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Author Archives: Lisa Mackay

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(Case Study) Beware of References… they may be lying!

Posted on June 29, 2015 - 5:57 pm by

One Friday evening and manager had one of her employees approach her advising that she (the employee) had stolen money from petty Cash!!

Using the HRtoolkit tools the employer started a disciplinary investigation.

Well, the employees defence was that she was a gambling addict and that the company owed her a duty of care to provide a safe working environment!!!

Unfortunately this argument then got legs.  It turned out her previous manager (in the same company) had known about the gambling issue, had wanted rid of the problem so didn’t mention it when he gave her a reference.  But he did know the new job would have petty cash responsibilities!

Ultimately, after using the Disciplinary Due Consideration assessment, she was dismissed because the company owed a duty of care to all employees, and they could not protect other staff’s handbags from her!

It could all have been avoided had the original manager been up front about the issues and/or had dealt with them, and the hiring manager had probed more deeply into the reference being given.  Or credit checks had been done!

The time and costs to investigate were several $1,000’s… and the potential reputational damage was $10,000 of thousands

Avoid these costly mistakes, do good reference checks, and don’t try to cover up issues… click here to do it right!

The truth is not always obvious

Posted on June 29, 2015 - 6:03 pm by

Employers frequently are faced with, what looks like an obvious issue, but it is not always so obvious.  And they get frustrated with employees who are presenting many or all of the following issues:

  1. Frequently late
  2. Not paying attention to detail
  3. Drop off on performance
  4. Frequently calling in sick, particularly on Friday’s and Monday’s
  5. Poor team work

In most cases it is purely laziness/boredom and what the employee needs is a disciplinary warning.

However, the following two cases show a different outcome:

Case 1

Sally had been with the company for about 2 years, during the first year her performance was great, but over time it had started to slide.  She was displaying all of the above issues, and so was invited to a disciplinary meeting.

It transpired that, when Sally had started, 2 years ago, she was a solo mum with a 6 month old daughter.  Because she was worried this may harm her chances of getting the job she hadn’t admitted it.   Fast forward 2 years and she has a toddler who she is not coping with, and the baby daddy had custody every second weekend (coinciding with the Mondays that she was frequently calling in sick because she had a hangover from partying!).

The outcome was that she did get a disciplinary warning for the calling in sick with a hangover.  However, we were also able to make arrangements to help her better manage her childcare.  I.e. later starts to better coincide with the day care.

 

Case 2

After about 5 years great service, the last 6 months had seen a dramatic change in Fred’s behaviour.  So he was invited to a disciplinary meeting.

At the meeting Fred broke down.  He had been diagnosed with terminal Kidney failure about 6 months earlier, and his only hope was a transplant.  The frequently calling in sick coincided with his dialysis treatment which was really knocking him for six.

For Fred work was the only place he was “healthy”, all his friends and family were treating him like he might drop dead tomorrow.  So he hadn’t wanted anyone to know the truth at work until it was absolutely necessary.

Obviously they didn’t give Fred a warning!!  However, the unplanned absences, and poor attention to detail did create pressure on the rest of the team.  So we moved Fred to a slightly different project based role which meant that if he wasn’t there others didn’t have to pick up his workload.  We also arranged for him to be able to work from home on days when he was not so up to it.  And they did this without having to tell any of his colleagues the truth about what was going on.

Fred got the transplant and made a full recovery!

Never presume what the outcome will be.  Find out the facts and then make decisions with the HRtoolkit tools!

Recruitment Interview Questions

Posted on June 29, 2015 - 6:17 pm by

VIDEO

Asking the right questions is critical to great recruitment decisions. Check out how to get it right in this informative video.

Don’t put your company at risk by recruiting the wrong people. Its easier and more cost effective to get it right first time, let HRtoolkit show you how.

 

How to get the 90 day trial period right

Posted on July 1, 2015 - 10:18 am by

VIDEO

The 90 day trial period is not a get out of jail free card, but used correctly it can be a fantastic tool. Watch this video to find out how best to use trial periods.

Its easier and more cost effective to get it right first time, let HRtoolkit show you how.

How to recruit the right people

Posted on July 25, 2015 - 10:05 am by

VIDEO

Recruiting someone is a decision worth $100,000’s. After all, you hope they will stay with your company for at least a few years. Watch this quick video to make sure you get the profile right.

Don’t put your company at risk by recruiting the wrong people. Its easier and more cost effective to get it right first time, let HRtoolkit show you how.

When recruitment decisions go wrong

Posted on August 12, 2015 - 10:43 am by

CASE STUDY

An interior design company had had three administrators in the space of two years.  Each of these women took three months to come up to speed, so that was nine months out of nine years when they were not fully productive (at $40K salary that’s $30K out of the profit of the company).

The company needed someone to do the administration, but because they had walk-in clients they also needed someone with an artistic flair… it makes perfect sense!

The problem was they were recruiting wannabe interior designers, rather than administrators. These wannabe’s were bored with admin, so they didn’t do it well, and ultimately left.

Using competency based interviewing (HRtoolkit has loads of sample interview questions) they were able to ask the right questions to find the skills applicants  actually needed to be successful in the job.

The company then used the HRtoolkit reference check forms to find out about how the applicant performed at their previous jobs, and the HRtoolkit employment agreements to provide a legally compliant contract.

Within a week of the new employee starting in their job, she had the whole office organised… and it turned out she was into flower arranging, so did have an artistic flair.

We are all attracted to mini-me, but mini-me doesn’t like doing admin any more than big-me does!

The wrong recruitment decisions are a waste of money and a waste of profits. Its easier and cost effective to get it right first time, let HRtoolkit show you how.

The high cost of casual double dipping

Posted on October 12, 2015 - 10:46 am by

CASE STUDY

We got a phone call from an employee whose new Australian boss had called to say “I hear your husband is working for a competitor, pack your bags, and p$%&** off”. Just to be clear, we are not paraphrasing!

After we had pealed the employee off the ceiling, she said “I am going to go him for everything I can”.

The employee had been employed for ten years as a ‘casual’ employee, being paid the 8% uplift instead of accruing annual leave. She enjoyed flexibility over the summer months, but apart from that she was a full-time employee and not a genuine casual employee by legal definition.

The first item on her claim was ten years of  back holiday pay, which she won. Her annual leave alone cost the Australia company in excess of $20,000. A very expensive phone call from her new Australian boss.

This cost could have been avoided if her employer had understood the employees legal status, and used the HRtoolkit Employment Agreements to change it whilst they were still in negotiation.

Don’t risk your profits by using the wrong type of employment agreement. Its easier and more cost effective to get it right first time, let HRtoolkit show you how.

Are you a bully or are you being bullied?

Posted on November 12, 2015 - 10:51 am by

CASE STUDY

“I’m being bullied”, it’s a catch cry which strikes fear into the hearts of all employers. And with good reason. In New Zealand, an employee only has to show one instance of bullying to make a successful claim against you, and it is the feelings of the victim that matter.

In our case study, the employer had an employee who made some major mistakes, resulting in the company being audited by the tax department and being put at risk of having their trading licences revoked. For the employee, this was not the first time these type of mistakes had occurred, but it was the first time the consequences had been quite so bad for the company.

At every instance, the company manager had discussed the mistake with the employee, and individual blame had not been accepted. The employee was aggressive and it was easier to for everyone on the team to ‘avoid the confrontation. Over time the employees learnt behaviour was ‘if I shout loud enough then they will back off’.

Using the HRtoolkit Quick guide to courageous conversations, the manager was able to handle the situation and push back on the inevitable ‘you are bullying me’ claim.

At HRtoolkit, we see this as an all too common picture. The victim of bullying was the manager, not the employee, but employee behaviour has not been identified as bullying. Over time inappropriate behaviour became accepted and began to escalate.

Are you allowing your staff to be bullied, or are you being bullied? Let HRtoolkit show you how to nip it in the bud.

Was there more to it than just chocolate theft?

Posted on January 12, 2016 - 10:58 am by

CASE STUDY

An employee had only been employed for about four months, but after a disciplinary investigation using the the HRtoolkit disciplinary investigation tools, the employee was found guilty of stealing an iPod and dismissed. There was, of course, suspicion that he had stolen a lot more.

As part of the investigation the company looked back at the employees original recruitment and discovered, to their horror, that he had been dismissed from his last job for theft.

This information was included on the reference form, so they spoke to the manager who had taken the reference. On questioning the manager advised that he had ignored the theft dismissal because it was only the theft of a $2 chocolate cacao bar.

After more investigation it was found that the previous employer suspected the employee of stealing more than a $2 chocolate bar, but that was the only thing they could prove. Had the manager probed more deeply into the reference check, the previous employer would have happily advised that there was suspicion of further wrong doing.

Sadly for this company the manager did not probe more deeply and chose to ignore the red flag.

Reference checks are a critical part of the recruitment process, and past behaviour is a good indication of future behaviour. The company lost $13,500 in wages alone, not to mention the costs of investigating his behaviour.

Don’t put yourself at risk by ignoring information. Its easier and more cost effective to get things right first time, let HRtoolkit show you how.

Your staff know your business better than you!

Posted on February 1, 2016 - 10:40 am by

A company was faced with the horrible decisions to downsize.  Using the HRtoolkit tools, they were working through a consultation process to make this happen.  One of the roles that was proposed as redundant was the apprentice because they didn’t have enough qualified tradesmen to meet his training needs.

They presented the proposal to all the staff, and gave them time to give feedback (as required by law).  As part of the feedback the other staff (not the apprentice himself) had gone out and found another company who was prepared to “share” the apprentice and give him the work experience that the main company couldn’t.

The apprentice’s job was saved, and he is now a qualified sparky!

And into the bargain the staff loyalty increased exponentially as they had been listened to!

Getting the restructure process wrong can be horrendously expensive ($100,000.00’s in legal bills, Personal Grievances, wasted wages…) for your business, but done right the outcomes can be amazing.

Do it right, do it once, click here now to save money and jobs.

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