Special from SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition
Yesterday’s Advisor featured tips on lawsuit avoidance from Mr. Please Sue Me, aka Hunter Lott. Today, more of Lott’s tips.
 |
Lott, one of the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) top-rated speakers, offered his tips at the SHRM Annual Convention & Exposition, held recently in Washington, D.C.
Love and Lust Policy
Love and lust policy? Again, stay out of the babysitting business—you don’t want to be policing relationships. Lott suggests this policy:
Any personal and/or romantic interactions between employees on or off the workplace, that affects your ability to do your job or our ability to run the Company, may be grounds for disciplinary action.
I Wouldn’t Do That …
Lott recommends avoiding these four HR problem areas:
- Probationary periods. They serve no legal or business purpose, Lott says. Managers think it means you can fire without documentation, so they don’t maintain any. Then they want to fire on the last day or, more often, on the 92nd day. “Get rid of your probationary period and employees are on probation forever,” Lott says.
- Being “consistent.” If you take consistency to mean “always treat everyone the same,” that’s wrong, Lott says. That kind of consistency is lazy management. One client gave a 5.2 percent raise to everyone—long-time employees, short-time employees, good performers, and bad performers. Two A players left.
- Sit on poor employees. Ask, Would I enthusiastically rehire this person? If no, do something, Lott urges.
- Say “can’t.” If you say “can’t” all the time, you won’t be invited back to the meeting. A better response is, “You can do whatever you want; however …” and then talk about consequences and alternatives.
Behavior Policies
Lott recommends this behavior policy:
Maintain positive work atmosphere by working in a cooperative manner. Maliciously motivated criticism, bullying or harassment of management will not be tolerated. Being insubordinate, threatening, intimidating, and disrespectful or assaulting a manager, coworker, customer, visitor or vendor may result in disciplinary action.
Final Tip
Don’t be held hostage by bad employees.