The OperationsInc Navigator
September 23, 2008

Greetings!

The Navigator is published every other week and is filled with the latest HR related news, practical tips, answers to our reader's questions and a whole lot more! We welcome your participation in the makeup of this periodical. Send your feedback, ideas and input to:

enewsletter@operationsinc.com

In This Week's Edition...
  • Directing you to HR Solutions
  • Are You Encouraged to Take Risks?
  • Tuesday Ranked Most Productive Day of Week
  • What's on Your Mind?
  • Searching for Inspiration? A Few Words of Wisdom...
  • Ask Yourself...
  • Legal Disclaimer

  • Are You Encouraged to Take Risks?
    Risks

    A recent study revealed that 41% of managers encourage employees to look for new solutions or take risks. Among those employees, 50% receive praise when things work out well while 9% receive criticism for their efforts. Other findings indicated that women report being asked to take risks less often than men and 35-45 year-old staff members reported being encouraged to gamble more often than younger or older colleagues.


    Tuesday Ranked Most Productive Day of Week
    calendar

    A recent study indicated that 57% of Executives report Tuesday as the most productive day of the week for employees. Monday was the second most popular answer. In terms of which days of the week were ranked as most productive, responses were as follows:

    • Monday (12%)
    • Tuesday (57%)
    • Wednesday (11%)
    • Thursday (11%)
    • Friday (3%)


    What's on Your Mind?

    Because we want to best serve our readers, we feature a segment of our Newsletter where you can submit questions directly to our OperationsInc professionals. Do you have a question related to the management of the Human Resources function? Email it along to enewsletter@operationsinc.com. The best ones will make it into a future newsletter, along with the answer... and those that don't get published will still receive a response.

    This week's question:
    "Can an employee be dismissed for refusing a transfer?"

    --- Office Manager, Retail

    Answer:
    In short not easily --- but yes. Many factors play a role here and the bottom line is that you are going to need professional advice before making such a decision. That being said you need to show that the role as it presently is defined is no longer going to exist or has changed to the point where the employee no longer is qualified to perform the role. Transfer has many meanings as well. Transfer to another shift, another location, another department, etc. Each have nuances in that your burden to justify dismissal will vary. For example a transfer to another shift may need to be supported by a loss of workload on their present shift + an increase of work on the shift to which they are to be transferred + no other reasonable options (e.g. transfer someone else). Bottom line - dismissal in these cases is very tricky.


    Searching for Inspiration? A Few Words of Wisdom...
    compass


    "Time is like money, the less we have of it to spare the further we make it go."

    - Josh Billings


    Ask Yourself...

    How Strong Is Your HR Backbone?


    Legal Disclaimer

    Information provided in The OperationsInc Navigator is researched and reviewed by the HR experts at OperationsInc. The information in every issue of The OperationsInc Navigator is in part gathered via information available in the public domain, as well as in part the original, copyrighted work of OperationsInc and is protected under U.S. copyright laws. As such, you may not reprint or publish in any format any article or portion of article The OperationsInc Navigator without the express permission of OperationsInc.

    OperationsInc provides the information in this e- newsletter for general guidance only. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional human resources, legal, or other competent advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional adviser who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation.

    We encourage you to pass along any issue of The OperationsInc Navigator by forwarding it to friends and colleagues.


    Directing you to HR Solutions
    Direction

    INTERVIEW QUESTION OF THE WEEK

    Each Newsletter we will publish an interview question which hiring managers can utilize to better qualify candidates for hire, along with our analysis of the answers you may receive and their meaning.

    This Week's Question
    --Describe your most recent group effort

    GAUGING THEIR RESPONSE ---
    Teamwork is more and more becoming the focus of many businesses. As the population within the workplace shrinks due to economic pressures, it becomes more imperative that your employees work together to divide and conquer. Therefore you need to challenge your candidates for hire on their experiences to date in working in a team environment. Do they play nice? Are they a follower or a leader? Can they find a middle ground when challenged? All these qualities are critical in the success of a business that relies on group efforts --- so ask away.

    HR Best Practices Tips

    --Things to Consider When Hiring a Recent College Grad
    When hiring someone straight out of college we tend to forget how green and inexperienced students can be when it comes to the inner workings of a business. To this end you need to consider how you are going to educate, orient and nurture a recent grad hire in addition to how you are going to integrate them into your workplace in order to secure productive behavior from them. Some formal buddying or mentoring goes a long way. Pairing up the new hire with someone a bit more experienced, but ideally close to their age, can help ease the transition. Overall just be aware and be prepared for some bumps in the road.

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