Archive for July, 2012

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Social Media and Where Employment Law is Taking It

Posted by | July 27, 2012 | Employers, Job Search, Placement, Social Media, Uncategorized

July 27, 2012

Social Media and Where Employment Law is Taking It

Employment law issues impact everyone who works. Most of us allow the law to operate in the background and don’t possess the awareness that we should about certain issues. With recent notes on some significant employment law updates it’s important to share a little bit of what’s new. First let’s consider the sheer breadth of law and how it impacts careers. Organizations such as the EEOC and the Fair Labor and Standards Act help administer and dictate how the laws work in society. In no way can we provide legal advice through this blog and certainly cannot claim to provide legal advice for any individual or career but we do believe awareness and knowledge of the impact of laws and their changes will help encourage people to realize what they are up against and what you may need to know as you advance your career.

Here is a short list of what guides employment:

  • Employment Laws
  • Employment Background Checks
  • Employment Forms
  • Employment Tests
  • Employment Verification
  • Unemployment Benefits
  • Employee Rights
  • Minimum Wage
  • Wage and Salary Issues
  • Employment At Will

A great friend of Career Pro Inc. and a recent speaker at Triangle Executive Careers Group, Connie E. Carrigan, from the Smith Debnam Narron Drake Saintsing & Myers, LLP, provided our clients and guests with some insight into the hottest issues within the employment and labor law area. Here is a an excerpt from her talk that I found quite interesting and timely. As a great exercise, Connie asked our group fantastic questions regarding social media and the law. See if you answer correctly! What do you know about social media? Where is the law going as it relates to social media?

True or False: Employers are prohibited from forcing employees or job seekers to turn over Facebook or other online passwords.

[FALSE – BUT pending bills in the US House of Representatives and Senate would change this result.  However, the Password Protection Act would not block employers from checking out information available to the public online about their current and prospective workers.  These bills would also give federal and state agencies the ability to waive these rules for those who work with classified information and would preserve the ability of employers to establish computer-use policies and to hold employees accountable for stealing data.]

True or False: Employers should avoid disciplining employees for social media content relating to the terms and conditions of their employment.

[TRUE – Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act protects employees’ ability to work together to make changes in the workplace, even if they are not members of a union or engage in a formal union-organizing campaign.  This is protected concerted activity.  Note also that the NLRB has recently challenged “at-will” disclaimers in employee handbooks, reasoning that an employee’s signature acknowledging such status is a waiver of his right to later challenge that status, even if job circumstances change, thereby waiving his right to advocate concertedly to change his at-will status.  BUT NOTE: A Virginia court recently denied the wrongful termination claim of an employee of a Sheriff’s Department who “liked” his boss’s opponent on Facebook – it was not “speech” protected by the First Amendment.]

We certainly recommend that you do your own homework, weigh carefully all that you do in the so-called social media realm throughout your career.

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Social Media and Where Employment Law is Taking It

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Finding Balance in My (Flexible!) Work Schedule

Posted by | July 10, 2012 | Diversity, Uncategorized

 

Laura Antal

My daughter came up to me after school yesterday while I was working from home. She hugged me and said “I will miss you.” And I replied… I will miss you too, and thought how lucky am I to be here for this moment and many other moments like this. Amanda is going off to her Freshman year of college and starting her summer session.

As she prepares to go off to school, I have spent time reflecting on choices I have made in her life. One of my best choices was to pursue working part time from home when Amanda was born. I read in our company policy manual that we had a policy for a flexible work schedule, though I hadn’t seen it in action, I knew I wanted to try finding a solution that fit both my career and life.

So, I approached Sodexo and asked for a work from home option. It took 3 different tries before we could find a solution that worked for both Sodexo and me.  I began working from home two days a week when Amanda was 3 months old, and ever since then I have worked at home.

This worked well for my job because I was a writer and everything I produced was tangible and had a deadline. It was evident I was accomplishing my work, even though sometimes it was on nights and weekends. I thought other peers might have a problem with me working part time from home, but they were supportive. In fact, as other women began having children, they asked me how I set up a flexible schedule and I shared what I had done to make it work – many also began working part time from home.

The author with her children, Amanda and Andrew.

As a single working mother, there are many benefits to working from home. Having the flexibility to work some of my hours during nights and weekends helped me to live a balanced life. Because work is always there, I had to make a conscious choice sometimes to shut off my computer and join the family. However, I was less stressed and had few interruptions at home, so I was much more productive working from home. I could finish more work in the same time than I would have in the office.  To this day, the energy and focus I have is so much greater. I am engaged and happy because I can arrange my schedule to make time for meaningful life events that I might otherwise have missed, like attending an event at my school. Sometimes, it is just being there to make my kids a snack when they hop off the bus, or to take a few minutes to listen to them share their good and bad days..

Although I will miss Amanda, I am grateful to Sodexo for the time I was able to share with her. Being able to have a career where I work from home has been a great choice for me.  And I thank Sodexo for giving me that option. My son will also be off to college in two years. I have been taking on stretch assignments and earning professional certifications over the past few years because I am now ready to take on even more responsibility and challenges in my career — More work from home opportunities for me and for Sodexo!

Laura Antal is a senior instructional designer for Sodexo.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10th, 2012 at 11:50 am and is filed under Workforce and Diversity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Finding Balance in My (Flexible!) Work Schedule

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Do You Have A Culture Of Recognition?

Posted by | July 5, 2012 | Diversity, References, Research, Uncategorized

 

There is substantial impact on an organization’s culture when employees feel recognized and appreciated.   Leaders today are turning to the use of recognition assessment tools to ensure proper recognition program design to fully utilize the benefits that stem from a highly engaged and motivated workforce. Gallup confirms that companies with high levels of employee engagement enjoy a significant uplift of business performance indicators.

Taking the time to evaluate what motivates employees is a critical step towards increasing engagement levels throughout the workforce. By identifying the similarities and differences in employee attitudes, assessment tools communicate to organizational leaders what type of recognition will inspire their workplace.  When used effectively, leaders can extrapolate the data to create meaningful recognition programs that increase job satisfaction and productivity.

Recognition Assessment Design

Today, organizations are looking beyond the demographics of the work environment and are evaluating how employees feel about current recognition methods, their knowledge on how to use the programs and reward preferences.  This is also the time to ensuring the right recognition program message is resonating with employees.  For example, do employees know what it takes to achieve a program nomination? Do they know how programs tie to the overall mission and values of the company?

Manager insights can also render a different outlook on the effectiveness of current recognition programs. Evaluating an organization’s recognition practices from the manager’s perspective can communicate to leaders and program managers if recognition programs are being utilized to their full capacity.  As the direct point of contact for employees, do they know how to recognize employees effectively? Are managers concerned when giving recognition that it is viewed by peers as consistent and fair? And does management have the proper tools to share new programs with their team? The results of a manager’s recognition assessment can attest to their program knowledge and provide a foundation for how future programs are developed, implemented and managed.

Recognition Assessment Data

Employee recognition assessments are highly measurable and provide an invaluable way to demonstrate the bottom-line impact of engagement in the workplace.  Establishing key metrics at the program onset provides a standard to benchmark against as results are tracked in the future.  Research from Bersin & Associates’ indicates that 71 percent of organizations measure employee engagement.  The data collected from recognition assessments acts as the conduit to solid program development and achieving an engaged workforce.

“The statistical analysis from recognition and reward assessment gives leaders an in-depth view of which programs are working and why, where there are inconsistencies and opportunities to refine,” comments Lisa Muniz, Sales Account Executive and Certified Incentive Professional at Sodexo Motivation Solutions. “Utilizing a qualified recognition partner to assess an organization’s recognition structure can maximize their program design and implementation efforts resulting in more successful campaigns.”

Designing and executing effective recognition programs are best accomplished when leaders have a current pulse of the workplace culture.  Leveraging assessment tools is a skillful way to gauge the current ‘state of recognition’ in the organization.  With the valuable insights attained through recognition assessment, organizations can work toward truly developing a motivational culture that drives high employee engagement.

Jennifer Tekin is a Senior Marketing Manager for Sodexo Motivation Solutions.

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Do You Have A Culture Of Recognition?

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