Frequent readers of my blogs are aware that the Department of Labor recently issued new rules governing overtime that take effect December 1, 2016. Summer is flying by and by the time we get to Labor Day (September 5), you'll have less than 90 days to be compliant with these rules.
Here's a quick review. The salary test for most of the Fair Labor Standards Act exemptions has essentially doubled from $455 per week to $913 ($23,660 to $47,476 annually). This means unless your salaried employees spend most of their time in outside sales or meet one of the other rare exemptions, they are no longer eligible to be treated as exempt if their weekly salary is below $913 week, no matter what their duties are.
I've gotten quite a few calls asking for opinions about specific jobs in recent months, and have written a few opinion letters (each with the appropriate disclaimer that I am providing the opinion of an HR professional only and I am not an attorney nor pretending to be one). The interesting thing I find is that many of those jobs were improperly classified to begin with. They met the old salary test but failed the duties test.
It's the salary test that's been in the news this summer, but each job must also meet the standards of the duties test. And this seems to be the forgotten piece of the equation and has put many organizations at risk and they may not have known it.
So between now and December 1 make sure you've reviewed all the exempt positions in your organization to consider both the new salary test and the duties tests to make sure that you are compliant. That's the easy part. Converting everyone who needs to be reclassified to non-exempt - that's the hard part. So develop a strategy for what you're going to tell them and what is expected of them regarding the maintaining of time records, managing their hours, etc. going forward.
If you need some assistance from a third party to conduct the analysis or to communicate the message, feel free to call The Davidson Group.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
I've Told 'em a Thousand Times!
I was sitting in a conference room waiting on an executive meeting to get started when the CEO casually mentioned to a division manager that he'd noticed something at one of the jobs. The division manager said, I've told those guys a thousand times not to do that... The CEO replied, Have you ever actually done anything about it?
Company culture is 100% based on what behaviors the organization, through its leaders and its most engaged employees, rewards, condemns and condones. I once heard a speaker say that organizations will spit out a person who doesn't belong like sour milk. Management's challenge is to make sure that good workers are spitting out bad and not vice-versa!
If a company has built a solid safety culture, for example, it will self-police unsafe work practices. I was hanging lights in a warehouse facility when one of my co-workers climbed on a short stack of pallets. We hadn't really noticed any warehouse workers back there, but before he was able to stand up, there were five of that company's workers circling the pallets yelling at him to get down immediately and go get a ladder! In that organization, safe work practices were a way of life and anyone who risked their safety record, safety bonus, whatever, was held accountable and potentially spit out.
Contrast that with the culture at an organization that constantly struggles with its workers comp mod rate and can't seem to get its employees to wear their PPE. The owner at that organization probably tells his insurance company, I've told them a thousand times..
If there are no consequences to off-brand behavior (behavior you don't want) and no rewards for on-brand behavior (behavior you do want), then your culture is going to be what the front line workers want it be. Rewards can be tangible (cash, bonuses, gift cards, promotions, etc.) or they can be intangible (recognition, public or private words of thanks, pats on the back, etc.). Consequences can also be formal (write-ups, verbal warnings, etc.) or informal (the other workers get the bonuses, the preferred shifts, public recognition, etc.).
When I was an operations manager in a service industry, I knew that terminating a worker for consistently ignoring our standards would be inconvenient and I might end up having to run a route or cover a shift myself. But I was taught and have always believed that the decision to let that worker slide just so that I will not be inconvenienced is the fork in the trail that leads to mediocrity.
The real win occurs when your front line workers begin to self-police off-brand behaviors rather than waiting for management to do it. This happens when your organization has the right mix of rewards and consequences in place, the first and second tier leaders know you are committed to the brand, and build they their teams with people that are also committed to the brand. Do that and you'll find that you don't have to tell them a thousand times anymore.
Or, you could do try it the easy way and just say it for the one thousand and first time. Maybe if you say it a little louder this time.
Company culture is 100% based on what behaviors the organization, through its leaders and its most engaged employees, rewards, condemns and condones. I once heard a speaker say that organizations will spit out a person who doesn't belong like sour milk. Management's challenge is to make sure that good workers are spitting out bad and not vice-versa!
If a company has built a solid safety culture, for example, it will self-police unsafe work practices. I was hanging lights in a warehouse facility when one of my co-workers climbed on a short stack of pallets. We hadn't really noticed any warehouse workers back there, but before he was able to stand up, there were five of that company's workers circling the pallets yelling at him to get down immediately and go get a ladder! In that organization, safe work practices were a way of life and anyone who risked their safety record, safety bonus, whatever, was held accountable and potentially spit out.
Contrast that with the culture at an organization that constantly struggles with its workers comp mod rate and can't seem to get its employees to wear their PPE. The owner at that organization probably tells his insurance company, I've told them a thousand times..
If there are no consequences to off-brand behavior (behavior you don't want) and no rewards for on-brand behavior (behavior you do want), then your culture is going to be what the front line workers want it be. Rewards can be tangible (cash, bonuses, gift cards, promotions, etc.) or they can be intangible (recognition, public or private words of thanks, pats on the back, etc.). Consequences can also be formal (write-ups, verbal warnings, etc.) or informal (the other workers get the bonuses, the preferred shifts, public recognition, etc.).
When I was an operations manager in a service industry, I knew that terminating a worker for consistently ignoring our standards would be inconvenient and I might end up having to run a route or cover a shift myself. But I was taught and have always believed that the decision to let that worker slide just so that I will not be inconvenienced is the fork in the trail that leads to mediocrity.
The real win occurs when your front line workers begin to self-police off-brand behaviors rather than waiting for management to do it. This happens when your organization has the right mix of rewards and consequences in place, the first and second tier leaders know you are committed to the brand, and build they their teams with people that are also committed to the brand. Do that and you'll find that you don't have to tell them a thousand times anymore.
Or, you could do try it the easy way and just say it for the one thousand and first time. Maybe if you say it a little louder this time.
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