Productivity metrics can be a very helpful performance management tool, but if not carefully designed and implemented, they can lead to negative outcomes. Multiple LAPD officers are being investigated for allegedly falsely labeling individuals as gang members in order to boost their productivity statistics. According to some, officers were pressured to show more gang contacts …
10 Tips for Effective Performance Evaluations During COVID
Given how different work has been over the last few months during COVID-19, you may be wondering whether to cancel your regularly-scheduled performance evaluations. Some employees have been furloughed, others have been working from home (some while also caring for their children), some have needed to take time off for COVID-related reasons, while others have …
Tips for Receiving PPP Loan Forgiveness
The Payroll Protection Program (PPP) is an element of the CARES Act that provides assistance to small businesses with 500 or fewer employees to help them pay their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides a lot of helpful provisions, but certain aspects, such as only having 8 weeks to use the loan, have been …
Is the Payroll Protection Loan Right for You?
Originally published April 3, 2020. Updated June 29, 2020, to reflect PPPFA updates. On July 3, 2020, the application deadline was extended to August 8, 2020. If you’re a small business, you may be starting to have difficulty paying your employees as you may have decreased revenue coming in or your business may not be …
Creating a Better Normal at Work – Time
In our final article about “Creating a Better Normal at Work,” we’ll focus on what I think may be the hardest topic – how we spend our time. Time seems to move faster and faster. Before you know it, the week is gone, and then the month, and then the year. It’s hard to figure …
First Steps to Address Racial Prejudice in the Workplace
In recent weeks, we’ve seen a lot of companies speak out against racial prejudice and discrimination toward the Black community and broadcast their corporate support for justice and racial equality. My guess is that, if you were to ask a random company whether they are opposed to racism and discrimination, they would (hopefully) say yes. …
Creating a Better Normal at Work – Money
As we work to create a better future – a better “normal” – it’s time to talk about everyone’s favorite topic (or maybe not) – money! Whether you love budgeting or loathe it, it’s one of those necessary tasks that I would guess you do each year during your company’s budget season. How we spend …
Creating a Better Normal at Work – Purpose
In a previous article, we discussed that, as much as we may be ready for this pandemic to be over and normality to resume, we have an enormous opportunity to intentionally create a better “future normal” rather than rushing back into the old normal. Having that perspective means we’ll need to do some things differently. …
How to Handle Time Off Requests to Protest
My employee just requested time off at the last minute to participate in a protest. The deadline for time off requests has already passed. What do I do? Approve it. There will be times extraordinary circumstances arise that aren’t known before the deadline, so consider this the same way. But I already have other employees …
Creating a Better Normal at Work – Perspective
It seems we’re a bit obsessed with the word “normal.” We talk about what used to be “normal” and the “new normal” and when we can “return to normal.” In the midst of all this chaos and uncertainty, we want to feel grounded. We miss people and experiences. We want to feel comfortable and at …