The moment when the supervisor decides whether to act or to call HR often has far-reaching consequences, says attorney Mark Schickman. Unfortunately, he often gets involved too late to prevent an expensive outcome.
Even the organizations with the most rules and regulations get into trouble, Schickman says, pointing to recent headlines about sexual assault problems in the military. It doesn’t matter how big you are, or how much money you have, or how many rules you have—if the supervisor doesn’t do the job, you’re in trouble.
Schickman, who is a partner with Freeland Cooper & Foreman, LLP in San Francisco, offered his tips at a recent webinar sponsored by BLR® and HR Hero®.
Supervisor Has a Difficult Job
Admittedly, the supervisor has a hard job, trying to maintain a good work environment day to day and still maintain productivity. What supervisors want to do is sometimes consonant with HR rules and regs, and sometimes not.
You Are a Team
Start out with the idea that you and the supervisor are one team with one goal, which is the supervisor’s success. Yes, you also want the supervisor to follow the rules, but you both want productive, happy employees.
Sometimes there’s an “us and them” mentality, says Schickman, so the first thing to do is to convince the supervisors that your goal is to empower them, not police them. You want to give them tools and mechanisms they need to operate effectively.
If your approach is, “You can’t do this, you can’t do that,” supervisors will turn on you, or turn you off, and will not be forthcoming or receptive.
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Who Is a Supervisor?
It’s important to define “supervisor” broadly, says Schickman. If part of their job is assigning tasks to others, think of them as supervisors.
You want to teach the supervisors:
- To prevent problems.
- To combat problems when they come up.
- To remedy or fix the problem.
- To make sure no retaliation takes place, for either raising an issue or participating as a witness. If there’s a problem, and a later termination, HR can try to explain the situation. But you’re always “digging out from” the retaliation charge, Schickman says.
In addition, it’s HR’s job to provide support. Sometimes that’s in the form of information, or walking through a situation, or providing emotional support (for example, for a supervisor who has been hit with a charge of harassment or who just had to fire an employee who says, “But, I just bought a house.”).
Supervisors Can’t Possibly Know It All
There is a ton of technical rules, says Schickman, and supervisors can’t possibly know them all. (Even HR doesn’t know it all, he says.) Supervisors need to know when to say, “Lemme check with HR.”
For example, says Schickman, take military leave, either for an employee or spouse. When the issue comes up, all the supervisor needs to know is “Come to HR.”
In fact, this is the appropriate response for most leave requests. For example, here are just a few of the many types of leave available in some jurisdictions:
- Jury duty
- Child suspended from school
- Child performing in a school concert
- Victim of domestic abuse
- Organ or bone-marrow transplant
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At-Will Employment Is the Baseline
There is no silver bullet, says Schickman, but a strong at-will policy is as close as you can get.
Make sure your policy is in writing and that it can’t be changed except in writing by the president of the organization.
A typical problem Schickman sees is a supervisor who changes at-will status by telling an employee that he’ll guarantee 2 years of employment in exchange for taking the graveyard shift. Now you’ve got a contract replacing employment at will.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, Schickman on when the supervisor must defer or step back, plus an introduction to the handy “50×50” (50 Employment Laws in 50 States), the unique guide for employers with operations in more than one state.
On the one hand, you can have supervisors who are all too happy to hand things off to HR–whether appropriate or not. Then you have those who think that doing so is a sign of weakness. It’s definitely a balancing act.
Much needed information. Thank you.
In light of the 6/24/13 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Vance v. Ball State (Title VII sexual harassment standard), the court clarified that a “supervisor” is ONLY an employee empowered by the employer to take tangible employment actions against a victim and NOT an employee who has the general ability to direct the daily work activities of a victim.
If I’m interpreting your article correctly, it appears to apply the EEOC’s guidance that a “supervisor” is an employee who may direct the victim’s daily work activities or who has the power to “recommend” tangible employment actions affecting the victim (such as termination, demotion, transfer, etc.).
Is the statement in your article about applying the term “supervisor” broadly (i.e., “If part of their job is assigning tasks to others, think of them as supervisors”) still applicable based on this week’s Supreme Court decision?