Top Five Hotline Questions

Written by: Bethany Williamson

When I asked my colleagues for ideas on our April newsletter cover article, I was flooded with questions we are being asked on our hotline from members like you. With that in mind, I thought I would list five of those, give you a short best practice, and links to more detailed information.

1. What is a PIP? A PIP is a Performance Improvement Plan, and it is a form of written employee discipline. A PIP can be used as the employee’s last chance to improve their performance after being coached and having other forms of discipline. It can also be used as a notice of serious offence, like violating a safety policy, which the company deems serious enough to warrant such discipline. Find more information in our webinar, Discipline & Termination in Montana.
2. Tipping and tip pools – Too long to answer here, but you have the best resource right on our AE website with HR Answers Now using your AE account access. Just search “tip pooling” for your state and the most current information on your state’s regulations with explanations comes right up!
3. The Interactive Process – This is part of working within the ADA requirements, but it is simply good HR practice. These conversations are crucial to have early on with employees when they are ill, injured or struggling at work. Using the interactive process, we can help keep performance up, perhaps provide accommodation, avoid further incidents, and provide a safe place to work for our employees. For more information, check out JAN (Job Accommodation Network) your resource for ADA.
4. “They are a good performer, but no one wants to work with them!”- Are they a good performer if no one wants to work with them? Being a good coworker and employee includes being able to work well with others. When it does not, this is a performance issue. We have policies in our handbook about conduct, our company culture and how we present ourselves. If an employee is not abiding by those policies, this can rise to a disciplinary issue the same as not performing well in other job standards. We have webinars on coaching employees, managing difficult people and behaviors, and having those hard conversations.
5. Politics in the Workplace – We are in the trenches of a new election year and as the election draws near, opinions are shared, tempers and passions can also flare up. We can hear from employees that wearing buttons, t-shirts or hats are matters of free speech and political affiliation is protected. Here is the catch, you can prohibit the wearing of political items and messaging so long as you prohibit it all. Yes, their political affiliation is protected, as an employer we do not care what party or candidate you are enthusiastic about, but we do care that the harmony of our workplace remains intact through the election and beyond. By prohibiting all political items and messaging, we can avoid distractions and disagreements that can happen and remain focused on work. HR Answers Now has valuable information on politics in the workplace.