Productivity / Performance

Let the sun shine in—or you could wind up facing ADA liability

12/01/2009

The ADA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to enable employees to perform the essential functions of their jobs. While the types of reasonable accommodations required can vary greatly depending on the employee’s medical condition and the particular job, it was not until recently that a court found that permitting an employee to work in natural light might be a reasonable accommodation.

How to set challenging but realistic goals for employees

11/30/2009

Goals are the heart of any pay-for-performance system. They set the standard against which employees’ progress is measured—and on which bonuses and raises are based. But goal setting can be a tightrope act. To establish goals that improve organizational performance, ask these eight questions, developed by the Harvard Business School:

OK to label attendance an essential function

11/24/2009

It seems logical—employees who can’t come to work won’t be able to perform the essential functions of their jobs. It may be possible to accommodate some disabled employees by letting them work from home, but that’s not true of most jobs.

When promotions are on the line, follow your criteria and beware supervisor bias

11/13/2009

When promotion processes bypass qualified candidates, discrimination lawsuits are almost sure to follow. That’s because employees can easily poke holes in complex candidate-ranking systems, and supervisor bias emerges when promotions are on the line. If you have set criteria for promotions, make sure you follow your own rules.

Attitude, absence & foul language: 3 scripts for those conversations you’d rather not have

11/10/2009

Paul Falcone, author of 101 Tough Conversations to Have with Employees, offers these scripts to follow when you need to have awkward but essential conversations with employees. Here’s what managers should say after they’ve said, “Hey, got a minute?”

Checklist: How to set challenging but realistic goals for employees

11/04/2009

Goal setting can be a tightrope act for supervisors. Set the bar too low and you end up with an unmotivated, unproductive employee. Set it too high and you’ll create frustration and the possibility the person will do something unethical to achieve the goal. To make sure you’re setting goals correctly for employees, ask yourself these eight questions:

Manager’s guide: 8 tips for setting realistic goals for employees

11/03/2009

Keep memos, other documents leading up to discipline

11/02/2009

You never know which employee is going to be the one who will sue over discipline. But one thing is certain: When she does, you’ll need every bit of documentary evidence you can find to justify your decision.

Use encouraging, fair—and honest—appraisals when coaching newly promoted employees

10/29/2009

Not every employee who earns a promotion will be successful at the new job. While you certainly want to do everything possible to allow the employee to thrive in the new assignment, you’ve also got to be practical. When you conduct those initial performance reviews, consider the possibility that the employee will ultimately fail. Here’s how to encourage success, but plan for potential failure:

‘Get real’ with performance reviews; make sure managers don’t fluff them up

10/27/2009

Your supervisors have probably heard the horror stories of how negative performance reviews have sparked lawsuits from disgruntled employees. That could cause some supervisors to shy away from criticism and give excessively positive reviews to even their poorest-performing workers. The better thing to do is to urge your supervisors to “get real” with reviews.