The Supreme Court ruled Monday in favor of the white fire fighters who claimed their New Haven, Conn. Fire Department discriminated against them while trying to avoid a possible lawsuit from African-Americans.
When the promotion exams were given and the results tabulated, it was determined by the Department that the test resulted in a “disparate impact”, and should be tossed out. Disparate impact is the term for (often inadvertent) unfair results of some action: for instance if a business is laying off all their highest paid employees, that action may have a disparate impact on older workers.
Since so few people of color passed the test, it was felt that the test was somehow discriminatory, and left the Department vulnerable to a discrimination claim.
Low & behold, by tossing out the results, the Department set itself up for a claim, but filed by the white Firefighters who had passed the test. I can hear the department scream: “Damned if we do, damned if we don’t!”
In a 5-4 decision, the Justices decided that "Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions."
In the dissenting opinion, Justice Ginsburg said the court should have assessed "the starkly disparate results" of the exams against the backdrop of historical and ongoing inequality in the New Haven fire department. As of 2003, she said, only one of the city's 21 fire captains was African-American.
Until this decision, Ginsburg said, the civil rights law's prohibitions on intentional discrimination and disparate impact were complementary, both aimed at ending workplace discrimination.
"Today's decision sets these paired directives at odds," she said.
In a year when we expect to see legislation that looks out for the underdog and places workers rights ahead of those of the employer, it seems we can expect some interesting judicial decisions, too.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
How to Fire Someone
There are many laws that govern acceptable reasons to fire an employee: even in California, where "at-will" employment means you don't need a cause. Laws aside, there is one rule you should live by when contemplating the termination of an employee. Ask yourself: WILL THEY BE SURPRISED?
My first one was -- and all I could think was "shame on me". I hadn't done my job. She really was honestly surprised. (Many will react as if they are. But they know.)
That's it: just make sure they are not surprised. They know what is expected; they said they could do it; they aren't doing it; they have all the tools they need to do it; they have been trained and warned of the consequences.
Surprise – I am doing what I said I would do if you didn’t meet the standards!
My first one was -- and all I could think was "shame on me". I hadn't done my job. She really was honestly surprised. (Many will react as if they are. But they know.)
That's it: just make sure they are not surprised. They know what is expected; they said they could do it; they aren't doing it; they have all the tools they need to do it; they have been trained and warned of the consequences.
Surprise – I am doing what I said I would do if you didn’t meet the standards!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Interviewed in this month's HR Magazine (published by SHRM, the national HR organization), GE's former CEO Jack Welch has praised human resources professionals. OK, so he knew his audience. He said we HR pros should be ashamed (my word) if we don't have a seat at the table, as a true partner in the strategic planning and execution of the business. Natually, I agree. And it is exepcially important right now, for two main reasons: employee hiring and separations.
How is your business handling lay-offs? Please tell me it is not about seniority. It should be all about productivity, what tasks you can merge into another position, and whatever needs to happen to keep the business alive. Using seniority as a criteria can get you into trouble because you may inadvertently terminate only employee over age 40 -- ageism. Charges to the EEOC of ageism are rapidly rising this year.
Productivity is a valid criteria for sure. But did the employee you can live without get a good performance evaluation in the last year? Here is a serious pitfall. Does the employee have proof you think they are a valuable employee or is there documentation about the employee's need to improve?
Right now isd the time to be planning for the economy's upswing and how/who you will be hiring. How many will you need, what will be the indicator, and in which departments? How long will it take you to find them. Just as a baseball team always has a bench, you should always have some resumes of promising candidates on hand.
So, HR professionals: grab a place at the table and let everyone know you are looking out for the best interests of the business by putting effective processes in place at both ends of the employment life-cycle.
How is your business handling lay-offs? Please tell me it is not about seniority. It should be all about productivity, what tasks you can merge into another position, and whatever needs to happen to keep the business alive. Using seniority as a criteria can get you into trouble because you may inadvertently terminate only employee over age 40 -- ageism. Charges to the EEOC of ageism are rapidly rising this year.
Productivity is a valid criteria for sure. But did the employee you can live without get a good performance evaluation in the last year? Here is a serious pitfall. Does the employee have proof you think they are a valuable employee or is there documentation about the employee's need to improve?
Right now isd the time to be planning for the economy's upswing and how/who you will be hiring. How many will you need, what will be the indicator, and in which departments? How long will it take you to find them. Just as a baseball team always has a bench, you should always have some resumes of promising candidates on hand.
So, HR professionals: grab a place at the table and let everyone know you are looking out for the best interests of the business by putting effective processes in place at both ends of the employment life-cycle.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Communication is Key
One of our culture’s most popular clichés is “timing is everything”. Just ask a realtor as they wait in the unemployment line. Well, we business and HR professionals tend to believe that timing is very important – but COMMUNICATION IS EVERYTHING.
Employees spend over 75% of their time in an interpersonal situation: with clients, customers, co-workers, the boss, the public; verbally, written, email -- it is all about the communication. And speaking of email, does the irony strike anyone else that all this blogging, “twittering,” and “linking” is called social networking? The new definition of social apparently does not include personal interaction. At least not face-to-face. By now, your employees may be spending 80% of that interpersonal 75%, networking socially.
If, as studies show, employees don’t quit the company they work for so much as they “quit” their immediate supervisor, then every supervisor had better be an expert communicator.
Why is this an issue now that an employer can have his or her pick from a multitude of eager applicants? Because you still want the best people you can find. Once you get them in the door you had better communicate well or they’ll keep looking.
If an employee is not doing what’s expected of him or her, it is likely for one or more of the following reasons. Notice how many are communication-based:
• They don’t know why they should do it
• They don’t know how to do it
• They don’t know what they are supposed to do
• They think your way will not work
• They think their way is better
• They think something else is more important
• They think they are doing it
• They are punished for doing it
• They are rewarded for not doing it.
• It is beyond their personal limits
• No one could do it
So it is clear that a good supervisor communicates expectations and rationale and is consistent when working with their employees. It involves a lot more than being good at giving orders, however. Eisenhower once defined “leadership” as (I paraphrase) the ability to get others to do what you want because they want to. He was good at giving orders, but it took something more to make him a good leader.
We all know how important listening is. It is probably the most important – and hardest part – of communicating. You can take classes in “Active Listening” but what I am talking about goes beyond merely understanding the message – it is understanding the messenger. Is your manager a detail person or do they leave the details to you and provide you with the broad picture? Is your employee the kind that likes a lot of direction or very little? These different types of personalities, thinkers and producers, are all communicating that information to you, and they hear better when you match their style.
Feedback is also huge. One of a manager’s most important skills is to give specific, individualized feedback to their employees. But listen to these 2 different approaches and tell me which is the more effective:
“Well, congratulations! You’re on time for a change!” Or
“Thanks for making it in on time today. I knew you could do it.”
Sounds obvious, but the first one is used all too often. Not sure if any personality style would respond to that back-handed complement, either.
In order to attract and retain the best employees businesses must hire supervisors who can set expectations, listen, coach, and communicate them to each “style” of employee. You don’t want your employees quitting because your supervisors don’t understand that communication is everything.
Employees spend over 75% of their time in an interpersonal situation: with clients, customers, co-workers, the boss, the public; verbally, written, email -- it is all about the communication. And speaking of email, does the irony strike anyone else that all this blogging, “twittering,” and “linking” is called social networking? The new definition of social apparently does not include personal interaction. At least not face-to-face. By now, your employees may be spending 80% of that interpersonal 75%, networking socially.
If, as studies show, employees don’t quit the company they work for so much as they “quit” their immediate supervisor, then every supervisor had better be an expert communicator.
Why is this an issue now that an employer can have his or her pick from a multitude of eager applicants? Because you still want the best people you can find. Once you get them in the door you had better communicate well or they’ll keep looking.
If an employee is not doing what’s expected of him or her, it is likely for one or more of the following reasons. Notice how many are communication-based:
• They don’t know why they should do it
• They don’t know how to do it
• They don’t know what they are supposed to do
• They think your way will not work
• They think their way is better
• They think something else is more important
• They think they are doing it
• They are punished for doing it
• They are rewarded for not doing it.
• It is beyond their personal limits
• No one could do it
So it is clear that a good supervisor communicates expectations and rationale and is consistent when working with their employees. It involves a lot more than being good at giving orders, however. Eisenhower once defined “leadership” as (I paraphrase) the ability to get others to do what you want because they want to. He was good at giving orders, but it took something more to make him a good leader.
We all know how important listening is. It is probably the most important – and hardest part – of communicating. You can take classes in “Active Listening” but what I am talking about goes beyond merely understanding the message – it is understanding the messenger. Is your manager a detail person or do they leave the details to you and provide you with the broad picture? Is your employee the kind that likes a lot of direction or very little? These different types of personalities, thinkers and producers, are all communicating that information to you, and they hear better when you match their style.
Feedback is also huge. One of a manager’s most important skills is to give specific, individualized feedback to their employees. But listen to these 2 different approaches and tell me which is the more effective:
“Well, congratulations! You’re on time for a change!” Or
“Thanks for making it in on time today. I knew you could do it.”
Sounds obvious, but the first one is used all too often. Not sure if any personality style would respond to that back-handed complement, either.
In order to attract and retain the best employees businesses must hire supervisors who can set expectations, listen, coach, and communicate them to each “style” of employee. You don’t want your employees quitting because your supervisors don’t understand that communication is everything.
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