Can we talk? This past month I've been swamped and, not surprisingly, my blogging count is down. It seems that when I'm busy I don't get around to blogging until the evening. Unfortunately, by then my brain is mush and nothing wonderful pops into my head.

So … this is where YOU come in. Please, please add your comments to this post telling me what issues you're having with employees, what advice you need, what you'd like to have me write about. If you're too shy to comment publicly, email me instead.

Of course, I can just keep rambling on about whatever pops into my head. However, I know there are a lot of people coming to my blog so I assume you're looking for something. Tell me what it is so I can try to make my posts more useful for you … and I can stop squeezing ideas out of my tired brain! If you don't have any immediate needs, then just throw out ideas that you think would be of interest to my readers and subscribers.

I look forward to learning what you want and/or need … thanks for your help!

When dealing with people I find there are certain things I consider an intelligence test. Recently in the paper there was an article that confirmed my thoughts.

A man planned to rob a restaurant and was biding his time waiting for the customers to leave. His idea of remaining inconspicuous was to sit and complete a job application while he waited. Not bad so far, right? Wait, what's that on the application? His real name and his uncle's phone number. Duh! Needless to say, the police had no trouble catching up with him.

Another favorite of mine is the applicant's reference list. Many companies don't bother checking the references provided by the applicant because, duh, who would provide a name of someone who isn't going to sign your praises? Well, start checking those references. While you might think it's obvious, not everyone does. I've even called a past supervisor that was listed and the supervisor berated the employee performance and was really glad he was gone. Oh, and he didn't recommend hiring him.

Lies on a job application are another. However, this only really works well if you are conducting background checks (which I highly recommend). Since you have to mention on a job application that you conduct background checks and/or drug testing, you'd think applicants would understand that the information on the job application must match what turns up on the background check. However, the applicant continues to try to lie their way out of the "mix-up." Degrees are the biggie here. If your position requires a degree, you really should have the degree listed on the job application verified through a background check. It's difficult to verify degrees on your own, which may be why so many applicants try to fake it.

What's on your duh list?

How many employees have you lost to a competitor? Did you ever ask for a detailed explanation of why an employee was leaving? What if you could have prevented good employees from jumping ship?

Retention can be difficult in a small company because you have fewer options and resources than large companies. There will always be some very good reasons why employees leave, such as going back to school, a promotion you were unable to offer, their spouse is being relocated, etc. However, there are many times when the reason an employee is leaving was something you could have prevented.

A bad manager or supervisor is one of the top reasons people leave their jobs. This can be avoided by making sure you are properly training people who manage employees. Many people are promoted into supervisory positions based on technical skills and no training is provided in people skills. If you aren't making sure you have on-going supervisory training then you are just one more non-responsive person in the mangement line that makes an employee shrug and look for work elsewhere.

While your company may be too small to have much to offer in promotions or moves to other departments, you do have options. When a good employee starts to become bored or sees nowhere else to go in the company, they will look outside. That's where you need to look … outside the box. Think of ways to challenge that employee. Could they become a mentor to new employees? Could they be put in charge of training for their area? Could they be cross-trained to expand their skills? Could they write a procedures manual for their department? These are often assignments that are worked on around the employee's normal work.

Most of all, ask for details when someone resigns. Studies show it's rarely just about money (assuming you are paying a fair wage). Sometimes you'll get a more honest answer by having a third party (like a consultant) do the exit interview or mail a questionnaire (with a stamped return envelope) to the employee a day after they've left.

Once you have those answers, take them to heart and explore what your company can or should do differently so you don't spend all your time and money replacing and training people. On the other hand, don't waste your time if you aren't ready to hear some hard truths and willing to make changes.

I'm typically very healthy and rarely catch whatever bug is going around. But last month a series of early morning meetings and late nights (aka lack of sleep) resulted in a minor cold that lasted about three days. But two weeks later it came back with a vengence. I've now had this latest cold more than two weeks and it's still hanging on just enough to be irritating.

There were a few days when my brain was working at about half speed, I was really tired from not being able to sleep through the night, and I was sucking down cough drops in such quantity that they were making me slightly nauseous. My question for you is … at what point do you want someone in that condition to stay home from work or come in?

Sick time is a tough issue. You may provide paid sick time and find it's abused by use of the ever-popular "mental health" day. You may offer a bonus for perfect attendance but find you have employees who come to work and contaminate others just to say they never missed a day of work. PTO plans have similar issues because vacation and sick time is blended together and employees want to save all the days available for when they feel good and want a day off.

Regardless of which plan you use to account for sick days, it's not perfect. You're usually relying on your employee's honesty and ability to handle the symptoms of their illness.

Do I have a magic pill for you? No. Sorry, the best I can tell you is to monitor sick days and days when you wish someone would stay home because they are contaminating the other employees. Watch for patterns (like significantly more Fridays and Mondays). Also consider the type of jobs your employees have because some of them probably shouldn't be working (operating equipment, driving, etc.) if they are taking various drugs to alleviate symptoms. Then develop a policy or explanation of how you want employees to deal with illnesses.

Wellness programs are becoming more popular. Talk with your health insurance carrier to find out if they offer any ideas or programs intended to keep employees healthy. In the same way that a cold runs through an entire family, I've seen a cold or the flu run through an entire company. It's hard to be productive and profitable when half your employees are out with the flu. It's more cost-effective to work to prevent illnesses rather than dealing with the aftermath.

Have you ever wondered what you could do to make your employees happier? A recent study reported in Science provides the answer.

It should be no surprise that many people are happier when they give to others. The study found that giving to charities increases happiness. You can use this information in your business to increase the feeling of well-being of your employees as well as increasing retention.

The next time you are reviewing your benefits or employee events, consider developing a program that allows employees paid or unpaid time off work to conduct charitable work.

Perhaps a group of employees want to help out at a soup kitchen over the holidays. Or you could be the holding area for program that collects and distributes blankets, clothing, and other goods needed by those in need. Maybe they want to collect and distribute toys for local orphanages. There are unlimited possibilities out there for those really interested.

The best thing you can do is hand the whole thing over to the employees. Have a company meeting where you announce the very basics of this idea. Suggest they form a planning committee and bring you ideas.

Decide what role your company will play. Are you going to allow a certain amount of time off? Will it be paid or unpaid? Or will you commit to a specific amount of financial backing for whatever they want to do? Remember that you need someone from management to oversee the committee just to stay on top of the time and financial commitments allowed by the company.

Start small and let it grow as you see positive results. Make sure the employees know this is something you’re agreeing to … IF they want to do it. If you force participation, you’ve completely lost the value of the benefit.

Employees have become much more particular about the company they choose for their employment. If they care about the environment, they are choosing “green” companies. If they care about giving, they are choosing companies that give. What do you want to be known for … and are you leading by example?

In a previous blog I wrote about the Starbucks lawsuit regarding supervisors getting a share of the tip jar. The San Diego Superior Court is not in agreement with Starbucks.

Starbucks insists that the shift supervisors are eligible to receive a share of the pooled tips because they often work the counter in addition to other responsibilities. However, the court has decided that the shift supervisors also direct the work of the baristas and that makes them ineligible.

California law states that managers, agents, or owners of businesses can’t share the tips. The shift supervisors were agents of the business, according to the court.

Needless to say, Starbucks will fight this. However, for now, the baristas have won $105 million. This is the combined amount of $86.6 million in tips that had been given to supervisors, plus $19.1 million in interest. The money represents an eight-year period of baristas and supervisors sharing tips.

What should you take away from this court decision? Mostly to remember that, in California, knowing you’ve classified your employees properly is important. Know the law or talk with someone who does.

Even if your company doesn’t have a tip jar, you probably have exempt employees. The state doesn’t feel making an employee exempt (from overtime) is a benefit. Instead, California wants to make sure you haven’t taken away a benefit … namely, overtime pay. There are tests you can use to determine the proper classifications and they really help if you are totally honest with your answers.

So, if you’ve stretched the rules to make someone exempt you really should rethink it. Or you can wait until the day that employee gets mad about something and decides to sic the California Labor Board on you.

Here's a real case in the San Diego courts right now for you to ponder. It involves Starbucks and the way they split the proceeds of the tip jar.

The money in the tip jar has been split between that shift's employees, including the shift supervisors. This resulted in a class action lawsuit that includes 120,000 baristas (the people who prepare your coffee or tea) and began a few years ago. Jumping to the bottom line, inclusion of supervisors and managers violates California labor laws.

Starbucks responded that their supervisors did many of the same tasks as the baristas and were, therefore, eligible for tips. The judge disagreed and said the supervisors directed the actions of the baristas and that made them ineligible. This ruling made Starbucks liable for damages. It's likely we'll hear about an appeal at some point.

So, how does this affect you? If your employees aren't in a tipping environment, it doesn't. However, if your employees may or do get tips you need to make sure all your employees are classified properly and you know the correct way to handle the tips.

California has been coming down hard on anything related to wages. Make sure you know you're doing it right, not just assuming it's correct because you haven't been sued … yet.

No matter how many times I might offer suggestions, train managers, or talk about it, there will always be a few of you that are not properly dealing with your bad employees. Why is that?

The most common reasons were compiled by the CNN.com staff. After reading what they put together, I have to agree with most of them. Listed below are the ones I've seen most often:

1. The employee brings more value to the company than s/he costs. I've seen this in companies where the technological knowledge of the company is connected to this employee. Prevent becoming too reliant on one employee by ensuring every employee keeps accurate and consistent logs of their work. While you may be reluctant to fire that employee, you need a backup plan for any type of "what if" that would prevent the employee from returning to work.
    
2. The boss is afraid of the employee. You can laugh but some employees can be downright scary! You hire someone who, at first, is great because they are proactive and take charge of their job. Unfortunately, over time they also take over the whole office and appear to be telling everyone else what they should be doing. Pretty soon, you're afraid of the repercussions of disciplining or firing the employee.
   
   If you're already in this position, call in professional help (an experienced HR consultant or employment law attorney) who will help you work through this. If you want to prevent this from happening to you, do your job as a manager and counsel your employees as events occur. The longer you let things go, the worse it will get.
   
3. S/he is not really a bad employee. Usually this means the employee may really intend to do a good job or be a good employee but just can't get it together. Maybe they do a fabulous job when they are working but are consistently late to work, absent, or a number of other things that you wouldn't normally put up with if they didn't do such good work.
   
   The only viable solution here is to determine your policies and make sure all your employees, including the best and worst, follow them. As soon as you make allowances for one employee, others will soon expect special allowances too.

Do you see yourself in these examples? Deal with it. Don't try to justify your actions to date, just change your behavior and take charge. You'll love the difference it makes with the rest of your employees.

Are you using a Non-Disclosure Agreement or Employee Handbook or other form of agreement with any or all employees? Are you sure you're protected?

I recently met someone who used a Non-Disclosure Agreement. However, he had neglected to follow-up with employees to make sure he actually received back signed copies. When he was terminating an employee it was discovered that his company's technology was unprotected.

Sadly, this is not an uncommon situation. You're busy and get distracted with other work. A week goes by and the last thing you're thinking about is having that signed form returned to you. But without the employee's signature on these documents, they are worthless in protecting your information, acting on policy violations, etc., etc.

I'm guessing that you didn't create those agreements or your Employee Handbook just to have it ignored and unable to defend yourself in court if needed. So you really need to develop a system to ensure you get those signatures in place and files in each employee's file.

I use two methods. One is for new employees and is simply using a form that lists all the new-hire paperwork that was given out. I keep that form in my follow-up file until I receive every form that needs to be returned. You just check each item off on the form as it's received.

The other method is for existing employees when you're issuing a new Employee Handbook or other document where their signature is required. It's simple … just print out a listing of current employees and cross their name off when they have returned the signed form. Don't forget to add a heading on the list saying what it's for!

Of course, the secret is following up and issuing deadlines. Don't let these things drag out. I usually tell everyone I need the signed forms back within a week. Ideally, you want to give employees three days to review any document. But, after that, drive them crazy until they return it.

My one exception is the Non-Disclosure Agreement. I send that out with my offer letter and they don't start work until it's signed. The whole point of it is to protect your company. If you're giving them access to your company information and secrets without a signed Agreement, you're voiding it yourself.

Go to your employee files right now and start auditing them. A late signature is better than nothing, but the best protection is getting those signatures at the right time.

California is hitting companies hard when rest and meal breaks are not honored … or properly documented. Protect your company by handling breaks correctly.

Meal breaks must be at least 30 minutes and provided if your employee is scheduled to work more than five hours. However, if your employee is working no more than six hours the meal break can be skipped. Be sure that employee clocks out within the six-hour window though!

You absolutely want to record those meal breaks. If you use a time clock, have it well documented that employees must clock out for meal breaks and clock back in upon returning to work. If you use handwritten timecards, have the employee write in their meal breaks and initial each day (or weekly at a minimum).

Rest breaks are harder to document because employees don't clock out for them. So, again, make sure you put in writing your rules for 10 minute rest breaks every four hours. And don't ignore them yourself by not calculating work schedules to allow for them.

If you don't think this is serious, ask Rady Children's Hospital. They've had to pay nearly $2.8 million to compensate about 2,000 current and previous employees who didn't get a second meal break after working shifts of ten or more hours. And the whole case was started by one employee who complained to the DLSE (Division of Labor Standards Enforcement). The only reason the dollar amount was so little was because the DLSE could only go back three years.

The hospital actually thought they had done things correctly. They had gotten waivers from the employees who wanted to skip the second meal break so they could leave work half an hour early. However, the hospital didn't keep track of the records properly and lost their ability to fight the claim.

How are you tracking meal and rest breaks?