How to Implement
Change in the Workplace Without Sending Your Staff into a Spin
It could be said that the only time people are open to change is when
what they have always done, no longer works for them. As a business owner,
it is up to you show your staff that this applies to your business as
well. When certain procedures and practices no longer meet the needs of
the business, change is needed.
To facilitate this change, respect must be shown for both the needs of
the business and employees. When the business needs for increased efficiency,
profitability and productivity take priority over the needs of staff,
there is an increased possibility of stress and real resistance to any
proposed change. A balance must be achieved between the two. Here are
ten simple suggestions to help you bring about change, without sending
your entire staff into a spin.
- Keep your staff informed. Explain the why and the how of your decision
to change.
- Emphasise how the proposed change will benefit staff. By engendering
a sense of ownership in the process, staff more eagerly participate
in, welcome and adapt to any changes made. Ownership and participation
are essential.
- Get staff involved in the planning and the implementation of any change.
Use as many staff suggestion as possible.
- Provide adequate training and practice in any new procedures.
- Establish a mentoring programme until a new comfort and confidence
level is achieved by all staff.
- Never rush into change. Get the pace right. Look upon it as a process
involving information, discussion and patience.
- Avoid the bandwagon. Many times workplace change is initiated by a
manager getting excited about some new programme or technology after
attending a conference. Always research any new idea. Test drive it
with a few willing volunteers and then make a decision as to whether
this works for your business.
- Where staff are resistant to change, show them that the new way of
doing things is going to make their lives less stressful and more enjoyable.
- Affirm, appreciate and praise your employees frequently, especially
during the period of change implementation. Appreciation and praise
are powerful human motivators.
- Foster a climate of humour in the workplace. People working in a climate
of humour and enjoyment are more flexible and open to change.
Employment Law |
National
Minimum Wage Regulations 1999 (Amendment) Regulations 2008 comes
into force1 October 2008.
Adult rate aged 22 years and over increases from
£5.52 to £5.73 per hour
Development rate aged 18-21 years increases from £4.60 to
£4.77 per hour
Youth rate aged 16 and 17 increases from £3.40 to £3.53
per hour.
Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable
Treatment) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 come
into force 27 October 2008
The Regulations amend the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention
of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 so that agency workers
on contracts of less than three months are not excluded from statutory
sick pay.
Amendments to law on terms and conditions of employment
during maternity leave 5 October 2008
The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Amendment) Regulations
2008 narrow the extent to which it is not discriminatory to deprive
a woman of the benefit of her terms and conditions of employment
during maternity leave. The amendments facilitate claims for discrimination
in relation to eligibility for remuneration by way of a bonus while
on compulsory maternity leave. In addition, they enable claims for
discrimination in relation to terms and conditions of employment
in relation to periods of additional maternity leave to the same
extent to which they are available in relation to periods of ordinary
maternity leave.
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News & Comment
Too Weighty to Work?
Bus driver Marie Parker has 20 years' experience as a bus driver but
because her BMI was 34.1 she was turned down. Translink in Belfast accepts
recruits only with a BMI of less than 33.
Is obesity a valid reason for not selecting a potential candidate? How
fine is the line between a convincing operational or health and safety
reason and discrimination? Given the rising problem of obesity, this could
be an increasing difficulty for employers.
Not up to the Job
If you are a football fan, you will know that Steve
McClaren, England football manager, was sacked because the team
was not winning. Dismissing an employee for not being up to the
job can be legitimate. However, using capability as a reason for
dismissal is sometimes seen as a time consuming and complex process.
Capability discussions can be an invaluable tool
and a natural extension of good performance management. Sound target
setting, monitoring and timescales will provide a robust and speedy
continuous appraisal process. Given that accurate performance information
is available, any capability procedure can then be applied safely.
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Staff Sickness
Thank you to everyone who completed the short survey on staff
sickness recently. This revealed a number of interesting results,
some of which are different from national trends. Here are some of the
results.
A perhaps unsurprising result was that 76%
of respondents believed that staff sickness caused their business problems
with day to day workloads. Coupled with 69%
of respondents believing that staff took time off sick for reasons other
than sickness, paints a challenging picture for companies.
One result which bucks the national trend relates to stress related absence.
Only 17% of respondents believed that stress
was a major reason for sickness which is very much lower than the national
picture.
65% of respondents believed that it is very
difficult to dismiss someone with a poor sickness record and this was
view was carried on with 72% of respondents
stating that the Disability Discrimination Act had not made managing staff
sickness any easier.
Do you have a
question or query about any staffing issue in your company? Drop
us an email
and we will do our best to answer it. |
Quote for July…
"People create their own success by learning what they need
to learn and then by practicing it until they become proficient at it."
Brian Tracy |
