Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with employees

Is my new tardiness policy fair?

titans13 — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:51:33 -0800

I am seeking feedback on the fairness of a new tardiness policy I instituted at my company. I own an IT services firm that also has a retail storefront (the more traditional computer repair shop model). We have had a situation with chronic tardiness, to the point where on a recent Saturday, at three minutes before opening, I was the only one there (whereas four people were scheduled that day). I have now instituted what I believed to be a fair and generous policy, and some don't like it as they say it is too strict. Please read on for the policy... 1-14 minutes late: 2 points
15-29 minutes late: 3 points
30-59 minutes late: 4 points
1 Hour + late: 6 points

With call less than 15 minutes ahead:
1-14 minutes late: 1 points
15-29 minutes late: 2 points
30-59 minutes late: 3 points
1 Hour + late: 5 points

With call 15 minutes or more ahead:
1-14 minutes late: .5 points
15-29 minutes late: 1 points
30-59 minutes late: 2 points
1 Hour + late: 3.5 points

Points are accumulated within any 30-day period. This is not the first through the end of any given month; it is a simple consecutive 30 days.
Consequences within 30 days:
6 points = Verbal warning
8 points = 1 day suspension without pay
10 points = 2 day suspension without pay
12 points = Week suspension without pay

Now...I am not an HR person...I am a tech who evolved into a businessman. I am looking for perspective, potential holes in the policy, and opinions as to it's strictness/fairness. Thanks to all in advance!

How to be a good "new boss"

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:00:47 -0800

I am your new boss. How can I get our relationship off to a good start? I am starting in a few weeks. I'll be starting work as the "new boss" supervising a current staff member. I'll also be beginning to hire two more staff at that time.

In the meantime, we're going to spend a few hours together next week touring their geographic area. (I just happen to be in town for a conference, so I won't officially be "the new boss" at that point, since I won't be on the payroll yet.)

I would appreciate any suggestions you might have for getting this relationship off to a good start, both during the tour and as I officially begin work. What have past "new bosses" done that particularly worked well for you?

I saw this question and will read this book. What else?

I want to hire someone to turn on my air conditioning too

Popular Ethics — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:58:35 -0800

Who are the world's largest employers? Googling the question just gives me Forbes 500 lists and the like, which only rank companies by dollar value. I'm more interested in people value. This article suggests that the Indian Railway employs 2.4 million employees, which is double Wallmart's payroll. Are there (or have there been) larger?

The EB Games Employee Manual

Effigy2000 — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:59:22 -0800

I read that there was a 'leaked' copy of the EB Games employee handbook floating around the web a few years back, and it explained in some great detail about how to talk to customers and to push really hard on getting people to pre-order and so on. Despite my best efforts, I can't get Google to show it to me. Does anyone have a link to it (or a saved copy they're able to send me)? Also, as a side question; why do EB Games and similar video game retailers push so hard to try and get you to pre-order stuff? What's in it for them, other than a potential sale once the game is released?

How do I set up a Remote Working Hub?

SarahM — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:58:30 -0800

I have been asked to set up a “Remote Working Hub” to allow employees to work away from the office. Where can I go for more information? Does it work? I’m setting up a Wireless Remote Working Hub to encourage working parents to go back to work & help an area decrease the number of unemployed. Do you know anyone who has tried this? Who should contact? Have you tried this concept & does it work? Thank you in advance

Enough with the Calvins wizzing on the Ford/Chevy logo.

oflinkey — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:10:21 -0800

Asking for Mr. Oflinkey: Where can he find reliable statistics about how many Americans are employed by various auto manufacturers (Honda, Toyota, Ford, etc.). This should not be limited to manufacturing jobs. He is seeking this information to answer a larger question: Does buying American-made cars really make much of a difference anymore?

How do I stay objective with an annoying/tedious/high maintenance employee?

icollectpurses — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:44:58 -0800

How do I stay objective with an annoying/tedious/high maintenance employee? (More information inside) I have an employee in my team that I find very annoying as a person and as an employee. There are multiple issues, both the way he is as well as performance related, that annoy me. They're not that big of a deal in the big picture. But I find his annoying habits and pettiness annoying.

To give you an idea of what I mean, he'll demand his desk to be adjusted because it's too high for him, when the person before him was fine with it just by raising the chair. Whenever I ask him a question, he'll pause for 2 seconds without looking at me then would say, "I am sorry?" as if he hasn't heard what I said. If I use email to communicate with him, he won't respond for hours even if it's of high importance.

Performance wise, he's not the most efficient/productive person. He requires additional explanations when others understand it the first time.

Anyway, how do I maintain my objectivity as his superior and effectively manage him? So far, I've been trying VERY hard to ignore all his sniffles (then he swallows!!!), coughings on the phone IN to the speaker, gum poppings, annoying questions in meetings that were JUST addressed. I've been doing ok being understanding but my sarcastic, direct, no-BS, no-bitching/complaining, management style seeping through, and I am sensing he's feeling that I am treating him differently, even though it's in reaction to what he says/his behavior/his performance.

In regards to considering firing him, it's too much work and will take at least 4-5mos for me to 'prepare' for it.

Any suggestions?

What, if anything, should I do about the possibly unethical and definitely scummy behavior of my boss?

Mimzy — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:16:05 -0800

What, if anything, should I do about the possibly unethical and definitely scummy behavior of my boss? I work in a small-ish office that has gone through several staff changes recently. Most recently, someone was hired and then quit after a month, mostly due to frustration with our boss (she had to deal with him a LOT more than I did).

She and I became friends, despite a pretty big generation gap, and I was really sorry to see her do, but I knew we'd continue to hang out, etc.

On a side note, after praising her skills to my husband (she was an excellent choice for her job even though she and the boss did not get on, very competent, self-starter, etc. I'm not exaggerating because we're friends), hubby gave her a call and hired her the very next week. Boss got very miffed at this and has sulked about it ever since.

(I'm finally getting to the unethical behavior, i promise). I found out today that, after she quit, boss told her that she could not have any contact with members of our office. I can understand not gabbing with her on the phone or writing emails back and forth all day, but he can't actually DO this, right? He can't tell me who I can and cannot talk to out of work hours.

This is the sixth or seventh time I've caught him in a lie to the staff, discrimination of some sort towards a staff member, or general unethical behavior. I don't know what to do. Please don't suggest I quit my job--just can't.

I've started keeping a journal of things that have happened, just to protect myself, but is there something else I should be doing? I work for a state agency, is there some recourse that will allow me to bring these things up without either getting fired or having to, from that point on, work in a hostile environment?

How many people are involved in building the Shuttle?

np312 — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:58:42 -0800

About how many people, including contractors and their employees, are involved in building the space shuttle? I'm trying to find the largest number possible of people employed in the building of the shuttle. I'm not just talking relevant NASA employees but anyone, including office managers and even truck drivers in Louisiana, who are in some way working to help build the shuttle. (It's okay if they have other job duties too, like working on Mars rovers or whatever, but they have to somehow be involved in the Shuttle program or its engineering.)

I know this is kind of an impossible question because there are so many different companies involved around the country (like Morton Thiokol, United Space Boosters, Martin Marietta, etc) that create shuttle parts, handle avionics, etc but I'm still hoping to find some data to point me to a ballpark estimate.

Thank you!

How to deal with nattering nabobs of negativity?

Joey Michaels — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:23:31 -0800

How do I reverse the negative attitudes of my employees? I am a fairly new manager. I was promoted to this position from within my current company.

I've been charged with developing a 3-5 year plan for my department. Having been in the position of my current employees, I know it is important to them that they have a say in the direction the department is going to take.

Today, at a department meeting, I asked "where would you like to see our department in 3-5 years."

My more experienced employees proceeded to share all the reasons that we'll never be able to do anything because we don't have the resources or support.

I stressed that I would like to fight to get more resources and support, but in order to get that, I needed to be able to go to upper management and say "we need more resources and support so that we can achieve these specific goals." I asked what those goals should be.

The same experienced employees then repeated all the reasons why we'd never be able to do anything, though they added that they'd discussed all the things they wanted to accomplish before and didn't want to discuss them again because nothing ever came of it and it was a waste of time.

I said that they may have discussed this all before, but I had never heard these discussions. I pressed them to share with me some of the goals they've previously pursued that they didn't get to achieve.

They asked the former leader of the department, who now works under me, to just give me some of the documents they worked on. They continued to repeat the reasons why this was a pointless exercise.

After the meeting, the two newest employees came over to me and shared some great ideas about where they'd like to see the program in 3-5 years. They are excellent goals that we can achieve.

I knew coming into this position that employee morale was a major issue. In my first year on the job, we accomplished a bunch of things that they didn't think were possible. Despite this, it seems like the years of disappointment they experienced under the previous manager may be insurmountable. I hope not, though, because I see great potential for our department's future.

What are some things I can do to reverse these negative attitudes?

What form of advertising should I use?

thegmann — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 18:39:58 -0800

I am 19 and starting a small IT business in orange county, CA. I have 3 medium size clients that use me regularly, and I've taken on my first employee part time recently. But I just had my first month where no one needed IT work done, because I'm too good of a job! And this indicates to me that I need to do some proactive advertising. What is the best method of advertising to get my company's name out there? I've thought of doing door-to-door soliciting, or even hiring someone to do it for me. I go to school mondays and wednesdays, so most of my available working time is taken up by administrative work and actual IT work, since I only have 1 part time employee. To justify a second or full time employee I would also need more clients. My main IT focus is offering all you can eat tech support at a fixed monthly cost, but we do still do hourly work for smaller clients who don't use us as often. I have also considered hiring a salesman who is paid mostly on commission, any thoughts? My current amount I can spend on any kind of ad campaign is limited to about $2000.

How can I find out the intellectual manpower of the U.S. Department of State?

kittyprecious — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 05:17:51 -0800

How can I find out the intellectual manpower of the U.S. Department of State? I'm starting a research project looking at the U.S. Government's relative priorities in the international arena. Specifically, I want to know how many analysts/specialists there are in each major branch (political, economic, security, diplomacy/cultural affairs, etc.) of State's operations. I don't need to know who or where they are or what particular issues they're following, so I can't imagine this even touches on being sensitive or FOIA-related information.

The website doesn't seem to have any employment figures, though, and the main contacts listed on the Public Affairs page are an email address that probably goes down the rabbit hole and a telephone number that goes to an answering machine. Our good friend Wikipedia has only the Department's total number of employees (~30,000) listed. Help?

Wanted: gift ideas for employees

cyniczny — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 22:01:11 -0800

What should I buy my employees for Christmas? I manage twelve people, all women, with ages ranging from 20 to mid-60's. This is my first Christmas as their manager and I would like to buy them all something. I don't want to purchase individualized gifts, because half of them have been with me less than 6 months, so I don't know them well enough for that. However, this is coming out of my own pocket and I want it to have some thought and care put into it, but can't seem to think of anything unique.

I've purchased a lot of small gifts used as motivation (sales environment) and would like to stay away from the same types. Some items I've used in the past are: Starbucks cards, movie tickets, Bath & Body Works lotions, etc. Items I can't/don't want to give: alcohol, time off, money, lottery tickets, food. Items previous managers have given: desk clock, hand-made Christmas ornament. My price range is under $20 per employee.

Any suggestions for such a wide range of people and so many limitations? I'm truly stumped.

alternative to stamps.com

craniac — Mon, 18 Apr 2005 19:14:51 -0800

Is there any online postage-printing site that doesn't require a monthly fee? I mail books periodically and I'm at least 15 miles from the post office. Thanks to the Unabomber I can't just slap stamps on a package and leave it for my carrier or it gets returned. Instead I have to go deal with our understaffed local postoffice. I've seen automatic postal kiosks, but not in our neighborhood. Stamps.com will work, as will any service that attaches an identifying number to the postage, the assumption being that people who mail deadly stuff would never think to hide their identity.

Web-based Scheduling Solutions

mert — Wed, 21 Apr 2004 10:35:19 -0800

Any suggestions for a web-based employee scheduling solution that allows people to submit vacation requests and personal preferences? (more inside) I'm unfortunately in charge of scheduling 70 emergency physicians at 3 different sites. Currently everyone submits their personal preferences by paper (vacation time, needed days off, recurrent weekly meetings, etc), and then I manually enter these requests into a program that is supposed to generate a schedule. Our needs have proven too complicated for this program (it's a commercially available $10,000 piece of software called Tangier) so I end up doing all the scheduling by hand. Which sucks.

My hope is that I could at least find or develop some way for people to enter their requests to some web based system that will automatically keep track of how many people are going to be away at a conference or on a particular holiday so we aren't faced with the problem of everyone being gone at once... which happens occasionally because it's incredibly cumbersome to make sense of all the information. Frequently, I dont know until the schedule is almost complete whether we're going to have gaps... then I have to call people based on their seniority in the department and tell them they cant go on the trip to which they've already purchased tickets, for instance. It seems more equitable to make this determination based on when they submit their requests.

Anyway, lots of information. Any help would be appreciated.

Help with small business tech resources

skallas — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 21:42:28 -0800

Can someone recommend a book or a resource for the small business owner, especially in regards to tech/eCommerce? Not a tech book, but something that can clue me in to 'businessy' stuff like advertising, accounting, employee issues, etc? There's *a lot* of stuff at amazon and at my library. A few recommendations would really be appreciated.

I am signing an NDA what to look out for

maurice — Fri, 23 Jan 2004 11:07:08 -0800

My employer is going to be asking me to sign a new NDA in the near future. The original NDA that I signed nine years ago has a lot of holes. Anything in particular I should look out for in the new NDA? Should I be concerned about it at all? (Yeah, I know YANAL.)