HR Weekly

How do we tell an employee to clean up her desk?

We have an employee whose desk looks like she has a picnic on it every day—and she leaves it that way when she goes home at night. Apple cores, juice bottles, yogurt containers all pile up. The cleaning staff sweeps it all away overnight, but during the day, it's just an unsightly mess. Plus, she sometimes loses work documents in all the debris. Is it OK to tell her to clean up her act and get organized? What should I say? I'm not her mother .... — Malek, Illinois

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How can I encourage participation in my monthly meeting?

“As part of my duties, I run a monthly safety committee meeting. To say that people don't care would be a gross understatement. To build a little enthusiasm, last month I organized a potluck lunch, which worked great until we finished eating. Then it was back to normal: no input and no knowledge shared. How can I make these meetings exciting enough to encourage members to participate?” — TK, Hawaii

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How should we set up an employee incentive program?

“We’re a service company, and like everyone else, we’re bracing for the economic downturn and looking for ways to bring in new business. Our president wants HR to implement some kind of incentive or reward program for employees who help get customers to call and invite us to bid. How should I go about setting up such a program? Any ideas on inexpensive rewards that would motivate our staff?” — Steph, FL

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How can we cut down on employees' smoke breaks?

How many cigarette breaks are too many cigarette breaks in an eight-hour workday? I think we need a smoke break policy of some kind, if only to keep productivity up. (Maybe we could even keep health care costs down!) Do any readers have such a policy? What unforeseen issues might come up if we crack down?—Anna, Miami

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How can we keep performance up during employee’s divorce?

“One of our employees is going through a divorce. Although she says she is doing OK, lately she is making more and more mistakes on tasks that she used to do well. She also seems overly sensitive to constructive criticism and blames others for work problems. Frankly, I think she needs a vacation, but she says she can’t afford one. Any suggestions on how to help her through her divorce without sacrificing job performance? Is there such a thing as a ‘mandatory’ vacation?”—Jocelyn, Mass.

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How can we manage unauthorized long distance calls?

“Even though our policy states that the phones are to be used for company business only, every month our phone bill shows numerous, obviously personal long distance calls to other states. Our office has over 20 phones and there is no way to trace which phone made the calls. The charges for the calls aren't much, but employees should be spending their time working, not talking on the phone. Can anyone give me a solution for this problem?” — Linda, Penn.

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How should we structure a tuition reimbursement plan?

We’re exploring the idea of setting up a tuition reimbursement plan. Our president believes this will help build our staff’s skills, and that employees will perceive it as a valuable benefit. I’ve done a little research on how to structure such plans, but I would like to hear some real-world feedback on what works, what doesn’t and what to watch out for. What kinds of provisions should we include in our tuition reimbursement benefit plan?—Beth, Maryland

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How should we use background checks in the hiring process?

"We have begun running background checks on prospective new hires. But we're finding that this just adds one more layer of subjective information for us to weigh. How should we incorporate the results of background checks into our overall candidate selection process? Are there pitfalls we should watch out for?"—Linda, Arizona

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What are the pitfalls of refusing to translate training materials?

“In our business—a nursing home—employees must be able to communicate in a common language: English. Our job descriptions require English proficiency. However, we keep getting requests to translate training materials into Spanish. If we do this, won’t we open a can of worms? Any advice? Should we reconsider our stance on not translating?”—HR Kristy

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Is there an effective way to eliminate workplace expletives?

“We have a group of workers who like to congregate before or after work to talk. The only problem is they often use profanity that makes others uncomfortable. This sometimes spills over into the break room during lunch too. Most of them have been with the company for more than 20 years, so it might be difficult to make them change their ways. How can I respectfully approach them to ask them to be respectful of others in the language they use?” — HR in PA

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