Old Yeller

I recently met a leader in the manufacturing industry that apparently likes to yell at his employees.  I witnessed it during my visit and chat with him. The funniest part of that exchange was the question he had for me.  He asked, "Is there something wrong with my work culture if the leaders of my organization yell at their direct reports on a regular basis?"  That was an incredible question.  Is there something wrong with that culture?

At first I chuckled, and then I gave it some thought.  Can yelling be part of a "good" culture? Could the culture be sound in the right setting?  I immediately thought of that popular Donald Trump show, the reviews of former employees from Apple and Facebook, as well as the Iron Chef/Cooking Network shows I enjoy watching.  No matter how I rationalized the scenarios I just couldn't embrace this "yelling leadership" style.  In general people do not enjoy being yelled at and are usually not motivated or inspired by yelling.  Putting military boot camps aside, the average employee will not respond positively to yelling.

In a yelling exchange there is the risk/reality that the communication will come to a halt or it will not be effective in any way.  Yelling creates emotional reactions from the recepients as well as the person yelling. Fight or flight actions are readily demonstrated, so the yelling really doesn't pay off.  With that aside there is also an increased litigation risk due to commonly known harassment issues that can arise from such a working environment.  The yelling could be associated to a hostile work environment which is unacceptable and also illegal.

Then of course there are the tongue in cheek solutions to embracing a work culture that condones yelling.  If yelling were the norm your recruiting would have to be strategic to find the best fit for your culture.  Behavioral interview questions would be a must in addition to your other interview qualifying questions...."Please share what you did the last time you were yelled at due to an error or a misunderstanding."  You wouldn't want to hire someone that didn't thrive in a yelling environment.

Long story short, I would have to disclose that if there is yelling -the culture of the company must need a tune-up or its leaders must need communication training.  Yelling can become a habitual form of communication, which we should not embrace.   He didn't agree with me, but that's okay...as long as he didn't feel the need to yell at me.

Thank you for reading my blog.


 

10 Miles and the Incredible ALT

Please forgive me, but I'm going to use my blog to brag about my recent run.  I'm training for the San Diego Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon.  I have to share that I have been very pleased that I chose to run the 1/2 and even though I will be admiring the full marathoners to my left on race day-I will be very grateful that 13.1 is my magic number for 5/31/2015.

There are moments in my training that make the upcoming 1/2 marathon a reality rather than just a whimsical daydream.  Those moments are basically benchmarks in the training program.  I started officially training on 3/31/2015 which means an 8 week program or better yet stated...a couch to 1/2 marathon program.  When I started out a mile seemed like such a stretch and honestly even the distance between home plate and first base was sort of unattainable when I first started out.  I knew this to be true due to my short lived softball career last fall.

Let's get back to those benchmarks.  My first 5 mile run made me feel like a super hero.  The timing wasn't anything to brag about, so you will notice that I won't be sharing that detail!  The accomplishment of those first 5 miles made the training so real.  I became an official runner that day. 

Today's run was 10 miles, and when I finished that run-that sense of accomplishment almost made me teary eyed.  It was on treadmill-but we'll put that detail aside, because what happened next was so incredible.  I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I was exiting the workout area.  My hair  slightly damp, my skin glowing, and the person in that reflection looking the part of a 1/2 marathon runner. 

The day just got better when I realized how starved I was after that run, and discovering how many calories I had burned during this running sessions (1300+ calories).  My go-to after running meal is my beloved ALT.  No guilt, since it's a perfect balance of carbs, protein, fat, and actually tastes so good.

Recipe:
Toasted Multi-Grain Bread
Avocado (Sliced)
Tomato
Butter Lettuce
Generous slather of "Just Mayo" (Hampton Creek product-they call it JOY on your sandwich)
This mayo is soy free, dairy free, lactose free, gluten free, and egg free. It's a non-GMO product and the taste is incredible-makes any sandwich an ultimate sandwich.  I don't work for Hampton Creek, but I LOVE the joy they give my sandwiches!

I usually toast the bread as I'm slicing my ingredients, and wash this down with a nice glassful of coconut water.

Thank you for letting me brag.  Thank you for reading my blog.

Understand Your Salaried Exempt Status

 
Early in my career I worked for an employer that converted the majority of their salaried employees in their accounting department into non-exempt salaried employees.  I remember the mixed emotions of my team.  At the time I was working for a corporate office of a restaurant concept as a benefits/payroll accountant.  Some of my co-workers were very upset that they had lost their exempt status.

Looking back I can now see that the company realized the liability of not classifying its workers correctly.  Its exempt workers did not meet the criteria to be classified as exempt staff.  When we looked at our paychecks there was no change except- that now we were being paid for overtime.  The company meticulously measured their productivity cycles and while we remained fairly busy no worker was over-stressed with their work load.  The experience was great, and the morale was high.

It's important to understand the difference between salary exempt and non-salary exempt. Are you classified correctly?  Be your own advocate and learn how your role qualifies for the exempt status classification.  At the very least be aware of the minimum salary that should be paid for your exempt role for your organization to be in compliance with its federal and state laws. For the guidelines to determine if your role is correctly classified as exempt please use this link:

 http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/fairpay/

With making the assumptions that your company has classified your role correctly as an exempt worker you should be aware that the Fair Labor Standards Act does not place a limit on the number of hours or days that an employee (age 16 or older) may be required to work. 
 
The norm in most private-employer environments is for an exempt employee to be expected to work a minimum of 40 hours per week and to work as many hours as necessary to complete all their job duties. It's also the norm in some environments such as retail, restaurants, and hospitality to have extended hours of operation and to have the expectations that its exempt team players will work at least 45-50 hours per week if not more.

While there aren't restrictions on the number of hours an exempt employee may be required to work there are some states that have "day of rest" regulations that require employees to have 24 hour consecutive hours of time off during a workweek-or an average over a month's period.  New York and California have these rest regulations.  Given only limited state limitations on hours and days worked this should not be a green light for employers to lengthen their workweek requirements for their exempt employees.

Numerous studies have proven a connection between an employee's fatigue levels and the bottom line for organizations. It has been shown that employees reporting fatigue have also reported a loss of productivity while at work.  Additionally, fatigued employees were more likely to injure themselves when their hours of worked increased.  Having fatigued employees can actually cause injury events to peak.

Another important consideration for an organization is to understand the correlations of requiring longer workweeks and the effect is has to employee morale.  Employers need to fully consider how increasing work loads and increasing work weeks impact their productivity, safety, employee wellness, and its ability to attract and retain quality employees.

Thank you for reading my blog.