Shropshire Employment Law Specialist at Martin-Kaye Solicitors, in Telford, warns that staff must be protected from stress in the workplace. The warning comes after a UK woman was awarded over £130,000 after she suffered a nervous breakdown brought on by pressure at work.The case was a timely reminder for employers that they must take stress seriously!”The woman had repeatedly told her employer about the amount of work she was struggling with, and she claimed they did nothing to help her tackle the issue.” The High Court ruled that the demands made on her were totally unreasonable, and if action had been taken, her breakdown could probably have been avoided. The employer in the case had referred the woman to a stress counsellor, but at no stage was anyone brought in to share her workload.”Simply offering stress counselling is not a long-term solution – if the root of the problem is the amount of work an employee is facing, the management team have to tackle the problem directly. As an employer, you are ultimately responsible for the welfare of your staff, and it’s vital that you take their concerns seriously. “Although access to stress counsellors and medical advice is a supportive step in the right direction, it’s not the answer to the problem as a whole. “Many employees feel under pressure, particularly when a company is working to meet tough deadlines, but it’s the employer’s responsibility to ensure their health does not suffer as a direct consequence of striving for business success.” Always seek professional legal advice form a specialist employment solicitor if in any doubt of employee and employers rights.This article is free to republish provided this resource box remains intact.
360 Degree Assessments: 10 Benefits to Managers
Without exception, persons in management positions can benefit significantly from a 360 degree assessment conducted by an outside consultant or coach. This type of assessment provides managers with an unfiltered view of their “performance” in the workplace according to a selected group of employees who represent several or all layers of the organization. The hired third party interviews (face to face or by phone) up to ten staffers, using a standardized set of pre-established open-ended questions approved by the manager. After the interviews are completed, the consultant or coach prepares a comprehensive summary of the common themes and trends, carefully protecting each employee’s privacy. The following is a list of the major benefits to such an assessment:1. The manager learns how staff view her daily behaviors.This piece of the final report shows the manager exactly how her know-it-all attitude or inaccessibility affects her employees. It provides her with examples of how her anger problem stifles morale, how her silent treatment creates fear, or how her constant interrupting during conversations shuts people down.2. The manager receives evidence of his strengths.In this section of the report the manager reads a comprehensive list of his strengths according to the staff who were interviewed. In addition, the manager learns what he does better than anyone else his employees have ever known throughout their careers as well as specifically what they count on him for.3. The manager gains insight around her weaknesses.This section reports obvious weaknesses as identified by the staff. This is where a failure to serve as a credible, steady resource to employees shows up. It’s where gossiping or lack of genuine interest in people gets mentioned.4. The manager receives feedback about certain aspects of his professional image.This piece discusses the manager’s body language, speech, dress, approachability, character, integrity, likability, and confidence. Employees have been given the opportunity to weigh in on these components, citing examples of both positive and negative evidence.5. The manager learns how her staff interpret her frame of mind and world view.In this section the manager reads about whether or not her employees see her as emotionally stable, grounded, solid, fair, supportive, optimistic, and/or generally eager to jump into the day. Managers with great talent and skill are sometimes surprised to learn that staff question their emotional stability or motivation or ability to serve as leaders.6. The manager finds out how his staff see him as a human being.Here the manager reads a detailed, collective description of himself. This can be enlightening and humbling. It’s not unusual for employees to know their manager as a good and decent person who is not capable of leading a department to greatness. But the reverse can be true too. Sometimes employees talk about a boss with noteworthy technical skills who is self serving, self absorbed, and disconnected from others.7. The manager gets a peek at how others view her outside of the department.This piece talks about what staff hear outsiders say about her: persons in other departments, individuals in the community, stakeholders, etc. In this section the manager learns about her reputation as “dictator” or “great boss material” or “openminded”.8. The manager receives information about his impact upon others.Here the manager reads about how he makes employees and others feel when he is around them and interacting with them. He finds out if he makes people nervous and upset or if he inspires them to exceed expectations.9. The manager gets clues about her professional and personal development needs.In this section the manager gains insight around the technical and/or soft skills her staff want her to acquire and implement. As she reads this, she has the opportunity to learn specifically how they think she should grow over the next year or so.10. The manager learns how he influences his employees’ attitudes, work performance, and job satisfaction.This piece allows the manager to read an assessment of his degree and type of influence upon his employees. He may now understand that he either de-motivates people or excites them, throws stumbling blocks their way or finds ways to support them, kills their satisfaction or fuels it.
Start Buying Rental Property With This 5-Step Process
If you’re very new to all of this, you’re probably wondering how to dive in to the wonderful world of buying rental property. I’ll share with you what worked for me, and it involves 5 specific steps:- Find a good real estate agent
- Practice running the numbers
- Conduct physical inspections (drive-by’s & showings)
- Make an offer & negotiate
- Manage the contract processSTEP #1: FIND A GOOD REAL ESTATE AGENTEventually, you will need your own “team,” including a real estate agent, mortgage broker, insurance broker, title company, attorney, home inspector, and a handful of trustworthy contractors. But with the exception of a real estate agent, your team does not need to be brought together right out of the gate. You will gradually assemble it as you go.STEP #2: PRACTICE RUNNING THE NUMBERSAsk your new broker to send you all the active 2-8 unit multifamily rental property listings in your target area, and practice running the numbers to identify the most beneficial ones. As long as you know a simple formula and have a few key numbers from the property, can use those numbers to do rapid-fire “back of the envelope” calculations to quickly screen properties for financial practicality. Read my property valuation article to learn how to do this.STEP #3: CONDUCT PHYSICAL INSPECTIONSOnce you have a list of financially viable multifamily rental properties, take some time to do drive-by’s. Whether the numbers work or not, you do not want to get any property in an especially bad area (in fact, you’ll find that the numbers usually work best in such areas…you get what you pay for!). Plus, while not a flawless science, if the outside looks like it’s falling apart you may want to pass.After this process, you will have a list of maybe 3 or 4 properties to look at with your Realtor, instead of, say, 10 or 15. Have your Realtor schedule weekly showings, and bring a notebook to jot down notes so you can later use this info to adjust your bid amount.Keep physically inspecting properties with your agent in this manner every week and do not get discouraged. The majority of rental properties you come across will be poorly maintained and/or overpriced. Tenants beat them up, and many, many landlords could care less about maintaining their investment.So, buying rental property takes time. All I can say is be patient, and remember that the more deals you inspect, the better deal you are likely to get when you finally pull the trigger.STEP #4: MAKE AN OFFER & NEGOTIATEOk, so you’ve run a bunch of initial numbers, did a bunch of drive-by’s, and physically inspected a bunch of hot prospects with your agent. Finally, you’ve found a 2-8 unit multifamily rental property you’d like to purchase. Time to negotiate!STEP #5: MANAGE THE CONTRACT PROCESSYippee, your offer was accepted! So now what? Well, there are various steps that round out the process of buying rental property:- Get the property “under contract”
- Initiate title work; note that some states require an attorney
- Conduct a property inspection
- Get an appraisal
- Arrange financing
- Get property insurance
- Get a property survey
- Review settlement documents and close the dealThis may seem complicated if you happen to be new to all of this, but it’s really not. After you go through the entire process once, you’ll be ready to start buying rental property like there’s no tomorrow!