Discrimination at workplace –where to go!!

Discrimination occurs when a person is treated or harassed arbitrarily or differently because they fall in the “protected class”. The groups of people who fall in the “protected class” are protected from discrimination and harassment by Federal, state and local laws. Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex, color, religion, ancestry, National origin, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, disability status.

Whom to reach?

All the organization must have discrimination policies. Employers put these policies and procedures in writing; others fear that putting them in writing will increase their exposure to employment-related claims. There is no law that requires an employer to provide employees with a handbook. These policies guide that if an employee wishes to report harassment or discrimination they need to follow the chain of command. What if the employee is discriminated by his immediate supervisor? If the company is large, there would be the HR department. The employee can reach the HR manager. But what if the company has no HR department. Where does the employee go and complain? The board of directors or the CEO?? If the employee doesn’t receive any response from your employer, consider contacting the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which has responsibility for overseeing compliance for many federal anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws, or your state equal employment agency. Employee can reach the third party- an attorney or a consultant. An attorney can help the employee through the complex laws which may apply, can guide the employee through the complexities of the legal process. Third party consultants can be also reached through 1-800 toll free number(in the USA).

While reaching any of the above, the employee should keep a diary of all the incidents of harassment and discrimination. Record the date, approx. time, location, who was involved, and witnesses. Keep all the objects & pictures involved. Any small evidence can help the employee in winning his/her case.

HR Tip of the day!!

There's no second chance in making the first impression!!

Onboarding is the first step in building relationship between the new hire and the organisation.Be ready for the first of the new hire with proper work flow.Make them understand about the organisation culture on day one.Introduce the new hire with his work on day one itself.

HR Tip of the day!!

If you take care of your employees,they in turn will take good care of your customer & the organisation.

Other than receiving competitive pay & benefits,employees also want to enjoy what they do.A mentoring program can help meet those objectives by providing avenues for self-improvement to help them grow with the organisation.

Negativity in workplace, a strict NO!

It’s difficult to control negativity, but avoiding and dealing correctly will erase the negativity in the workplace. The best way to deal workplace negativity is to keep it from occurring in the first place. Early warnings like employee complaints, survey’s, exit interviews with employees whose experience is sore, discussions on Intranets, appraisal feedbacks,360-degree feedback process, and coach managers informs us about the environment in the workplace.

How can you avoid Negativity in workplace?  Knowing what people are negative about is the first step in solving the problem. Communication with the employees will lead to understanding the exact problem & the degree to which the problem are impacting the workplace. Interactive discussion, exercise & case studies will help in learning where the negativity is coming from.

1. HR’s & Managers should be trained & they should be careful  on displaying their own emotions to the other staffs. It takes second’s to react & emulate the manager’s good or bad reactions. Listen to the employee’s complaints until they feel that they are heard & listened to.

2. Treat your employee as adult. Apply workplace policies and procedures consistently & fairly.

3. Clarity about mission vision, values & goals should be imbibed to the employees & make them understand that they are a part of the organisation.The desired outcome of the company would be theirs too. Reward & recognize the employee who contributes to the value.

4. Provide opportunity for the employee who can express their opinion and can provide some inputs in policies and procedures.

A rumor circulating about an impending layoff, appraisal which is not in favor of the employee, negative feedbacks is some of the reasons which make the employee feel left out. These reasons should be sensitively treated and if possible anonymity should be assured. HR must be alert and treat the workplace negativity in priority basis, assuring the employee that the organization needs him and there is no way organization is against the employee!

HR Tip of the day!!

Highly engaged employees miss 20% fewer days of work.

Those employees who are highly engaged will have values fit with the organisation, their peers & the work which they are doing!!

HR Tip of the day!!

Understand your employee,or they leave you-not the Job!!

Communication as well as acknowledgement is very important,or else your employee feels neglected and it leads to frustration!! We all know hiring & training is expensive,so why to loose one potential employee ,if problems can be solved.

Is your Employee Happy?

How do we know if our employees are happy? Is it necessary to know if they are? Fortune 500 companies think that employee’s happiness is directly proportion to client’s happiness. Majority of problems are solved by treating employees well. Understanding what the employee wants & satisfying the employee, makes the business run 100 times better than a sad unhappy employee.

How do I know whether the employee is happy or not?

There are many indications which the employee gives. If not noticed and solved, the employee quits. Hiring & training leads to heavy costs to the company. Good communication from the HR to the employee and vice versa solves major problems. An employee who is unsatisfied will give loads of hints. His productivity will drop down, and he won’t be interested to regain his level, inspite of constant feedbacks & motivation. He will not socialize with peers & never contribute on his own. He may take frequent breaks & also reach office usually late. If asked the reason-he may come up with reasons like heavy traffic, car broke down, etc. Its logical-if he comes to the office late daily, he is giving interviews somewhere else!!

What to do if you find unhappy employees??

Organizational climate surveys are regularly conducted by large companies to assess the overall satisfaction of their employees. There should be a mix of quantitative questions — asking employees to rate their satisfaction on a five-point scale, for instance — should be mixed with open-ended questions to gain a mix of anecdotal and statistical information. Once the problem is known, either the immediate manager or the HR can solve it.

1. Maximum employees are not satisfied as they don’t recognize the importance of work personal life balance. Managers should encourage the employees to come to the office on time and leave the office on time. It is really important that employees get time at their home as well as with their friends. Making them stay for long everyday will definitely make employee not concentrate on their work and contribute to the success of the company.

2. Listen to them- Talking with the employees really help in knowing what they think about the work, environment in the office etc. If the employee is upset with something, he may be angry, aggressive. Just be calm and try to solve the problem. Work related as well as personal problems can be dealt in easy way.

3. Direction-Employee should know what they are doing and where it is leading to. Clarity to what the project is, how to do it, and the closure, helps employee to know where they stand. Acknowledge each time the employee comes up with some queries.Dont ignore! Involving them makes them feel that they are very much part of the company.

4. Praises- Everybody likes it. Acknowledge them and praise them whenever there is a good deed. Sometimes I feel employees are like small kids who need constant appreciation and recognition.

5. Bonus- Yep this is what the employee wants. But from company prospective, can’t be given to them each day. Check on the company policy and try giving a small bonus to the employees. It really motivates them. Food chain industry like McDonald has a very good motivation technique - A portrait with the picture which says “Employee of the month” in the restaurant .Customers appreciates seeing the picture and the employee is really happy.

6. Food all time, every time- Companies like Google, Facebook provide free food to their employees. A well fed employee works & contributes more than an employee who is not. Employees stays in the company without being worried about what where to eat.

7. Environment- Talk to the employee about the environment in the office. Sometimes the employee is not happy sitting with someone whom he doesn’t like. Sometimes the interior of the office does bother the employee. Make good & reasonable accommodation for the employee. This will make the employee feel special. Allow the employee keep the family pictures or personal achievement on their desk.

8. Open door- I feel this is important in each organization. Now days maximum companies follow this. Employee should have access to their managers as well as CEO. Employee feel that they are at ease and share if something goes wrong without hesitating. This benefits both the employer as well as employee.

9. Work timings – Be flexible, if the employee wants to leave early or come to the office late. There may be genuine problems at their personal front.

10. Casual days, Parties & Family events- Many firms allow their employees to wear anything on Friday’s. Personally I don’t like to wear professional clothing each day. Employees wait for Friday’s where they can be what they feel like. There should be lot of activity in the company like game competitions, parties, get-togethers and Family events. Employees feel good if their family comes and see where they work, what they do etc. Allow childcare facility, so that employees needn’t take tension about the pick & drop of kids. It’s not necessary that you need to arrange these events every month. Try arranging these events may be once in three months. A great place to work seems straightforward: make employees happy.

11. Open for suggestion- Be open for suggestions and feedbacks from the employee.  Send questioners & survey to the employees and assure anonymity. Talk about the problems they are facing and try resolving ASAP. If the problem is not solved to the earliest, employees feels cheated. If you feel that the resolution would take time, acknowledge and keep updating about the status. By doing this employees feel that their issues are taken up seriously and they feel a part of the company.