you’re fired

America’s Return to Financial Greatness-some straight talk

June 15, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Ford Motor company in the early 80’s came up with the slogan “Quality is job one.” This statement really evolved out of its production manual called total quality management. It was implemented to combat the foreign car invasion of America as American’s were increasingly put off by the poor quality and highly plasticized cars coming out of Detroit in that time period.

In my last article, I reviewed Stanley C. Allyns extraordinary booklet about his life in Dayton and work career at NCR, rising to be president and CEO. In his booklet, Allyn gave his 4 big jobs for management teams. I would like to look at point number three: Earn the enthusiastic support of all employees. Sounds good right, but the problem is that many companies today have fallen victim to employing Temporaries, Contractors, Casual Hires, and Short term hires, and then expecting that they are gong to get the same attention to quality as the company would receive from an employee. This is pure fantasy!

Let me define each of the categories: Temporary (or temp) a person who comes in to substitute for a permanent employee. These people usually work 8-12 weeks, but some times as much as 6 months. Usually they do grunt work (although many these days are highly skilled and impressively experienced). A casual hire is much like a temp except he or she works directly for the company. A casual hire is not offered benefits or company perks and usually does routine work. Sometimes retirees fill out their income as casual hires. A short term employee does not usually know that they are what they are. These people are fully benefited and work for the company, but the company management knows that they are hired to work a certain project and then layed off or terminated. Sometimes working conditions become so bad that they leave of their own accord (and this is fine with the company). Contractor’s either can work for themselves or a contracting company (you will find Contractors in engineering and accounting very often).

The problem with this group is that they probably are being under paid and looking for the minimum they can do and then go home. The second is that these people are looking for another, better full time gig. If they figure out that this greener pasture is not with your firm, then you only have this employee’s partial attention, and they might leave at ANY time, some times not giving any or little notice. Some temporary agencies, try to tell temps that this job is “temp to perm” but experienced temps know that this is generally “the agency sales pitch to do a good jab and maybe you will get hired (but is rarely true).” Finally some companies still in down sizing mode (or their ridiculous term “right sizing”) even encourage employees to search on monster job or some related site! You will never have what Mr. Allyn states as point three: earn the enthusiastic support of all employees!

If in your small business, quality is job one, then you can not populate your work force with Temps, Casual Hires, Contractors, and short term hires. What you need from your employees is that they do everything that is both explicit and intrinsic to “doing a good job!” Your small business needs people who want to work for your success (and their own).

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Under the Gun: You’ve been written up twice or been told-you’re next-what do you do?

May 19, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

It is truly something that most of us do not want to think about; “you’re not cutting it here and we are giving you fair warning.” I know three people that were in this situation in the last few years, and I was in this situation early in my career. What do you do?

Case one) a professor has been told that his contract will not be renewed. This person has taught at the same place for very many years and is just three years from retirement. A new chairperson (who is not returning) has decided that this person has got to go.

This entire situation is insane from both perspectives. The professor is shell shocked, is over 40, and has taught at this particular school for over 20 years. His evaluations have been very sketchy and not well followed up on by the new chairperson; in fact, the chairman has only visited his class room once! This situation cries out for an unjust firing/age discrimination suit. The school is extremely exposed! On the other hand, the professor has been in denial. He has not sought out legal representation nor has he asked for a job reference (this is a negotiation tool). He has asked for another assignment but that request has been denied twice.

Case two) a long time employee (purchasing agent) is being pressured and has received a second warning about job performance. This person is most meticulous and cares deeply about giving excellent service, yet this person is experiencing extreme pressure from his boss and HR.

Case three) a very average customer service agent has been told that his job performance over the last few years has been lacking (and he has had confrontations with sales staff), and his supervisor has decided that if another reduction in force (staff reduction) should happen, that he will be the first person laid off (and will not be eligible to be rehired-in the very unlikely event this might happen). This does not exempt him from being terminated for cause if his performance should drop any further, but if it remains the same, he is advised that he will be first in line to go.

Let’s face the facts; it does not get any worse than this. Frankly all situations are similar in that none of these situations are salvageable. One might say couldn’t the person in the second example save his job with superior performance? Again sadly the answer is no.

Let review what might be done:

In situation one, the person has the beginnings of an age discrimination suit. He is over 40, and the school has done very shoddy due diligence. At this point in time and in all the situations, you need to start negotiations for what you can salvage, and face the fact that none of these negotiable items are your current job! In situation one this person definitely needs to consult with a legal professional! What should he go for: A good work reference and maybe his last 3 years salary as a payout with full benefits? He might also threaten to take the suit “public” as most schools hate bad publicity.

Situation two differs) the organization has dotted its “I” ‘s and crossed its “T” ‘s. Earlier I stated the employee is very professional (I have worked with this person before), and this does not describe her work. Frankly, this situation does not seem to be about job performance although job performance is being cited. There is something about this person her boss does not like, and frankly she will probably never know what truly was the problem. She has very smartly re-done her resume, contacted recruiters, and started to network both socially and professionally. The last thing she should do is gain some references from people inside the company who are allies, and should do this at the appropriate time.

Situation three) this person has been found wanting by his boss, not enough to be terminated but enough to be expendable. The company is contracting and another reduction in force will come at some point. If this person was well regarded in this company he might try to transfer departments, but he is not well liked and has had confrontations with other departments, nor will his boss recommend him for another post inside the company; further, many of his old allied have left the company for various reasons. This person really has no choice, he must depart the company. What he does have is time; time to look for a new start or maybe continue his education at the current company’s expense. If the company is paying for his education, he might prove to be an unappealing target if the company has sunk $20,000.00 into his education and bought his masters! Will this save him, probably not, but it does make him a more unappealing target at least to high level personnel people!

So if you find yourself under the gun, here are some positive ways to handle the situation: if you are immediately in danger of losing your job and you think its unfair at least speak with a labor attorney. If you are well thought of inside your company consider a lateral move if you are eligible. If you are not able to move inside the company, recruit allies (you can trust) and get references. Become an unappealing target, have the company start buying your education, a masters, or an appealing professional certificate. Mostly importantly plan your next move, keep your resume up to date, network both socially and professionally, and contact recruiters.

Most of all good luck!
(situations have been altered to protect the parties involved)

Why you should treat “the Temp” well or the $14, 465.63 postage stamp

March 29, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

To borrow from an old TV show, the story you are about to read is true; the names were changed to protect the innocent (and guilty). As you hire people as your business progresses from small to medium, some times you make hiring mistakes. One of these can be the person who brings all their personnel baggage with them to work. Let me say, from the bottom of my heart, you can’t get rid of these people fast enough! They bother co-workers, whine at supervisors, bully subordinates, and treat temps or contractors with distain which leads us to the story of the “14,465.63 postage stamp.”

Many years ago (over 20) I worked (as a contractor) for a company we will call “Ramshead.” Ramshead had let its receivables run amuck for a while and when they were audited, the HQ gave them a marching order of “clean this up!” Ramshead contracted with a major accounting temporary firm to have 4 A/R specialists come out help them: Big D (me), Billy Bob, Steve, and Jill. We were escorted to a back office to tables (no desks), set up with phones and an aged trial balance, and told to collect all the past dues. We were in the same office as Tracy T (nicknamed tsetse fly-by the company’s founder-Mr. Jones)-the “A/P girl” whose goal seemed to be making everyone else’s life miserable by taking/ making many personal calls from the office and by bothering co-workers, whining at her boss, she had no subordinates, but she did treat the temps with obvious contempt.

Over the course of the 6 month project Jill was married and moved out west, and Steve became a cost accountant in Louisville, so for the last couple of months, it was just Billy Bob and I. Billy Bob had a great deal of experience with the auto industry and some good contacts. Billy Bob had taken on a special project to get about 15K of hopelessly messed up invoices paid. This was something that Ramshead personnel had little knowledge, but Billy Bob had succeeded in getting “buy off” to pay from a big 3 automaker. Our last day there, Billy Bob and I went to lunch and we when returned (and were going to pack up and leave early) there was Tracy T (TseTse) with a sour look on her face. “I understand that Anna in the mail room is letting you send in your time cards through the company postage meter,” she said flatly. We answered “yes,” she extended that courtesy to us. Tracy then proceeded to state that she was “revoking that courtesy,” and stomped off to “speak with Anna,” adding that if we were going to run our time cards through the postage meter, to “either leave 22cents, or go buy a stamp.”

Billy Bob and I stood there in stunned silence, but then Billy Bob spoke. “I had one thing left to do before we left here, mail the packet of big 3 invoices (there were about 20), but I am not going to do it now.” Instead Billy Bob flipped on the company’s paper shredder and proceeded with great delight to feed each corrected invoice into it. We then walked out the door; shook hands, and drove off. I never saw Billy Bob again; he had spoken of moving back to Atlanta.

About a month later, I received a call from the agency asking me if I had seen or heard from Billy Bob. I replied no, and related that he had spoken of moving back down south somewhere. I inquired why. Well, Ramshead was under the impression that they were going to get a large payment from an automaker and it never showed up. Snickering in my coffee, I said, “well, you will have to talk to Billy Bob, he was working it.”

The high maintenance employee had cost the company fifteen thousand dollars! I later heard from one of the sales people at Ramshead that it was rumored that Mr. Jones the company founder suggested to human resources that they find a reason to “swat the tsetse fly” and that she was finally terminated.

I know the in vogue thing in HR theory is to constantly rotate your bottom 20% employee, but for me if you have a high maintenance employee, get them on the express train out of your business, or your company too might buy a $14,463.65 postage stamp!

What Kind of Employee Are You?

March 23, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Usually this blog has a viewpoint from an ownership perspective, but in the final analysis we all work for ourselves-no matter the deal we’ve cut with our employer. So, it’s good from time to time to evaluate just what kind of employee are you? There are certainly some very fine lines being drawn (even though HR managers and agency counselors tend to deny it). I think for myself I have narrowed it down to 5 types of employee, and only one of these types is desirable. The five types are: highly valued employee, temporary employee, contract employee, casual hire employee, and disposable (planned short time) employee. In these uncertain economic times, it’s good to figure out just where you stand.

The highly valued employee is someone who may have been recruited off campus or military. The company might have gone through an executive search firm and paid big money to bring this person into the business. These people are expected to provide leadership, management, and specialized skills. If recruited out of school they might have been offered top wages and the “fast track.” If this is not you, I must sadly ask you to read on. If this is you, terrific and congratulations!

The temporary employee has really only one advantage, they know that they are temporary. This gives a “temp” a lot of flexibility. Turn over for temps is extremely high and work quality is usually fair at best. (Yes, I know there are some temps that get in and do a superb job, but they are the exception to the rule-and this is becoming more prevalent). Agency Counselors have tried to improve the level of work by often stating or insinuating that this job is/could be temporary to permanent (temp to perm), but experienced temps have become very inquisitive about this situation. Before I started a new assignment I always went over this with the company when they asked if I had any questions. “Is it correct that this job could become permanent?” Boy, listen to the company back track! If they do, you should suspect that your counselor might be engaged in a little “puffery.” If however, the company lays out a plan for your hire (assuming all goes well both for yourself and the company-and it is budgeted), then you just might have a temp to perm position, if this is not the case, keep sending out your resume’ and doing interviews, (even during work time), because your life expectancy is short as a temp.

Contract employees generally fill a very specific niche in a company’s employment structure, and are generally contracted to do a certain job function for a certain length of time (the due date). Almost always these personnel contribute specific business expertise or knowledge. These people are generally treated fairly well (unlike temp’s who can really be treated poorly). Unlike temps, contractors generally do a very professional job, but most “have been around the block a few times.” Contractors will sometimes speed up or slow down a particular job to suit their own needs (I know, I did it-and I was not alone, in fact very far from being alone). This happens especially with a “soft due date.” On the other hand, there can be problems if a “hard due date” is assigned, and then it is extended since contract employees are always looking for their next contract position. Companies have had contractors leave right before a huge project is due!

The casual hire is a person that generally works for a company part time with limited benefits. They must not exceed a certain number of hours or be considered full time (and offered health care benefits and retirement plans). Since these employees are offered very little, turn over is very high. The goal of most casual hire employees is to find a full time job somewhere (else). From the company’s viewpoint, these employees can be added or subtracted as business dictates.

The most recent type of employee is the short time hire (or disposable employee). These people work directly for the company, but what they don’t know is that they have a limited shelf life. What the company gets is more loyalty and better work quality, but they pay more for it-briefly. This situation usually happens when a part of a company-say the credit /collection/AR department is moved from one part of the country or another. Millions of dollars of receivables are transferred to a different location, and more personnel are hired to handle the in flow of receivables. After this business is mastered (and it might take 18 months to 2 years), there wont be a need for so many A/R type people, so the company may (or may not) keep the best, and lay off the rest.

It’s good to know who and what you are to your company. Going back to the macro-view of this blog, America has lost some of its appeal around the world for producing the best quality and most innovative products at the lowest possible prices. President Obama has stated many times that it is his great desire to return this prestige to America. Well, Mr. President let me clue you in on one thing. America is never going return to prominence as long as we remain a nation of temps, contractors, casual, and short time hires.