In yesterday’s Advisor, we covered the first two “Worst Mistakes Managers Make.” Today, the third worst mistake, plus an introduction to a very effective 10-minutes-at-a-time training system for managers and supervisors.
Worst Mistake #3—Basic Wage/Hour Stumbles
Employees will tolerate a lot, but start messing with their paychecks, and there will be trouble, guaranteed. Many wage/hour problems seem relatively small, but they can be magnified dramatically as class actions.
For example, say you fail to pay 5 hours of overtime per week to an employee. Call it 250 hours in a year, with a $10 an hour premium, and it’s $2500. No big deal. Now multiply by 200 employees. Whoops, that’s half a million. Double it and add in attorney’s fees—yours and the employee’s—and you’ve got a big number.
Here are the most common wage/hour failures:
Failing to Pay All Hours Worked
One common scenario is employees who put in unpaid hours willingly (“Don’t worry, I’ll finish that up at home.”). That’s thoughtful, but it doesn’t relieve you of the obligation to pay. The other common scenario is when people are expected to do setup before clocking in (filling cash register, setting up tables) or do cleanup after clocking out. (“Do you mind just prepping for tomorrow after you clock out?”)
Another increasingly common scenario is employees who are expected to take calls or answer e-mail on their phones or Blackberries (or home computers) off hours. If it’s more then de minimis, it’s probably hours worked.
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Making Special Arrangements
Another wage/hour problem that crops up is that managers and supervisors make special arrangements with employees. For example:
Offering comp time in private sector. There’s no such thing as comp time in the private sector. If employees work, they get paid. (Hours may be exchanged during a work week, however; a non-exempt employee can leave work early and make up the time the next day with no problem as long as both days are within the same work week.)
Lesser or no overtime rate. No matter what employees agree to, or even ask for, they must be paid time and one half their regular rate for overtime hours.
After clocking out. Before clocking in. Employees may want to “help out” and work some hours off the clock, but that is not permitted. If they work, they have to be paid.
Failing to Properly Calculate the ‘Regular Rate’
The regular rate, the amount on which overtime is calculated, includes non-discretionary bonuses, shift differentials, etc. If such bonuses are awarded after the pay period closes, you have to go back and recalculate.
Wage and hour, one of what, 20 things you need to train managers and supervisors on? Training is critical, but it’s tough to fit it in. To train effectively, you need a program that’s easy for you to deliver and that requires little time from busy schedules. Also, if you’re like most companies in these tight budget days, you need a program that’s reasonable in cost.
We asked our editors what they recommend for training supervisors in a minimum amount of time with maximum effect. They came back with BLR’s unique 10-Minute HR Trainer.
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As its name implies, this product trains managers and supervisors in critical HR skills in as little as 10 minutes for each topic. 10-Minute HR Trainer offers these features:
Trains in 50 key HR topics under all major employment laws, including manager and supervisor responsibilities, and how to legally carry out managerial actions from hiring to termination. (See a complete list of topics below.)
Uses the same teaching sequence master teachers use. Every training unit includes an overview, bullet points on key lessons, a quiz, and a handout to reinforce the lesson later.
Completely prewritten and self-contained. Each unit comes as a set of reproducible documents. Just make copies or turn them into overheads, and you’re done. (Take a look at a sample lesson below.)
Updated continually. As laws change, your training needs to do so as well. 10-Minute HR Trainer provides new lessons and updated information every 90 days, along with a monthly Training Forum newsletter, for as long as you are in the program.
Works fast. Each session is so focused that there’s not a second’s waste of time. Your managers are in and out almost before they can look at the clock, yet they remember small details even months later.
Evaluate It at No Cost for 30 Days
We’ve arranged to make 10-Minute HR Trainer available to our readers for a 30-day, in-office, no-cost trial. Review it at your own pace and try some lessons with your colleagues. If it’s not for you, return it at our expense. Click here and we’ll set you up with 10-Minute HR Trainer.
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You’ve got some good tips here. Another issue with computers and blackberries is that even if the employer does not expect (or approve) of after hours work done on these devices, it could still be liable for paying for it. You’ve really got to let employees know not only when you want them to work, but when you don’t want them to.
When a non-exempt employee puts in additional work beyond what you’ve authorized, you need to treat it as a performance issue (and discipline accordingly) rather than a pay issue. It may be tempting to just dock that extra time off the person’s paycheck, but the laws won’t be on your side if you do that.