by admin | May 28, 2020 | Hot Topics, Human Resources, Workplace
The health of our businesses during these uncertain times may be called “sickly” but the health of your employees and your bottom line doesn’t have to be. While we know cigarettes are a danger to your health, we are just now learning the risks associated with vaping. This trendy new method of nicotine delivery may not only be affecting your employees who vape, but also those who don’t.
FACTS
Vaping is also known as e-cigarettes, e-cigs, and vape pens. The electronic cigarette was first developed in 2003 by a Chinese inventor, Han Lik. The way it works is the vape device heats up a cartridge of nicotine, flavorings, and other chemicals. Once heated, this mixture turns into an aerosol the user can inhale and then exhale a vapor. Since its introduction over 15 years ago, the use of e-cigs has grown exponentially as people believe that this device and vapors are a better alternative to smoking. While not more harmful than traditional cigarettes, using vape devices is definitely not “safe.”
HEALTH RISK
Because it is such a new product, experts are still learning how it affects users. Findings have shown that some of the chemicals that make up the cartridge used to deliver nicotine are linked to serious health issues and even cancer. Recently there’s been an uptick in the number of hospitalizations of young adults with lung disease as a result of vaping. It is also widely available to purchase extra-strength cartridges with double the amount of nicotine in a traditional cigarette. Users are easily addicted to this nicotine which leads to an increase in their use and an increase of long-term health issues.
VAPING IN THE WORKPLACE
As with any addiction, vaping use has spilled over into the workplace. Cigarette smokers usually cost their employer around $5, 800 a year. This is attributed to higher healthcare expenses and lower productivity of smokers due to frequent smoke breaks and greater absenteeism. Those who are non-smokers report that they believe that their own productivity is decreased when their co-workers are allowed to vape in their workspace. Not only that, but the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) says that there have been an increased number of those claiming to have odor and chemical sensitivities. This group of people may request coverage under the ADA and therefore the employer must make accommodations in the workplace to protect them and this cost goes against the business’ bottom line.
WRITING POLICY
The number one way to combat the issue of vaping in the workplace is to cover it under your current non-smoking policy. If your business does not have a written non-smoking policy, that should be your first action point to tackle. There are currently 13 states that have banned vaping in the workplace including California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, and Vermont. Banning smoking of any sort in the workplace is a good start. Also, a part of this policy should include the business’ means of supporting some sort of smoking cessation program. For example, the EX program (developed by the Truth Initiative and the Mayo Clinic) gives employers a way to virtually support not only those who are trying to kick the habit, but also incentivizing your workforce to never start smoking. Once you have written this non-smoking policy, introduce it to your employees and then give them a timeframe of 60-90 days to comply.
CONCLUSION
Vaping is definitely a danger for the workplace. Both the smokers and the non-smokers are affected by the vapor of chemicals that is emitted from the vaping device. The best way to protect both groups of people is to write a non-vaping policy into your current non-smoking policy. Not only does this benefit both groups, it will benefit your bottom line.
by admin | May 19, 2020 | Human Resources, Work From Home, Workplace
The traditional workplace of physical offices and desks has changed. The new normal we are all experiencing is the remote workplace. While some are adjusting to this change without any growing pains, some may find it difficult to transition. Follow these tips to help manage your time in this new space.
SET UP A PHYSICAL WORKSPACE
You don’t need to have a home office with a door and desk to have a workspace in your home. Grab a space at your kitchen table or a card table in a corner or even a lap desk on your couch. Make this dedicated workspace the place you do all your work. Doing so creates a familiar location where your brain knows you do your work.
SET A ROUTINE
Just as you had a routine for the normal work week, you need to set up a routine for your home-based work week. This can get tricky because the things that you would normally do to get ready for work like take a shower, get dressed in work attire, eat breakfast, and drive to work may not happen anymore. The folks at Entrepreneur said it best when they said, “Now when you wake up, you’re already at work.” You have to work at setting up a routine so you can accomplish your work goals from home. Set an alarm and wake up at a scheduled time. Set a time that you begin and end work. Take a lunch break. Make sure you schedule in some breaks throughout the day as well.
SET GOALS
Look at your work and set goals to have it finished. This may look like a list of prioritized tasks so you stay on schedule. Goals can be daily or weekly or task oriented. By setting these goals you set a schedule for yourself and you can follow this outline towards their completion. Goals also help you eliminate distractions like the TV being on, looking at your phone, or surfing social media by requiring you stay focused on work to achieve them.
SET UP CONNECTION TIME
A remote workplace does not mean an isolated life. Work to stay connected with your co-workers in creative ways. Have a parking lot happy hour in your cars or in camp chairs to reconnect with your office mates at socially distant lengths. Office Zoom calls allow you to see familiar faces all at once. When you stay emotionally connected with your co-workers, you create a culture of support in your office and that’s something we all need!
During this uncertain time in all of our lives, there are tools to help us. Keeping up with work tasks and staying connected to others helps provide the stability that we all crave in this moment. Make sure you keep these tools handy!
by admin | Mar 10, 2020 | Human Resources, Workplace
March Madness is upon us, and there is no avoiding it. Selection Sunday, when the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Committee announces which 68 teams made the 2020 tournament, is March 15th. Games begin with the First Four on March 17th and 18th and culminate with the Final Four April 4th and the 2020 NCAA championship game on April 6th.
While this annual event can impact productivity, employers may find that the positive effects it has on team engagement and camaraderie outweigh any negatives. Consider these facts from both sides of the coin:
- An estimated $1.9 billion is lost in workplace productivity during a typical March Madness tournament. (Challenger, Gray & Christmas)
- Employees will spend 25.5 minutes per workday on March Madness, for a total of 6 hours spread over the 15 workdays when games will be played. (OfficeTeam) This includes time spent by 76 percent of employees who admit to checking scores during work hours and 53 percent who watch or follow sporting events on their computers while at work. (Randstad)
- As much as $3 billion will be bet on workplace bracket pools during March Madness this year. (FordHarrison) About 40 percent of workers say they have participated in college basketball brackets in their offices, with an average of $22.44 contributed to the pools. (Randstad)
- Nearly 9 in 10 employees said participating in NCAA brackets at work helped build team camaraderie, and 73 percent said they look forward to going to work more when they are part of an office pool. (Randstad)
So how can an employer embrace the fun of March Madness while enforcing the rules it may push the limits of? Whether you view the tournament as a minor distraction that creates an opportunity to boost morale, or as a potential pitfall of legal liability, missed deadlines, and dissatisfied customers, the ball is in your court. Here are five ways to maximize the positive aspects of March Madness while minimizing disruptions.
- Have fun: Make it clear to your employees that you want them to enjoy work and March Madness while not letting the tournament put a full-court press on their work. Encourage employees to wear their favorite team’s clothing and/or decorate their workspace in their team’s colors.
- Watch together: Put televisions in break rooms so that employees have somewhere to watch the games other than the internet. That way, connectivity is not slowed and productivity lost even for those not participating in the Madness activities. Provide snacks for the viewers.
- Be careful with brackets: Organize a company-wide pool with no entry fee to avoid ethical or legal issues surrounding office gambling. Give away a company gift to the pool winner that is not cash. Keep the brackets posted and updated in the break room.
- Be flexible: Allow workers to arrive early so they can work a full shift and still leave in time to see big games that overlap the end of their shift. Conversely, allowing employees to delay their start time the morning after big games may help reduce absenteeism.
- Follow the rules: Review applicable company policies — such as gambling, use of personal electronics and company computers, and work and break hours—with your employees before engaging in any March Madness activities at work, so it will be clear to all what is considered acceptable.
Determine how March Madness fits with your business culture and customer deliverables. If employees are getting their work done, customers are happy, and the biggest problems are reduced internet bandwidth or a little more noise in the cubicles or lunchroom for a couple of days, it’s nothing but net. (See what we did there?) Decide how you’ll be playing this before the opening tipoff and the Madness begins!
By Rachel Sobel
Originally posted on thinkhr.com
by admin | Feb 25, 2020 | Human Resources, Workplace
In 2020, many people with disabilities use the emotional and physical support provided by a service animal. This means that the workplace has seen an increase of these service animals over the last decade and therefore the workforce needs to be educated on this changing environment. Let’s take a look at what constitutes a service animal and the accommodation of such in the workplace.
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides a framework of protections for people with disabilities in the workplace. Title I of the ADA prohibits employers from discriminating against potential candidates and employees with disabilities. In fact, Title I outlines that the workplace must make “reasonable accommodations” for this specific group of people. “Examples of reasonable accommodations include making existing facilities accessible; job restructuring; part-time or modified work schedules; acquiring or modifying equipment; changing tests, training materials, or policies; and providing qualified readers or interpreters.”
“Service Animals” Definition
According to the Department of Justice’s revised Title III of the ADA, a service animal is now defined under Title III as “any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual or other mental disability. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not service animals for the purposes of this definition. The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the individual’s disability.” Currently, a “service animal” can also include another species of helper: a trained miniature horse. Of course, there are limitations to what a workplace can accommodate in terms of miniature horses and the employer would make those limitations known if approached with the need of a person with a horse as their assistant.
Accommodation Requests & Documentation
When an accommodation is requested on behalf of a disabled candidate or employee, the employer must consider the request. However, the employer is simply required to assess and suggest options for the reasonable accommodation for the employee. Some examples of job accommodations may include installing a ramp or modifying the layout of a workstation. Technology accommodations may be providing sign language interpreters at events or providing screen reader software. The ADA does not specifically address or require the inclusion of service animals in the workplace. So, if the employer has a no-animals-in-the-workplace policy and is asked to allow a service animal for an employee, the employer must consider modifying this policy but is not required to modify it. A “reasonable accommodation” for an employee does not always equal their “preferred accommodation.”
As for documentation for service animals in the workplace, the ADA does allow for an employer to request medical documentation for the need for the disabled person to need this accommodation. It also allows for the employer to request proof from the employee that the service animal is appropriately trained to assist them and that it is trained to not disrupt the workplace under normal conditions. It is worth noting that an “emotional support animal” is NOT classified as a “service animal” by the ADA unless it can perform a specific task, such as sense when an anxiety attack is about to happen in the case of someone with PTSD and the animal helps avoid or lesson that attack.
Conclusion
Every workplace should have written policies on reasonable accommodations for disabled employees. Of course, there is no way to include all possibilities and so the policies can include the language of consideration of requests on a case-by-case basis. The key to this policy is that those who are in charge of assessing accommodation requests must be willing to truly consider the accommodation of service animals.
Resources
Need help? Check out these resources on workplace accommodations for those with disabilities:
Office of Disability Employment Policy
FAQ about Service Animals and the ADA
Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion
Job Accommodation Network
by admin | Aug 27, 2019 | Human Resources, Workplace
How much job training equates to time wasted: About 20%, according to one LinkedIn study. That’s the percentage of learners who never apply their training to their job. That same study says 67% of learners apply the lessons learned, but in the end, revert to previous habits. Another study found 45% of training content is never applied.
For HR professionals designing or monitoring the Return on Investment of training programs, those are disturbing statistics, especially when you consider the decrease in productivity this causes and the cost of wasted money.
So, how do you mitigate or address the issue?
Learning Metrics
Gone is the day leaders make learning strategy decisions via gut and intuition. Arrived is the day leaders look at learning data and statistics to make decisions and provide evidence for an action.
There was a time when the only metrics requested from learning and development officials were the number of people taking part in the training and the cost involved. In other words: basic effectiveness and efficiency.
As with everything, however, learning and development has evolved. It’s now a business critical change agent. It’s not enough, though, to measure inputs, the number of courses, and attendance. Learning and development must look at the output and outcomes.
“We’re in the process of trying to become a learning organization, and to become a learning organization you have to be nimble. You have to have a culture of leaders as teachers. You have to have a culture of recognizing those things that contribute, and actually those things what lead to success,” Brad Samargya said. Samargya is the Chief Learning Officer for mobile phone maker Ericsson.
All of the descriptions Samargya is using refer back to the content, specifically how it is delivered and is it of substance. When both pieces are in concert, HR professionals should see an increase in quality around the metrics gathered.
Delivery
First, let’s focus on delivery.
Samantha Hammock is the Chief Learning Officer for American Express. Her company employs a learning management system as part of their learning process. Hammock says measurement is the company’s biggest need.
“If we’re going to mandate training, we had better be robust in tracking and reporting. Is the experience getting better, is the knowledge increasing. We have put it thru workforce analytics to slice and dice some of those metrics,” Hammock said.
Of course, learning management systems are not the only way to deliver learning. Mobile learning for instance, makes content available on smartphones, tablets, and other devices. Not only is the content accessible anywhere, but anytime. Video learning is similar in that the content is available in the ever-popular YouTube format. Gamification, or education by gaming, again delivers learning in a form much for attractive than your regular classroom format, and micro-learning, or the strategy of delivering learning content over a short amount of time.
None of those work without one specific ingredient, however: the content. Providing relevant content is key to a good learning strategy, good metrics, and to ensure your learners are engaged and continue to come back for more.
The modern employee is distracted, overwhelmed and has little time to spare. Catering content to their needs is not only important – it’s critical.
The content presented to employees must be applicable and timely to help them with their daily duties, expand their mind, and provide them with quick takeaways that can immediately be applied.
Metrics to Watch
There are a handful of metrics derived for HR professionals to analyze.
- Completion rates – This metric is important because it indicates the level of learner engagement, motivation and participation. Low completion rates indicate employees aren’t investing in the material or how it relates to their jobs. High completion rates show employees are invested.
- Performance and Progress – This particular metric is split into two categories: the individual and the group. For the individual, metrics will give you a detailed look at how the employee is doing with the learning. For the group, the metric will include the details around specific trends. For instance, how the group is progressing through the material. Both individual metrics and group metrics allow for the tracking of course effectiveness and engagement.
- Satisfaction and approval – This metric gives HR professionals some indication of how the employee or employees feel about the content. The is a powerful metric because it allows HR or learning managers to adjust current content or, if need be, create better content based on the needs of the employee.
- Instructor and manager ratings – This metric may not always be applicable as, in some cases, material is not presented by an instructor or manager but through a technology interface of some sort. If that is not the case, this will indicate how learners feel about the instructor or manager. It can also be directly linked to the reason an employee or group of employees are not learning at the level expected.
- Competency and proficiency – Competency and proficiency metrics show HR professionals if employees have the knowledge and skills to achieve a desired outcome. If not, this metric allows for learning managers to adjust the material accordingly. It also allows from some insight into an employee or group’s currently proficiency.
In summation
The challenges facing HR professionals when using analytics to transform the learning and development program are connected. Before companies can actually engage with the transformation, data has to be present. Whether it is realized or not, companies do have learning data available. What may not exist is the ability to evaluate that data.
Data provides invaluable insight into the future learning opportunities of a company’s workforce. Now, more than ever before, HR professionals have a real opportunity to do what all leaders and C-suite members want to do: predict the future. By leveraging and understanding the data generated by learning programs, HR professionals can better evaluate the content and their effectiveness. It can lead to better outcomes both developmentally for the employee and financially for the employer.
By Mason Stevenson
Originally posted on hrexchangenetwork.com
by admin | Dec 11, 2018 | Human Resources, Workplace
As the holiday season approaches, the economy is humming along, unemployment is low, and companies are enjoying the fruits of corporate tax breaks. Time to celebrate? Not so fast, according to the 2018 Holiday Party Survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The survey found that just 65 percent of companies are holding holiday festivities this year, the lowest rate since the 2009 recession.
While in 2009, holiday parties were skipped for financial reasons, the 2018 causes are more complex. Andrew Challenger, VP of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, speculates that the two biggest factors are #MeToo and an increase in the number of remote employees.
If your company is among those celebrating the holiday season this year, what can you do to avoid liability from sexual harassment, alcohol consumption, and other categories of risk?
Risk: Harassment Allegations
- Communicate behavior expectations to employees ahead of time. Consider using this language to set standards of conduct. You may even choose to redistribute your sexual harassment policy. Be sure to emphasize that all employee policies apply at the party, even if it is off-site or after work hours. Racial or sexual jokes, inappropriate gag gifts, gossiping about office relationships, and unwelcome touching will not be permitted during the holiday party, just as they are not allowed in the office.
- Do not allow employees to get away with bad behavior. Remind your supervisors to set a good example and keep an eye out for employee behavior that needs managing at the event.
- Follow up immediately on allegations of inappropriate behavior and conduct a thorough investigation of the facts, even if the alleged victim does not file a complaint and you only hear about the behavior through the grapevine. If corrective action is warranted, apply it promptly.
- Invite significant others or families. Employee behavior tends to improve at company events when spouses or partners and children are present. If your budget allows, include the entire family in the celebration. Be sure to review your liability coverage with your broker first.
- Avoid incidents related to relaxed inhibitions by following the tips for reducing alcohol-related risks (see below).
Risk: Alcohol-Related Incidents
- Take steps to limit alcohol consumption. If alcohol will be served, provide plenty of food rich in carbohydrates and protein to slow the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream. You can also have a cash bar, limit the number of drink tickets, or close the bar early to deter over-consumption. Also have a good selection of nonalcoholic beverages or a tasty signature “mocktail” available. Make sure water glasses are refilled frequently.
- Get bartenders on board. If you have underage workers or invite children of employees, be sure that servers ask for ID from anyone who looks under age 30. Ask servers to cut off anyone who appears to be intoxicated.
- Make sure employees get home safely. Offer incentives to employees who volunteer to be designated drivers, offer to pay for ride shares or taxis, or arrange group transportation or accommodations. Planning for safe transportation can potentially minimize your liability if an employee causes an accident while driving under the influence.
- Do not serve alcohol if your party is at the office and your policies do not permit drinking on company premises or during work hours. Deter employees from an informal after-party at a bar or restaurant where the alcohol could flow.
Risk: Workers’ Compensation Claims
- Keep the party voluntary and social. Typically, workers’ compensation does not apply if the injury is “incurred in the pursuit of an activity, the major purpose of which is social or recreational.” If the carrier determines that the company party was truly voluntary and not related to work, you may not be liable for injuries sustained at the party.
- Go offsite. Hosting your holiday party at an offsite location is a smart idea. Your employees will be thankful for the change in setting, and this could reduce insurance liabilities for your company, especially when it comes to third-party alcohol and injury policies.
- Check with your broker before the party. Review your insurance policies and party plans to make sure you do everything you can to avoid risk and know how to handle any incidents that result from the party.
Risk: Perceptions of Unfairness
- Determine how to handle pay issues in advance of the party. You’re not required to pay employees who voluntarily attend a party after hours. However, nonexempt employees need to be compensated if they are working the party or if attendance is mandatory. If the party is held during regular work hours, then all employees must be paid for attending the party.
- Decide in advance whether and how to include remote employees, independent contractors, temporary employees, or agency workers. Be consistent in sending invitations, and if a category of workers will not be invited to the party, consider other ways to reward them for their hard work throughout the year, such as gifts.
- Do not penalize employees who choose not to attend. The message may be misinterpreted and could create employee relations concerns. Be considerate of those who do not attend the event due to religious beliefs, sobriety, mental health issues, family obligations, child care conflicts, or any other reasons. Avoid religious symbols or themes as they could offend individuals of different faiths.
by Rachel Sobel
Originally posted on ThinkHR.com
