February 5, 2010 by Tim Gould
Supervisors beware: Here’s new evidence of how easy it is to run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) during the hiring process.
The case involves a temp worker for an Alabama electronics firm who applied for a permanent position with the company
As part of the pre-employment process, the applicant was required to take a drug test. The man suffered from epilepsy, which was controlled through a prescription for barbiturates.
Questionable questions
When his drug test came back positive for the drug, the man was called into his supervisor’s office. The applicant explained he had a doctor’s prescription for the barbiturates. The supervisor later sat in a room as a doctor asked the employee a series of questions about the medication and his condition.
After that discussion, the company canceled its job offer. The man sued, claiming the company violated the ADA during the testing process.
An appeals court agreed. Although employers have the right to ask questions about the results of a failed drug test, they’re prohibited from “targeted disability-related inquiries.” The doctor’s questions – posed in a situation where the supervisor could overhear the responses – violated that prohibition, the judge ruled.
Cite: Harrison v. Benchmark Electronics
Showing posts with label hiring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hiring. Show all posts
Friday, February 12, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Monday Mentor-Refresher 3-Correct Fit: The Beginning and The End
Correct Fit-The Beginning
The first interaction a leader has with a team member is during the hiring and recruiting process. Although usually brief, this first meeting needs to be used to assess the proper fit for a potential team member.
Traditionally, interviews were used to discuss qualifications, education and experience. All of those things have value but not nearly as much as fit and interpersonal skills. To drive this point home, look at your current problematic team members. The ones with two inch thick files. The ones that come off and on disciplinary action with regularity. The ones that constantly are causing trouble but avoid termination.
Now, as you look at those problematic team members, critically review why they are problematic. Is it because of a lack of technical skills, qualification and education or is it because of a lack of fit with the existing team or lack of interpersonal skills? Most managers and leaders agree it is because of the latter and not the former. Interpersonal skills and ability to fit with the existing team are far greater predictors of workplace success than technical ability or education.
Back to the interview. The leader’s job in the interview process is to determine if someone will fit properly with the existing group and in the culture built by the leader and team. This is most often discovered in situational questions about how a job candidate would respond and react to the common scenarios in your working environment. The leader can then compare the job candidate’s response to the desired outcome or how his or her team currently responds and reacts. This is also a great technique for behavioral interviewing.
The leader must also check and test a potential team member’s interpersonal skills. How they work with others. How they communicate. How they solve problems. How they handle adversity. How they operate under pressure and stress. What do terms like accountability and responsibility mean to them? These are the interpersonal skill check points that are so critical in the modern working environment.
The effective leader recruits team members based on interpersonal skills and fit and avoids the common over-emphasis on experience and education.
Correct Fit-The End
The most difficult role of coaching is ending someone’s employment on your team. Difficult but necessary.
In fact, many managers and supervisors make a far bigger mistake by extending employment longer than they should and providing way too many opportunities for improvement and change. This is not an invitation to be rash and take these decisions lightly, but the impact of not terminating a team member when required is far greater than terminating a team member too soon.
The Lakota Sioux tribes of the northern and western plains had a saying. They believed “when you encounter a dead horse, it is best to dismount.” Not comparing team members to dead horses but good leaders recognize when someone is not fitting or not performing pretty early in the team relationship. When the determination is made that the team member will not perform or will not fit after appropriate coaching and counseling, the leader must end their employment.
In the modern working dynamic, most firing decision require multiple levels of approval and many sets of documentation and hoops to jump through. One of the biggest leadership mistakes is to look at these obstacles as insurmountable. Some mangers and supervisors, when told to obtain additional documentation, simply give up and label the team member as fire-proof or protected. This mistake, although convenient at the time, will lead to greater performance and behavior problems with the entire team.
Dragging a termination decision or action too long sends a horrible message to other team members. Rewarding poor performance or behavior will tell the team that those actions work. As a leader, you will also be faced with people that dare you to fire them. Don’t back down. Do them the favor for which they are asking.
The first interaction a leader has with a team member is during the hiring and recruiting process. Although usually brief, this first meeting needs to be used to assess the proper fit for a potential team member.
Traditionally, interviews were used to discuss qualifications, education and experience. All of those things have value but not nearly as much as fit and interpersonal skills. To drive this point home, look at your current problematic team members. The ones with two inch thick files. The ones that come off and on disciplinary action with regularity. The ones that constantly are causing trouble but avoid termination.
Now, as you look at those problematic team members, critically review why they are problematic. Is it because of a lack of technical skills, qualification and education or is it because of a lack of fit with the existing team or lack of interpersonal skills? Most managers and leaders agree it is because of the latter and not the former. Interpersonal skills and ability to fit with the existing team are far greater predictors of workplace success than technical ability or education.
Back to the interview. The leader’s job in the interview process is to determine if someone will fit properly with the existing group and in the culture built by the leader and team. This is most often discovered in situational questions about how a job candidate would respond and react to the common scenarios in your working environment. The leader can then compare the job candidate’s response to the desired outcome or how his or her team currently responds and reacts. This is also a great technique for behavioral interviewing.
The leader must also check and test a potential team member’s interpersonal skills. How they work with others. How they communicate. How they solve problems. How they handle adversity. How they operate under pressure and stress. What do terms like accountability and responsibility mean to them? These are the interpersonal skill check points that are so critical in the modern working environment.
The effective leader recruits team members based on interpersonal skills and fit and avoids the common over-emphasis on experience and education.
Correct Fit-The End
The most difficult role of coaching is ending someone’s employment on your team. Difficult but necessary.
In fact, many managers and supervisors make a far bigger mistake by extending employment longer than they should and providing way too many opportunities for improvement and change. This is not an invitation to be rash and take these decisions lightly, but the impact of not terminating a team member when required is far greater than terminating a team member too soon.
The Lakota Sioux tribes of the northern and western plains had a saying. They believed “when you encounter a dead horse, it is best to dismount.” Not comparing team members to dead horses but good leaders recognize when someone is not fitting or not performing pretty early in the team relationship. When the determination is made that the team member will not perform or will not fit after appropriate coaching and counseling, the leader must end their employment.
In the modern working dynamic, most firing decision require multiple levels of approval and many sets of documentation and hoops to jump through. One of the biggest leadership mistakes is to look at these obstacles as insurmountable. Some mangers and supervisors, when told to obtain additional documentation, simply give up and label the team member as fire-proof or protected. This mistake, although convenient at the time, will lead to greater performance and behavior problems with the entire team.
Dragging a termination decision or action too long sends a horrible message to other team members. Rewarding poor performance or behavior will tell the team that those actions work. As a leader, you will also be faced with people that dare you to fire them. Don’t back down. Do them the favor for which they are asking.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Companies that Headhunters Avoid-Business Week
When Revlon (REV) hired Jack Stahl as CEO in 2002, the board thought he'd be a boss who could turn the cosmetics giant around. In his 22 years at Coca-Cola (KO), where he rose to president, the telegenic executive had become a darling of Wall Street for his financial savvy and operational discipline.
Stahl stumbled, however, when he left Coke. While he managed to pare down Revlon's heavy debt load, he lost millions on failed campaigns for new products, most notably an "age-defying" makeup line called Vital Radiance. Industry consultants say he relied too heavily on finance types who made basic marketing errors: The line was overpriced, curiously didn't incorporate the vaunted Revlon name, and used no-name models in its campaign. After four years of losses during which the stock lost roughly two-thirds of its value, Stahl left in 2006. "He didn't know what he didn't know," says Suzanne Grayson, a consultant who worked for Revlon in the 1960s and '70s. "He brought in statisticians instead of marketers, and the decisions they made were atrocious." Stahl and Revlon didn't respond to requests for comment.
Read the Entire Article: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_37/b4146042031508.htm
Stahl stumbled, however, when he left Coke. While he managed to pare down Revlon's heavy debt load, he lost millions on failed campaigns for new products, most notably an "age-defying" makeup line called Vital Radiance. Industry consultants say he relied too heavily on finance types who made basic marketing errors: The line was overpriced, curiously didn't incorporate the vaunted Revlon name, and used no-name models in its campaign. After four years of losses during which the stock lost roughly two-thirds of its value, Stahl left in 2006. "He didn't know what he didn't know," says Suzanne Grayson, a consultant who worked for Revlon in the 1960s and '70s. "He brought in statisticians instead of marketers, and the decisions they made were atrocious." Stahl and Revlon didn't respond to requests for comment.
Read the Entire Article: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_37/b4146042031508.htm
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Talent Management in Difficult Times
Talent management is always an important functionality but it difficult or lean times it becomes even more critical. Good talent management and talent managers will make the following adjustments in difficult times:
1. Recruiting for Fit, Flexibility and Performance
It is imperative that hiring and recruiting efforts turn to a fit based model that emphasises flexibility, innovation and accountability for performance.
2. Synchronizing Organizational Objectives with Recruited Competencies
In hiring and recruiting, the competencies and skills that are most needed by the company must be sought and tested. If your organization values integrity, recruit for integrity. If your organization needs customer service skills, hire bona fide customer service stars. Move away from any dependence on years of experience or education level and focus on the skills that are dictated by organizational need.
3. Synchronizing Training Elements to Organizational Objectives and Performance
Skills and competencies learned in a training environment are not things that should be warehoused. There must be a direct connection between skills gained through training programs and the impact on organizational success.
4. Elimination of Fuzzy Performance Expectations
Clear up an misconceptions or lack of clarity in performance expectations. The clearer and more concise the better. Insure all team members understand what is expected and how that contributes to the success of the organization.
5. Promote Critical Thinking and Innovation
During difficult times, the most needed recovery skills are critical thinking and innovation. Critical thinking allows leaders and team members to look at processes, core products and delivery mechanisms to find waste and unneeded efforts. This lean approach much be encouraged, hired and promoted. Critical thinking will also find redundancies and overlaps needed to be lean and survive any downturn. Managers of the status quo are not valuable in difficult times.
6. Highlight Intrinsic Benefits and Value
Provide regular value updates about often overlooked benefits and value provided by your organization. Point out things like covered parking, free bottled water, training programs, job shadowing and other inexpensive benefits and the value they provide.
1. Recruiting for Fit, Flexibility and Performance
It is imperative that hiring and recruiting efforts turn to a fit based model that emphasises flexibility, innovation and accountability for performance.
2. Synchronizing Organizational Objectives with Recruited Competencies
In hiring and recruiting, the competencies and skills that are most needed by the company must be sought and tested. If your organization values integrity, recruit for integrity. If your organization needs customer service skills, hire bona fide customer service stars. Move away from any dependence on years of experience or education level and focus on the skills that are dictated by organizational need.
3. Synchronizing Training Elements to Organizational Objectives and Performance
Skills and competencies learned in a training environment are not things that should be warehoused. There must be a direct connection between skills gained through training programs and the impact on organizational success.
4. Elimination of Fuzzy Performance Expectations
Clear up an misconceptions or lack of clarity in performance expectations. The clearer and more concise the better. Insure all team members understand what is expected and how that contributes to the success of the organization.
5. Promote Critical Thinking and Innovation
During difficult times, the most needed recovery skills are critical thinking and innovation. Critical thinking allows leaders and team members to look at processes, core products and delivery mechanisms to find waste and unneeded efforts. This lean approach much be encouraged, hired and promoted. Critical thinking will also find redundancies and overlaps needed to be lean and survive any downturn. Managers of the status quo are not valuable in difficult times.
6. Highlight Intrinsic Benefits and Value
Provide regular value updates about often overlooked benefits and value provided by your organization. Point out things like covered parking, free bottled water, training programs, job shadowing and other inexpensive benefits and the value they provide.
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