Human Resources 101

What can we do to make performance reviews more productive and less distasteful? Should their objectives be scaled back to just one or two? Should they be disengaged from the determination of compensation and, if so, how?
What’s to Be Done About Performance Reviews? — HBS Working Knowledge

He’s been doing the job for centuries. He handles an ever increasing demand for his services. The time window for delivering his product is the smallest you could imagine. Yet he consistently meets the expectations of clients, with only those on the naughty list less than happy with his performance.
How do you review someone who so […]

Human Resources and Social Development Canada has put together a set of guidelines to applying progressive discipline in the workplace. While designed to assist federally regulated workplaces, there is lots of helpful information for any employer in Canada.
Click to download: Progressive Discipline Guidelines (pdf - 389 KB)

Do you have concerns with an employee’s work performance?
Here […]

A study looks at how the organization’s culture contributes to or causes employee burnout.
Lack of respect from the organization — rather than job demands or personality — is responsible for employees leaving their organizations, according to a new study from a Wharton management professor.
Human Resource Executive Online - Fueling Employee Burnout

Hence workers pulling into the company’s amenity-packed headquarters at 2 p.m. aren’t considered late. Nor are those pulling out at 2 p.m. seen as leaving early. There are no schedules. No mandatory meetings. No impression-management hustles. Work is no longer a place where you go, but something you do. It’s O.K. to take conference calls […]

Rather than using broad organizational metrics to measure employee productivity, Saheli Datta suggests measuring it employee by employee using these six rules.

1. ASK YOUR EMPLOYEES.
2. MAKE IT MULTIDIMENSIONAL.
3. INCLUDE AN OBJECTIVE MEASUREMENT.
4. INCLUDE A SUBJECTIVE MEASUREMENT.
5. DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL.
6. NO WORKER IS AN ISLAND.

Read the article: 6 ways to measure worker productivity - […]

What do you do when you have to review someone whom you haven’t supervised for more than perhaps a few months? Obviously, we encourage you to go to our previous casts on reviews, which are some of the most popular on Manager Tools. They do a great job of laying out in excruciating detail exactly […]

You worked all year. You know it. Your coworkers know it. Your manager might not. This is where you’re going to remind ‘em of your value to the company.

Make a list of specific things you’ve done.
Use numbers.
Don’t forget about weaknesses.
Have at least one “above and beyond” story.
Don’t forget the things your manager doesn’t know about.
Increase […]

When it comes to motivating workers to provide great service, which works better: the carrot or the stick?
The restaurant business, which depends on service more heavily than most other industries, offers a glimpse into how companies juggle rewards and reprimands to motivate employees.

Positive Approach
Measuring Performance
Inherent Skills

Read at WSJ.com StartupJournal | Hiring and Retention

Perhaps a more important issue is the objective of the review itself. Is it to weed out poor performers? To recognize the so-called A players? To provide the basis for compensation decisions? To provide clues to future opportunity within the organization? To map out an individual plan for personal development? All of these? Too often […]