National Clothesline

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Satisfaction does not come with achievement, but with effort. Full effort is full victory.”

Are you achieving victory? Better yet, are you putting in a 100 percent effort into your business or do you play golf and neglect the company?

Last month’s article discussed the contents of an employee handbook. I am going to pick up where I left off.

The next topic after the subject of conflict of interest is off-duty conduct. The employee is warned that anything done to hurt the company could be grounds for termination.

Outside jobs is a topic that many plant owners are confronted with. Some employees are working more than one job. Working for competitors was strictly forbidden without written permission. A $1,000 limit was in place for any gift that an employee could receive from a customer or vendor.

Personal or romantic involvement with a customer, supplier, or vendor was not forbidden, but the employee was requested to discuss this issue with his supervisor.

Payroll practices were the next major topic of discussion. We established the rule that anyone who worked less than 32 hours in a week was part-time. Anyone who worked over 32 hours was full-time.

Exempt employees are a great subject for many in the drycleaning industry. The reason for this is many companies have salaried employees without concern about the actual hours worked. That can become a major headache if the employee is working overtime.

I suggest you check the laws of your state. The key definition for my company was that the person had to spend more than 50 percent of his or her time handling supervisory duties to be exempt from overtime rules.

On occasion, an employee might be retained as an independent contractor. Again, this is another topic that needs to be researched for individual state laws.

Hours of operation and work schedules have to be talked about along with coffee and meal breaks. I visited one plant in a state that allowed two 15-minute paid breaks. The manager was a heavy smoker so he decided that he should give the employees three 10-minute breaks. The owners were not made aware of this change as they were off site.

Overtime pay in California was any time over eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. Check your local laws.

Sometimes an employee might be “on call.” In that case, the person must be paid a minimum of two hours pay if the person has to report to work on a non-scheduled day.

Your mechanism for keeping records of an employee’s hours is important. The records will be crucial if you are audited by a state agency.

I put in a time clock that took a picture of the employee’s hand. The clock would compare the picture with the first picture that was taken. That was done when the employee information was entered into the clock. My clock was connected to my computer where I monitored hours and then it connected with the payroll company.

Paydays and payroll advances were written about. Employees would love to get advances. The handbook put a stop to that practice.

Employees were told that they immediately report any payroll discrepancy. The employee could also request copies of payroll records.

Personnel records are very important. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules apply to those records.

Employees can be requested to provide information from their doctor regarding any illness or medical absence. The information a physician might have to provide would include a note to justify the absence, request of leave, and ability to return to usual duties.

All medical records must be kept in a separate file according to federal and California state law. The rules of confidentiality are very important in regards to medical records.

Keep those personnel records locked up. I know of a cleaner who had information mysteriously disappear from an employee’s file. The habit of leaving the office unlocked changed because of that incident.

The employees are also notified that they are responsible for notifying the company about any changes to their personal data.

Written job descriptions were created and distributed to the appropriate employees. We encouraged employees to apply for promotions when a position opened.

Performance reviews were done regularly. The first review was held after the initial three months of employment. After that, the review would take place on the anniversary of the hiring date. All of this was spelled out in the handbook.

Important parts of the handbook were the workplace rules and conduct of the employee. These rules included tardiness, absenteeism, working overtime without prior approval of a supervisor, theft, supply waste and more. The list was rather extensive and included 33 different reasons for termination.

Discipline was the next order of business. Verbal and then written warnings were the first steps of the process. After those measures, suspension and then termination could follow.

Customer relations were discussed. The importance of the customer and the necessity to treat the customer properly was explained.

An alcohol and drug policy has to be established and put into print. This takes me back in time to when an employee baked some brownies. She did not tell me that the brownies had a funny ingredient that really made me feel happy. You never know what can happen when you are in business. Walking around your plant and being stoned at the same time is a unique experience.

One of the conditions of employment was the right of the employer to search purses, backpacks, lockers or anything else that is brought onto the premises of the business. Refusal to allow this search would provide grounds for immediate termination.

Attendance must be talked about. Proper and timely notification of the company regarding tardiness, or not reporting for work, is important. These rules would apply to exempt and non-exempt employees. Employees were told they could not leave the premises during working hours without permission of the supervisor.

A telephone policy is important. With the advent of cellular telephones, it is far too easy for someone to be on the phone while attempting to be a productive employee. The use of cellular telephones during work hours was strictly prohibited.

Establishment of a dress code is particularly important for the sales department. Allowing an employee to go to the counter in a tank-top t-shirt is the hallmark of not being professional. Would you believe I saw a route drive leave the plant in a tank top t-shirt to service a route?

I do not understand plant owners who have so little respect for themselves, their business and their clientele. I have sent employees home who were not properly attired according to the established company dress code.

The balance of this section of the handbook was devoted to workplace security, company equipment, e-mail, computer usage, blogging, and proper telephone protocol.

When I hired someone, I had the new hire sit in my office and read the handbook. I told the person to write any questions about any section of the handbook that he or she did not understand. By enforcing this policy there were no questions regarding any future issues that might arise.

Next month I will wrap up the handbook discussion. As you can see, a handbook that I paid thousands of dollars for, and an annual update fee, was very important to the company and the employee.