An interview with certified human resources professional consultant Pina DiGirolamo on the law for pay equity in Quebec, employee training and Bill 90 and also employee manuals. Pina talks about how companies can benefit from implementing these practices well in their businesses and also the requirements of the law for pay equity and training. Pina can be contacted through her company website at http://actagestionis.com/
Une entrevue avec certifié ressources humaines consultant Pina DiGirolamo sur l’équité salariale au Québec, la formation des employés et aussi de manuels de l’employé. Pina raconte comment les entreprises peuvent bénéficier de la mise en œuvre de ces pratiques correctement dans leurs entreprises et aussi les exigences de la loi pour l’équité salariale et de formation. Pina peut être contacté via le site Web de la société à http://actagestionis.com/
It comes a time when you need to confront employees on performance issues. This is where a manager needs to understand and apply progressive discipline to attempt to turnaround problem performance situations.
Progressive discipline when applied correctly is what is best for the employee, the manager and the company. Even if you do not have established policies in your company you can follow these steps. They will let the employee know you mean business and will protect you and the company from wrongful dismissal and lawsuits.
You will need to have been given the authority to carry this out by your boss. You should also get familiar with the legal requirements for employee termination in your province, state or country.
Progressive discipline should be the last step in the management process. You should first confront the employee with your concerns about their behavior or performance and discuss it with them. Listen to what they have to say but end with a call to action.
For example if the employee has been late or missed days at work often, meet with them alone. Let them know how their behavior is affecting the work, the team and you. Ask them what they will do about it as it is not acceptable. Get a commitment and write it down. Make sure they see you writing it down. Set a follow-up date in a week o show them that this will not go away. Meet them whether the infraction has been corrected or not. If they have shown up on time every day over that week, recognize them for it. If they have not respected their commitment, let them know that the next time this occurs they will be getting a written warning. Explain the steps that will follow after that as explained below.
Verbal Notice
The first step is to provide the employee with verbal warning of the situation and that it needs to be corrected. Let them know that if the behavior or poor performance occurs again they will receive a written notice. Make sure you have a file for each employee and write the date of the warning and what you said in their file. Make sure to note their response. You might want to ask them to sign the note or you can have a witness present such as your boss or a colleague.
Written Notice
The next step if the situation has not been corrected by the employere is to give written warning. Refer back to the original reasons for the progressive discipline process presently being implemented. Also state the fact that verbal warning was given but the situation has not improved. The written warning should let them know that the next step if corrective action is not taken by the employee is a suspension without pay for one to three days or more. Also state that the last step will be termination if the cause for the progressive discipline reoccurs.
Suspension
Suspension without pay is the last step in the progressive discipline process before termination. This should be done in writing as well. The length of suspension can vary.
Termination
This is the last step so hopefully the progressive discipline has been enough to change the behavior of the employee. In this case you want to terminate employment immediately. A letter of termination must be given that states the reasons for termination and reference to the progressive discipline steps that were taken.
Ideally you won’t have to do this too often. The goal is to hire the right person for the job and train and coach them for success.
I was motivated to write this blog article after a coaching session with a client who decided he needed to hire an internal sales rep so he could free himself to work on pro-active sales to his niche market.
There is often a resistance on the part of business owners and managers to write job descriptions. They usually want someone else to do it for them.
But there are many excellent reasons to write a good job description. I have included a link to download a simple job description template.
Here are 10 good reasons to write a job description
Help you to hire the right person for the job
Use it as an aid to conduct hiring interviews
Use it as a starting point to write an advert about the job
Use it to make sure you are clear about what you expect from your direct reports
Use it as a tool to clarify performance expectations of your direct reports
Use it to meet with your direct reports to make sure your expectations are aligned
Use if to set goals with your direct reports
Use it to conduct regular performance appraisals
Use it to identify training needs
Use it as a tool to protect you and your company against complaints of wrong dismissal.
Now ask yourself when was the last time you wrote a good job description and reviewed it with your current employees?
Here is a link to download a job description template.
In an upcoming blog I will cover how to complete a job description.
If all this makes sense then set some time now to get started on this. Once you have written a few, it should not take longer than 1 hour to write a good first drat. I recommend writing a first draft, let it sit for a day and then complete it.
In university they teach you that to write a good job description you need to have an unbiased person observe the person performing the tasks and then write it up. But this is a laborious process that often never gets done. So don’t play it by the book. Just do it!
Goal setting has always been important and a core principle
of any personal development and productivity improvement process.
But goal setting is more important than ever because it is so easy and common
to become distracted and defocused on what is truly important.
I could say that it is because of technology, the web, emails and the influx of new and interesting
information and data to all our connected devices. And that is true.
But the accessibility of information and data is both an opportunity and a curse. All this information
can make decision making more precise if the right information is available at the right time.
But too much information is so prevalent that it can cloud decision making and cause confusion.
The solution is to set goals and keep reminded of them daily. Goals need to be set based on a strategy.
That is where all that information can be a blessing. But strategy takes time. So one must take the appropriate
time to establish a strategy after doing some research and analysis and then set goals.
The challenge then becomes staying on track and blocking out all the noise and distractions that show up every day
in the form of emails, messages etc.
Goals become the barometer to know whether what you are working on is indeed the right thing.
For those who want to be better organized, feel less stress and accomplish more of what produces results,
a goal setting training or coaching would be a fantastic investment.
Here are three things that you must do when setting a goal
1. Put it in writing
2. Set a due date
3. Make it measurable
You can download a goal setting form on this page of our website under the training column to help you apply those three tips.