Keeping in mind that you can only control your own actions, and reactions, the way you behave will either help or hinder a relationship and in turn your career. No matter the training, education or experience you may possess, if you can’t play well with others, you will never successfully accomplish what you need to in the work place. How many times have you encountered someone really personable, enthusiastic, willing to listen and work with you? Those people stick out in your mind and without a doubt, you will seek them out again when you need assistance with a project. On the other end of the spectrum, someone who is challenging, hard to work with, or not a team player is someone that you will inevitably steer clear of.

Here are a few examples of what you can do to ensure you are the type of person people seek out.

• Bring solutions along with the problems to the table. Some employees only identify problems. Sharing thoughtful solutions when presenting a problem will make you stand out and earn you respect and admiration from coworkers and supervisors.
• Don’t play the blame game. Placing blame on others will alienate coworkers, supervisors, and reporting staff. There is a difference between determining who is involved in a problem vs. publicly identifying and blaming others for failures.
• Verbal and nonverbal communication. Talking down to another employee or using sarcasm negatively registers on our radar machines, which are constantly scoping out our environment. Respecting fellow employees is the key to building strong, effective relationships.
• Never blind-side a coworker, boss, or reporting staff person. Always discuss problems, first, with the people directly involved so they are aware and can participate in the solution. You will never build effective work alliances unless your coworkers trust you.
• Keep your commitments. If you fail to meet deadlines and commitments, you affect the work of other employees. Always keep commitments, and if you can’t, make sure all affected employees know why you are missing a deadline and when they can expect the information or project you promised. Be realistic when committing to a deadline so that you don’t let coworkers down.
• Share credit for accomplishments, ideas, and contributions. Take the time, and expend the energy, to thank, reward and recognize specific contributions people make that help you succeed. This is a no-fail approach to building effective work relationships.
• Help other employees find their greatness. Every employee in your organization has talents, skills, and experience. If you can help fellow employees harness their best abilities, you benefit the organization immeasurably. Compliment, recognize, praise, and notice contributions. You don’t have to be a manager to help create a positive, motivating environment for employees.

Have any tips you would like to share? We love hearing from our readers. Please send us your tips and comments using the boxes below.

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Since an employee handbook is one of the first formal communications you will provide an employee after they have been hired make sure that it promotes a positive impression of your company. Your goal should also be to include what employees can uniquely expect from working at your company and set the tone for what you expect from them.

At minimum, a handbook should cover the following broad employment categories:
• Nature of the Employment Relationship: general employment law compliance items such as at-will employment, Equal Employment Opportunity, etc.
• Work Rules and Standards of Conduct: policies that set expectations as to appropriate workplace behaviors such as sexual and other workplace harassment, attendance, conflicts of interest, use of social media, etc.
• Appropriate Use of Property Belonging to the Company: policies that set expectations as to appropriate use of company property such as technology use and security policies, handling of confidential and proprietary information, etc.
• Employment Status and Records: policies that cover events that impact an employee’s information or status such as employment records, performance evaluations, internal transfers, etc.
• Payroll and Timekeeping: sets employee expectations regarding how and when they are paid and breaks and meal periods.
• Time Off and Leaves of Absences: sets expectations as to the company’s time off and leave of absence practices.
• Employee Benefits: general explanation of both health and welfare benefits as well as any fringe benefits the company provides.

If done right a good employee handbook will help you:
- Minimize the risk of a lawsuit occurring in the future.
- Get new hires engaged in your business quickly.
- Avoid redundant questions from employees regarding their career development opportunities and benefits.
- Provide a professional and good impression of your company culture that differentiates you from competitors.
- Put processes in place that reduce the time you spend dealing with day-to-day administrative details or headaches.

Learn more about Resourceful HR’s policy development services.

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To ensure your next project is given the consideration it deserves, here are the characteristics of a business case that will move a project to approval:

WIFM – WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME (me = the Company)
WIFM is an acronym that should be forefront in mind as a business case is developed and presented. In WIFM, “Me” represents the business. A business exists to achieve its financial and corporate goals. The business case must be business oriented. It must illustrate direct connections between the project and how it will support the company’s achievement of goals.

THREE C’s – CLEAR, CORRECT & CONCISE
The three C’s are key to establishing credibility. A business case that is unclear, contains inaccurate information and is too long will lose the attention of the decision maker(s). The reviewers will be so distracted by the poor quality of the presentation that they won’t be able to concentrate on the case being made. Keep the business case:

• Clear: clear business objective, data, connections between the project and business goals, lines of accountability, financial/budget impact, etc.
• Correct: correct data, spelling, grammar, “business etiquette and style” per the organizations’ culture.
• Concise: Remember the reviewer(s) may not have the same vested interest in the project. They are busy with their own goals and business cases. Consequently, your business case must be one that will catch their attention and not take too much time to review. It must be:
• Pleasing to the eye: bullets, white space, fonts and colors that ease review
• No more than two pages long: if more information must be presented, use attachments. Where possible, attachments should be presented in tables, graphs or bullets.

CONTENT OF A WINNING BUSINESS CASE:
No matter how “pleasing to the eye” the business case is, if it does not have appropriate content it will not be approved. A winning business case will contain most, if not all, of the following:

• Date prepared
• Project name
• Sponsor (person, department, committee, or technology)
• Business case owner (author(s) of the business case)
• Project manager (if applicable)
• Objective: One sentence about the primary objective for the case
• Background/History: Short background of the subject matter – how it came about
• Current situation: What is happening right now that prompted this business case
• Recommendation: What the sponsor wants to see happen/decided/resolved
• Data to support the reviewer(s) ability to make an informed decision:
  • Cost analysis & payback period (ROI)
  • Business requirements (man hours, add to staff, other)
  • Pros/cons related to key performance indicators of the business
  • Regulatory impact/constraints
  • Legal impact/constraints
  • Dependencies: (other projects upon which this project is dependant and/or projects dependent upon this project.)
  • Due diligence performed (references, product demo, steering committee review)
  • Hardware, software, access requirements
  • Actions and timeline to deliverable
  • Proposal and approval signature/date lines

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With all the fancy templates available online, and “resume writing experts” offering to spruce up your image for a handsome fee, it can be difficult figuring out where to start. My recommendation is to get back to the basics – keep it simple and concise.

1) First and foremost, honesty is the best policy. Ensure that everything included in your resume is verifiable and accurate. Various sources state that up to one-half of all job applicants lie on their applications. I like to believe that these figures are slightly over exaggerated but ultimately you would be hard pressed to find a recruiter who couldn’t tell you at least a handful of stories about having to rescind job offers or ultimately having to terminate new hires after finding out a candidate was less than truthful. If the truth is stretched there is a good possibility that it will come back to haunt you.

2) Explain any gaps in employment history. If you are currently unemployed go ahead and list the end date of your last position rather than leaving it open-ended. Given the state of the economy over the past couple of years it is not uncommon to see gaps in employment. Simply explain what you did, or are doing, during this time. List continuing education classes, volunteer activities, conferences you attended, travel, involvement in professional organizations, or anything that demonstrates productive use of your time away from work.

3) Unless you are seeking employment as a graphic artist, avoid showy fonts, bright colors and patterns. Adding some color or simple design elements into your resume can be eye catching and ultimately help set you apart from the crowd. However, keep it simple and ensure that your resume is easy to read and that the design does not distract from the content. If you really want to emphasize your creativity send a traditional resume but include a link to an online portfolio that includes work samples and perhaps a jazzed up version of your resume.

4) Take the time to tailor your resume and cover letter to the specific position for which you are applying. Most recruiters sort through piles of resumes and at first glance are simply looking for those that include the basic key words from the job description. If the position requires knowledge of networking protocols such as TCP/IP and five years experience coding in C++ then ensure that TCP/IP and C++ are listed somewhere in your resume and are highlighted in the cover letter. Recruiters want to focus on the details the hiring managers are interested in – make the details easy to find.
Of special note – If a resume writing services is employed to create your resume it is still imperative that adjustments be made for the unique position for which you are applying. All too often I see resumes that are beautifully written, in third person, that generically cover skills and employment history but fail to include enough specifics regarding whether or not the person is qualified for the job they are applying for.

5) In a world where spell check tools abound it goes without saying…check for spelling and grammatical errors. When competition for employment is high, something as little as a misspelled word could eliminate you from consideration. The blogosphere is filled will debate about whether spelling errors are reasonable grounds for eliminating a candidate from consideration. Why risk it? Check, recheck, and have a friend check to ensure there are no errors.

6) Ensure that your resume highlights what you did, what your accomplishments were, and why you are uniquely qualified to fill the specific position you are applying for. Cleary state why you are you the best person for the job.

7) Once you’ve created a basic, generic resume save it, back it up, and print out a copy. It’s as good as gold! As new opportunities become available simply open the document, tailor it to the specific position, and save it as a new file. As you take on new responsibilities or change jobs pull up the generic resume, save it as a “resume draft/update” file and include new ideas to be included in the next version. Every six months to a year incorporate the changes and you’ll always be prepared to take advantage of new opportunities as they become available.

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Employers have historically had a fair amount of latitude to set dress and appearance policies appropriate to their work place as long as the policy does not discriminate and is supported by reasonable business expectations. This is especially true where there are safety issues or when employees have front line interaction with customers. Just as a company may require no open toed shoes due to safety hazards, a company may require employees to cover or remove piercings if there is a safety risk of getting the jewelry caught in machinery. If employees’ jobs involve interaction with customers they may be asked to dress conservatively – no shorts, tank tops, or apparel showing the midriff. They may also be asked to remove or cover sexually graphic, violent or large tattoos that may be offensive to the general public.

The key for the HR professional when establishing these guidelines is to balance the needs of the business with the public it serves and from which it recruits. Too strict of a policy may be less offensive to the general public but may result in challenges recruiting qualified employees, particularly those in the age groups more likely to have body art.. Too lenient of a policy may lend itself to greater employee satisfaction because the employer supports self expression but may discourage patronage by the public who find that level of self expression offensive.

The best way to ensure a balanced and successful policy is to involve a balanced segment of stakeholders in determining appropriate guidelines. A committee comprised of some management, some front line employees, and perhaps some customers and/or investors will go a long way towards building a balanced policy and buy-in among staff. This same group should be involved in communicating the policy and explaining business cases for restrictions. It is then up to the company to ensure that the policy is administered consistently and fairly.

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The concept of value is often interpreted differently depending on an individual or organization’s need at a particular point in time. As we all know, what is seen as value today may change tomorrow based on fluctuating budgets and business goals. With this in mind, our team sat down to analyze the value we can consistently guarantee clients. While the value we bring will inevitably evolve as we continue to enhance our services and serve our clients in different capacities we agreed that there are certain aspects of our service offering that will have longevity for many years to come.

We hope that sharing the different components of our value proposition will give you some insight into how we operate and will also inspire you to think about and perhaps document the value you bring to your company and your clients.

Trust – Not only did this quality come up time and time again in regards to what our team strives to give and receive personally and professionally, but it is also a trait our clients consistently use to describe the Resourceful HR team.

Customized and affordable HR solutions – While we are always streamlining processes and services so we can pass on the cost savings to our clients, we also know each organization is unique. That is why we strive to not provide cookie cutter solutions and instead offer impactful strategies that are cost-effective and can be backed up with a strong business case so you can be assured you will receive a return on your investment.

Helping you achieve immediate and long-term results – There was a tendency during our value proposition discussions to highlight the fact that we have been in the HR business for a long time. Due to that tenure, we have seen many scenarios no matter how good they looked on paper fail. So we kept asking ourselves, how does that experience add value to our clients? It came down to the fact that we know what works and more specifically, how to analyze a situation and provide recommendations for achieving the results you need in the timeframe required. Our goal is to give you the knowledge we’ve gained through hands-on experience so you can make informed decisions about the people aspect of your business and then reap the benefits.

Giving you the tools to focus on other aspects of your business – We know that HR is not your only focus and that there are only so many hours in the day. That means that you need solutions, you need results and then you need to move on to address the other revenue-generating aspects of your job. This is our focus.

Of course as proponents of our company and the HR industry, there are a variety of other attributes we wanted to underscore in our value proposition. However, our goal was to keep our value proposition succinct so that current and prospective clients knew at-a-glance the fundamental values of working with us. If we already serve you, we hope you will take the time to share your experience regarding value with us and if we don’t already serve you we look forward to meeting you and discussing the value we can bring to your business.

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Just as you must invest time and energy into building and sustaining a healthy relationship with your family and close friends, so too must you be willing to nurture and grow a productive relationship with your employees, especially those that are struggling.


Causes of Employee Dissatisfaction
There are many possible causes for employee dissatisfaction. The critical task for you as a leader is to quickly spot a potential problem and to accurately diagnose the situation and get to the root underlying cause(s), which may include:

• Personal issues – In some circumstances the employee’s poor attitude has little to do with the workplace and, instead, the employee is distracted by financial worries, health concerns or possibly personal issues such as depression or anxiety.
• Family problems – Other times the cause can be related to problems at home, e.g. relationship issues, disagreements with parents, siblings, relatives, or problems with children.
• Stressed interpersonal relationships in the workplace – Unfortunately, a vast majority of the time the cause is due to personal conflicts between an employee and their boss or fellow co-workers.

Symptoms and Potential Ramifications of Not Taking Action
To be successful in managing these types of conflicts, you must be vigilant about noticing the early warning signs of employee discontent and investigate the situation promptly. Failure to intervene can quickly lead to the following negative ramifications:

• Poor attendance and timeliness – Discontented employees often become unreliable in their job performance, which can damage trust with co-workers and customers.
• Low level of personal engagement – Both your immediate department and the company at large are unable to fully capitalize on the skills, talents and ideas of a discontented employee.
• Abrasive interactions with others – Angry, short-tempered, uncooperative interactions quickly shut down lines of communication that are critical to the effective functioning of the department and the overall organization.
• Increased employee turnover – There is abundant research verifying that the single most prevalent reason for employee turnover is poor interpersonal relationships in the workplace, especially with management.

Strategies for Getting an Employee Back on Track

There are a variety of methods for intervening and remedying unproductive employee behavior. To learn about strategies for getting an employee back on track contact us or sign up for our email newsletter. For a hands-on seminar on implementing helpful strategies, join us at
Equinox Business Law’s offices on July 28, from 2:30pm to 4:30pm. Register here.

The Payoff for Maintaining Healthy Employee Relationships
There are many benefits, both tangible and intangible, to be realized by maintaining healthy employer-employee relationship including:

• Positive attitudes are contagious – When you are able to build and sustain an open, engaged relationship with employees the benefits are exponential since the positive, enthusiastic attitudes of even one employee can influence others in a positive manner.
• Enhanced capacity to weather difficult times and stress – Employees who feel secure and invested in their work and the organization are much more resilient and able to ride the occasional waves of uncertainty and change that buffet all companies.
• Increased bench strength – Building a cadre of employees who have positive interactions with management helps to build a healthy pool of potential new leaders who possess the types of aptitudes needed to maintain an engaged workforce.
• Happier internal and external customers – Most employees are neither interested nor skilled at hiding their emotions when interacting with others in the course of performing their job. By maintaining a positive, engaged workforce you enhance the positive perception of both your department and your company as entities with which it is pleasant to do business.
• Enhanced goodwill and a forgiving attitude when mistakes are made – When you cultivate a work environment that exhibits a caring attitude, that values the unique contributions of each employee and that looks for solutions rather than someone to blame when problems occur you help to create a generosity of spirit that extends to interactions with others when difficult issues arise.

Underlying all of the positive attributes and benefits of creating and maintaining good employer-employee relations is the promise of increased productivity and profitability. With very little monetary expense and a moderate investment of your time and energy you can realize positive returns that will continue to pay dividends well into the future.

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