Office Romance

HR’s Take on the Office Romance

Valentine’s Day just passed us by, a well-scripted opportunity to discuss the woes of office flings and romances. If you have employees romantically involved, your place of business is susceptible to “get a room” displays of affection, violent lovers’ quarrels, and everything in between.

It is reported that about half of employees have had a “more than just friends” relationship with a coworker. Previously, many employers adopted blanket non-fraternization policies, but such policies are difficult to enforce, and may lead to invasion of privacy claims due to an employer’s interference in an employee’s off-duty conduct.

So, how can you gain some control over the consequences of having coworkers romantically involved? For starters, don’t get rid of a “no dating” policy – just fine tune it to focus on relevant business concerns. Specifically, policies should prohibit relationships among direct reports or in an immediate chain-of-command. This will go a long way towards preventing actual and perceived conflicts of interest as well as claims of favoritism.

Second, have a strong sexual harassment policy and conduct regular training for all employees. If a relationship fizzles, the behavior of a scorned lover can quickly escalate to a harassment claim. Less obvious is if a relationship thrives, the lovebirds may behave in a way that is offensive to other employees, which can also lead to claims.

“Love contracts” are becoming popular as a response to employees who are dating. These are documents that the involved employees sign that indicate, among other things, the consensual nature of the relationship, the commitment to keeping the relationship professional at work, and a clear understanding of the company’s sexual harassment policy and other applicable policies (such as conflict of interest).

Given the close proximity employees have with each other for long days, it is doubtful that the office romance will ever go away. But, you can protect your business from the consequences of these relationships by taking these relatively easy steps. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Charlotte Jensen is a Human Resources Consultant for small businesses (2-75 employees). As President of Cole James Associates, Ms. Jensen provides her clients guidance on their employment and workplace issues. Based in Richmond, Virginia, Ms. Jensen works with businesses across the nation. She can be reached at (804) 339-5576, cjensen@colejamesassociates.com or www.colejamesassociates.com.

Repairing Credit

You have dreams of starting a new business.  To do that you need capital – and unless you can self fund that dream, you’re going to need to apply for a loan.  Some of you (maybe many of you in this economy) may have a problem because of your poor credit history.  A fresh start is possible, but you’ll have to work for it. There is no “quick fix”. First things first – get your FICO score and find out how bad is bad. Your FICO score is what lenders use to determine the amount of credit you do or don’t receive, as well as the interest rate you are charged. I found a good source of information on everything FICO to be at myfico.com.

Next, verify what’s being said about you. Under federal law, you’re entitled to one report per year from each of the three credit reporting agencies: TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. Scour the reports for errors, and if something looks wrong, dispute it with the credit bureaus. Common errors can include: A person applying for credit under a different name (Robert Jones, Bob Jones, etc.), clerical errors when inputting information off a credit application, and loan payments being applied to the wrong account. If you identify an error, contact the credit agencies immediately (as well as the organization that provided the information) in writing and ask that it be corrected, or possibly deleted.

Now let’s talk about specific things you can do now to start raising your score:

· Pay your bills on time. All of them – all the time. If you’re prone to procrastination or forgetting, most companies will automatically deduct payments from your bank account if you sign up for it.

· If you’re behind on certain accounts, get those caught up. Be aware that paying off a collection account will not remove it immediately from your credit report. It will stay on your report for seven years.

· Keep balances low on credit cards and other revolving lines of credit.

· Pay off debt rather than moving it around. Many credit card companies are trying to entice you to transfer balances to their card by offering low interest rates. You’re better off paying down the existing account.

· Don’t close an account, even if you’ve completely paid off your balance on a card.

· There is a benefit to having multiple accounts, as long as you manage them responsibly and keep the balances low. Instead of overusing one account and building up a large balance, open some new accounts and spread the use over all of them to successfully build your credit history.

If you find that you can’t manage this process on your own, there are plenty of credit counseling agencies out there to assist you. To get your free annual credit reports from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax, visit www.annualcreditreport.com.

Handling Layoffs

Whether or not you believe the U.S. is actually in a recession, there is no denying that times are tough. Every business owner is somehow feeling the pinch and looking for ways to cut costs. To achieve this, reducing headcount is the first thing many employers consider. If you anticipate a long-term or permanent downturn in business, it may be the right approach. However, it’s not the only option. Alternatives to layoffs include temporary reductions in pay, job sharing, shortened workweeks or even small furloughs. Such approaches spread the impact across the board and can help employers retain their experienced talent for when the tide turns. You may be surprised at who is willing to take a week off without pay or every Friday off for a while, especially if the alternative is that their jobs may be lost altogether. If, however, layoffs are inevitable, there are a few things small business owners should think about – unlike layoffs in a large company that may impact one department; a layoff in a small company affects almost everyone directly.

First, while it goes without saying that employees being laid off should be treated with empathy, the damage they can cause if they feel mistreated cannot be underestimated. They know most, if not all of the names of your customers and vendors. If they are not already under some sort of non-compete or non-disclosure agreement, or if you aren’t offering severance that includes a waiver, then the door is open for a potential effort to steal your customers or disclose your confidential business information to competitors. Customers and competitors naturally come to mind when an employee is in panic mode about finding a new job quickly.

Second, once you lay off employees, what about the ones left behind? Will you address them with a glass half full or empty? It’s about balancing morale with honesty, and I’m all for simplicity. Openly acknowledge that times are tight and the layoffs were needed for the health of the organization. Don’t give false hopes or make promises, but show you’re doing what is necessary to protect the business and, ideally, your employees.

Finally, small businesses don’t have an HR department to conduct layoffs, so it’s up to you. When all is said and done, how will YOU feel affected by having let go of employees you probably hired and mentored? If you’ve made appropriate decisions based on solid business needs, then you should take comfort in the fact that these temporary pains are critical to the potential for long-term gains. That doesn’t mean it feels good to have to let go of some employees, but the goal is to protect the company so that the need to have ANY employees will be there for years to come.

Additional Layoff Tips

1.  It is an emotional time but cannot be an emotional decision. Who is laid off must be chosen with extreme caution, grounded 100% in business fact. “Last in, first out” may be the safest way but is not always the most practical approach. Performance-based decisions are also common, but you have to be careful about being subjective. Well-defined, specific, measurable criteria must be used.  Regardless of the method used, once you make your decision, how does it look on paper? You wouldn’t intentionally discriminate, but if half of those laid off are over forty, and pretty much no one remaining is, then prepare to pay your attorney a lot of money to try to prove that you did not discriminate based on age. A sloppy or subjective decision of who to lay off often leads to these unintentional consequences.

2.  If you’re going to give laid off employees any sort of severance or benefit, consult with your attorney to prepare the appropriate waivers. Sure, you can give the pay or benefit as a kind gesture with no strings attached, but consider using it as an opportunity to protect your business. That really is the point of a severance – giving the employee something of value in exchange for a consideration that protects you, such as “you don’t try to sue me for discrimination”.

3. When you conduct the layoffs, be prepared for the reaction, but don’t react to it. As compassionate humans, our instinct is to do or say whatever we can to soften the blow (think “it’s not you, it’s me”). The more you say and engage in conversation, the more you open the door for wrongful termination claims or making reemployment or other promises you can’t keep or have no intention of keeping. Balance empathy with “just the facts, ma’am”.

4. Resist the urge to write letters of reference for those who ask. Again, although unintentional, what if the employees who get letters are largely of one race, and those who don’t are largely of another race? While you may think it is ridiculous that you could ever be accused of discrimination, it happens every day, and accidental discrimination is still discrimination.

This is meant to be general information on a complex topic. It should not be considered legal advice, nor is it a replacement for seeking professional counsel for your specific situation.

Charlotte Jensen is a Human Resources Consultant for small businesses (2-75 employees). As President of Cole James Associates, Ms. Jensen provides her clients guidance on their employment and workplace issues. She can be reached at (804) 339-5576, cjensen@colejamesassociates.com or www.colejamesassociates.com.

New Competition

I found an interesting (and scary) statistic in the latest issue of CFO Magazine.  In 2008, the percentage of full-time finance jobs moving offshore was 10.5%.  It’s estimated that by the year 2010, that number will increase to 21.6%.  Just like with the exodus of manufacturing jobs to places like China, where labor is very cheap, companies are choosing to outsource their finance and accounting functions to places like India.  I honestly don’t see the logic, value or effectiveness of doing something like that.  I haven’t seen or heard of that in any of my dealings or discussions around the Richmond area.  I think this strategy is more commonly used in mid-size and large companies that have some international exposure- certainly not by businesses that my company would serve.  Even so, this cost-cutting measure is something that all of us should be concerned with.  We’ve seen the ill effects this offshore outsourcing has had on our country’s manufacturing industry.