Personnel Problems Key Terms

Handle personnel problems more effectively by understanding some basic vocabulary

By Michele Vrouvas

With disgruntled employees reaping larger and larger jury awards, there’s more reasons now to ensure your HR people know effective ways to manage employee relations. Litigation threatens to ruin your company’s solid reputation. It forces you to pay monetary damages that, in some cases, might have been avoided had an HR manager been adequately trained to identify behavior that could give rise to problems. Avoid these harmful situations by requiring HR managers and staff to become fluent in personnel problems key terms.

Evaluating work performance problems

The term evaluating work performance problems refers to the practice of monitoring an employee's productivity as a way to spot adverse behavior.
Try: Go to AFMS to find out how your managers can be trained to track employee attendance, productivity and relationships with coworkers so that they’ll spot any changes that seem to be uncharacteristic and potential sources of conflict.

Anger management

It is crucial for supervisors to understand anger management technique. Many companies require their HR staff to complete professional training in it. Anger management teaches staff to identify situations that trigger feelings of anger, to give and take constructive criticism in a professional manner and to teach by example when it comes to expressing negative feelings in the workplace.
Try: View a typical anger management program at Jan Miller.

Organizational culture

Current thinking emphasizes that a positive organizational culture, one that encourages employees to give feedback and advice when addressing new challenges, generates positive energy and is the most effective way to avoid personnel problems.
Try: Learn all the nuances of this term when you consider how Biz Resources approaches the topic. For example, there’s much emphasis on encouraging employees to examine their own behavior and productivity as a normal workday practice.

Complaint and grievance procedures

You'll go a long way toward preventing personnel problems when you implement standard complaint and grievance procedures so that employees know who they can turn to within the company for advice and moral support when they have a problem.
Try: Consider how MIT approached the subject. Notice how MIT outlines specific procedures to follow for employees in different departments.

Respectful workplace initiative

The term respectful workplace initiative refers to programs intended to create a positive work environment by emphasizing how employees should relate to each other. Understanding this initiative instructs you to promote respectful behavior among employees by teaching them specific attitudes and problem-solving techniques.
Try: You may be labeled a proactive organization if you adopt a respectful workplace initiative strategy like the one described by HR Workplace Solutions.

On-site employee complaint investigations

It is vital to the success of your HR compliant procedure to conduct on-site investigations when employees make formal complaints. These investigations should be set up so that the setting is relaxed and the appropriate conversations are recorded in compliance with applicable regulations.
Try: If you’ve never done one of these investigations in-house, consider calling in a professional like Your HR Resource.