Sound familiar? Rainmakers, or those who bring in new business, ironically can also cause trouble for an organization.

These are the ones who typically bring in a lot of new business and/or produce high sales volumes—bringing wanted revenue to a business, a manufacturer, a service organization, law firm or a medical practice.

Rainmakers are generally your high producers. The traits that can make them valuable employees—such as strong ego, bright, aggressive and driven—sometimes will also bring out other undesirable qualities that, in turn, make them difficult employees.

Difficult employees can turn the workplace into a toxic one. If those qualities translate into problematic or out-of-control behaviors, then an employer can be faced with very difficult issues.

Meaning: Here you have someone who brings in a lot of business and maintains revenue-generating customers, but who is also causing problems. Their behavior can often be summed in disrespectful tones or inferences such as: “I’m perfect, do it my way!” Or in some of the worst cases, they can be a bully.

When ideally what you want is that ‘perfect’ blend of an employee, one whose behavior exemplifies a combination: the high producer/who is respectful of other employees. 

Instead, problematic rainmakers can turn a work environment into a negative and hostile type of environment. Not only that, they tend to not bring out the best in others around them.

I always say employees will ‘speak with their feet’; as you will lose other valuable staff members. They might not have an ego as strong as the rainmaker, but enough of an ego to say ‘I am not going to put up with that.’

When the rainmaker is toxic, in fact, they can seriously jeopardize an employer’s business and put them at risk by displaying such behaviors as:

• Yelling and outbursts
• Tantrums
• Insubordination
• Disrespect
• Violating harassment codes

What mistakes can an employer make when faced with such an employee, a troublemaking rainmaker?

1. Ignoring the problem.
2. Waiting too long to confront the problem.
3. Thinking that the problem will go away on its own.
4. Denying the issue exists, which is how harassment charges can begin.
5. Turning a blind eye to why good employees are leaving, complaining or grumbling. If you’re hearing it, many other hours of productivity have already been lost by staff discussing the issue among themselves. 

Granted, this issue is not an easy problem to resolve. Employers have an entire workforce to be concerned about, but yet there is this high producer who may have control of an employer’s best clients.

At the same time, he or she might be out of control with others in the workplace. How can they do so well with the clients and not with their co-workers?

However difficult to handle, there are some remedial steps an employer can attempt to take:

1. Consider an employee counseling or coaching program. Start with coaching: ‘you know what a valuable member of this organization you are, and I would like to discuss some things you can do to make an even bigger impact.’
2. Find someone to serve as a counselor who the rainmaker trusts and respects.
3. Look for a counselor who will listen and who can engage the problem employee in productive conversation.
4. Outline specifically what behaviors need to change.
5. Explain how the behaviors are affecting others within the organization; and why they need to stop.
6. Refrain from using threatening or offensive tones. An effective counselor will say things such as, “I don’t think you meant to come across this way, but this is what we need to address.”  Pose that the inter-office relationships are internal client relationships.

The objective involves getting the individual to understand and agree to work on problem behaviors. It may take more than one conversation or session in order to do that.

If this approach does not work, and the problem rainmaker does not mend their behaviors, then, the next step involves a written documentation process. Here the employer will inform the rainmaker that there are consequences to the negative behavior; he or she could possibly lose their job, if things do not improve. It’s a good practice to ask the employee to sign an acknowledgement form. Be sure and give the employee a copy.

When all works well: Employers will have managed to help the rainmaker keep his or her ego intact. This is important so the rainmaker will continue using those strong ego traits in positive ways, yet all the while discontinuing those behaviors that create a toxic workplace.

Many working Americans did not see much of a pay raise, if any, this year. In order to manage overhead costs and in response to the economic downturn, many businesses chose to freeze employee wages. That is one of the least invasive impacts I have seen. 

In order to remain competitive, or just survive, some businesses are looking at other alternatives. For instance:

• Some companies are nixing travel and related expenses, unless absolutely necessary. For sure, many businesses are refusing to accommodate first-class/business class air travel.
• Some companies are reducing or paring back on perks such as company cars, country club memberships and company parties.
• Some companies are analyzing how to economize on their healthcare costs. 

This economy is basically forcing many businesses to cut back on any expenses that are not critical to the company’s mission and/or survival of the organization. 

Personally, one of my least favorite HR jobs is assisting with a company layoff, which often happens as a result of a restructuring—or, in the worst case, a business or plant shutdown. In those cases, obviously, we find that a lot more than employee pay raises are involved. 

Before a business gets to that point of no return, I urge them to proactively consider other alternatives. To do that, some of the smarter businesses tackle their financial planning practices: 

1. They take a careful look at their budgets to determine what they need to get through this bad economic period.
2. They ask questions such as, “What is our cash flow, and where are we situated, financially speaking?” These are difficult times and companies know that they have to ask themselves the tough questions and answer honestly. They are being reasonable about it and, in answering these types of questions they better know how much money they can spend.
3. They ask what needs to be done, operationally, with fixed expenses and variable expenses. 

Of course, salaries are being targeted, as this area represents one of the largest expenses most businesses have, and therefore salaries represent a huge chunk of the budget. So companies are initiating: 

• Salary freezes
• Hiring freezes
• Early retirement, in which employees are paid a bonus for retiring early.
• Work hours’ reductions or reductions in work days
• Elimination of bonus payments

As a word of caution, employers are encouraged to seek legal counsel when taking measures that can end up reducing employee pay. Federal and numerous state laws govern issues that encompass employee pay matters, and you want to make sure you stay in compliance. 

The issue of employee pay raises is not all cut and dried either, as significant factors come into play. Most businesses have their range of performers (from A to B to C). To put it plainly, there are those employees who simply do not add as much value as others. In contrast, you will have those employees who are doing exceptional jobs, and they are performing the critical jobs for the organization. They are critical to the organizational success. 

So during these times, employers should be prepared to answer: 

1. Where and on whom are we going to spend the money available for pay raises/bonuses?
2. Who are our key employees?
3. Who has the knowledge and the skills necessary to keep the business operating successfully?
4. What are we doing with the non value-added staff? 

Of course, any business will want to spend its money on top performing employees. 

Meanwhile, in addition to providing these employees with pay raises or pay incentives, a business wants to do all it can in terms of communicating its goals and where it’s heading. Not only that, many employers can be surprised to find out: When employees are kept in the loop, they will often come forward with their own solutions. 

As an HR professional, I want to add this closing thought about employee pay raises. Nothing defeats employee morale more (or consumer morale for that matter) during these hard times, more than to see millions of dollars going to those at the executive level of an organization while the rank and file of the workforce get nothing, or worse—get laid off. Reductions and salary impacts should be across the board. Some companies have chosen to have a smaller percentage of reduction in pay at the lower salary levels, as the impact to standard of living is more severe at the lower salary ranges. As someone said, if you wouldn’t want your perk/pay packages disclosed for public scrutiny during these painful economic times, then they might be inappropriate or excessive. 

Additional information: Pay Raises Expected to Rebound in 2010, Survey Says

In my last Insight, I explained some common mistakes employers make with paid time off (PTO). PTO is combining you vacation, sick, personal and floating holidays into one offering. 

Here are some tips for developing an effective paid time off package for your business: 

• Look at what you can afford to offer.
• Look at how your business works.
• Look at the paid time off (vacation, sick, personal and floating holidays) plan you currently have.
• Look at current utilization of ‘sick time.’ The results may surprise you.
• Determine if a PTO bank would work for your company.
• Use research instruments (such as those from a third-party company) to figure out the national average for days of PTO companies give out.
• Decide if you are going to bump up an employee’s PTO days based on years at your organization. For example, many companies bump it up by a predetermined number of hours/days after five years.

An Example

I recently helped a company on the East Coast with its paid time off package. The company had been hearing from employees that they didn’t feel they received enough PTO and they wanted more. 

So what the company and I did was conduct some surveys about company size and PTO time in the general market to determine how many days would be appropriate for this company to offer its employees. We looked at the sick time utilization and discovered that less than half the staff used their whole sick package. 

We created what we felt was a fair package. There really wasn’t a whole lot of difference from the package they originally offered, but they did increase the number of days employees could take off by one day. 

The company added the extra day because that brought them up to the national average, plus they also gave employees half-a-day off the day before Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Incorporating all this into their paid time off package made it look more attractive to employees.

So far the company has received a really good response from employees. They are very happy to have the additional day off, and it didn’t end up costing the company very much. 

Paid time off packages are something I whole-heartedly encourage employers to consider. It benefits your best employees by having more flexible time off, and you still can manage attendance abusers. I truly believe that packaging PTO is the most effective way to offer employees time off from work. 

Note: This Insight is intended for general use only. Employers should consult with an employment attorney when creating a paid time off program.

In business, there are pluses and minuses to everything. When it comes to having a paid time off bank, the real plus is that it benefits your employees in a big way. 

A paid time off (PTO) bank combines an employee’s sick time, personal time and vacation time into an allotment of hours, which allows employees to use the available hours at their discretion. I think this is a great perk for all staff and one of my favorite benefits. 

There are a number of pluses to offering employees a paid time off bank, including:

• It’s easier to manage the hours each employee has available (it’s all one category).
• You have the ability to manage single/unplanned days off if they get excessive.
• Employees are able to manage their own PTO hours, and the truth for most of your staff is they will have more time to use than under the former system.
• Employees love it 

A downside to paid time off is that all the hours are, in a sense, considered vacation time. When an employee leaves, you may, depending on state law, have to pay the exiting employee for all the unused PTO he/she accrued. 

I think the biggest mistake employers make with paid time off is that employers don’t manage it very well. 

They don’t look at how many employees are taking off at one specific time and whether or not the employees all have time left in their PTO banks. Employers think it’s someone else’s job to manage this, but that’s not the case. It is the employers’ job to manage their staff’s attendance and vacation. Keep track of it and coach and counsel if it is a performance issue. 

If an employee comes to you and says, “I’m taking next week off,” you need to make sure the employee actually has a week of paid time off available and that you as a business can afford that time off. It is valid to say, “I’m sorry; you can’t have the week off as two other people have already requested that week off, and we need you here.” 

Another mistake employers make is thinking that employees won’t look at the before and after when you change from vacation, sick and personal days to PTO. 

Some companies that choose to use paid time off banks give less days overall (than they would if they gave the time separately as sick/personal/vacation), but since employees can use the time at their discretion, it usually doesn’t feel like less time. For your best employees, who usually have the best attendance and do not use all the sick days allotted for them, it will be more time. 

Employees will still calculate and compare the time available. If the hours don’t add up to what they used to get when they had sick/vacation/personal time separately, you’re going to get some complaints. 

For example, if you previously have offered 18 days to employees (12 vacation days, 5 sick days, 1 personal day), but then you change to a paid time off bank system and offer 16 or 17 days, employees will notice. 

Some companies change from sick/vacation/personal time to a paid time off bank system and reduce the number of days because, with PTO, employees can use the time however they wish. In my experience, for most companies, less than half of the staff will use their full sick allotment. If you are reducing time, I would only do so by one or two days. 

You still want to make sure you offer an amount of PTO that’s reasonable for your business operations. PTO is a benefit given to staff by you and not a requirement; it is an opportunity for your staff to enjoy and recharge outside of work. 

In my next Insight, I’ll give steps to take if you want to develop an effective paid time off program for your company.  

Note: This Insight is intended for general us only. You are encouraged to consult an attorney for any applicable state laws governing paid leave.

In my first Insight in this series, I explained what should be included in a basic cell phone policy. My next Insight discussed spelling out everything in the policy clearly.  

Here is an example of a time I worked with a company to create a cell phone policy: 

I had a client who demanded that everyone use their personal cell phone for business purposes, but then refused to fully reimburse anyone. Employees were only reimbursed at the end of the month for any charges they could prove were company charges, such as an overage of minutes. 

I explained to him that his company really should be accountable for reimbursing employees for the cost of their phones each month if they are making the employees use their personal cells for work reasons. 

If, for example, you use up all of your employee’s minutes by September 20, the employee still needs to be able to use his/her phone for the remaining 10 days for personal reasons, and shouldn’t be required to use his/her money to pay for what would have been within his/her allotment of minutes if you hadn’t used them all up. 

The company wasn’t really happy with my suggestions, but they thought about it more and eventually started buying cell phones for staff who were using them for work reasons more often. 

They also offered a “rent-a-phone” deal where employees could borrow a work phone when necessary. For example, if an employee was going out of town on a work trip, he/she could rent one of the work cell phones for the weekend.

So slowly, the company started to get a bit better on their cell phone policy. 

Personally, I felt this was a problematic policy. It showed a total disregard for employees and not only their personal lives, but their personal finances—especially when the company was requiring employees to be available by phone. 

I think that most companies are being smarter on the whole cell phone issue, and so they are purchasing work cell phones for employees. 

Another option is to give employees a monthly cell phone allowance, to be used to pay their personal phone bill. If you choose this option, be aware that the allowance should be substantive, because cell phones are not cheap. And if an employee is using a lot of minutes each month, for example if he/she is a sales person, the minutes will start to add up quickly. 

Final Thoughts on Cell Phone Policies 

• Make sure to encourage your employees to not talk on their cell phone while driving and to follow all the state and local laws, such as driving with a hands-free device when talking.
• Make sure your cell phone policies include hands-free devices and regulations for employees who are required to take calls while driving.
• Address texting in your policy—Employees need to know and understand that texting while driving is something they shouldn’t be doing. They should also take care when they are walking and try not to text if they don’t have to. Safety in and out of the workplace is extremely important.
  
  I was downtown the other day, and I saw a person walking and texting. This person was so engrossed in the text that she ended up walking right into a cab!
  
  So employees need to be reminded to pay attention to what they’re doing, as well as to their surroundings. 

Note: This Insight is provided as general information only. Employers are encouraged to seek legal counsel in order to obtain specific information regarding employee policies.

In my last Insight, I explained how a cell phone policy works. 

Unfortunately, there are some mistakes I commonly see employers make regarding cell phone policies, such as: 

• Expecting employees to use their personal cell phone for company purposes;
• Calling employees on their personal cell phones at all times of the day or night;  and
• Expecting employees to do business if they do pick up their phone during their days off (such as on the weekends or on vacation). If they are non-exempt staff, there are some pay ramifications to working during non-standard hours. 

For the most part, employees are usually OK with receiving work-related calls during non-work hours. 

For example, an employer/manager calling an employee on a Saturday afternoon and saying, “Such and such came up; can you tell me where XYZ file is?” is usually tolerable. 

However, if calling during non-work hours is abused or misused—by a manager making lots of calls and demanding an employee come to the office to handle issues—that becomes an infringement on the employee’s personal time. If you expect an employee to be constantly ‘on call’ and answering the phone, that should be built into the job description. 

That’s why it’s important for companies to have cell phone policies in place that protect employees’ personal time, as well as protect the company from company-owned cell phone misuse/abuse by employees. Also, there may be liability concerns for a company for actions by an employee on a company phone. 

In order to create an effective cell phone policy, you need to: 

1. Look at how employees are using their work cell phones currently, and how they’re expected to use them for the next year or so, because you want to create a policy that lasts.
   
   
2. Look at safety issues and harassment issues regarding work cell phones.
   
   
3. Determine who pays for what—does the company foot the bill? Does the employee pay for the bill up front and then get reimbursed?
   
   
4. Determine what an employee’s expectations of privacy should be—will cell phones be subject to random searches? Will all calls be recorded?
   
   
5. Decide which features will be allowed and which ones won’t be—cell phones these days, especially BlackBerries and iPhones, have all kinds of features available, such as Facebook applications, instant messaging, Internet access, downloading ringtones and videos, etc. Some companies allow employees to use their work phones however they choose. Other companies restrict use. You need to decide which features will and will not be allowed on your company cell phones and include it in your policy. 

Make sure that your company crafts a cell phone policy that contains all the above-mentioned items so employees know exactly what is expected when using a company cell phone. 

In my next Insight, I’ll give an example of a time I helped a company create a cell phone policy.

Employers need to identify for their employees what their respective companies’ expectations are for the use of company cell phones, should clearly communicate these expectations and related use parameters in writing to their employees and should directly reference the expectation that employees abide, at all times, by all applicable federal, state and local laws governing cell phones and usage. 

For example, in the city of Chicago and in the state of California, talking on a cell phone while driving is not allowed unless you’re using a hands-free device. You will be ticketed if you are caught driving and talking on your phone. Most organizations will tell employees if they get a ticket, it’s up to them to pay it, even if the employee was on a company phone. 

So these types of rules and laws need to be written into a company’s cell phone policy. 

The policy should state that the company expects employees to drive safely, pay attention and abide by all laws—after all, an employee’s improper or careless use of cell phones while driving a company vehicle or driving a vehicle while on the clock, not only could result in an accident or violation of law, but it is also a direct reflection on the company and the company’s image. 

A basic cell phone policy should include:

• Information about safety issues;
• A statement that it is the employee’s responsibility as a driver to know about laws surrounding the use of cell phones while driving. If you know your state or city has a law you can include it, but your list should not be looked at as all inclusive by employees and it should state as much.
• Company cell phone usage information, such as how the device should be used, who incurs the cost of the service, who incurs the cost of any “extras” and any related reimbursement policies (or reference to the same if they are stated in a separate document). 

The company’s communications policy should also be tagged for further reading within the cell phone policy. 

It may also be a good idea to include that employees with company phones should have no expectation of privacy—which means at any time their manager can ask to see the phone or review the charges on the bill. 

Employees need to know—just like their worksite computer—if their company cell phone is used for personal reasons, the content of the communications should be appropriate and business-oriented, and that if any personal uses of the devices (including, but not limited to, sending and receiving text messages, sending and receiving pictures, taking pictures or video with the phone, etc.) violate any company policies, such as anti-harassment, anti-discrimination, etc., such behavior is grounds for discipline, including and up to, termination. 

Companies need to look at cell phones as company equipment and treat them as such. Again, use of these pieces of equipment results in a direct reflection on the company and its reputation, and improper use of the same could have extremely negative consequences. 

It’s also important to write into the policy what happens if an employee with a company cell phone leaves employment, as information important to the company (such as sales contacts, lists or other proprietary information) may be stored on the cell phones. Many companies say the employee needs to give the phone back immediately, but sometimes employees get very upset about this because they’ve been storing all their information on it and now they won’t have it anymore. The phones, however, are company property, and as such, the company has the right (and should retain this right through communicated policies) that any information stored on such phones is the property of the company and not the individual employee.

In my next Insight, I’ll talk about the mistakes I commonly see employers make regarding cell phone policies in their workplace. 

In my last Insight, I explained what HR outsourcing is and debunked some common misconceptions.

If you’re an employer who is considering HR outsourcing for your company or organization, here are the next steps you should take:

Whoever’s in charge of making the decision should get together and think about:

• What criteria are we going to use to make the decision to outsource?
• What are the pluses and minuses of outsourcing?
• What do we really want from our HR department? Is what we are doing now going to move us forward?
• What kind of impact do we want HR outsourcing to have for us?
• Does how we handle HR now contribute to our core competencies and company vision for growth and profit?
• Do we know what else is available; do we know what we don’t know?

The decision-makers need to look at and define any problems they’re having internally that have brought them to considering HR outsourcing. They need to look at internal costs—not just the cost of doing an employee’s payroll, but what costs are associated with their internal HR package, all HR functions including medical plans, 401(k), vacation/sick time, etc.

Once they’ve determined their true costs, they need to look at where they want to go in the future:

• How are they going to define their growth?
• What are the opportunity costs? This would include the saving of senior level resources to refocus on the core business.
• What do they want to accomplish in the next 5 years?
• How are they going to get where they want to go? (With the people they already have or by hiring new people, etc.)

So the decision-makers really need to look at their people quotient and make some decisions regarding how they want to move forward.

Some Other Things to Consider
When it comes to HR outsourcing, I believe companies need to do what is going to be a strategic decision for them long-term.

It is a common misconception that outsourcing is giving up control. In truth you can gain back control of the time you are now focusing on transactional HR functions. When you contract a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), there will be someone taking care of some of the administrative business you’re used to taking care of.

For example, if you’re a small company, what you’re probably looking for is some way to find more time in your day; there are a number of reasons why outsourcing is very, very good for this. Outsourcing would allow you to contract a PEO and reduce your HR burden, which will then allow you more time to focus on your business.

Once a company has an idea of where they want to go, they’ll be able to determine if HR outsourcing is right for them or not. 

If the decision is made to go with HR outsourcing, the company’s next step would be to contact a Professional Employer Organization. 

With the economy the way it is currently, employers need to focus on what’s important—the business—but a company also needs to remain focused on its people. It is sometimes difficult for companies—especially smaller companies—to focus on both the business and the people.

Human Resources (HR) outsourcing is an effective way for companies to manage their people, while also focusing on their business. As long as it’s done correctly, the company gets an incredible synergistic benefit out of outsourcing.

When you look at the big picture, HR outsourcing truly is cost-effective. Typically, smaller or mid-size organizations can’t provide or reproduce the kind of full-service HR department that outsourcing can provide them.

Why Consider Outsourcing?
In the current business environment, there’s a lot of instability, which is affecting the workplace. Employees are uneasy about the economy and whether or not they’re going to lose their jobs. And sometimes during economic downturns, there’s an increase in litigious claims from employees in businesses where the work environment is unstable or continued employment is questionable. This includes claims from workers’ compensation, EEOC, wrongful termination, wage claims, etc.

Overall, there’s a lot more stress in the workplace. So in that kind of environment, you want a lot of backup behind you that knows what to do to help your company make it through the hardship.

Typically, companies really need to focus on their core competencies at times like this. They want to focus on their customers, on how to get more business and on creating a competitive advantage—but they don’t really want to focus on the administrative side of things.

This is where HR outsourcing comes in.

Smaller companies will may have different levels of need and will do HR outsourcing differently than many larger companies. Larger companies may incrementally outsource functions to different vendors. A smaller company, however, will outsource more effectively to just one vendor.

Any smaller company that wants the best kind of HR should definitely consider outsourcing; it’s a really smart move for them.

Misconceptions about HR Outsourcing
There are a couple misconceptions about HR outsourcing. Some business owners think that:

• It’s Expensive—This is one of the first misconceptions business owners have and they couldn’t be more wrong. HR outsourcing is actually affordable, and worth every penny. It is the value-add that should be factored into cost: Most of the services and benefits of a large company that a vendor will be able to provide.
•  It’s Intrusive—Employers often worry that using an HR outsourcing company might be intrusive because they will be discussing and sharing personnel and compliance issues and the outsourced vendor will provide best practices. Sometimes the best practices are not those currently in use at the company. This may necessitate some change. But change with powerful payoffs.
• They’ll Have No Control—Employers often worry that if they use an HR outsourcing company, they’re going to lose control of certain aspects of their business, such as salary and payroll policies and practices More than likely your vendor will improve the efficiency of your practices. You will be working with a partner who has as much interest as you do in the effective use of time and resources. Employers also worry that employees might question who is actually running the business—the owner or the HR outsourcing company.

Once employers begin to work with an HR outsourcing company, they find their fears dissolve. HR outsourcing is a really good buy for an employer’s money, they still have control in all the areas they want control. All of the administrative human resources functions are taken care of by the vendor. It’s pretty invisible to employees and provides the management of the company the ability to deal with the business of their business.

HR outsourcing supports a company, but it doesn’t intrude on the daily work environment or the lives of its employees. 

I think holiday/company parties are wonderful things. And people like the fact that they can get together and have a nice dinner or lunch with the people they work with.

However, due to many factors, including the current economy and liability issues, a lot of companies are moving away from the big holiday dinner party and are instead having a holiday lunch during the work day.

This is especially nice since many employees prefer not to attend a big dinner-dance holiday party with their co-workers because they know that it’s really not a time to “let loose” anymore. Plus, many of them would rather reserve their evenings and weekends for gatherings with family and friends.

If you’re a company that would still like to throw a party for your employees, there are many ways that you can ensure it’s a fun, yet professional event.

Inform Employees of Rules Beforehand
Remember, although it’s a party, it’s a workplace event and so workplace behavior should be expected. To ensure your employees behave appropriately, it may be in your best interest to send out an e-mail reminder about the event that includes location, time, dress code, responsible alcohol consumption (if applicable) and the type of behavior that’s expected.

It’s a good idea to formally implement a workplace events policy that clearly spells out the ground rules for such events, as well as potential consequences for breaking these rules.

Employees need to know that they can and will be held accountable for their actions during the event. This includes being terminated for inappropriate behavior, such as sexually harassing another employee or getting aggressive with another employee and causing a fight to break out, or becoming noticeably intoxicated. Any inappropriate conduct would, essentially, be considered as taking place in the workplace, and employees can be reprimanded or even terminated for these actions.

The Best Way to Throw a Holiday Party
One of the best ways to throw a holiday party is to hold it during the workday. This makes it better because employees will tend to understand, since it’s during work hours, they have to display work-appropriate behavior.

When you send out the invitation for the event, make sure that it sets the tone for how everybody is expected to dress, behave, etc. Also, make sure you meet with your managers and explain to them that they need to kind of “police” their staff. This is, after all, a working event for them.

For Example
I’ve worked with a number of customers in my career so far that have had issues arise from throwing a holiday party. I’ve usually given them my recommendations for how to appropriately handle throwing a holiday party, but I can’t tell you the number of unfortunate circumstances that have still come up.

For example, a company held a party during their annual sales convention and one of their Senior Managers invited some employees up to his hotel room for an after-party. There was drinking which unfortunately led to some very embarrassing and uncomfortable situations for some staff members. Not only was this behavior inappropriate for someone of his status, but since the company paid for his hotel room, the event was considered business and therefore the goings on definitely shouldn’t have been happening.

Unfortunately, this company got a very hard dose of reality about how they’re going to have to conduct their sales conferences going forward, and this gentleman barely survived with his job. In many companies, he would’ve been fired on the spot.

So the bottom line is this—office parties can still happen, but they need to be handled appropriately and professionally. You just have to err on the side of caution and make sure you plan for contingencies, such as what if someone gets too drunk (ex: call a taxi on the employee’s behalf) or what to do if someone falls and gets hurt, etc.

Holiday office parties can offer a lot to a company, but unfortunately, there’s also a lot the company needs to watch out for. Here are just a few of the things to be careful for:

• Employees drinking too much
• Inappropriate behavior
• Employees drinking and driving

There is no room or excuse in our current business workplace for a drunken employee with a lampshade on his or her head groping a coworker.  Fortunately, there are plenty of things you can do to keep office parties from becoming a dread.

Misbehaving
Companies can avoid the dread of office parties by setting standards, not only for themselves, but for their staff as well. Companies need to set some clear behavioral expectations and make those expectations known. 

Remember, this is a business function, so you don’t want employees having too much to drink, if you’re serving alcoholic beverages, and saying or doing things that aren’t business-appropriate. If you make sure your event is a little bit structured, you can have a good time and still keep things appropriate.

It may sound odd to say something like this about an office party, which is supposed to be a fun experience, but in this day and age, employers need to be very cautious about employee behaviors, especially if alcohol is being served.

Serving Alcohol
This is a question that’s usually on an employer’s mind when they’re thinking about throwing office parties—do we serve alcohol or do we not serve alcohol?

I coach employers that alcohol needs to be very carefully controlled if you serve it. If you can get away with not serving it, you’ll probably be better off. I know employers don’t want to be “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” but they need to realize that they are liable if, for example, an employee drinks too much, gets in their car and causes an accident.

That’s why, if you’re planning on serving alcohol, it’s best to hold office parties offsite, such as in a banquet hall, restaurant or hotel. This will help ensure that bartenders are trained, which is very important. Trained bartenders have some accountability to make sure they don’t serve anyone who is drunk.

Offsite Office Parties
When you have your office parties at a facility, the facility’s bartenders will be trained to make sure people are old enough to be drinking, how much alcohol is being served to a person and refusing to serve people more alcohol when they’re intoxicated.

Another plus of having office parties at an offsite facility is that the facility then becomes potentially liable for serving alcohol properly.

It’s also a good idea to speak with the facilities director or even the bartenders if you can, and set some ground rules with them about serving alcohol. You may want to tell them to let you know if someone is intoxicated so you can make sure they find a safe ride home, etc.

Rule to Follow
I suggest this rule wholeheartedly to my clients, and they really don’t like this, but my rule is: Managers don’t drink.

I say this because managers need to be looking out for their staff. This is a workplace event. You may have a bartender who’s keeping track of how much people have had to drink, but what if something unexpected happens? What if, for example, an employee sneaks away to another bar in the facility, has a few drinks and then comes back drunk—how do you handle it? What do you do? And most of all, you do not want to be the employee with the lampshade on their head.

This is why I suggest managers don’t drink at office parties, because they need to be the ones to jump in and take care of things when something unexpected occurs. It’s all about setting the right expectations, setting the right example and being there if all does not go according to plan.

In my next Insight, I’m going to tell you how to throw an office party that is professional, yet fun. 

If they took a survey, I bet many American workers would say they’d like to wear jeans to work every day. Even me! There are days when I wake up and wish that I could put on a pair of my favorite jeans.  That would make me very, very happy to go to work.

The Office Dress Code Should Serve Your Business Purposes
Let’s face it. A business has employees and adopts an office dress code primarily to serve its business purposes.

Not only that, if you own a business, you get to make the rules—even the rules about office dress standards.  Just make sure that the rules are consistent and keep in mind that dress standards cannot discriminate based on race, color, religion or sex.

Dress and grooming issues are difficult because everyone has varying ideas about what is appropriate and acceptable. As an HR specialist, I work with clients and help them develop their dress code policies.

The Office Dress Code is Definitely Evolving
Looking back over the past 20 years, we’ve seen the office dress code evolve with the times. First, we experimented with business-casual Fridays. Now many U.S. companies float a business-casual environment throughout the work week. In fact, we have an entire generation of workers who have probably never worn a suit to work.

As I’ve seen it evolve, problems start when office dress codes become too lax and unclear or they change too radically. HR has to be careful or we find ourselves in the role of the fashion police. Business casual can turn into “pajamas casual” with employees wearing everything from pajama bottoms to tattered jeans with holes to beach wear including flip flops. We have all seen T-shirts with messages, logos or art work that gave us the internal ’what were they thinking’ moment.  Some border on the offensive or even harassing messages and symbols.

If you are looking to develop or change your office dress code, here are some questions you will want to consider first:

1. What kind of services do you provide? Are your customers going to feel comfortable in a relaxed casual environment, or will they expect a more dressed-up appearance?  Do you service a customer base in a traditional industry where employees are expected to work in a uniform? You have to know your business, your industry and the culture you are managing.
2. Are you trying to attract younger workers (and customers) while trying to retain your older employees (and customers)?  If so, you may want to experiment and take it slowly. Generally, younger workers feel more comfortable in a casual work environment, as do younger customers. They may even choose another employer with a relaxed dress code over one with more rigid dress requirements. While baby boomer employees may not want to work in a suit and tie, they may be uncomfortable working—or as customers parting with their money—in an extremely casual or loose environment. Revealing halter tops or grungy-looking sweat pants will not appeal to most baby boomers.
3. Are you trying to increase worker productivity? Most employers want happy employees. If your employees are telling you that they want to wear jeans, and if they are not client or customer-facing, you may want to consider it. Some employees are actually more productive when working in jeans simply because they are more comfortable. Wearing jeans is also considered a “perk” by some employees and this perk is a cost-free benefit. Nonetheless, you will want to make it clear, through your employee handbook for instance, that all their casual attire and beloved jeans have to meet certain standards of business-related neatness and appearance.

Again, the bottom line is: How should your office dress code meet your business purposes? If relaxing or changing your dress code is right for you and your business, then you may want to consider it. Anytime an employer can gain a competitive edge either through more engaged and productive employees and/or by attracting more customers, the benefits are worth a change.