Morgan HR News

Managers are eager to discuss development plans with their employees. The list of ideas is generated to help the employee select the growth-oriented exposure to a key project or the certification courses that would augment their understanding. The employee is also encouraged to read, be mentored, and participate in leadership development programs with special experiences and coaching. Is that enough? I think development happens when someone’s mind is exposed to new ideas AND when they have a way to discuss, gain opinions, and receive feedback on their interpretation of it all. 

What is the definition of development? 

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, development is defined as the process of growing or changing into a more advanced, larger, or stronger form. It’s a relative process: people experience their own development in different ways, which is a function of their personalities, background, learning style, and preferences. What you might think of as good training, for example, might not be relevant for an employee who comes from a different background. The disconnect might be due to a lack of experience, lack of financial resources, or a multitude of other reasons. So while development can mean a variety of things to different people, it can be easily described, for our sake, as bringing the employee up to speed in terms of their applicable knowledge and skills.  

What is missing with self-development? 

In many organizations, employees think of self-development as a career enhancer or a simple learning opportunity. Let’s just go back to that oxymoron “self-development”. How can you truly grow into a more “advanced form” by yourself? What is missing when you read development articles or attend lectures? Discussions & debates are key in digging deeper into your own development. The best way to strengthen a muscle is to add resistance, so why don’t we automatically do the same with our professional development?  

The best ways to improve development 

Often, managers are invested to create these exposures and identify development opportunities to help their employees. That is true for those managers with budgets and open access to these amazing tools and systems. When you don’t have the budget or team of trainers available, where do you turn? At MorganHR, we foster conversations, debates, and feedback-oriented discussions that stretch and shape each other’s development. We all have experience with speed bumps and roadblocks in our paths, and when we can learn from others’ expertise, we begin to foster our own growth and development.  

When working on your own development, you become focused on improving. You may even get stuck in a tunnel vision mindset that prevents you from seeing the forest from the trees. If you really want to strengthen and develop your skills, take your new ideas and learnings and share them with others. Get into discussions and challenge each other’s interpretations. You need to be exposed to more than your own thoughts and to be able to shift, shape, and strain (in some cases). Otherwise, it is to self-vacuum, not develop. 

By Laura Morgan, a Managing Partner at MorganHR  

Have you ever heard anyone truly use the “my dog ate my homework” excuse?  I don’t think so as I’m sure many would agree that people have a great ability to dodge a negative more creatively.  No? As a mom of four spanning 14 years among them, I’ve been lucky to have been regularly entertained by my kids’ responses made by my children when I challenge them to explain their naughty behavior.  “Honey, didn’t we tell you not to bring food upstairs?” and the response, “well, I had it in my hand when you asked me to go get [that thing] and I forgot it after laying it on the dresser.” “Sweetheart, how is it that your grades are slipping?  Are you getting your homework in on time?” and the response, “well, you wanted me in all of those sports and do those chores.”  “Honey, why is your tub so filthy?  What did you use that is pink?” and the response, “I don’t know.  It just is pink.  I have no idea” to later see in the garbage a wrapper of a bath bomb. 

The saying goes that two truths create a lie. This statement is rooted in the idea that telling only part of the truth, or making a false statement, can be more damaging than outright lying. And it turns out, science agrees with this idea. 

In his TED Talk on “The Power and Peril of Storytelling,” psychologist Dr. Rosen explains how “We’re all natural storytellers.” Everything we do is affected by our personal stories–even when those stories may not be accurate. In other words, when we tell partial truths or omit information in order to portray ourselves in an approved light, we actually risk coming across as less trustworthy and less credible than someone who tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 

Do you think it is possible that every human has told one lie at least in their lifetime?  What about every year?  What about every week?  Or every day?  Do you wonder?  Now, I’m a mom and, to give me some credit, I have been in HR for more than 30 years.  While not a psychologist, I have been told that I am a pretty good lie detector.  It is just incredible to look back on my career and remember how often people just lie flat out, to your face.  One trick I learned from the lying experts, was the ‘two truths tactic’ – put two truths together and they can deceive the people in the room.  For example, one leader told me that she got the approval for a salary change that was pretty extreme.  I asked her did her leader really approve it.  She said, “Laura, I spoke with them.  He was okay with the recommendation.”  What I realized was that she did speak with them, but didn’t get approval for this specific recommendation but for another one.  Two truths.  Very creative. 

There are many memories of lies being shared.  Heck, there are games to encourage good lying.  Now back to my skills as a mom.  I have learned that when all else fails, tell your children that they better cover their mouths when they lie because their lies have colorful words that you can see.  Good luck. 

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Effective January 1, 2021, employers with employees in Colorado have new disclosure requirements for their job postings. This new Act is currently the most significant of its kind in the United States. Colorado requires that all employers with jobs in Colorado post positions with specific compensation and benefits information specified in their postings. The employer must include the pay range they genuinely believe it would be willing to pay for the job; a general description of any bonuses, commissions, or other compensation; and a general description of all benefits (health care, retirement, PTO, and any other tax-reportable benefits) the employer is offering for the position. With the significant shift to remote work following the lockdowns and social distancing restrictions brought forth to slow the spread of COVID-19, these requirements impact companies that even have only one employee who lives in Colorado. 

If a company has at least one employee in Colorado and is posting a job opening on the internet for a position that could be filled by someone who lives in Colorado, they must disclose the abovementioned pay and benefits information. The disclosure requirement has profound implications related to pay practice privacy and can easily damage small businesses that cannot afford the same level of pay as mega-corporations. Additionally, it reveals information that has historically been kept close to the chest to prevent competitors from using the information nefariously. Most compensation salary surveys require that at least five companies submit pay data for a particular job for the ranges to be included in the survey results. Colorado is overreaching here and should lead companies to take measures to protect themselves and their pay practices. 

Johnson & Johnson, DigitalOcean, and Drizly are a few of the companies posting remote positions and excluding Colorado residents from the possible hiring pool. Interestingly, state and local governments feel the need to create laws for something already illegal based on the Equal Pay Act of 1963. Disclosing pay practices can lead to employee dissatisfaction because many workers do not understand the differences in pay caused by seniority, merit, productivity, geographic differential, background, etc. This act is already having a negative impact on the hiring process for Colorado employees. We encourage you to stay informed and protect your policies and practices. Sharing the details of comp without all the facts can cause confusion and misinterpretation surrounding how you value your employees.  

While transparency is the goal, the Colorado Pay Equity Law of January 1 this year places an extreme undue hardship on small businesses.  This law requires companies with one or more employees to post the complete compensation range and benefits for any posted position.  This is not only salary but bonus targets, insurance, etc.   As a compensation consultant for more than 15 years, it is very uncommon for smaller businesses (under 300 employees) to purchase and have the available, expensive salary surveys to determine salary ranges.  As a common approach, these companies identify the salary range when they make an offer typically based on the candidate’s salary requirements.  If they can afford the salary of someone that feels would be a great addition to their team, they then work up an offer and work up what they can pay.  This law now forces small business employers to actually screen out higher-skilled, potential candidates by sharing a range that may not truly be the range. 

Then there is the most obvious issue.  Many employers can’t afford the deep-dive experts to help them shape these ranges.  Developing a salary range is more involved than just sharing what you are wanting to pay.  The affordability, market data, financial goals, local/state taxes, and business growth projections all factor into building compensation and benefits strategies.   The challenge now placed on these small business employers is hurtful.   

It is also known that the larger companies, i.e., Google, are reacting to this law by ensuring remote working employees living in Colorado are not eligible.  These transparency rules have an impact that extends beyond Colorado.  Recent remote worker job postings are actually excluding Colorado residents from being eligible to apply.  

MorganHR has created a solution to help smaller businesses have access to compensation expertise and data on-demand and in smaller, bite-sized options.  Our compensation community has posted their availability on our app to help anyone with compensation questions – modeled into 15, 30, and 60-minute intervals.  If you come equipped with your questions and schedule time on our Auxin App, you’ll have on-demand expertise ready to work through your challenge.  If the challenge does require additional time, our experts will guide you on how to move forward when and if you are ready.  

By Laura Morgan, Managing Partner at MorganHR 

If you are working from home and have a dog, you are slowly being programmed and probably don’t realize it.  Think about it.  Before working remotely, you had your schedule.  You left the house to get to work on a consistent and predictable schedule.  You came home on a very predictable schedule, too.  You arranged to have either a caretaker or standard schedule where they conformed to your schedule.  You would arrange for extended care when you wanted to.  Remember how your dog was so excited to see you with a wildly wagging tail when you came home?  You may not have been in a good mood but when you got home, your dog worked to make you happy.   

The remote work schedule, or lack thereof, has clearly shifted the roles of the dog owner.  The more time your dog sees you in the home, the more the dog maneuvers your schedule to conform to theirs.  Now that you are working remotely, your dog has not only created your schedule, but now has the ability to tell you when you are happy.  When you were at the office, your happiness was evaluated by you, your friends and coworkers, and your boss.  You had control to remove yourself from the environment when you needed more happiness.  You’d head to the gym or out for a beer.  Now, your dog has the control on your happiness.  How convenient it is for the dog to see that you are finally starting to relax and get some work done.  Feeling confident and control.  Then your dog barks, disturbs the peace, insists it is time to go outside in the rain or he’ll make a large issue for you to address.  Your dog is in control.  He likes you to work from home in this new remote world and he has you convinced that you like it too. 

Now let’s evaluate your happiness.  Are you the one in control and your dog works to make you happy or vice versa?  Think about it.  Watch for the signs and stay in control.  Do you have a schedule or does your dog create it?  Do you get to relax when you want or can you find calm only when the dog is asleep?  Does your dog seem to be more mischief-oriented now that you’re home? 

I challenge you to reflect on the last 10 zoom calls.  At least one of 10 had someone ‘apologize’ for their dog.  I was on a conference call and my client shouted, “no way!  What are you doing???!!!”  He dropped the phone to tell me that his dog decided to poop right there in front of him.  No warning.  No bark.  My client had to disconnect to deal with the dog.  Stressed and overwhelmed.  

I have an employee that has a dog and the schedule is controlled by his dog.  He has to walk the dog or face domestic challenges by his dog.  Another employee on our team had to jump off the call because her dog decided it was time to go for a walk and headed into speeding traffic.  He wanted her to conform and go for a walk on his schedule.  Is this the new reality of working from home?  Are invisible collars being placed on us?  I do think the dogs are figuring out that our consistent presence gives them the control.  When Orwell wrote Animal Farm, he didn’t envision computers and the ability to work from home other than being on a true farm.  Imagine if he was here to write about the animal takeover today. 

“According to a 2017 Gallup Survey, 3 out of 10 employees strongly agreed that their opinions don’t count at work.”

I recently sat in on a webinar/discussion section regarding “what psychological safety is not.” Before discussing what I learned during the session, let’s cover what psychological safety is.

From what I understand, psychological safety is a belief that all questions, suggestions, and opinions are viewed and supported as valid within the workplace. To put it simply, a psychologically safe work environment supports ideas that come from all employees, regardless of their status within the organizational hierarchy. This kind of environment rewards vulnerability through inclusion, which opens the door for more innovation. The more diverse thoughts a company has, the better chance they have to foster creativity and explore different avenues to improve their product or service.

That being said, according to the session I attended, there are seven common ways that a company might think they are fostering psychological safety when in reality they are creating a problematic work environment one way or another. Psychological safety is not:

Looking at a company’s proxy statement, you’d quickly locate a message from their CEO, information for/ about their board of directors, details about their executive compensation, and a compilation of shareholder proposals. Today, what you’d also see, is a section dedicated to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) along with an area for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) matters. When did these sections become so prominent? Where did we start?

To begin, we have to jump back to affirmative action. Affirmative action started back in 1963, as President Lyndon B. Johnson set in place a plan to make an effort to improve the employment or education opportunities for members of minority groups and women. Unfortunately, good intentions don’t always lead to good outcomes. The racial quotas and minority “set-asides” of the 70s led to court challenges, as affirmative action turned into a form of “reverse discrimination,” since white applicants were denied opportunities held for minorities. The 1996 California Civil Rights Initiative, Proposition 209, prohibited all public institutions/agencies from giving preferential treatment to individuals based on their race or sex, and other similar cases followed suit.

A switch away from race quotas and affirmative action led to diversity education and training in the 90s. What started as gender diversity education expanded to include ability, ethnicity, religion, and other worldviews. With this diversity training came an emphasis on inclusion as well, where those that might be excluded are brought into processes and activities that provide equal access to opportunities. The goal of diversity and inclusion is to encourage people to consider and welcome their colleagues, regardless of the diverse ways of identifying as cultural beings. Equity acknowledges the different (dis)advantages of individuals and promotes the allocation of resources and opportunities such that each individual has the same possible outcome.

Along with DEI, companies have been addressing their ESG matters as well. For example, the Environmental, Social, and Governance factors are used by investors to measure the non-financial performance details of a company, which helps them decide where to invest their money. Some environmental factors include waste, resource depletion, and emissions; some social factors are employee relations, diversity, and working conditions; and a few governance factors are tax strategy, board diversity/structure, and executive remuneration. These are just a few of the criteria that investors will use to analyze the company’s performance and the likelihood of your success as a shareholder.

A new focus has been placed on the non-financial side of a company’s performance. Shareholders are looking for more information than profits and losses, and companies keep up with the demand by publishing statements on their DEI & ESG goals.

Ever have that conversation with your compensation committee that ended with “I’m sure all of what you’re doing is fantastic, we don’t have any questions, so let’s get together again next year”?

I did not think so. 

As you know, the compensation committee is not formed to just let things shape on their own.  Shareholders look to company boards, particularly the compensation committee, as their stewards to review and approve executive pay.  Boards in turn work closely with executive leaders in matters relating to employees, operations, partners, customers and overall financial performance.  Some compensation committees dig deeper and wider to not only review executive pay but review and question broader key HR practices. 

The fact that most directors on the compensation committee are independent, have diverse experiences and exposures, and are held to significant standards, rules, and laws, make their influence levels stronger across the HR spectrum.  The board is chartered to champion responsible corporate governance and be morally responsible.  The board and the compensation committee are further challenged to cultivate an image to be more inclusive and responsive to stockholder concerns.  In turn, most compensation-related projects that I’ve been chartered to deliver were stemmed from a compensation committee’s specific request to address a perceived gap or issue.

The most common compensation committee request that I have received, centers on bonus plan design and performance metrics.  What worked for a company for years may suddenly be subject to a challenge when a new compensation committee member asks a simple question, “why does this plan have so much discretion?”  Ever hear questions like that?  I’m sure you have or you will soon.

As company’s grow, pay design and delivery need to be reviewed.  The CEO at one point may have known every single employee.  The delivery of the bonus awards in those days may have been motivational, relevant, and directly performance related.  At some point, though, with continued growth and hiring, the additional layers of leadership and delegation of authority begins to shape new opinions, ideas, and thoughts about how pay is designed and delivered.  The level of ‘discretionary’ awards may turn or feel like favoritism and create images of disparity.  The compensation committee therefore looks for more predictable, unbiased, and relevant bonus plan designs and aligned performance metrics.

With diversity, growth, and layers of leadership, companies find the need to document their compensation philosophy, review their pay design and structures, and communicate and train leaders and educate employees.  Make sure your pay practices are written well enough that all leaders can read the document and then understand it well enough to communicate the intention and delivery process. 

Remember, nothing is true until it is written. 

During the winter process of conducting performance and merit reviews, your employees may have also received promotions with new titles.  Perhaps over the year, your company acquired or merged with another, and your company held on to the employees’ legacy titles to make the integration process move faster.  You may have noticed that some locations of your company are using different titles for what you thought were the same job at your site.  In recent surveys, your managers and employees may have shared comments about their confusion about the difference between manager versus senior manager titles. You may have wondered if it was vital to add that specific technology to a job title. You may have noticed the Director jobs are similar but used in different ways – for example, “Marketing Director”, “Director Marketing”, “Director of Marketing”, “Director, Marketing” – are there secret values placed on the comma or word ‘of’?  Maybe your company has 425 unique job titles, and your company only has 450 positions.

If any of these examples sound familiar – perhaps it’s time for a job title clean-up!

The number of positions for a company correlates with company growth and its respective increased amount of work required to deliver on commitments.  Think of positions as the boxes on an organization chart.  Positions are filled by employees or vacant, waiting for the hiring of candidates.  Each position is assigned a job that describes the body of work that the position’s incumbent is responsible for delivering.

The number of jobs a company creates correlates with the company’s needs in a few ways.

We’ve heard how leaders feel titles are free and make employees feel good.  A job’s title is a shortened description that quickly identifies the type of work and responsibilities.  It should also align with a shared understanding of its level of authority and accountability within the company. For example, there may be multiple positions assigned with the same job, such as an Inside Sale Representative II.  Here we see it is a job in the Inside Sales job family or group of jobs that require similar experience and education.  It also quickly shows that it is a level higher than an entry-level job by the “II.” 

A job title is less confusing when aligned well to an internal structure while somewhat mirroring similar expectations externally.

When implementing a career hierarchy, consider what jobs to include now versus down the road a bit.  A company may assign a range of minimum requirements that aligns with the growth stages for an employee in that job’s specialty (e.g., Inside Sales Representative Levels I, II, III).  Imagine if all Inside Sales Representatives were at the lowest level and learning their jobs?  That may cause harm to the performance of that functional area.  At the same time, imagine if all Inside Sales Representatives were at the highest, most senior level that may cause that function to be high performance, yet high in talent costs.  It would be best to determine what jobs should be open for use today to support business goals and budgets.