In sensitive HR discussions with employees, some of your managers will do best working from a script. But don’t try to write one until you’ve gotten the appropriate written policies backing it up.
Yesterday’s article on the proper handling of terminations gave tips on what management personnel should and should not say in these circumstances.
The article warned about becoming emotional and “sugarcoating” the action by lying about the true reason behind it. Many would add cautions about promising severance, recommendations, or reemployment, when these benefits are undeserved or forbidden under company policy.
Any of these gaffes could lead to bad feelings, or worse, a lawsuit. And the same is true in hiring, in performance reviews, disciplinary meetings, and other sensitive situations.
BLR’s SmartPolicies on CD supplies 350 HR policies, prewritten for you, and ready to customize or use as is. Examine it at no cost or risk. Click to learn more
At these times, it’s often best, then, to “put words in your supervisors’ mouths” – to offer actual scripting for moments rife with potential organizational and legal dangers.
BLR’s QuikStep Guides for Busy Managers, a series of four short books designed to provide “learn it in an hour or less” offers such guidance for managers on HR topics. Here are some of the lines they recommend:
Hiring/Interviewing:
To get a candidate to speak in detail about past experience, use these questions:
▪ Tell me about your work as a ________.
▪ What did you actually do most of the time?
▪ What will your boss say about ____ if I call, asking for a reference?
▪ What were the challenges, successes, failures?
▪ What results were obtained from these efforts?
Performance Appraisal:
To avoid vagueness such as “…X will do a better job,” use this type of data-dependent language.
▪ Will increase production of _____ by 10 percent, given a budget increase of 6 percent.
▪ Will restructure to achieve a 3 day reduction in order-ship time
▪ Will bring average truckloads per month to 229.
Discipline:
To keep disciplinary meetings focused on the realities of the situation, use this language:
▪ We have a problem here. This is the problem: _______
▪ You can solve the problem by doing this, _______ and I’m offering this help: _______
▪ If we can’t solve the problem, this will happen: _______
Termination:
Finally, to keep termination meetings fact-based, and avoid later legal problems, use language like this:
Termination for Fault:
▪ On [date], you were given a final warning to _______. Today is [date], and you have made no apparent effort to _______. Therefore, we are terminating your employment today.
No-Fault Termination:
▪ As you know, the decision has been made to reduce the company’s workforce. As a result, your position has been eliminated. No alternative positions are available. Unfortunately, this means you are being let go, effective immediately. This is not a personal decision, but one based on the business needs of the company.
Knowing What to Say Starts With Policy
Of course, you won’t know what to tell managers to say unless there’s a firm, written policy base for every employment action.
Unfortunately, many companies have never written policy or they’ve allowed it to become hopelessly obsolete in today’s changing world. It’s not hard to understand why.
Workplace policy is a bear to write, with all the research, analysis, senior management, and legal review required. Our editors, however, have a suggestion that will help you do it, with a minimum of cost and effort.
It’s a remarkable program called SmartPolicies on CD. Its expert authors have already worked through the critical issues on some 100 critical policy topics, prewritten the policies for you, and tested them at thousands of workplaces over time.
Why write your own policies when we’ve already done it for you ….at less than $1 each! Inspect BLR’s SmartPolicies on CD at no cost or risk. Click for details.
In all, SmartPolicies contains some 350 policies, arranged alphabetically from Absenteeism and Blogging to Voicemail and Workers’ Compensation. (To see the complete Table of Contents, click the link below.) And the CD format makes these policies easily customized. Just add your company specifics or use as is.
More important, as regulation and court decisions clarify your responsibilities on workplace issues, the policies are updated and new ones are added, as needed, every quarter in a replacement CD you receive as a standard part of the program.
SmartPolicies on CD is available to HR Daily Advisor subscribers on a 30-day evaluation basis at no cost or risk … not even for return postage. If you’d like to have a look at it, click here and we’ll be happy to arrange it.
I tried looking for the booklets mentioned, BLR’s QuikStep Guides for Busy Managers, however, I could not find them on the site. Where can I order them from?