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Productivity / Performance

Setting performance goals: Easy as A, B, C

05/08/2012
For each employee’s performance expectations, set A, B and C goals, suggests the SmartBlog on Leadershop. “C” goals are Comfortable; “B” goals are Believable; “A” goals are Awesome.

Before approving discipline, check last review

05/07/2012
When a supervisor recommends discipline or anything else that could be viewed as an adverse employment action, be sure to check the employee’s latest evaluation before you approve it. If what the boss says is currently going on appears inconsistent with the evaluation, find out why.

Focus on poor performance when terminating

05/01/2012

Sometimes, it’s obvious that an employee will not work out. If that employee belongs to a protected class, you may be tempted to treat her with kid gloves. Don’t. Instead, keep the focus on performance deficiencies.

Job descriptions are works in progress … Stay on top of them!

04/30/2012
There’s a good chance that what your employees actually do every day has little in common with what’s written in their job descriptions. That’s a problem. Inaccurate or in­­complete job descriptions can cause legal liability for ­­employers, especially if the EEOC or the DOL comes calling.

Beat bias lawsuits with cold, hard facts

04/16/2012
Employers that are prepared to offer cold, hard facts to de­­fend their decisions—even those that may look suspicious at first glance—rarely lose lawsuits. The more objective the business reasons you have for personnel decisions, the better off you are.

Employee concedes shortcomings? Document it!

04/09/2012

Employees who lose their jobs have an incentive to sue—and they’ll often look for evidence of discrimination to form the basis of their lawsuits. But to win in court, employees have to show they were meeting their employer’s legitimate expectations. That’s hard to do if the employer can show the employee admitted her shortcomings.

Promoted? Judge performance in new job, not old

04/09/2012
Once in a while, promotions just don’t work out. Someone who was great at one job might bomb at another. That’s especially true if the new job involves different skills and talents. Don’t let past performance make you hesitate to discipline.

Employee performance not up to snuff? You must communicate your concerns

04/09/2012
Employers have an obligation to make sure employees know what kind of performance is expected of them. Under no circumstances should you wait until you’re ready to discharge the employee to put criticism in writing. That creates the suspicion that you came up with reasons as a cover for illegal discrimination.

Detailed disciplinary records show you’re not biased

04/02/2012
Employers that keep detailed disciplinary records showing exactly why an employee was disciplined are much more likely to win lawsuits. That makes it harder for an employee to argue he was singled out for unfair, discriminatory punishment.

Beware sudden criticism after FMLA request

04/02/2012
Here’s something to watch out for when approving a supervisor’s recommendation to discipline or discharge an employee. If the employee has requested FMLA leave and was previously performing well, be suspicious of claims she’s now performing poorly.