Managing Smart—Implementing employee ideas, conducting disciplinary meetings, employee burnout and more

To view this email as a webpage, click here.

Managing Smart

Become the manager you always wanted.

Jan. 9, 2024

Manager shaking a scared employee's hand while two women carry tons of paperwork to the employee.

A new employee anxious to prove herself goes to her manager with a big idea she thinks will make her department more efficient. Perhaps she'd like to teach a new skill to her colleagues, or maybe she has a cost-cutting idea for contracting with new vendors. "That sounds great," her manager says, giving her the green light. "Now make it happen."

While the employee may enthusiastically start to plan and implement her idea, she begins to feel overwhelmed as the project takes an increasing amount of time away from her "real job," and she finds herself working longer hours. Frustrated with herself for suggesting the idea in the first place, she drops the project, resolving not to make the same mistake again the next time inspiration strikes.

Researchers have found this scenario to be a common one, and it's hurting innovation in the workplace. A 2023 study from the University of Iowa found that when a manager delegates a new project solely to the employee who suggested it, the demands of implementing that project often lead to an unsustainable workload, and the employee regrets having spoken up at all.

Employees need more than the go-ahead from their managers—they also need ample support and resources to successfully implement their ideas.

An employee arrives late and walks to her cubicle, while a manager sits there looking at his watch.

It's one of the unfortunate realities of being a manager: At some point, you're going to have to discipline an employee. But if undertaken carefully and fairly and with the support of your HR department, such situations need not be distressing. Keep in mind that, as a manager, you 're positioned to play a positive and critical role in helping your workers improve their performance, modify their behavior and ultimately succeed. "The whole process of disciplining is to save someone," says Angela Shaw, SHRM-SCP, senior vice president of talent at Amplify Credit Union in Austin, Texas.

Still, disciplining someone for their performance or conduct is never pleasant. Undertaken poorly, such interactions can lead to awkward and testy confrontations that, if botched, can heighten your organization's legal risks or unfairly damage an employee's career prospects. But by following these expert tips, you can help minimize that fallout.

Your employees may be burning the proverbial midnight oil, but that doesn't mean they're more productive. In response to a new survey, 40 percent of 10,333 workers in the U.S. and five other countries said they regularly work after hours, and half said they feel pressured to do so. However, employees who log off at the end of the workday registered 20 percent higher productivity scores than those who feel obligated to work longer hours.

READ MORE

AI in the Workplace: What Lies Ahead

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT were all the buzz in 2023 as employers and workers tried to figure out how the new technology could help them better do their jobs. Now that ChatGPT has passed its first birthday, we asked some HR leaders what's in store for workplace GenAI in the year ahead.

READ MORE