Federal Reserve Board Issues New Report

The Federal Reserve Board has issued a new report entitled “Does Credit Scoring Produce a Disparate Impact?” The use of credit reports in employment decisions has recently become a controversial issue. Legislatures, regulatory agencies, and employers have debated whether or not making hiring decisions based on credit history could have a disparate impact based on race or gender.
What makes the new report interesting for employers is:

1. The report found no evidence that credit scores create a disparate impact based on race or gender. Since credit scores generally add information not available on the face of an employment-purposes report, a reasonable inference is that credit history does not create a disparate impact either.
2. The report did find limited evidence that credit scores create a disparate impact based on age. Usefully, it identified the variable that caused the credit scores to create a disparate impact. That variable was the average age of the person’s credit accounts on file. Inclusion of this variable lowered credit scores with age, causing younger people, foreign nationals, and recent immigrants to have high credit scores and older people and native-born citizens to have lower scores. This means that the average age of credit account is potentially misleading and might cause a disparate impact if used in employment decisions. For users of employment-purpose credit reports, a reasonable precaution would be to avoid placing any weight on any available information about the age of accounts. (The age of the oldest account appears on sample reports we reviewed; average age did not.)

How to Address Troublesome People Effictively

Sometimes being a manager isn’t all that great when you have to address challenging employees who display unacceptable, unprofessional and disrespectful behavior. But to be an effective manager you must address these challenges and address them adequately. Too many mangers tolerate poor behavior because they do not like confrontation and having “the talk” so they’d rather see if it goes away on its own. Unfortunately, very rarely does poor behavior ever go away on it’s on. You have the authority to correct employee behavior so embrace it and take charge just as you should. The most important goal for every manager should be to ensure that every issue is handled as quickly as possible. Immediate reprimand and corrections are ideal as the incident is fresh and can be addressed more adequately. Waiting to address issues can result in forgetting exactly what happened or the employee not really remembering what it was that they did wrong. As a manager you must immediately address the behavior as soon as it happens. Describe the poor behavior in detail so they understand exactly what they did. Be clear on its impact and how it’s detrimental to their success as a team member. Be clear and firm with the employee. They need to understand 100% that the behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated again. Don’t ‘beat around the bush’ to make the employee feel better. Make sure the employee understands and agrees that a problem exists and that the behavior needs to be corrected.

How to Avoid Workplace Violence

Workplace violence is real and can occur within any company in any industry. It is the employer’s job to make sure that proper detection and early correction is practiced to provide safe work environments for all staff members. Early detection is crucial for employers to notice as they need to correct problematic behavior before it escalates. Behaviors that can warn of potential violence: Frequent and intense arguing Alienation from team, customers and clients Constant bitter reactions to almost everything around them Verbal abuse to others around them Harassing other team members (sexually or non-sexually) Challenging authority If employers are properly managing and counseling employees then problematic behavior should always be nipped before they become true threats to the company and the employees they staff. It is your responsibility to ensure that you create and maintain a safe environment. Look for the above listed behaviors and make sure your addressing these as they occur.

Steps for Progressive Discipline

Too many employers handle employee issues poorly. Once you create a system and practice it a few times, it will only come natural. Disciplining employees doesn’t have to be a hassle and the reality is that it only becomes an issue when you’ve failed to follow a system. Basic Steps on Addressing Discipline in a Progressive manner: Step 1.) Give a Verbal / Oral Warning. Correct the employee immediately after the issue occurs by informing the employee that their behavior is unacceptable and must be corrected. Step 2.) Give a Written Counsel / Warning. If the employee repeats the behavior then you need to complete a written document stating the incident, expectations on future behavior and disciplinary action that will result in failure to correct the issue. The employee needs to sign the document and you file it in their personnel file. Step 3.) Provide a Final Written Counsel / Warning. The employee must understand in written form that their position is in immediate jeopardy if the behavior is repeated one more time. Step 4.) Terminate the Employee. If after receiving a final written warning the employee still continues the unacceptable behavior, you terminate them. This is assuming that you’ve followed progressive disciplinary steps and have provided tools for the employee to improve. Termination should only be the result after all efforts have been exhausted.

Brrrrrrrace Your Workers for the Cold

Very cold temperatures can be hazardous—even deadly—to your workers' health. Of course, no matter the temperature, the work must still get done. Workers can be exposed to hazards from cold indoors as well as outside. It's very cold, for instance, in food storage areas. However, since it's January, it makes sense to focus your training session on working in frigid conditions outside. As with all potential hazards, prevention is the best method for staying safe in the cold. For example, train your workers to prevent cold problems by taking these precautions: Limit exposure to cold, especially if it's windy or humid. Be especially careful if you're older, overweight, or have allergies or poor circulation. Know that problems can arise in above-freezing temperatures. Know that problems can arise from touching a subfreezing object. Be especially careful if you smoke, drink, or take medications. Don't bathe, smoke, or drink alcohol before going into the cold. When workers must spend time in the cold, advise them to wear layers of loose dry clothing with cotton or wool underlayers and a waterproof top layer. In addition, workers also need to: Cover head, hands, feet, and face. Dry or change wet clothing immediately. Keep moving when they're in the cold. Take regular breaks in warm areas. Move to a warm area if they feel very cold or numb. Drink a warm, nonalcoholic, decaffeinated beverage.

Nine Reasons You Should Keep No Secrets from Employees

The economy may be improving, but employees are still worried: Are layoffs imminent? Will I have a job next week? In fact, will the company even survive the year?
If you’re like most executive-level leaders, you have a pretty clear picture of the state of your industry, the context you operate in, and the financial health of your company. And you’ve likely wondered: How much should I tell employees about what’s really going on?

The answer is simple: The more the better. Here's why:

• People assume the worst when they don’t hear from their leaders. Silence from the executive suite causes fear and resentment. Maybe the news is bad, but maybe it’s not as bad as they are imagining. And even if it is, once they know the truth, they can plan and act accordingly.

• Transparency helps employees connect to the why. When employees are working in a vacuum, top-level decisions may seem ill-advised or unfair, or simply inexplicable. Transparency connects them to the "why" of those decisions. 

• Employees may not understand how the external environment affects the company. Senior leaders are aware of new laws affecting their industry, innovations reshaping the marketplace, financial pressures facing their customers, and so forth. It’s their job to know. But mid-level managers don’t necessarily see the same picture—and frontline employees almost certainly don’t.

• Transparency allows for consistent messaging across the organization. People don’t have to get their (speculative, distorted) news through the company grapevine. They hear what’s really going on, in a controlled and consistent way, from their managers. (It’s a good idea to train managers in “key words” they can use to answer tough questions.) 

• Transparency creates organizational consistency. When everyone is hearing the same messages, everyone is motivated to respond in similar ways. And this consistency trickles down to the customers, who get the same basic experience regardless of who they’re dealing with.

• Transparency leads to faster, more efficient execution. When times are tough, execution is everything. And the ticket to good execution is good alignment: All sectors of an organization must understand exactly what’s required so they act in a coordinated and collaborative fashion. Transparency facilitates that kind of alignment. It’s all about a shared sense of urgency.

• Transparency heals “we/they” divisiveness. We/they might manifest as staff vs. management, this branch vs. that branch, or corporate vs. everyone else. Managers without answers will foster we/they by saying, "Sorry, that’s orders from the top."

• Transparency keeps good people from leaving. High performers don’t thrive in an atmosphere of secrecy and uncertainty. They want to work for a company that treats them with respect and values their input. Hold information too close to the vest and they may assume the company isn’t healthy. And even in the worst economy, high performers have options.

• Transparency facilitates the best possible solutions. In transparent cultures, leaders encourage employees to solve problems themselves. And because those employees are the people closest to a problem, and because they must live with the outcome, they almost always design the most effective, efficient solution. And, of course, they’ll also have instant buy-in.

One more thing: Don’t think of transparency as a “crisis control” program. It’s a long-term commitment. When the good times roll around again, the strategy will serve you just as well.

Do you know what your employees need?

Every employee needs and wants something. It’s your job as the manager to find out what that is and help leverage that into something that ultimately helps both the employee and the company. By knowing what they need you can develop goals, training and responsibilities that help employee obtain it.

So how do you figure this out? Just ask a few questions

• A.)  What are the 3 most important goals of your job?
• B.)   What are your top 5 responsibilities and why?
• C.)  When do you know that you are doing a good job?
• D.)  How would you explain what you do to a friend or family member?
• E.)   What would ‘going the extra mile’ be in your job?

You’ll be able to assess the following after asking the above listed questions

• a.)    Do they have goals, are their goals aligned with the companies goals and how can I help them achieve those goals to help them reach success?
• b.)    Do they understand the importance of their role, do they understand the most important responsibilities of their position and why those are important to the company?
• c.)    Do they understand when they are doing a good job; do they know how to measure their own success?
• d.)    Can they articulate to others what their position is with the company and is that description accurate?
• e.)    Do they understand how they can go above and beyond in their position; do they know what that looks like and how to objectively look for ways to go the extra mile? Are they motivated to even find a way to go the extra mile for themselves and the company?

Ignorant Employee-Relations Mistakes Made by Employers

Not everyone is cut out to handle employee relations because it takes a strong, non-bias and neutral person to address and handle various issues properly. Here are some of the common mistakes made by office managers, supervisors and other members of management who are left to handle various employee relations issues: Taking sides: Never ever take an employee’s side. You must understand that there are 3 sides to every incident 1.) their side 2.) the others side and 3.) the truth. Your job is to get down to the facts of the incident and sort through how to correct the issue. Every incident must be compared to the company policies and rules. This will help guide you on how to manage the situation. Each person involved should receive tools on how they can avoid the issue in the future and set your expectations immediately. Emotional Reactions: All though employees can really make you angry and disappointed, you must control your emotions at all times when addressing employee issues. If you fail to control your emotions you could easily find yourself managing the situation poorly as your emotions have gotten the best of you. Do not name call, do not curse, do not throw things, judge or threaten your employees. It’s amazing how many managers there are that fail to control their emotions. Failure to control your reaction can easily result in a lawsuit.