Tackling stress – you don’t need bean bags and whale music!
May 29, 2009
It’s well known that during the current difficult economic times, stress levels in organisations are increasing as workers are required to put in longer hours, with fewer breaks, and are often taking on tasks that were not previously part of their remit due to staffing cuts and reorganisations. Organisations that are looking to save in the short term could lose out in the long term if they fail to recognise the causes of stress and manage them effectively; as work related stress can cause a huge amount of illness and absence within the workforce, as well as having a detrimental effect on productivity, which is the last thing companies need in this situation.
There are many ways to reduce stress in the workplace, and most of them don’t cost loads of money or time. Being clever and realistic with what needs to be achieved will go a long way to making sure the required job is done without making workers ill or totally demoralised. Being clear with objectives and giving specific timescales for completion will ensure employees are focussed on the task rather than risking ‘headless chicken’ syndrome. It is even possible to get employees to give longer hours to the company for short periods of time without turning the job into a stress-nightmare, as long as there is a positive reason for the need for longer hours and the objectives of the work in question are clear and timed.
Ensuring employees take breaks is really important if the company needs productivity and enthusiasm to be high. I am one of the world’s worst culprits for not taking breaks, and really it doesn’t get me anywhere because the time I spend working through the break can often be lost in the afternoon if I am lacking in concentration due to staring at a screen for too long, or lacking in energy from not having anything to eat. Many companies unwittingly develop a culture in which taking a break is seen as a lazy thing to do and staff can feel fearful of getting a drink or taking a short walk, but this culture is counter-productive in the long run. Companies that have a specified break area are probably more likely to get staff taking time away from their work – and it doesn’t have to be a really fancy area with bean bag chairs, tropical fish and whale music! Just an opportunity to escape, have a chat to a friend and a cup of tea will refresh the mind and allow the employee to re-focus on what they’re doing for the next part of the day.
What’s your organisation like for stress? Do you have clear objectives and time for breaks, or are you suffering the effects of stress as a result of increased pressures in the organisation?
HR services procurement – how can you get the best out of suppliers?
May 22, 2009
With the current economic situation there is a need for organisations to save on costs wherever possible. This is extending into most HR departments, with budgets for everything from recruitment to training, employment law advice to salaries being squeezed at every angle. It is more important than ever to choose suppliers that provide the highest possible value for money for the service they are providing, and to reduce wastage or eliminate it altogether.
So how can HR professionals ensure they are choosing the right suppliers for the required services? The amount of business telemarketing lists I have managed to get myself onto doesn’t help my situation – with constant telephone calls from suppliers of HR software, benefits and management training, and an appalling amount of wasted paper arriving each day in leaflets and flyers for various things. Trawling through the possibilities to arrive at the ideal option can be difficult, however the following few tips should help you to navigate the minefield:
- Have a clear idea of your aims and goals in using the supplier. There’s no use expecting the supplier to tell you what you want from them – you will end up confused and no further on. Make a list of the essentials, desirables and elements that are not required.
- Get a clear idea of your budget, with how much room you have for manoeuvre.
- Select suppliers as you would employees – with selection criteria, interview questions and presentation briefs. The use of case studies may also provide an insight into how the supplier would deal with your requirements, and whether this fits with the organisational values.
- Check up on any required qualifications or experience. Does the employment law advice come from qualified lawyers or customer service advisors that have had some training but basically work off a script?
- Be open and honest about your organisation – warts and all. The supplier won’t be able to give you a good enough service unless they understand the constraints they will face.
The most important thing you are looking for in a supplier is value for money, and a return on investment. This doesn’t always mean the cheapest option but if you have no evidence to show your board why you need to spend more on the more expensive option, you’re unlikely to get the backing for it. Measurable selection criteria and facts about success is the way to achieve the buy in you will need.
Adding key responsibilities to contracts
May 20, 2009
Recently I’ve been working on some additions to contracts of employment relating to specific responsibilities that certain members of staff take on as part of their employment with the company. This is important as the additional duties are critical business elements and therefore carry a certain amount of responsibility with them.
For example, a number of people have the responsibility of being a keyholder to the office – this includes looking after keys, having the codes to the intruder alarm systems and being the first or last person to be in the building. Many organisations have these responsibilities, but a lot will simply hand out keys and codes without considering the consequences if they are misused or not looked after properly. Another example relates to IT security. Only a small amount of people should have administrator rights to business systems and servers, and these people have an important duty to look after this properly. I’m sure there are lots of other examples within different businesses of key responsibilities that employees take on that need to be documented and monitored.
When an employee is given responsibility for a critical business duty, he or she should be required to sign to confirm that they understand the importance of this responsibility. The requirements of this role should be set out clearly within the document, and the consequences for non-compliance or deliberate misuse of the duty should also be stated. The importance of the responsibility will determine the relative severity of the consequence – and to make things easier should something happen, it is always prudent to clarify the potential actions that will be taken if something goes wrong.
Does the layout of office furniture affect performance?
May 15, 2009
In my organisation, as with many organisations, there are a lot of changes taking place at the moment, and this has meant some people moving their desk location and even their office. In many organisations the changes have been redundancies, and ‘survivors’ taking on different aspects of the roles of those who have left to cover the workload. It might sound a bit over the top, but in these situations it is important to consider the layout of the office furniture and where people are now sitting to help to embed any changes without too many negative effects on morale and performance.
For example, if someone has left or moved positions who was a pivotal employee in a particular department, or helped to manage projects or workloads, then the people who sat near to that person will probably be feeling a little lost or unsupported. Even if this person wasn’t a manager, it’s important to identify the impact they had on the people around them and try to reorganise so that everyone in the office gains the same impact from other employees that have not left.
Where people actually sit in relation to others is very important in how they feel, behave and perform. The distance to the team manager is important to recognise for newer employees that need more support and confidence building. People that have a responsibility for supervising or helping other employees should sit in a position in which they have a good view of all the other people – i.e. not facing a wall or cut off from everyone else.
Whilst there are probably many other things companies are concerned with at the moment, giving just a little bit of thought to the layout of the office and where people are positioned could have a positive impact on the atmosphere, and subsequently performance, of the office based workforce.
M&S ‘whistleblower’ claims human rights
May 14, 2009
Not long ago I wrote about Margaret Haywood, the NHS worker who was struck off after filming a secret documentary for the BBC which highlighted the poor treatment of elderly patients at a Brighton Hospital (NHS case highlights whistleblowing legislation, 20th April). This was an interesting case because Haywood was described as a Whistleblower, but hadn’t actually been through a formal process to complain about any wrongdoing, which is required under whistleblowing legislation.
This week sees a similar case go to tribunal in London, following the sacking last year of Tony Goode, Customer Loyalty Manager at M&S, for leaking information to the media about planned cuts in redundancy payments. The retail giant viewed this as gross misconduct and dismissed him. Goode made an appeal, supported by his union the GMB, but was unsuccessful, however he did not stop there and has taken the case to the Central London Tribunal, with continued backing from the union.
Goode is also being labelled a ‘whistleblower’ in the media, but, as with the Haywood case, his actions do not actually fall under whistleblowing legislation, as indicated by an M&S spokesperson:
“Tony Goode deliberately leaked internal company information and made derogatory and speculative comments to the media. He did this despite there being a variety of other internal routes available to address his concerns, and very clear guidance on the handling of internal information.”
Goode is claiming that his dismissal was unfair because it breached his human rights. This will mean his freedom of expression, as described in the law:
“Everyone has the right of freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without inference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.”
However, the Human Rights Act also says that this right can be subject to:
“formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.”
So I think that Goode will struggle to rely on this piece of legislation to defend what he did and claim unfair dismissal. I will be really surprised if he wins his case, because no matter how disgruntled he, or any other employee was, about the proposed changes to the redundancy pay, this was an internal process and the first thing Goode should have done is raise a grievance about it, or, better still, organised a collective grievance, rather than go straight to the media. I will continue to watch the developments with interest!
McQualifications prove popular option for 2500 staff
May 13, 2009
Over a year ago there was a big news story about McDonalds being accredited to offer qualifications equivalent to an A Level (See McQualifications – the new A levels? 6th Feb 08) as well as Network Rail and Flybe. This development was designed to give young people the chance to gain work based skills that they could not get in the formal education system – such as a ‘basic shift manager’ diploma. The qualifications can be used as credits to help people to get onto higher education courses, although many of the more high level universities immediately criticised the qualifications as not being as rigorous academically as the traditional A level, and some even said that they would not accept the work-based qualifications as credits for entry onto their degree courses.
However, despite some of the negative points relating to the new qualifications, McDonalds have announced that 2,500 members of staff enrolled for their A level equivalent courses – which shows that a lot of people see credibility in the scheme, rather than showing the same snobbery as some university heads. Many of the applicants for the scheme were actually university graduates, that are looking for a practical element to their learning experience; which is what a lot of graduates seek after spending three or more years drowning in academia that can prove to be almost useless in the reality of the workplace. And at the moment this is an even more attractive proposition; with new graduates struggling to find work in the recession; as research has shown that graduate positions in 2009 have been cut by 17%. A friend of mine who lives in London has been affected by this; having graduated last year, he has still been unable to find a decent job and said that graduate recruitment London has reduced massively and is extremely competitive.
David Fairhurst, the head of HR at McDonalds, has said that one day he’d love to be able to offer degree level and even Phd courses in restaurant management, and I don’t think this is a completely unrealistic dream, since there are no university courses of this kind, and therefore a lack of opportunity to learn at the higher level within a lot of careers.
Office chairs – make sure they’re fit for purpose
May 6, 2009
Back problems are one of the biggest causes of sickness absence in UK workplaces, and an awful lot of these problems are actually caused by the workplace. In offices, this can be related to the office chairs provided for staff that sit at desks all day.
The set up of the desk space is very important in ensuring workers avoid any strains due to sitting uncomfortably or having to reach unnecessarily for long periods of time. Chairs need to be height adjustable so that the arms rest comfortably on the desk and the worker does not need to ‘shrug’ their shoulders to keep their arms on the desk.
Also, the worker needs to be sat back in the chair so that their back is supported – which is something I have a habit of not doing, as I tend to lean forward in my chair and sort of perch on the end of the seat – and hence I often have a sore lower back at the end of the day. If the worker is sat back in the chair, the seat should fit underneath the desk so that the elbows are comfortably resting on the desk. If the chairs have arm rests, this may be a problem for taller people as they will have the seat higher and therefore the arms will cause a barrier to putting the seat under the desk. Chairs should therefore have height adjustable arms – or no arms at all, because if the worker can rest their arms on the desk they should not need chair arms.
The worker needs to be able to plant their feet on the floor when the chair is at the correct height. If, like me they have short legs they may have difficulty reaching the floor, which can be resolved with a foot rest.
Checking that office chairs are fit for purpose is an important part of a Display Screen Equipment (DSE) assessment, which should be carried out by a trained professional in an office environment.