In this edition of HR News Roundup, we feature news about firing employees and creating the right paper trail, developing workplace policies for politics, crying at work and work drama, as well as a few items from the lighter side.
How to fire an employee
Jon Hyman, Ohio Employer Law Blog
The bottom line? The firing an employee the wrong way—a termination text message, a perp walk, and zero dignity—leads to bad feelings, which leads to expensive and time-consuming lawsuits. Never forget that losing a job is one of the worst things that can happen to someone. A little compassion goes a long way.
What is the notorious paper trail?
Lisa Kaplan Gordon, 501c
We’ve all heard of the paper trail that bosses need to assemble when it’s time to part ways with a disappointing employee.
What should this infamous paper trail contain? And when do you start marking the trail that could be your best defense in terminating a worker?
“Having a paper trail of missteps can go a long way to protecting the employer from a discrimination or wrongful termination claim,” says David Weisenfeld, legal editor of XpertHR. “Conversely, a lack of documentation can be a recipe for trouble.”
The paper trail should begin way before the working relationship goes south.
The case for crying at work
Sarah Todd< Quartz at Work
What to do when a direct report cries at work: A lot of managers wonder if they ought to suggest a break. Davey says that in the majority of cases—“if a tissue will deal, and you don’t need a bucket”—it’s actually better for both parties to stay put in order to minimize potential awkwardness. “If the person has to run out and they go to the bathroom and they’re a mess, then there’s the embarrassment of having to walk back in. It’s painful.”
What managers should do is signal that it’s okay to be emotional. “That actually helps dissipate the emotion,” Davey notes. “Take a moment to say, ‘I need to understand this and how you’re experiencing this,’ showing curiosity, and where possible saying, ‘I’m so glad you shared that with me’ or ‘I didn’t realize that.’” This makes the other person feel heard, which is what most of us want, at work or anywhere else.
4 Steps to create an effective workplace political expression policy
Seamus Roddy, HR Daily Advisor
Discussions about politics can feel ubiquitous. People share their political opinions on social media, announce their political leanings in public, and are comfortable discussing politics at work. But, political discussions can disrupt workplace harmony.
In fact, a Clutch survey found that nearly one-third of employees believe their company’s productivity has suffered because of political expression at work.
The survey also found that more than half of employees who were uncomfortable or distracted by political expression at work believe their company should implement a political expression policy.
Based on these findings, how your company effectively manage political expression and accommodate a diversity of opinion?
Follow these 4 steps to create an effective workplace political expression policy, promote workplace harmony, and successfully manage teams with differing political views.
Workplace drama: What’s it costing your company?
Eric Cormier, Insperity
Workplace drama could be costing your business thousands of dollars each year. For larger companies, losses can reach millions of dollars.
Everyone has encountered workplace drama. You just may not have known what to call it.
The office gossip. The resister to change. The persistent arguer. The projector of made-up stories.
Drama creates “mentally wasteful thought processes or unproductive behavior,” wrote drama researcher Cy Wakeman in “No Ego: How Leaders Can Cut the Cost of Workplace Drama, End Entitlement, and Drive Big Results,” her book on the subject.
These wasteful behaviors take a toll on your business. Over time, they can chip away at morale and productivity and lead to turnover and lost revenue.
By better understanding the underlying issues that lead to workplace drama, you can mitigate some (if not all) of this lost productivity.
6 things successful people like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos do on weekends to make their Mondays more productive
Benjamin Spall, CNBC
Over the past five years, I’ve interviewed and studied more than 300 highly accomplished people, from business leaders and university presidents to Olympians and artists, about their daily routines.
Here’s what some of the most successful people do on weekends to make their weekdays easier and more productive.
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More HR News: Quick takes
- EEOC to require compensation data by end of September
- How to manage your finances during career progression
- New rules for federal employees outline time-off policy for religious observances
- 15 Interview questions to ask when hiring a manager
- How to hold people accountable with compassion
- Benefits of using chatbots in HR
- How Americans see automation and the workplace in 7 charts
- Does the cost of a sign language interpreter constitute an undue hardship under the ADA?
- Domestic violence Is often the cause of workplace violence
- Autism in the workplace: A spectrum of hiring choices
- Why your best employees are losing motivation
- 12 Stupid things to stop saying to your team immediately
- Imposter scams top the FTC fraud list for 2018
- ADA does not require a new supervisor as a reasonable accommodation
- How to deal with the top 3 causes of workplace stress
- Why you should hire candidates who are “a little bit unqualified”
- 4 Ways to effectively work with people who are hard to like
From the lighter side…
- As an HR practitioner, you may think you know people but check this out: This Person Does Not Exist . a gallery of fake people generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Keep refreshing to see more. Some are obvious fakes, they have glitches or mistakes, but others are harder to spot. Read about how these images are improving over time and learn about how to recognize fake AI-generated images. Then test your new knowledge at Which Face Is Real, where you are shown two images and try to determine which one is real.
- Two Cents is an interesting PBS series of short, cute video clips on personal finance.
- Take a brief armchair travel break – Beautiful Destinations offers wonderful images or short clips of amazingly lovely places in our world. It’s intended to inspire you to travel and connect with the beautiful world we live in.
- Finally, if your job entails business travel you might be able to relate to this “air travel in real life” clip.