April 20, 2011

Edited and Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Published by Success Performance Solutions.

What's Inside this issue of The Total View:

1. Social Media Policy:  Are You Tripping Over Legal Potholes?

2. Workforce Trends

3. Applicant Processing

4. What Motivates Employees

5. Annual Performance Reviews Simplified!

6. CandidClues Assessment

Social Media Policy:  Are You Tripping Over Legal Potholes?

When it comes to developing social media policy, the best advice might be to tread lightly if you choose to carry a big stick.  Because no matter how air-tight you might want your social media policy to be, your employees and customers have rights that protect their opinions and worldviews.  That means that while policy development seems straightforward, it is really a catch-22.  With too lax or no policy, it's difficult to hold employees accountable. With too strict a policy, you might find yourself violating both state and federal laws.

One such protection includes off-duty conduct, which prohibits employers from disciplining or firing employees for activities they pursue during non-work hours. In other words that picture on Facebook of your employee wearing a racy tee-shirt and holding a beer isn't grounds for termination.  As long as the employee isn't breaking the law, your employee has the right to blog, tweet, and post photos you might not like.  Before you write those policies, be mindful of "tripping over legal potholes."

There are also protections in place that protect an employee from discrimination on the basis of his or her political views or affiliation.  These laws would protect an employee from disciplinary action or termination if he endorsed a political candidate or openly expressed her religious views.  For instance, Facebook allows users to post their political and religious affiliations in their personal bios.  If the employee makes an effort to protect his privacy and doesn't friend you, learning about his personal views through word-of-mouth is nothing but hearsay. And peering over another employee's shoulder to see what Mary and John are posting on their personal profiles may be illegal.

In the viral world in which we live, it is not such a farfetched idea to think that a single blog post could ignite a worldwide scandal.  But in an effort to protect company secrets, it is important that management doesn't get overzealous and "shoots the messenger." Employees who air dirty laundry about their company's activities might be protected under whistle-blower laws.  The same goes for complaints about workplace discrimination, harassment, violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act, and wage and hour violations.

"The intersection of social media and the office is a potential minefield," says Philip L. Gordon in a recent Wall Street Journal article.  Gordon, the Denver-based chairman of the privacy and data-protection practice group at law firm Littler Mendelson PC, advises that even when a company prevails in such legal actions, "there are reputational risks."

Workforce Trends

In 2000 the U.S. had roughly the same number of children and non-working adults. Since then, the population of non-working adults has grown 27 million while the nation added just 3 million children under 18.

For more  workforce and hiring trends, visit Perfect Labor Storm website and Perfect Labor Storm blog.

Applicant Processing Made Easy

Wouldn't it be nice if selecting the right candidate was this easy?

What Motivates Employees

Business values and motivators determine the "why" of human behavior.  
 

For managers, Business Values and Motivators answers the nagging question - How can I motivate my employees?  
 

For employees and individuals looking to re-energize their careers, the Business Values and Motivators report helps them understand what they value most.  As people, we tend to value certain viewpoints positively and judge others negatively.   How we value or judge determines our motivations and provide us with our sources of energy or conflicts and stress in our personal and professional lives.
 

What are Business Motivators? Read more.

Annual Performance Reviews Simplified!

Save time, increase productivity, and eliminate hassles when administering employee performance reviews with SimpleEvals.

Ask any manager what he or she hates most about the job and you'll often hear "performance reviews."   That's why we've created SimpleEvals.

We recognized a huge gap in the performance evaluation market between paper forms and online performance management. 

SimpleEvals is a user-friendly, centralized online solution to streamline and improve the annual, semi-annual or periodic review for small to medium sized organizations. It's convenient and very affordable too.  Our goal was simple: to help take the hassle out of getting managers to complete performance appraisal forms and giving employees more frequent feedback. 

The system comes with a library of competencies, an easy to use form creator, at-a-glance dashboards and reports, and a built-in reminder system to help HR track down managers when reviews are due....or past due!

More about SimpleEvals or Email us to schedule a FREE demo. 

CandidClues™

The cost effective solution to curb absenteeism and employee theft 

There is wide-spread concern about the honesty and integrity of employees. Most organizations have serious problems of pilferage, absenteeism, tardiness, employee disagreements that lead to violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and computer misuse. The annual loss from these counterproductive behaviors is estimated in the billions of dollars. There was a clear need for a brief assessment that could be used as part of the pre-employment screening process. CandidClues™ was developed to meet that need.

CandidClues™ assesses six areas of potentially counterproductive behaviors by a self-descriptive inventory that taps six substantive areas of concern as well a Good Impression (validity) scale.

• Hostility
• Conscientiousness
• Integrity
• Substance Abuse
• Sexual Harassment
• Computer Misuse