• Allowing employees to work some (or more) hours from home. Telecommuting is ideal for those seasoned employees with high motivation, self-discipline and independence. Employee loyalty and productivity may be enhanced in telecommuting situations because it sends a positive message to the employee that they are trusted. However companies must have mechanisms in place to measure the performance of telecommuting workers.
• Allowing employees to work more hours on certain days and fewer on others, in fixed or variable schedules.
• Allowing employees to work compressed workweeks. For example, you could allow these employees to work extended hours Monday - Thursday so they can take each Friday off.
• Allow two employees in the same job to job-share one FTE (full-time equivalent). This is great way to recognize the employee's personal needs and bring diversity of experience to one position. Generally, part-time employees reduce benefit costs and accommodating those experienced employees who WANT to reduce their hours is great way to save money and retain talent that may otherwise retire or leave the company.
• Career development will help ease employee frustration with performing the same job over and over. If a company can structure career-planning programs, including skill training and job rotation, assignments could be more interesting to many employees. Providing employees with the opportunity to learn new technologies and techniques and perform new duties can help keep valuable staff interested in their work. Providing employees with opportunity and recognition of accomplishments can be a much more worthwhile incentive than any financial incentives a company may offer.
• Early retirement incentive programs, with an option for the employee to be re-hired on a casual or part-time basis can help retain older, more experience staff. The company benefits because it still has access to their knowledge and experience, saving the company training costs and production losses due to other employees using sick and vacation time. If an employee can draw a full company pension and work casual or part-time, he/she has the opportunity to supplement their income and remain in touch with co-workers.

In all cases the programs must be structured to allow the company to meet it's business objectives.

• Compliance to such conduct is explicit or implicit as a term or condition of an employee's employment.
• An employment decision is based on an employee's acceptance or rejection of such conduct.
• Such conduct interferes with an employee's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive workplace environment.

In order to prevent it, the company must develop a Sexual Harassment Policy. A clear, concise sexual harassment policy forms the basis for an effective prevention program. The policy should include the following:

• Clearly define sexual harassment and clearly state the company's view of sexual harassment and it's intention to eliminate all forms of sexual harassment.
• Provide a detailed list of examples of prohibited conduct.
• Outline in detail the process employees must use to file a complaint of harassment. Many organizations provide an informal and formal process. The goal of an informal process is to resolve minor offenses or misunderstandings. This allows employees to resolve issues quickly and minimize feelings of resentment, humiliation and retaliation. The complaint procedure encourages victims of harassment to come forward. The company's procedures should therefore be so specific that employees know who to contact and what to expect during the process.
• Clearly outline the responsibilities of all employees, especially management. Clearly state that managers are responsible for minimizing incidences of sexual harassment
• Clearly state what action the company will take if a determination of workplace harassment is made after an investigation. If the company wants to have varying levels of action taken, the criteria used to determine the level of action taken must also be detailed. The company should also make an appeal procedure available to both the accuser and the accused, and this process must be clearly written.
• Provide periodic education and awareness programs that emphasize the company's recognition and concern for the seriousness of the issue. Education must include outlining what constitutes sexual harassment and emphasizing that it will not be tolerated in the workplace. Make sure all employees at all levels in the organization know the policy and their obligations under the policy. Victims must be encouraged to come forward.

• Point Factor System - Jobs are evaluated based on the skills/knowledge/responsibilities demanded by each job. Points are assigned to skills/knowledge/responsibilities for each job. Points allocated for each criterion for each job are totaled and a job hierarchy is developed based on number of points per position. Pay levels are then based on each job's ranking.
• Market Pricing - Pay levels for each job are determined by survey data from the market (the market is the competition) where the company's jobs have an equivalent job in the market.
• Broadbanding - The salary structure consists of "bands" where each band represents a range of points and/or a salary range that is allocated to a job. Jobs are slotted into the bands based either on points (point factor) or by pay levels (market pricing).

Create Job Descriptions
Describe the "job content " as it currently exists through the job responsibilities, reporting relationships, knowledge, skills and abilities required to perform the job.

Develop Salary/Point Structures
Done by creating pay grades or pay bands. Each grade or band contains a minimum, midpoint and maximum salary and/or point value.

Assign Grade Levels
Utilizing the chosen system of job evaluation, assign a pay grade to each job description based on the either the external market, internal relativity or a combination of both (this is determined by your compensation philosophy).

Develop a System Merit Increases
Create guidelines and procedures for merit increases based on pay-for-performance criteria. An analysis of your external market may be required. Again, the decision to consider the market when developing a pay-for- performance system is dictated by the compensation philosophy.

Salary Administration Policy & Procedures
Develop a company salary administration policy that incorporates the company compensation philosophy and objectives, the job evaluation method, the pay-for-performance system and the general policy and procedures used to administer salaries.

Administration of the salary administration system requires the following:

• Current Job Descriptions that reflect current reporting relationships and job content.
• Annual review of the pay grades to ensure they "make sense" given the external market and general economic trends (i.e. inflation).
• Annual adjustment of the pay grades based on market and economic trends when applicable.
• Annual completion of performance evaluations in order to document performance and determine the amount of salary increases under the terms of the Policy

Contact Absolute HR Solutions for additional information about the services we provide in this area:

• Job description writing
• Job description evaluation

• Remain objective by addressing only the situation, issue or behavior, not the person, their personality or other characteristics relating to the individual. Take the time to step back an analyze the situation, identify the behavior behind the problem, and then remain objective and focus on the situation and behavior. Never immediately react to a situation, it is far too easy to become emotional and turn a bad situation worse.
• Always provide the employee the opportunity to give their view of the situation, and where appropriate, involve them in arriving at the solution. Asking one or more questions that lead the employee to an acceptable solution and conclusion is an excellent way to resolve what might otherwise be a difficult or awkward situation. Practice this technique at first with less complex issues and problems, and focus on the use of open-ended questions rather than accusatory questions that lay blame or otherwise undermine the employee’s ability to respond and contribute to resolving the situation.
• Ensure that both the employee and yourself clearly understand the situation, and complete the resolution by communicating future expectations. If appropriate, be clear about the potential ramifications if the situation recurs, and discuss options to reduce or eliminate the likelihood of recurrence.
• Documentation is a critical component of every aspect of operating a business or organization, and readily applies to dealing with personnel issues as well. Document all conversations with the employee, along with their responses, agreed upon solutions and any related follow up. This provides a structured and consistent information source should the same or similar situation arise in the future, and in the event that more drastic action is required such as termination, demonstrates that the employer made a reasonable effort to resolve the situation.

• Acknowledge the seriousness and your approval of bringing the information to your attention.
• Outline the process for the complainant.
• OPTION: Depending on the complaint, you can base your decision to proceed on the complainant's desire to proceed. Otherwise, inform the complainant that you will investigate regardless of their desire to have you proceed.
• Ask the complainant to describe exactly what they witnessed and stress that all discussions are completely confidential.
• Ask the complainant to provide you with a written statement.
• Follow up with the complainant once the investigation is done.
• Document all your conversations - include names of those present and dates.

When talking with witnesses:

• Ask for specific information.
• Ask if the action/behavior being investigated has occurred in the past.
• Interview all possible witnesses and document all conversations.
• Investigate/visit the location of the incident if possible.
• Do not use employee names when talking with witnesses. Instead ask if the behavior in question was observed and by whom.
• Ask witnesses and the complainant for possible solutions.
• Consult with legal counsel if the behavior/action could be a violation of law.
• Follow up with all parties once the investigation is done.