EOC Week 10: Evaluations

This week I will be talking about evaluations in the work place. Have you ever been evaluated at work? Was it helpful or was it pointless? What is a performance evaluation? Performance Evaluation is a constructive process to acknowledge the performance of a non-probationary career employee. An employee's evaluation shall be sufficiently specific to inform and guide the employee in the performance of her/his duties. Through experience I have one really ever been evaluated once in the work place. This was with my first job at Ppopcornnopolis. Every year the company does performance evaluations that could lead to a raise if the evaluation was a great one. When my review came up, there were two parts to this evaluation. The first part was that we had to review ourselves and the second one was that our general manager, assistant manager and shift manager all had to review each employee. Since we were a close, tight-niche family we all got to see our reviews before it was sent to upper management and corporate. I learned where my strengths were, which were creating new deserts and were my abilities could improve one, which was keeping a clean station. The review itself was helpful, hearing the feedback from my management team was very insightful and I actually learned a lot and improved on all aspect of it. The review in general for corporate though was useless and a waste of time, since they never gave anyone a raise, but at the end of the day I feel like it is something that everyone should experience, so they can improve on their work skills and grow from it.

EOC Week 9: Sexual Harassment and the NFL

There has been a lot of talk about the NFL and the incident over the Ray Rice issue with his wife. Ray rice was put on suspension for two games for video footage showing Mr. Rice dragging his fiancée out of an elevator like it was nothing but trash. When the video was leaked he was on a two game suspension. Well recently the footage of how and why he drags his fiancée, now wife, out of the elevator was leaked. It was then that the NFL took action and suspended Ray Rice indefinitely from the Ravens and the NFL all together. The NFL goes to great lengths to preserve the image and integrity of the game, whether it's personal conduct or protecting competitive balance. The question is, should the NFL be able to fire someone for doing something wrongfully in their personal life if it had nothing to do with the workplace. Everyone is allowed their own opinion and mine is yes, I do feel that the NFL should take affirmative actions. One of the main things that I support the decision of the NFL is the personal conduct policy. In the policy it states:  While criminal activity is clearly outside the scope of permissible conduct, and persons who engage in criminal activity will be subject to discipline, the standard of conduct for persons employed in the NFL is considerably higher. It is not enough simply to avoid being found guilty of a crime. Instead, as an employee of the NFL or a member club, you are held to a higher standard and expected to conduct yourself in a way that is responsible, promotes the values upon which the League is based, and is lawful. There was that press conference where the Ravens paraded Rice and his wife in front of cameras and had them read a canned apology. Here's what he said Thursday after the suspension was announced: As I said earlier, I failed in many ways. But, Janay and I have learned from this. We have become better as a couple and as parents. I am better because of everything we have experienced since that night.

EOC Week 8: The Power Behind The Throne

This week I watched the movie called 9 to 5. This movie is not only a comedy but is a very realistic to what "secretaries want to kill their boss”. Some of the HR issues that took part in the movie were that, the 3 main women Judy Bernly (played by Jane Fonda), Violet Newstead (played by Lily Tomlin) and Doralee Rhodes (played by Dolly Parton) where being harassed by their boss Franklin Hart Jr.(played by Dabney Coleman) in different ways. Violet was being constantly shut down by her boss, giving her promotion to someone else even though it was clearly meant for her and pretty much using her for her talents, making him sexist towards women. Franklin Hart was sexually harassing Doralee and her coworkers were starting to act weird around her because Franklin would tell everyone that they were sleeping together. As for Judy is a naïve new employee, Violet trains Judy and introduces her to the department executive, Franklin Hart, Jr. who immediately reveals himself to be arrogant and sexist. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlaws discrimination in employment in any business on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Title VII also prohibits retaliation against employees who oppose such unlawful discrimination. One thing that also got my attention was the when Judy met the mail guy he said that no one ever advances and that you’re pretty much doomed to begin with. Internal search: A promotion-from-within approach that is utilized when seeking qualified job applicants. Applied properly, a promote-from-within approach can be very effective. If, for example, when seeking a rooms inspector, an executive housekeeper conducting the search felt that the best job candidates would be found among the hotel's current room attendants (or other current hotel employees), an internal search could prove to be very effective. After some time the women became enraged and eventually having to kidnap their boss. Resulting the three women changing the office space around, providing things that real woman that works a 9 to 5 jobs wish they had and didn’t have in a real office. This concluded to a 20 percent growth rate on the worker showing up to their jobs and actually working hard.  By Changing labor conditions include a shrinking labor force, lagging wage rates, industry reputation issues, and emphasis on training can lead to employee satisfaction.

EOC Week 7: Minimum Wages

Today I want to discuss the views on minimum wages. Should the minimum wages be higher or are they okay at where they’re at? First, what is minimum wage? I looked up the definition of what minimum wage means and this is what I found. Minimum wage is the least amount of wages that employees covered by the FLSA or state law may be paid by their employers. So it’s the lowest amount paid that can be given that an employer can legally give to their employees. Generally, employers may establish wages and salaries as they wish, but they also must comply with federal, state, and local laws that directly affect compensation programs. Nevada's minimum is $7.25 an hour, the same as the current federal minimum wage, for those offered health insurance by their employers. For those without health insurance, the minimum wage is $8.25 an hour. The Equal Pay Act (1963) requires that equal pay must be given to men and women for equal work, if the jobs they perform require equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and if they are performed under similar working conditions. I believe at this day and age minimum wage should be raised, and not just in Nevada alone, but around the U.S. In this day and age people cannot live off of $8.25 or less an hour, in this world, every home has a car, rent, internet, a phone, water, electricity and other bills that are needed to be paid. So by living off of that wage you’re conflicted by this because it’s not enough to pay all the bills and live to eat. In an article that I had read in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is circulating a plan to raise the city's minimum wage to $13.25 an hour over three years. "There is a crisis in wages for the working poor and we feel strongly about the largest increase as soon as possible,'' said Maria Elena Durazo, chief of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, a powerful coalition of regional unions. Durazo pointed to union studies that show 46% of Los Angeles workers make less than $15 an hour. 

EOC Week 6:Perform job analysis, write job descriptions, and job specifications.

Public relations officer:

Job description

Some persons think about position descriptions during recruitment because they are used to provide applicants with an overview of a position. However, a position description also serves other purposes.

Public relations (PR) are the professional maintenance of a favorable public image by a company or other organization or a famous person. PR officers use all forms of media and communication to build, control and manage the reputation of their clients. PR officers monitor publicity and handle research to find out the concerns and expectations of the stakeholders.

It is important that proper performance be clearly defined. Then staff members will know what is expected of them, and managers will know when performance is acceptable.

Responsibilities

Performance standards must also be specific so that they can be measured. The role of a public relations officer varies and will depend on the organization. The tasks often involve:

·         planning, developing and carry out PR strategies

·         Networking  with colleagues and key spokespeople

·         researching, writing and distributing press releases to targeted media

·         writing and editing magazines, case studies, speeches, articles and annual reports

·         arrange and coordinating photo opportunities

·         organizing events including press conferences, exhibitions, open days and press tours

·         maintaining and updating information on the organization’s website

·         sourcing and managing speaking and sponsorship opportunities

·         instructing market research

·         Managing the PR aspect of a potential crisis situation.

Qualifications

• Experienced in the field for 3 years
•       Must have a bachelors degree in publications 

• Needs to know advertising, Publishing and Product Development.
• Familiarity with multiple channels of distribution, with special emphasis on direct mail and branded retail.
• Advertising and/or creative management experience with responsibility for major brands, particularly those marketed to children and parents.

EOC week 5: Marijuana in the workplace

Today I’m going to discuss about a case that happened in Colorado about a young man who was tragically injured in a car accident and the only thing that could help relieve his pain and muscle spasms was medical marijuana treatments.  When Brandon Coats was 16 he was involved in a car accident that left his upper spine crushed. He became paralyzed and has sporadic muscles spasm that left him in pain and disruptive sleep.  With no help in the prescription drug industry Brandon turned to his last hope, medical marijuana. He would only smoke at night to help sleep and never used when he was on the job site. When one day his job, Dish Network, decided to do a random drug test, Brandon failed and was terminated. This being said do you think, if you are using medical marijuana, in the comfort of your home and have the right documentations to use the drug, should your employer still be able to terminate you over the drug test?  It's been 25 years since the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act was passed, creating requirements for federal government workers and contractors. Many companies, including Dish Network, followed suit, and today more than a third of private employers have drug-testing policies. My take on the whole situation, and you don’t have to agree with me, is that if you have a visibly clear reason to why you use recreational drugs and have the proper requirements to use those drugs then you should most definitely be exonerated. Now if the employee was using at the workplace or doesn’t have the right requirements then of course they should be terminated for wrongful use in the workplace. But in Brandon’s case it should be qualified as a disability protection. The standard urine test most commonly used in employer drug testing measures the presence of THC — a psychoactive compound in marijuana that persists in the body for days, weeks or even longer. So a positive marijuana test doesn't necessarily mean the person taking the test is high, or has even used the drug recently. This being said if Brandon was using for medical reasons and there was low to none THC, which there are, then should he be exonerated? Barry Sample is director of science and technology for Quest Diagnostics, which conducts millions of drug tests. He says there may eventually be intoxication tests for pot that are more like the Breathalyzer's detection of recent alcohol use. "It might be possible at some point, but it's still developing," So hopefully in the near future people like Brandon can be exonerated from cases like this. 

EOC Week 4: Physical Attractiveness

This week I will be getting into the nitty gritty of physical attractiveness. The question that so many people ask what is human resources looking for? Do tattoos, personal hygiene and scars play a huge factor in getting that one job or not getting that job? An employer can no longer seek out preferred individuals based on non-job-related factors such as age, gender, or physical attractiveness. Those that do so may be confronted with significant legal problems. For example, if you applied for a high end office job and you had “SUCK IT” on your knuckles; do you really think that they would take you serious enough, even if you were more than qualified? Many places are looking for people to not just do the job but represent their company and their brand and if you have “SUCK IT” displayed on your knuckles than that’s putting a damper on the brand and the company itself. I am a huge advocate of tattoo and have six myself. But the difference is, is that all my tattoos are in places that I can cover and if they aren’t then they are appropriate and non-offensive. In many hospitality organizations, physical attractiveness is unquestionably a factor used to select employees in such positions as front-of-the-house food servers and hotel front desk agents. Employers are often uncomfortable dealing with hygiene problems such as body odor, incontinence, or inappropriate clothing. Some employers try to deal with these problems indirectly by sending anonymous notes or leaving soaps and deodorants on the employee’s desk. By instituting company-wide workplace hygiene policies, this delicate issue can be handled properly and without offending anyone. The workplace should be clean and safe; employees should be exposed to a minimum of germs. These policies are important regardless of industry, but incredibly important for food service and companies that regularly deal directly with the public. So just remember, if you have inappropriate tattoos hide them, there are make-ups that are specific for tattoo hiding, or if you’re thinking about getting a tattoo get it in a place that you can cover up via clothing. And lastly, dress appropriately, you can ask HR what is the dress code, and be considerate of others when dealing with gems.