National Clothesline

It has been a while since I wrote a column with a list, so I figured it was about time. In no particular order, here is a list of things that every supervisor, new and experienced, needs to know:

• There are no secrets in the workplace.

Benjamin Franklin once remarked that the only true secret was between a person and a dead man.

Agreed. There is no quicker way to get information out into the workplace than to tell a gossipy employee not to tell anyone.

Besides, if the secret involves wages, benefits, or working conditions, it may be a violation of federal law to require rank-and-file employees not to discuss it.

• Employees cannot agree NOT to be paid for hours worked.

Employees cannot waive their right to be paid under the Fair Labor Standards Act, even if the idea is the employee’s. Employees can be disciplined for making mistakes or causing more work, but they cannot be required to re-do work at their expense. If a non-exempt employee is required or permitted to work, he or she must be paid for the work, even if that means paying the employee overtime.

• Words matter.

Supervisors need to understand that comments made to employees, even in jest, can be used later to prove discriminatory intent.

While calling an older worker “old man” may not be enough to prove age discrimination alone, it can be used – with other factors – to prove age discrimination. Cultural references and stereotypes, including responses to joking cultural references made by the employee, should also be avoided.

• Written words matter even more.

Supervisors must be taught how to write disciplinary notes, job descriptions, and other personnel documents in a way that convinces the reader the documents are absolutely job-related and avoid allegations of discriminatory intent.

Supervisors, in written documents, should explain what happened in simple English, avoiding words that are vague and lawyer-like.

• Employees respond better to inspiration than heavy handedness.

Read Tom Sawyer, especially where he convinces his friends to pay him to do his chores.

The best supervisors inspire employees to work harder. The worst supervisors browbeat good employees into quitting or doing “the least they can do.”

• Talk to your employees.

While supervisors need to understand that there are no secrets in the workplace, they must also understand that rumors and lack of information can have a devastating effect on morale.

Employees need and want to know what is going on. Bad news is better than no news and the resulting insecurity.

Talking to employees can also foster loyalty to a supervisor. Many times, employees have decided not to file charges against their employer because of the respect they had for their supervisor. By the same token, disloyalty can result in more charges.

• Know what laws affect your decisions.

Anymore, supervisors need a law degree to understand all the laws regulating labor and employment issues. That does not mean, however, that they should not be trained on the law.

Some of the laws they should be familiar with are the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and state and local fair employment practices acts.

• Firing an employee stinks, so get over it.

Stated differently, supervisors need to understand that they are part of management, and that they owe no one an apology for being part of management.

Firing an employee is never pleasant, but it can be done with dignity, and it is almost always the employee’s fault. Supervisors need to realize that by firing a bad employee, they are making work easier for the good employees and themselves.

• Do not publicly humiliate employees.

Discipline needs to take place in private. Yelling at an employee in front of coworkers will only lead to hostility and resentment.

I am reminded of a story involving the manager of the Giants when Willie Mays played for that baseball team.

Whenever he wanted to dress down a player at a team meeting, he would start out by yelling at Mays that he wasn’t hustling, trying hard enough, or helping out the team.

Then, when the manager addressed a lesser player’s actions, he would not be humiliated because he was in the same boat as Willie.

Unless you have Willie Mays working for you, conduct such sessions in a non-public place.

• Ask job-related questions at interviews.

Supervisors need to know what questions can and cannot be asked during job interviews. If the answer to a question is not going to be used to make a hiring decision, the question should not be asked.

• Employee evaluations should be meaningful.

Too often, evaluations are rendered meaningless by a supervisor afraid to give a satisfactory evaluation to a merely satisfactory employee. It is the rare company whose every employee is “outstanding.”

As I have said before, supervisor training is often overlooked by employers. Companies will not allow supervisors to spend $25 without approval, but they are allowed to hire and fire employees, exposing the company to thousands of dollars in liability, without a single minute of training.

Perhaps 2010 is the year for your company to adopt a supervisor training program.