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Saturday, July 2, 2011

Termination Checklist

An Employment Termination
Basic Checklist

Notify Human Resources                                   
  • _____ Notify HR: As soon as you are aware of and/or receive a letter from an employee that notifies you of the employee's intention to terminate employment, notify your Human Resources office.
  • _____ Official Notice: If an employee tells you of their intention to leave your employment, ask them to write a resignation letter that states they are leaving and their termination date. (Companies request a minimum of two weeks notice, when possible and desirable.)

Permissions Termination
  • _____Notify Your Network Administrator: As soon as you know that an employee is leaving, notify your Network Administrator or other appropriate staff person of the date and time on which to terminate the employee's access to computer and telephone systems. Make arrangements for how these accounts will be routed to ascertain that your organization will not lose contact with clients and customers. Additionally, disable the employee's building entry alarm code, if applicable.

Return of Property
  • _____ Return of company property: Exiting employees are required to turn in all company books and materials, keys, ID badges, computers, cell phones and any other company-owned items.
  • _____ Passwords: Employees should provide their supervisors with passwords and other information pertaining to accessing computer files and telephone messages. (You may want to keep email and phone accounts active for awhile to field customer contacts.)

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Procrastination

This great article was sent to me on Procrastination.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.


Wednesday, June 1, 2011

How to Criticize Constructively

Quoted From:  http://www.cpa2biz.com

Offering helpful critique can be challenging: If delivered well, criticism will affect change without upsetting the work environment or damaging relationships. However, if handled poorly, it can result in unhappy employees who may eventually leave the company in frustration. Following are some points that will help you deliver critique in a constructive and positive manner:

Gather all the facts. Avoid jumping to conclusions or making assumptions about a missed deadline or poor-quality work. Instead, determine what went wrong and why, and then identify what the employee should do differently in the future.
Do it in private. No one wants to be reprimanded in front of their coworkers. You are much more likely to have a positive, effective discussion of an issue with a staff member if you ask him or her into your office and broach the subject diplomatically.
Criticize the work, not the person. Often, how you critique someone is just as important as what you say. For example, it’s better to say, “The report you prepared was not up to the firm’s standards” than “I’ve never seen anyone as careless about details as you are.”
Be specific. If you don’t clearly define the issue, an employee isn’t going to change his or her behavior. Avoid making broad, vague statements about productivity or performance. Instead, focus on what is wrong by saying something such as, “Because the report you submitted was a week late, it affected the entire team’s ability to meet the project’s deadline.”
Let the employee respond. After you’ve described the problem, allow the individual to explain or defend his or her actions. You may learn that he or she was asked by a senior executive to produce an additional report at the same time one was due to you. Or perhaps the individual is simply overwhelmed with projects. Whatever the case, it’s important to let the person give his or her side of the story.
Don’t ignore chronic problems. If an individual’s performance or behavior doesn’t change after your constructive criticism, it may be necessary to take action. Staff morale suffers when you keep someone on who doesn’t contribute to the team equally or produce quality work.