Monday, 24 March 2008
Email hoaxes
| Do you get those emails from workmates or colleagues warning you about the latest email virus that will wipe out your system, or how some site will donate money to charity if you click on their site, or companies that "track how many times this email is forwarded" and donate money to charity. The list is endless. How do you know which is truth or fiction? I always start with a belief that 98% of all of those sort of emails are false. I then go to a few websites that collate all of these false emails and check them out. Usually you will find your email word for word listed under the title hoax, urban myth or scam. My favourite site is www.hoax-slayer.com. My colleague Donna-Marie also referred me on to www.truthorfiction.com. Email junk-mail is just that ... junk. By forwarding it on, you perpetuate fear and reduce productivity for your team as they take the time to read and forward on your email. This makes a great topic to discuss with your employees - make sure everyone knows where to check out an email hoax before they flood your office in-box and computers with forwarded warnings. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: email hoaxes, employee handbook |
Saturday, 23 February 2008
Legal Technology - Who Wins the Fight Over E-Mail Ownership?
| The challenge of employees using email in a business setting for private use is an area most businesses struggle with. The article linked to this post covers the issue in some depth from a US perspective - looking at recent US case law. While the Australian courts would not be likely to take these cases as precedent, they would still be informed by the content. So what is the bottom line for company email policy? * Companies need a stated email policy that clearly states all emails are the property of the company * The policy needs to state all emails will be monitored * The policy needs to extend to blogging, message board and forum posting * It also needs to state all emails are stored on the companies server and can be searched * Companies need to regularly remind employees of the policy * Companies need to consistently enforce their policy If you do that you will be half of the way there in any disputed case over who owns or can access emails. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: employee handbook, hr policies |
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
How an employee handbook rocked the world!
| Who ever heard of a company's employee handbook being discussed around the world? Well that is precisely what has happened this past week. Billionaire property Tycoon Sam Zell has just taken over the Tribune - a major newspaper in the USA. One of the first things he did to shift the organisation culture was to throw away the old company manual and rewrite it in his own unique way. So why is it making headlines in newspapers and magazines? Why is it being talked about in blog posts around the world? Well - it could be the way that it is written. Rule # 1: Use your best judgment Rule #2: See Rule 1. That's it. That is the one hard and fast rule. Unless a serious mistake was made when you were hired, you have pretty good judgment. One of the clauses causing the most debate includes “working at Tribune means accepting that sometimes you might hear a word that you, personally, might not use. You might experience an attitude that you don’t share. You might hear a joke that you might not consider funny. That is because a loose, fun, non-linear atmosphere is important to the creative process. This should be understood, should not be a surprise and not considered harassment” Great idea – but it won’t stand up in court! Employee handbooks are seen as a company declaring how it intends to deal with a situation. While the manual does go on to say how they will handle any allegations of harassment - the damage is done by the first paragraph. The reason it is damaging as it declares the company believes that poor language, racial vilification or sexual harassment in its widest sense should be tolerated within a company. This will mean that the company will have a very hard time arguing they took reasonable steps to prevent such harassment occuring. I did say it was quirky - and quite funny in places - “Making the building too hot, banging on trash can lids or loud bagpipe music are annoyances you can complain about …” That said – there are a lot of great features you may want to consider incorporating into your manual – particularly the core values of keep your word, collaborate, no surprises, compete, play fair, take intelligent risk, reward successful performance, question authority, serve our local communities. There is no doubt that the quirkiness has certainly raised the awareness of the manual to all staff and potential employees in a way few companies have been able to do. The test will be when someone (and they will) tries to defeat the manual in court - what will the court think about the quirkiness and humour. Personally I love humour, but given all of the cases I have seen I would say leave the humour out of critical business documents such as employee handbooks. It only comes back to haunt you. If you would like to check out their manual in full I have uploaded a copy of the Tribune Employee Manual here in PDF for your thoughts and opinions. Is the Tribune manual great or a problem that could have been avoided? Until next time Ingrid Cliff Labels: employee handbook, employee manual, tribune employee manual |