Author: Sheri Mazurek

If you are working in HR, you should already know that talent management is critical to organizational success. You can find the research to support it and if you want you can read 1000 different books that will confirm it and show how to do it the right way. So why do so many of us still get it wrong? Why is it hard to create, roll out and execute the strategies we know will work?

We already know that most employees hate the performance review process. The managers hate it, the employees hate it; even HR hates it. And we also know that people tend to put off things they hate. It is easy to find a million other things to do than fill out that impossible form and have a meeting with an employee. So what do we do? We improve the forms. We find new technology that takes the forms to a cool online format. Even in the coolest online format, the form is still the form.

And people still hate the process (maybe a little less, but they still hate the process.) Performance and talent management shouldn’t be about the forms. It has to be about the conversation. The daily support and feedback given just at the right times to drive performance makes the system successful. People want to be successful. They want to do a good job. And they want a leader that supports them in that endeavor. They want the conversation, support and feedback. And they don’t want it all delivered in the same way. Sometimes support means you get out of the way and let them perform.

If you want to improve your performance management system, don’t start with the forms.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz

This is the first in a new series called tips and tricks. Supervising others is one of the most difficult jobs one can have; it is also one of the most important. Below is a list of tips for supervising others that I picked up along my career path. What can you add?

☺ Give Positive recognition immediately

☺ Meet individually with your employees to discuss their career goals and identify the skills they need to achieve these goals

☺ Evaluate yourself; ask “What do people have to do to get positive feedback from me?”

☺ Give immediate feedback on poor performance. Silence is acceptance.

☺ Maintain a development file on every employee. Track progress through out the year

☺ Focus feedback on behavior. Be more descriptive and less evaluative in your feedback.

☺ Recognize development efforts, not just results.

☺ Help your employees build their skills by having each employee work on improving one development need at a time. Be specific about the steps he or she can take to meet his or her goals.

☺ Identify your replacement and develop them to do your job. If you don’t have a replacement, hire one.

☺ Rotate people through key positions to develop their skill set

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz

Please enjoy this guest post from Dominique Molina.

When your business grows to the point where you need to start hiring people to work for you, you know you’re doing well. It means you’re growing, and it’s a big step forward in terms of just how successful your business can be. It also means you need to spend some time figuring out exactly what those employees are going to do, and how they’re going to do it. Do you need part-time employees? Full-time? Do you need occasional help? How you answer those questions will help determine how those employees are classified.
Employee or contractor?
Everyone who works for you is going to fall into one of two classifications: employee or contractor. The first thing you need to determine when hiring a worker is whether the individual is an employee or contractor.
The IRS looks at three specific areas to determine whether a person is your employee or whether they’re a contractor:

• Behavioral issues. This has to do with who makes the decisions about how, where, and when a worker performs a task. If you specify exactly what is to be done, when, and where, and you even go so far as to specify which tools that the worker has to use to do so, you’re more in employee territory than you are in contractor territory.

• Financial issues. How finances are taken care of during the course of business matters, as well. For example, a significant financial investment required by the worker puts them more in the contractor category. Whether payment for services is guaranteed, or whether pay is on an hourly or flat basis matters, too. Even the question of whether the worker has the opportunity for financial profit or loss during the endeavor factors in here. The more financial responsibility that rests on the worker, the more likely they should be classified as a contractor.

• Relationship. Your intent, as well as the worker’s intent, matters too. Things like written contracts, whether you’re paying for benefits like vacation time or a retirement plan, your terms for discharging or terminating the worker, and whether the work that the worker does is integral to your business all determine the relationship. Someone who does a job that can’t be done by others that’s business-critical is probably an employee, as is someone to whom you pay for sick days.

As you can see, it’s not always cut and dried. While there are some obvious types of workers that are employees, for some it’s more nebulous.

Which is better?
From a financial perspective, it’s usually better for a business to classify workers as independent contractors whenever possible. That’s because there are many rules and regulations that apply to employees that don’t apply to independent contractors. For example, with employees you have to:

• Withhold payroll and federal income taxes.
• Pay your share of the employee’s FICA taxes.
• Pay the employee’s FUTA tax.
• Provide benefits as required by law, such as overtime pay or even health insurance.
• Meet any state requirements for employees, such as withholding state taxes.

These are things that you don’t have to hassle with for independent contractors.

The penalty for misclassification
If you classify one of your employees as a contractor without a verifiable and reasonable basic, you can be looking at a number of penalties. You can be liable for the worker’s employment taxes, as well as uncollected Social Security and Medicate Tax. This can create a bit of a tax nightmare, leaving you with a significant tax burden that can be very difficult to pay. On top of that, you’ll likely be looking at penalties and fees.

What to do when it’s not entirely clear
If you have some doubt about how to classify a particular worker, you should most certainly talk to your tax advisor. They can help you make sure you get it right.
Beyond that, you can also work together with the worker to determine their classification. If the worker is amenable, you can develop a contract that explicitly addresses some of those three categories of evidence. That will certainly help you build your case, should the worker’s classification ever be challenged.
Finally, you can fill out the SS-8 form. This form is sent to the IRS, who will then review your worker’s circumstances and determine whether or not they can be classified as a contractor or must be classified as an employee. It does take about six months to get a determination.
Getting your employees correctly classified can have an impact on your bottom line, as well as your tax burden. Do it right the first time.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Author bio

Dominique Molina is President of the CertifiedTaxCoach.org, a professional organization that helps tax professionals deliver thousands in tax savings to their clients. Dominique has compiled many resources for members, including powerful accounting templates, a tax-specific engagement letter template, and the most comprehensive tax training in the industry.

During the past twenty years, the landscape of communication has changed. It seems that everyone has a cell phone and a portable internet-enabled device. These devices have been great business tools that have allowed us to get answers quicker and keep informed of important events and news. They have also facilitated the globalization of business and helped us keep track of kids. There are many positive things that have resulted in development of these products.

However, It also seems that it is difficult for many people to go one minute disconnected from their network of friends and colleagues. I witness this in every place from the board room to the church pew. And in this world where we can be reached anywhere via phone, or text, or email we can actually work longer hours and spend more time attending to the needs of our business. But in doing so, are we actually doing what is best for the business?

Having the ability to talk to anyone at almost any time from anywhere gives us little time to think and reflect. In addition to taking this time away from us, technology has hampered natural succession planning in organizations. Before some of these constant communication devices were available, leaders took time to choose someone else to “be in charge” while they were out of the office. Their made their choices wisely and based on skill. They took time to develop them to make good decisions and handle a number of issues so that the business would run well in their absence.

Upon their return, they were able to quickly identify the employee’s strengths and further opportunities for development because the employee was given an opportunity to do the job without restraints. They were forced to make the decisions and handle whatever came up. There is no better learning for adults than that experience. However, today we spend thousands of dollars on trying to create perfect simulations so that employees can learn how to handle real scenarios. We also complain that we have a talent shortage. I would guess there are many worries in organizations today about what they will do if x employee leaves.

My advice, let x employee take a vacation without his blackberry and see what happens. Remember the best way to learn is experience.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz

A HR Fable.

You get a resignation notice from a top performing manager. You weren’t prepared. You have been talking about succession planning, but other priorities got in the way. Now you have the notice. So what do you? This is an important role and will be key to the future success of the company. Knowing the spot can’t go vacant, you take a look at the team and offer the position to the top performer. The top performer tells you he’s not ready. You know that he will be fine. You tell him that, hand him a set of keys and get busy on those other priorities.

A couple weeks later, the newly minted manager calls you. He has an issue. Actually, he has a couple issues. As you listen, you can’t help thinking to yourself, “why would he do that?” Instead of asking him, you tell him how to handle the situation. You even complete all the necessary paperwork for him and have it ready. You tell him that you will sit in on the conversation he needs to have with his employees if he wants. He says he’s not ready to do this on his own, so you take over and have the conversations. You already did the paperwork, so you might as well.

A few months later, you get another notice. This time it was from the top performer you just promoted. You think to yourself, “I need to get to that succession plan.”

There are so many lessons one can take from this scenario. Here are just a few.

• You can’t predict every turnover situation. You will get surprised. Life happens and people leave for a number of reasons. Be prepared.
• The best individual contributors aren’t always the best solution to an opening. They don’t always make the best managers. Build the model. Whether it’s a competency model or other model, you have to know what skills, knowledge and attitudes are necessary to succeed in key roles. Develop those skills in your high potential employees. (Oh and make sure you have a way to identify high potentials)
• Make sure the employee wants the job. If they think they aren’t ready, they might not be ready. If you think they are ready, help them find their confidence.
• Have a plan for those who are newly in positions. Have a mentor or a coach available to them. And don’t do for them what they need to do for themselves. Guide them. Coach them.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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I have had skin issues for a while. Since my symptoms have progressively gotten worse, I decided to finally see a dermatologist. The first question he asked was what type of products I use on my face. I was slightly annoyed by his response when I told him I only use this expensive department store brand especially for problem skin. He seemed to think that this may be partly to blame for my issues. I immediately thought that he didn’t know what he walking about, but agreed to stop using it. So over the next few months, I continued to visit the doctor and tried some of the medications he suggested. I wasn’t getting the results I wanted so I assumed I made a bad choice in doctors and vowed to never see him again.

A few months later as I was looking in the mirror, I realized that my skin seemed better that day. In fact, it was almost clear. And even as I stood there with the evidence right in front of me, I wasn’t connecting the dots. I wasn’t making a connection. As I reached for my make-up, it hit me. I never stopped using the make-up I had used for the past twelve years. I had changed everything else I put on my face, but I was still using the same make-up. What if it was the make-up that was causing my condition? I hadn’t even considered it since the product I was using was specifically designed for my condition. But here it was, the evidence right in front of me. I realized that in the previous two days, I hadn’t worn any make-up. And now my face was clear (well, almost clear).

I thought that I had followed all the directions from the doctor even if it was reluctantly; however, I hadn’t. I missed that one crucial step. My reaction to him was that he didn’t know what he was talking about. When all that time, it was me. I didn’t follow all the directions.

How often does this happen in your workplace? How often do we seek advice from the experts, then discount it and blame them for their crappy advice?

Next time you seek advice, follow it. All of it. Be open and let go of your deeply held beliefs of how it is supposed to be.

And remember when giving advice, people don’t argue with their own evidence. Help them discover it on their own and you will help them change.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz.