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.

Engagement the key to improving business results

An employee who is engaged works with their colleagues to improve performance within their job for the benefit of the organisation. An organisation should work to develop engagement to achieve a symbiotic relationship between employee and employer.

By nurturing an engaged workforce your company can receive many benefits, including:

•    60% reduction in quality defects
•    16% increased profits
•    37% less absenteeism
•    18% productivity increase
•    12% customer satisfaction improvement
•    25% reduction in staff turnover

Research confirms that engagement leads to higher financial performance, higher customer satisfaction and higher employee retention.

Senior leader participation is a critical factor for employee engagement. Good leaders create an environment of engagement .If senior leaders do not understand the importance of an engaged workforce your business can suffer because of it.

Higher levels of employee engagement in an organisation can unmistakably help improve business performance. To encourage a sense of engagement in a workforce it’s vital to have leaders that motivate employees and win their respect.

Leaders should act as role models and inspire employees.

There is a powerful connection between the level of employee engagement and organisational performance.

Consider using customer satisfaction surveys to assess the levels of staff engagement in your organisation. If customer satisfaction is high, it is likely that employee engagement is too. If customer satisfaction is poor, so is employee engagement. The results can help to prove to your management team the effects of employee engagement and encourage them to foster it in the workplace.

Disengaged workers can be the most harmful employees in the workplace. They are discontented and let that unhappiness show in words, attitudes and actions. They can undermine the performance of others by dragging down the morale and drive of the team. Improving employee engagement does not necessarily need to be expensive or time consuming.

Here are 3 effective ways of boosting staff engagement in your workplace:

•    Praise from supervisors
•    Attention from leaders
•    Opportunity to lead projects

Many companies are beginning to understand that engaged employees are a formidable source of competitive advantage.

An engaged employee is more enthusiastic to expend more effort into their work, put in more hours, brainpower and energy. They have more commitment to do the best job they can and take on roles with more enthusiasm and energy.

They bring original concepts and ideas and infuse their team with enthusiasm and are less likely to seek employment elsewhere.

2014 WAGE DECISION: FWC orders 3% increase in minimum wages

1.5 Million Of Australia’s lowest paid workers will have a pay increase of 3% by July of this year. For a full-time employee working a 38-hour week the increase is $18.70 per week (50 cents per hour) to $640.90 per week, or $16.87 per hour.
 FWC President Justice Iain Ross announced the decision, noting that the increase in super guarantee from 1 July had a moderating impact.

The ACTU had originally asked for a $27 per week, or 4.3% increase but the Federal Government warned that increases that high would lead to a loss of jobs as some businesses would not find this affordable.

Ai Group had proposed a 1.6% or $10 per week increase, with ACCI's proposal even more conservative at 1.3%.
The panel suggested that it would not be as low if the superannuation guarantee rate was not also due to rise in July.

The Fair Work Commission last month ruled to limit Sunday penalty rates for some restaurant and cafe staff from July, expected to save businesses up to $112 million a year.

What this means for you

Modern Awards
Businesses that apply Modern Award rates will have to increase them to comply with the FWC decision. From 1 July 2014 all wage rates and penalties will need to match the applicable Modern Award.

Annualised Salaries and Individual Flexibility Agreements
if your business has utilised Individual Flexibility Agreements, you will have to review those agreements to guarantee employees are still “better off overall” when compared to the increased modern Awards rates.
 Employers who use annualised salary arrangements under Modern Awards should also check the Award requirements.

Enterprise Agreements
if you are currently negotiating an Enterprise Agreement or if you already have one, you should consider the increase to ensure that the rates that are negotiated are enough to pass the Better off Overall Test.
If you have an Enterprise Agreement, you will need to ensure the minimum base rates in the EA remain at least equal to the new Modern Award rates.

Allowances

The Fair Work Commission’s decision will impact allowances as well as base rates. A number of Modern Award allowances are expressed as a percentage of the "standard rate", which is the rate applicable to the trade’s equivalent classification in the award. These allowances will therefore increase in line with the increase in the standard rate. Expense related allowances will increase in line with the relevant CPI index.

High Income Guarantee
the High Income Threshold will also increase from 1 July.  Any employers who avoid Award conditions by using High Income Guarantees to will need to examine their agreed terms to remain compliant and above the new threshold. If guarantee levels fall below the threshold minimum entitlements will revert to those in the Award (including, for example, overtime and penalty rates).

Employers will have to identify and implement any changes promptly to ensure compliance to the Fair Work Commission’s decision.

Proposed changes to the Fair Work Act

The proposed changes to the fair work act the federal government has introduced to parliament could have a significant impact on the existing fair work act if implemented.

To outline how these changes could affect your business, here are some of the main points within the bill and how they could affect your business.

• Extending a period of unpaid parental leave – An employee taking unpaid parental leave under the fair work act, may request to increase their leave for a period up until 12 months. The amendment would require the employer to give the employee the opportunity to discuss the request in person or over the phone before refusing it. The discussion cannot be had by email or sms.

• Payment for unused annual leave – under the Government’s proposed amendment, payment for unused annual leave is to be made at the employee‘s base rate of pay for ordinary hours as applicable immediately before dismissal (unless an applicable modern award, enterprise agreement or employment contract expressly provides for a more beneficial entitlement).  Base rate of pay does not include penalties, loadings, allowances or any other separately identifiable amounts.

• Taking or accruing leave while receiving workers’ compensation - An employee who is absent from work due to workers compensation is unable to take or accrue leave under FW act during the compensation period.

• Transfer of Business -The transfer of business provisions will not apply to the transfer of an employee between associated entities where the employee sought the transfer at their own initiative. The proposed amendments would “switch off” the FW act transfer of business rules when an employee becomes employed by an associated entity of his or her former employer if the employment was sought on the workers own initiative before termination of employment with the old employer.
  
  For example if an employee is looking to progress their career or change their lifestyle and pursues a career opportunity within their own company or affiliated company this would be considered seeking his or her own initiative. If an employee who was made redundant accepted alternative employment this would not be considered his or her own initiative.
  
  Note that this change would only apply to transfer of enterprise agreements and not to continuity of service-based entitlements. The automatic continuity (subject to exceptions) provided in the FW Act when employees transfer between associated entities would continue to apply.

• Fair Work Commission (FWC) hearings and conferences - The proposed amendment would allow the FWD to dismiss an unfair dismissal claim on certain grounds without a hearing. The FWC will be able to do this if the applicant has failed to attend a conference or hearing, comply with a FWC order or discontinue an application after a settlement agreement.
  
  This would also apply where the FWC found the application to be frivolous or had no reasonable chance of being successful. The FWC must invite all parties to provide further information to the FWC to show its use is warranted before exercising this power.

• Individual Flexibility Arrangements - All employees party to an IFA made under a modern award flexibility term would need to sign a 'genuine needs' statement.
  
  Employees entering an independent flexibility arrangement are required to give a written statement indicating why they believe an independent flexibility agreement under a modern award or enterprise agreement meets their needs and leaves them better off.
  
  Individual flexibility arrangements allow for unilateral termination only upon 13 weeks of notice, as opposed to the current 28 days of notice.
  
  The proposed amendments improve the utility of individual flexibility arrangements by requiring enterprise flexibility terms to permit individual flexibility about all five minimum matters listed in the model flexibility term; namely arrangements about when work is performed, overtime rates, penalty rates, allowances and leave loading.

• Greenfields Agreements –The FWA amendment proposes many changes to the Greenfields agreement process intended to avoid employers being convinced to agree to inflated wages and conditions and employment preference to avoid delays in a project. Under the proposed changes, an agreement would provide for pay and conditions consistent with the prevailing standards and conditions within the relevant industry for equivalent work. The FWC may take into account the prevailing pay and conditions in the relevant geographical area.  These changes include the extension of good faith bargaining requirements to single enterprise Greenfields agreements. They also include provisions for an employer to apply to the FWC for an agreement to be approved where the parties are unable to reach agreement in a reasonable period following a three month negotiation period notified by the employer.

• Protected action ballot orders - The Amendment Bill proposes that an application for a protected action ballot order will not be able to made until the employer is obliged to give employees notice of representational rights in bargaining.

• Right of Entry - The amendment bill introduced changes to the right of entry rules regarding the rights of union officials who hold entry permits. The employer will no longer be required to organise transport and accommodation arrangements for permit holders in remote areas.
  
  Interviews with employees by union officials or permit holders must be held in an area agreed between the business and the permit holder or in the place the business employees take lunch breaks. The FWC will also be able to deal with disputes regarding the frequency of visits by permit holders.

4 simple steps to HR success in 2014

1.  Make sure Everyone has a Clear Job Description

Make sure everyone is aware of what their specific roles and duties are within the work place. People generally perform better when they know what is expected of them.

Having a clear role or job description allows your employees to be accountable for their work.

Having specific tasks for each employee allows staff to take pride in their work. Jobs may get overlooked if they are not assigned to one person as everyone will assume that someone else is doing it.

2.  Be Clear when Communicating

Be careful to clarify directives. Miscommunication can lead to confusion and hostility in the workplace. Pay close attention to how your staff communicate with each other and take steps to improve communication where needed. This can save you time, money and give you a more harmonious workplace.

Ensure that all staff are aware of the importance of each members contribution and demonstrate how everyone’s roles work together to achieve their goals.

Communication is the single most important factor in successful teamwork.

3.  Have Clear Workplace Policies

Have clear policies in place that cover important issues such as:

• Bullying
• Sexual harassment
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Workplace behaviour
• Health and safety

Having clear policies in place allow staff to know what is acceptable in the workplace and what is not. Make sure your staff are aware of the consequences of straying from these policies.
Be fair and consistent when dealing with staff that have gone against company policies.
Having policies in place can make it more difficult for staff to bring claims against you.
Lawsuits fines and penalties affect the financial health of your business.
Create employee manuals that outline appropriate behaviour in the workplace.

4.  Keep employee contracts up to date

Make sure that all your employees have a legally compliant contract of employment.
Signed contracts can avoid conflict regarding a person’s employment status, wage and benefits.
Small businesses usually create formal, written employment contracts that dictate the specific terms of their employment agreements.

An employment contract helps protect the long-term interests and well-being of both parties. An employment contract provides a formal (and legal) record of both parties' expectations and agreements at the time of hire.

Employment contracts don't have to be overly long and complicated; in fact, the clearer and briefer the contract, the better. A standard contract can be created for all employees and customised for specific jobs.

Real Life Case Study - What is your 'Person Profile'?

I have recently been working with 2 clients whereby the recruitment of a senior person didn’t work out as planned.  In both cases the person was not a culture fit for the business, however were in key roles. 

Both candidates had been working in large corporate environments, they really didn’t fit into a mid sized business.  This resulted in both candidates being let go, which created a lot of stress for the owners, the candidates, and the staff left in the business.  

It is important when recruiting into a business to build a “person profile”  before looking at job descriptions, advertising, talking to people.  You can do this with online tools, however the most effective way is to sit and plan who the person will be interacting with, what kind of personality works with the business, are they able to be flexible and work in unstructured changing environments, are they still interested in being hands on. 

Once the planning has been done, then a job description can be created and the advertising can be written to reflect the person profile.  Taking extra time at the start to think about who you need in a business will reduce angst down the track when they don’t meet expectations and are let go.    In both cases and all recruitment that I conduct, I work with the business owners on the person profile before any action is taken to find a person.

Managing poor performance and behaviour

In order to maintain a harmonious, efficient and consistent work environment, the manner in which you deal with bad behavior is particularly important.

Bad, disruptive or negative behavior in the workplace is essentially a rebellious form of underperformance, and may be triggered from a number of factors including:

•                    An employee’s confusion or ignorance regarding their goals, expectations, standards to be upheld and resulting consequences

•                    Personality or cultural clashes

•                    Incompetency in the tasks or skills required of the employee

•                    Insecurity or uncertainty in their performance resulting from lack of praise or feedback

•                    Indolence, poor work ethic or environment

•                    Issues in an employee’s personal world

•                    Feeling victimized by workplace bullying

Developing a strategy on how to deal with such behavior, prior to having to deal with such situations is crucial. In the case that the issue results in termination and is taken to Fair Work, it is imperative to have a clear trail of documentation. These documents should include clear procedures on how to manage underperformance and a job description that highlights the expectations, roles and targets of each employee. 

Employees need to be aware of their job descriptions and of the employers’ management of work performance. Should management of underperformance become necessary, or should an employee violate employment conditions, documentation of interviews should be kept, as should any email communication. To help avoid small issues resurfacing, documentation of the management of each individual incident is helpful. 

Note however, not all issues of underperformance may need a formal address; the answer may be as simple as implementing of a culture of regular feedback to improve employees’ performance.

There are a few important steps in managing bad behaviour. These are:

1.   Identify the issue

2.   Assess the issue

3.   Discuss the issue with the employee in a private conversation

4.   Devise a solution as a team

5.   Monitor performance

A few other keys to remember when dealing with underperformance or any work related issue is to steer clear of using business jargon in conversation, and opt for a more relatable choice of words to avoid alienation or misunderstanding.  An employee should come away from the conversation with a clear understanding of the expectations of them in the workplace, the improvement required, and any follow up steps that will be taken

To find out more, or for assistance with managing poor performance or behaviour, contact Annette at End2End Business Solutions on (02) 8977 4002.

Changes to Bullying Measures in the Fair Work Act - 1 Jan 2014

Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, employers are obliged to take all reasonably practicable steps to manage health and safety risks in their workplaces.  Bullying is one such health and safety risk, and failure to manage and prevent bullying could constitute a breach of the Act and could have serious repercussions, not just for those bullying or being bullied, but for your organisation as a whole.

As from 1 January 2014, the Federal Government will introduce new federal anti-bullying laws which are designed to stop workplace bullying promptly.  However, the laws do not give bullying victims an entitlement to monetary compensation or reinstatement of their position.  From 1 January 2014, a worker who is being ‘bullied at work’ or believes they have been bullied at work will be able to apply directly to the Commission for an order to stop the bullying.

These new laws will cover contractors, subcontractors, outworkers, apprentices, trainees and students gaining work experience as well as volunteers.

Under the new provisions, a worker can bypass his or her employer and lodge a claim directly with the Commission. The Commission is required to deal with an application within 14 days after the application is made - the time limits will mean an employer will have very little time to investigate, assess, and respond to a claim. Under the new laws, employees can formally require the Fair Work Commission to order employers to take action against bullying colleagues and managers. The FWC will have the power to issue an order to the alleged bully or bullies, to put a stop to the disputed behaviour. 

With the introduction of these new laws, it is essential that an organisation has an effective workplace bullying policy which includes:

1. a definition of workplace bullying, including a statement that workplace bullying is unlawful;

2. a complaints process; and

3. information about the consequences for a worker who has engaged in workplace bullying.

Bullying is defined as follows:

A worker is bullied at work if an individual or a group of individuals repeatedly behaves unreasonably towards the worker or a group of workers of which the worker is a member and that behaviour creates a risk to health and safety. 

It is irrelevant whether the individual or individuals who are bullying intend to bully the victim.

It is important to note that bullying involves repeated unreasonable behaviour. An isolated incident is insufficient. 

Importantly, the definition has retained the exemption for reasonable management action which is carried out in a reasonable manner.  (A performance assessment/review that you disagree with will not constitute bullying!) 

Bullying can include more obvious and overt behaviours, such as: 

•                    intimidation

•                    verbal abuse

•                    assault

•                    physical aggression/violent behaviour

•                    spreading rumours about someone

•                    constant name calling

•                    practical jokes

•                    harassment/sexual harassment,

•                    trolling on social media.

But bullying can also include behaviours such as:

•                    constant unjustified criticism or complaints

•                    constant threats to sack or demote

•                    excluding someone from workplace activities

•                    inconsistent and arbitrary enforcement of rules

•                    setting unreasonable timelines

•                    deliberately changing work arrangements in order to inconvenience someone

•                    setting tasks that are unreasonable

•                    excessive scrutiny of work performance

•                    withholding information or tools required to perform work, and

•                    taking credit for another employee's work and failing to acknowledge that employee.

Examples of the sorts of orders the Commission may make include:

•             regular monitoring of behaviours by an employer;

•             compliance with the employer’s workplace bullying policy;

•             provision of information by the employer;

•             additional training to employees; and

•             amendment of the employer’s workplace bullying policy.

What will this mean for Employers?

It would be expected that employers' processes for handling complaints about bullying will be in the spotlight. Therefore, over the next few months until 1/1/2014, it will be important that employers use the time remaining to review and improve their policies and framework regarding bullying. 

Businesses should ensure that performance management and investigation processes are fair and reasonable.

They should have appropriate policies that detail the action taken when an employee makes a grievance or complaint about bullying behaviour, and appropriate mechanisms in place for addressing concerns of workplace bullying.  All employees should have a copy of the policy, or at least know where and how to access the policy.

In the event of an application to the FWC, any workplace investigations conducted will be open to scrutiny. You must be able to show that you have acted with fairness. Organisations may also need to prove that they have given employees training or guidance in relation to their policy, so all employees are aware of what they need to do if they think they are being bullied.