In addition, you will often find Millennials working on weekends and after hours. They expect to have these extra hours recognised by their employer. They also expect their employer to share their flexible definition of a work day.

To keep your Millennial staff happy, be prepared to introduce flexible work practices such as starting work later or earlier and working remotely.

The time to change is now

For your business to continue to flourish, it needs to adapt to the expectations of a growing proportion of the available workforce – the Millennials. The team at End2End Business Solutions works with businesses to help them recruit, manage and retain their staff.

For more information on how End2End may be able to help your business, call 02 8977 4002.

3 Reasons Why Performance Management is Worth it

We love this Workplace Bulletin article about Performance Management…

Why manage an employee you know won’t improve?

Performance management, when used properly and fairly, makes perfect business sense when you have a worker who you know would benefit from some guidance and management. But what about that worker who is treading water … whose under-performance has been ongoing and is unlikely to improve? Is it worth your efforts?

Let’s face it – performance management takes time and absorbs your resources. And it’s not guaranteed to deliver the results you want (even for the ‘good’ employee).

So, what course of action should you take when the under-performing worker’s attitude is affecting staff morale, or is having a negative impact on clients or customers … and you?

Get rid of them! I hear you cry. Why should I keep paying a troublesome worker any longer than I have to?

Rebecca Byun, an employment law expert at Holding Redlich, warns that skipping the performance management process altogether and proceeding to dismiss the under-performing employee is risky. She provides three good reasons for applying a performance management process to your business.

1. Skipping performance management leaves your business exposed to various employee claims

“Recent data shows that the majority of claimants coming before the Fair Work Commission are individuals disputing the termination of their employment,” Byun says. “This comes as no surprise as employees today are more aware of and vigilant with their rights. And mostly, employee claims are easy and inexpensive to commence.”

She says the workers most likely to make an unfair dismissal claim - who say their dismissal was harsh, unjust and unreasonable - are the ones not given an opportunity to respond or a chance to improve their performance and/or conduct.

“In this context, a decision not to undertake performance management can be fatal to defending this type of claim,” she says.

A worker is less likely to pursue an unfair dismissal claim against you if they have been taken through an objective performance management process showing there was a legitimate reason for dismissal and it was nothing personal.

2. Any savings made by dismissing the worker early may be outweighed by the costs of recruitment and defending claims

Byun says even though you may make some initial savings from not having to invest any further time and resources into your worker, you may need to commit additional time and resources in recruiting and training someone new for the job, which may ultimately cancel out those initial savings. Add to this any costs and time for defending any claims in court and you may find that it has cost your business much more in the longer term, she says.

3. Three strikes you’re out! - Myth

“Let’s kill one myth of performance management once and for all,” Byun states. “Unless you have committed the business to this process in a policy or contract, there is no ‘three strikes’ rule or a set minimum period for a performance management process.”

She says the process of managing an employee’s performance needs to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

“It will depend on factors such as the degree of under-performance, the nature of the required level of skills or performance, the extent to which the underperformance is impacting others including staff and clients and whether the employee has already been made informally aware of their performance issues,” she says.

How important is the process?

In most cases, the answer will be ‘extremely’.  There is an abundance of cases where the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has found that employers should have dealt with performance issues more adequately through performance management before proceeding to dismissal.

Source Workplace Bulletin Wednesday 9th March 2016

6 Top Tips for Advertising for a New Employee

1. Get your message to the right candidates
   
   Keep in mind that the best candidates are usually not the ones answering ads or even looking for work, they are more likely to be working for someone else and may not even be looking for a new position. Think outside the box and remember that you can develop relationships with potential candidates long before you need them. These ideas will also help you in recruiting a large pool of candidates when you have a current position available.
   
2. Involve your current staff
   
   Spread word-of-mouth information about the position availability, or eventual availability, to each employee so they can constantly look for superior candidates in their networks of friends and associates.
   
3. Use Your Web Site for Recruiting
   
   Your Web site portrays your vision, mission, values, goals, and products. It is also effective for recruiting employees who experience a resonance with what you state on your site.
   
   Do create an employment section which describes your available positions and contains information about you and why an interested person might want to contact your company. A recruiting website is your opportunity to shine and a highly effective way to attract candidates today.
   
4. Fine Tune your message
   
   There are some things that you need to include in the ad that are reasonably obvious, like the job title, the salary, the location. But an area that’s more difficult is when you’re specifying key requirements and competencies that are required for the role. The requirements can’t focus on the personal characteristics of an employee — particularly those personal characteristics that might be attributes protected by discrimination law.
   
5. Provide clarity in the interview process
   
   Be clear about what is expected of them, you may even like to bring in staff members who demonstrate the skills you require to draw in their expertise. Be clear about their remuneration and benefits.  Include an emphasis on the importance of emotional intelligence as a skillset in all roles.
   
6. Use resources to screen a prospective employee
   
   There’s a range of different techniques that are available to check the aptitude and suitability of a candidate, such as psychometric testing, aptitude assessment and the like. There are many external consultants who specialise in these areas.
   
   The more traditional methods, of course, are resumes, face-to-face or telephone interviews, reference checking, criminal record checks, and background checks.
   
   Social media is also a very common method for ascertaining the suitability of a candidate. A word of warning, though: privacy law generally requires that if you create a record of personal information about a candidate, you must seek to obtain that information directly from the candidate before you go elsewhere.
   
   Therefore, it might be a good idea to get that candidate’s consent if you want to explore this area. This will avoid an argument that privacy law has been breached.

Using courageous career conversations to shift engagement

While we can all agree that engagement is key to business success, its easy for employers and business owners to fall into the trap of keeping their employees in the "roles they are great at" instead of assisting these employees to map their potential career path.

To boost engagement employers should always make potential career pathways clearly visible and ensure managers regularly discuss transfer options to maximise engagement levels. According to recent research, one in five workers are in the wrong job, and when they move, the shift in engagement levels is "absolutely huge".

It's really down to managers and leaders taking the time to have meaningful discussions with their employees in order to really understand what they want, what motivates them, what drives them.

They need to be able to have courageous conversations where they are able to say '"just because there may not be an opportunity right now, does not mean that this will always be the case.  If I know what direction you are wanting to go, let's see how we can move you'."

Managers must also be willing to release staff who may be high performers in their organisations but whose personal aspirations are not aligned with what that specific business unit needs or wants, and let them go somewhere else within the organisation, so the talent is retained internally rather than lost to an external competitor.

Recent survey results conducted by Hilton hotel chain show a shift in the number one reason people remain employed with the organisation.

In 2010, 33% of employees said they remained employed because they had the opportunity to grow their career, while 27% said it was because they wanted to be associated with the brand. Now, association with brand has taken over career growth opportunities (25% and 23% respectively). From further internal research and feedback, they deduced that the shift in this statistic is based on the visibility that your career will be taken care of at Hilton, so working and being loyal to the brand is actually now the key driver of retention

How to stop an ex-employee from soliciting your business

We came across this great article in the Workplace Bulletin

Hey, quit stealing my (your old) clients!

If you have reason to believe an employee might resign and ‘poach’ your clients, what can you do legally to stop it from happening?

Contractual clauses that seek to restrict an employee earning a livelihood after they leave your employment are prima facie unenforceable. You have to show the restraint provides reasonable protection for a recognised business interest (yours) in order to enforce a post-employment contractual restraint.

You can impose a non-solicitation restraint upon a former employee to protect customer relationships, provided its period of operation is reasonable. A reasonable period is the time needed to introduce a replacement employee to those clients so they can re-establish a connection with your business and thereby protect your goodwill.

An example of a non-solicitation restraint:

“Upon termination of the employee’s employment for any reason whatsoever, he will not, without the written consent of the employer, solicit any of the employer’s clients that he had dealings with during his employment.”

In Entello Pty Ltd v Firooztash (11 March 2016), a financial planning and investment advisory business obtained a Court order to enforce a six-month non-solicitation restraint against an advisor after he left the firm.

The Court ruled that ‘solicit’ means ‘to ask for business’. An employee can solicit your clients even if they do not telephone, email or arrange to meet them to discuss business.

For example, there is solicitation of a client by a former employee if the former employee in substance conveys the message: “I am ready and willing to deal with you and encourage you to do so.”

If one of your clients asks your ex-employee what has to be done to get him to act for them, and your ex-employee replies that they would need to give him a letter of appointment to his new employer, that would be solicitation.

Source Workplace Bulletin Wednesday 23rd March 2016

Presenteeism costing employers

This is a great article from HR Daily which highlights the hidden costs of unproductive workers...

Presenteeism costing employers 11 weeks per worker

Employees are unproductive for a "staggering" 57.5 days per year, but employers can slash this amount by addressing the underlying causes, global research has found.

Based on a survey of nearly 2,000 employees, and validated against the World Health Organisation's workplace health and productivity questionnaire, the Global Corporate Challenge (GCC) study shows the cost of presenteeism is more than 10-times higher than the cost of absenteeism.

GCC data scientist Dr Olivia Sackett says the study clearly shows the "major culprit" of lost productivity is not, as many assume, absenteeism.

"On average, employees in our sample group took about four sick days off each year but when they reported on how many days they lost while on the job, that number shot up to a staggering 57.5 days per year per employee," she says.

GCC chief medical officer Dr David Batman says there are many reasons employees at all levels of an organisation might not be fully productive, including stress and fatigue caused by personal problems.

"Everyone will face tough challenges at some stage in their lives," Batman says.
"Some of us will lose a loved one or suffer the breakdown of a relationship. We may experience a financial disaster or be bullied at work. We may be victims of crime, have a car accident [or] contract a serious illness."

Employers should expect these struggles, and work to "create a supportive culture and build a resilient team" that can effectively deal with them, he says.

A key to this is ensuring managers are attentive to their people.

"I want managers to recognise that if something has changed – whether it's at work or at home – there could be a problem," Batman says.

"They should quietly take that person aside and say, 'Are you okay? Something has changed and I'm concerned about you. Can I do something to help?'"

Specifically, managers should notice if employees start to:
• lack attention and become easily distracted;
• seem uninterested in what they're doing and unconcerned about outcomes;
• let their performance deteriorate;
• come in late and leave early; or
• have more accidents or altercations with colleagues.

The good news is that while studies show there's no quick fix for absenteeism, which needs long-term solutions, "presenteeism responds well to short-term action", enabling employers to quickly achieve dramatic positive change.

The key is to realise presenteeism is only a symptom, and to focus on the cause. The critical element is balance, Batman says.

"Balance is about how you manage your life – at work and at home – and it's just a series of simple steps.

"It's how you exercise, eat, drink, whether or not you smoke, how well-rested you are and whether you find time for yourself, family and colleagues."
Batman says these principles can be simplified and delivered in a workplace setting with surprising ease and effectiveness.

GCC's 12-month health and performance program, for example, helps employees improve their relationship with exercise, nutrition, sleep and psychological wellbeing to instil renewed personal responsibility, self-belief and resilience.

Sackett says participants from the 2015 program reported substantial improvements in sleep, stress levels and overall happiness, and on average gained the equivalent of 10 days in lost time.
"Employees were spending more of the time they were at work actually working – and they were enjoying it more," she says.

Batman adds that by investing in their people, and shifting the needle on the key metrics of sleep, stress and happiness, employers can make measurable improvements in productivity, and reduce the phenomenon of lost time.

Source HR Daily Tuesday, 15 March
https://www.hrdaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&nav=1&selkey=3893&utm_source=daily+email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily+Email+Article+Link

Case Study - Creating clarity for workers

We have recently been working with a large supplier of appliances to consumers.  

The task was to map the processes of the call centre to improve the customer experience and ensuring the staff knew what was expected of them and how their performance would be managed. It was to also assist in training new and existing members of staff providing them with enhanced skills manage customers.

End2end went in and conducted workshops with key stakeholders to get the information from the staff.  

We worked seamlessly with the team to minimise disruption to the normal business operations.   Constant communication with the key stakeholders ensured that the information provided was accurate and up to date.  

From the work that end2end undertook the client was able to reduce their customer wait time for gaining a response post an order from 15 minutes to 1 minute.  

The client was also able to better price match against their competitors as they had a standard process, increasing the sales and meeting revenue targets.  

The client now has clear procedures that can be updated to meet the changing needs of the business to maintain the improved customer  experience.