Category Archives: Management

Are You a Good Boss?

Management

American employees are unimpressed with their bosses. Earlier this month, Randstad USA, a staffing company, released a survey of 2337 people in which half of the employees reported that they do not respect their bosses. Only half believe their bosses are competent. Less than 30 percent see their bosses as coaches, motivators or mentors.

All of this means that employees don’t feel motivated to work harder. Less than half of those surveyed said they would volunteer to work extra time to impress their bosses. Only 43 percent believe that their supervisors would listen to new ideas. So do you think these employees ever work late or suggest improvements in the workplace?

This survey got me to thinking about what makes a good boss. Why does that matter to an employment attorney? In my experience, those of my clients who understand about being great leaders get sued much less often. Every manager makes mistakes, but those who take the attitude that “my employees are just damn lucky to have a job” seem to invite expensive and unproductive litigation into their lives.

I have an old (1984) article from Nation’s Business that still provides the best explanation of what it takes to be a great boss: Continue reading Are You a Good Boss? →

What Every Supervisor Must Know

Discrimination, Management, Training,

Most employee lawsuits are caused by the actions of a first-line supervisor. In other words, that woman that you just promoted from cashier to assistant manager is the one most likely to get your company sued by a disgruntled employee or former employee. Why? Because the first-line supervisor has the most day-to-day contact with your employees. And during that contact, the first-line supervisor may make racist comments, forget to accommodate the disabled, show favoritism to those of his/her own religion, or make an employee work “off the clock”.

Remember that your lowest-ranking supervisor still represents “the company” and can make your business liable for discrimination, retaliation, compensation errors and other legal violations.

So from a preventative viewpoint, the selection and training of a new supervisor involves much more than just taking your hardest-working employees and giving them a raise and the keys to the storeroom.  Here are some of the things to consider when promoting an employee to a supervisory role: Continue reading What Every Supervisor Must Know →

Employers Can Face Criminal Penalities

Ethics, Management, Termination

Ionia Management is a Greek company that manages a fleet of tanker vessels. The company was convicted of a crime and sentenced for its role in falsifying records to conceal the overboard dumping of waste oil from one of its vessels into international waters. The case is now on appeal to the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ionia Management says it was convicted based on the acts of rogue employees, who had been trained and repeatedly reminded of the company policy prohibiting the dumping but did it anyway. That leads us to the question of whether the company or its owners should face criminal fines and possibly jail for the acts of its subordinate employees. Or is civil liability in court more appropriate?

However you feel about criminal liability for corporate actions, in these post-Enron days, it is a fact of business. And as a employment lawyer, I feel compelled to point out a couple of the ways in which your employee relations can land you in criminal court. Continue reading Employers Can Face Criminal Penalities →

How to Poorly Manage Employees

Management

Do you want a good laugh today? Do you want to feel better about yourself as a manager or supervisor?

Then compare your management style to Edward Mike Davis, who ran Tiger Oil Company in Houston during the 1970s before the company went bankrupt during the oil bust of the 1980s.

“Tiger Mike” wrote some now very famous memos that are the epitome of poor management. However, I never found anything blatantly illegal in his memos. He was an equal opportunity bully, harassing and demeaning all of his employees.

Of course, his kind of supervision gives employees an powerful incentive to find something about which to sue. That incentive is known as vengeance.

Tiger Mike’s memos include such gems as these:

  • “DO YOUR JOB AND KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.”
  • “I have the privilege of swearing publicly, in front of anyone, or doing anything I want to because I pay the bills. When you work for me, you don’t have that privilege.”
  • “We do not pay starvation wages, and there are some people left in this world who want to work. I am not fond of hippies, long-hairs, dope fiends or alcoholics. I suggest each and every person in a supervisory category (from driller up to me) eliminate these people.”
  • “Anyone who lets their hair grow below their ears to where I can’t see their ears means they don’t wash. If they don’t wash, they stink, and if they stink, I don’t want the son-of-a-bitch around me.”
  • “Do not speak to me when you see me. If I want to speak to you, I will do so. I want to save my throat. I don’t want to ruin it by saying hello to all of you sons-of-bitches.”

For more of Tiger Mike’s amazing memos to his employees, click here. After reading these, you can congratulate yourself that you are a much better manager of your employees. If not, then you better put an employment lawyer on speed dial!