Every business with employees should have a company policy statement in the beginning of their procedures manual or handbook with the following entries.
1) Mission Statement:
A mission statement defines your company of who you are, what goals you aim to achieve, the quality of your business & what will drive the company to be profitable.
2) Equal Employment:
It is the policy that an employee's religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, race, creed, color, age, marital, pregnancy or parental status, disability or veteran's status will not influence hiring, promoting, pay or any other term or condition of employment. We are an equal opportunity employer.
3)"At Will" Employment:
You have the right to manage your business, shifts, days of work, hours of work in the best interest of the company. By abiding all applicable prevailing labor laws and requirements, "At will" means that either your company or employee may terminate employment at any time, for any reason, with or without cause or notice.
It is important to include these policies in the beginning pages when preparing your company policies handbook.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
The Manager - Foreman
Karl, has worked in the construction field since he graduated from High School. He's very knowledgeable and experienced. He started as a laborer, then became a heavy equipment operator and now is a Foreman. He has worked on many building projects in his community from subdivisions, highways to shopping centers and other commercial buildings, etc. His greatest joy is to see the project from start to finish.
It was the start of a new week and there were deadlines to meet so the company could get paid. Karl had trucks hauling in fill, machine operators excavating, laborers laying pipes & drains, cement trucks scheduled to lay foundations later in the week and the work was on schedule except for a few minor things, when Karl was interrupted and asked to go back to the base yard and meet with the owner. When he got to the office, he was instructed to hold a meeting with the workers at the end of the week and was told to lay them all off. The company fell back on paying their taxes and lost their contractor license. The owner, a lavish spender blamed Karl for hiring extra laborers. He blamed the accountant for not making the payments. He also blamed his general manager for not working. The office manager spoke up to him questioning his spendings on why he was using the company bank card in Korean bars, to travel, and giving thousands of dollars to impress beautiful women who had no interest in him. The owner stared down the office manager and did not say a word. She stared back.
Karl, the wise man that he is saw the wives and children of his workers and started to cry inside. His simple answer; "No, we are going to finish this project." He walked out the door & went back to work not knowing what was going to happen on Friday. For the rest of the week he continued to stay on schedule with the project and in between would call the general manager on his cell phone. They both worked together trying to find ways to keep the workers working and the project. Karl and the GM was determined not to have any one take this project away from them. On Friday morning, Karl and the GM went to the tax office and tried to work out a payment plan. They were rejected. The lunch hour arrived faster than they wanted it to. Karl, exhausted, did not want to tell the workers that there was no work on Monday.
Then the GM said, "I have a friend with a contractors license. I don't know if he will want to help us." Karl, being older than the GM said encouragingly, "Our men have families to support. Please call your friend and ask him to help us." Karl went back to work. He did not call the meeting after lunch as was instructed to. He continued laboring with the workers. The harmony and momentum amongst them tortured him. It was 3:30pm and still no phone call from the GM. The workers all shook hands and waved to each other bidding them a good weekend and then to Karl. He handed out their paychecks, tipped his hard hat to each one and thanked them for their hard work and bid them a good weekend. It was a rough weekend for Karl. His wife wondered what was wrong? He was not himself at all. The GM did not respond to any of his messages.
Finally, Sunday evening at 6:00pm his cell phone rang. "Karl, we still have the project. But, in order for us to continue on this project, we all need to be working under Wayne's payroll and Karl, you are still the foreman. Wayne & I visited the project this weekend and he reviewed our work, schedules, items and will not make any changes. You will continue to see the project through until it is completed. If this project goes well and is completed as scheduled, Wayne would like us to work on the new airport project that's coming up."
It was the start of a new week and there were deadlines to meet so the company could get paid. Karl had trucks hauling in fill, machine operators excavating, laborers laying pipes & drains, cement trucks scheduled to lay foundations later in the week and the work was on schedule except for a few minor things, when Karl was interrupted and asked to go back to the base yard and meet with the owner. When he got to the office, he was instructed to hold a meeting with the workers at the end of the week and was told to lay them all off. The company fell back on paying their taxes and lost their contractor license. The owner, a lavish spender blamed Karl for hiring extra laborers. He blamed the accountant for not making the payments. He also blamed his general manager for not working. The office manager spoke up to him questioning his spendings on why he was using the company bank card in Korean bars, to travel, and giving thousands of dollars to impress beautiful women who had no interest in him. The owner stared down the office manager and did not say a word. She stared back.
Karl, the wise man that he is saw the wives and children of his workers and started to cry inside. His simple answer; "No, we are going to finish this project." He walked out the door & went back to work not knowing what was going to happen on Friday. For the rest of the week he continued to stay on schedule with the project and in between would call the general manager on his cell phone. They both worked together trying to find ways to keep the workers working and the project. Karl and the GM was determined not to have any one take this project away from them. On Friday morning, Karl and the GM went to the tax office and tried to work out a payment plan. They were rejected. The lunch hour arrived faster than they wanted it to. Karl, exhausted, did not want to tell the workers that there was no work on Monday.
Then the GM said, "I have a friend with a contractors license. I don't know if he will want to help us." Karl, being older than the GM said encouragingly, "Our men have families to support. Please call your friend and ask him to help us." Karl went back to work. He did not call the meeting after lunch as was instructed to. He continued laboring with the workers. The harmony and momentum amongst them tortured him. It was 3:30pm and still no phone call from the GM. The workers all shook hands and waved to each other bidding them a good weekend and then to Karl. He handed out their paychecks, tipped his hard hat to each one and thanked them for their hard work and bid them a good weekend. It was a rough weekend for Karl. His wife wondered what was wrong? He was not himself at all. The GM did not respond to any of his messages.
Finally, Sunday evening at 6:00pm his cell phone rang. "Karl, we still have the project. But, in order for us to continue on this project, we all need to be working under Wayne's payroll and Karl, you are still the foreman. Wayne & I visited the project this weekend and he reviewed our work, schedules, items and will not make any changes. You will continue to see the project through until it is completed. If this project goes well and is completed as scheduled, Wayne would like us to work on the new airport project that's coming up."
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The Manager - New Kid on the Block
RECENTLY, a team member was promoted to the manager position due to her honesty & experience. The management team did not accept her and therefore gave her a hard time. They ridiculed her work, would not team play with her, and did not assist to train her as were instructed to by the corporate office. They even went as far as turning all the team members against her.
THE MANAGER soon became aware of her surroundings. Can you imagine how she felt coming in to work everyday? Yes, those feelings were real. But, the minute she stepped over the threshold to the entrance of her work place, all sad & hurt feelings would disappear. Her eyes lit and soon the positive energy would flow in and through her like electricity. Her smile would light up the work place. It just came natural. She would immediately greet the customers and then call her team members by name, greeting them individually. "Good morning Debbie!" "Hi John." "Hello Jane, how are you today?"
This is the way her work day starts to finish. Sometimes, we cannot change or control our surroundings. But, we can choose to be otherwise. Successful women, do not waste their time on drama. Insecurity does not cause the new manager to fail. She comes to work with a positive attitude. Today she chooses to help her company be successful.
THE MANAGER soon became aware of her surroundings. Can you imagine how she felt coming in to work everyday? Yes, those feelings were real. But, the minute she stepped over the threshold to the entrance of her work place, all sad & hurt feelings would disappear. Her eyes lit and soon the positive energy would flow in and through her like electricity. Her smile would light up the work place. It just came natural. She would immediately greet the customers and then call her team members by name, greeting them individually. "Good morning Debbie!" "Hi John." "Hello Jane, how are you today?"
This is the way her work day starts to finish. Sometimes, we cannot change or control our surroundings. But, we can choose to be otherwise. Successful women, do not waste their time on drama. Insecurity does not cause the new manager to fail. She comes to work with a positive attitude. Today she chooses to help her company be successful.
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