Comstock's magazine 0620 - June June 2020 | Page 17

SHUTTERSTOCK ILLUSTRATION
overtime pay, regardless of whether it
was approved in advance.
There are a variety of computer
programs employers can use to have
employees record their time — if the
one being used is web-based, continue
using it — or employees can keep track
of hours in a spreadsheet and email it in
once a week. And remember the principles
of being “engaged to wait” — if
the employee’s job is to take phone calls,
even if they watch Netflix while waiting
for the next call to come in, they have to
be paid for that time.
The best practice is to find a system
that works for employees and for
employers to remind them to record
their time accurately. Managers must
make it clear that if workers take a break
in the middle of the day or work early in
the morning or late at night, all that time
needs to be recorded.
Exempt employees, of course, receive
the same paycheck regardless of how
many hours they work during the day.
Those are the easy things. Now we
get to the hard thing: How do managers
keep their employees engaged and productive?
Working from home is typically
done without the whole family gathered
around and no fear of the world ending
sometime after lunch. So here are things
employers can do to help their employees
be engaged and productive.
1 Be honest with them. Try to keep
them up on the business status as
much as possible. There is so much
you don’t know, it’s understandable if
you can’t predict everything. But do
your best — people can handle a lot
more when they see what’s going on
than they can when they are kept in
the dark.
2 Offer your understanding. While you
can expect quality results, you can’t
expect everything to be identical to
how it was when everyone worked
in the same office. Working under
the abnormal circumstances of the
coronavirus crisis means things won’t
always be perfect, and employers
need to be OK with that.
3 Keep in touch. Managers should have
regular contact with their employees,
but that doesn’t mean micromanaging.
Managers don’t need to monitor
keystrokes or require employees to
keep their cameras on so they can be
seen working. A regular check-in, like,
“How are you doing?” and regular
feedback is fine.
4 Let them know you appreciate them.
In this time of high unemployment, it
can be tempting for companies to feel
like the employees should be grateful
to have a job. Trust me, they are
thankful. But you need to be grateful
to them for providing you with an
income as well. If you lost all your
employees, you wouldn’t have a job
either. Good employees make good
business. Tell your employees you appreciate
them.
5 Listen to your employees. Ask
for their suggestions on how to
improve things. They know better
than anyone else how to make their
workday run smoothly and what
support they need.
Hopefully, these tips will help keep
your business running smoothly until
this is behind us, and we can settle into a
new normal (whatever that is).
Suzanne Lucas spent 10 years in corporate
human resources, where she hired,
fired, managed the numbers and doublechecked
with the lawyers. On Twitter
@RealEvilHRLady. Send questions to
[e-mail].
What issues have you or your
employees encountered while
working remotely?
TWEET US @COMSTOCKSMAG
June 2020 | comstocksmag.com 17