How to Bring up Retirement With an Older Employee

How to Bring up Retirement With an Older EmployeeHow to Bring up Retirement With an Older EmployeeDo you need to know how to broach retirement with your older employees? This HR manager sought ideas about how to ask a 67-year-oldemployee about her retirement plans without the possibility of age discrimination. She says that she would like to have a specific timeline that both the employee and the firm could work towards for her retirement. Avoiding Age Discrimination It may be that it is perfectly okay to ask the employee if she has retirement plans. But, it seems that you have a broader goal than just understanding the employees plans. Consequently, this might not be your best approach. An employer, with the goal of workforce planning and knowing staffing needs, can ask an older employee if he has plans for retirement. That is within your rights as an employer. But, if the employees response is negative, you dont have anywhere else to go with the discussion. If the employee give s a positive response, you can offer assistance with retirement details. Tell the employee that you need to know the date as soon as the employee decides so you can plan for his replacement. An employee who decides to retire may ask you for a phased retirement so that he can gradually let go of his work and coworkers. Retiring employees can be frightened about what their life will look like if they are not working every day. Federal Law and Retirement Federal law does not support mandatory retirement based on age except in a few instances such as a pilot. In the above example, when the employee says that he has no plans for retirement, pursuing the conversation further could be looked at as harassment, especially if the employer brought the subject up regularly. It could also be classified as age discrimination. If the pressure on the employee was increased, and the employee felt constant pressure to retire, the workplace could be considered hostile. Thoughts About How to Bri ng up Retirement With an Older Employee The approach you may want to take is to sit every employee down in a private meeting and talk about their developmental needs and career development plans. In this way, you would not be singling out one older employee. It is possible that the individual would talk about retirement during that meeting. Career development and the opportunity to continue to grow skills is one of the top five things that employees want from work, so I support pursuing this process. Another approach you might consider using is to meet with all of your employees as a group and layout retirement options and opportunities and highlight company benefits related to retirement and time off work options. State that you would like as much notice as possible from any employee planning retirement or other life and career opportunities that might leave your company shorthanded. Your first step is to contact and discuss this situation with your attorney and tell him or her th e reasons why you are inquiring about the employees retirement plans. Some reasons are more legitimate than others. Your attorney may have experienced dealing with a similar situation with other clients. Ours often has ideas and options we didnt know. None of behauptung methods guarantee the answer youd like to obtain, but they give you some ideas. It is also recommended that you and your employer need to become clear about why you want the employee to retire. A good reason might give you options. If its just because the person is old, this is probably age discrimination. Finally, in other instances of older workers over 55 or 60, you can consider extending an offer of early retirementthat includes a severance package that encourages employees to accept. DisclaimerPlease note that the information provided, while authoritative, is not guaranteed for accuracy and legality. The site is read by a worldwide audience, and employment laws and regulations vary from state to state and countr y to country. Please seek legal assistance, or assistance from State, Federal, or International governmental resources, to make certain your legal interpretation and decisions are correct for your location. This information is for guidance, ideas, and assistance.

Building a strong team culture Valuing appreciating differences in the workplace

Building a strong gruppe culture Valuing appreciating differences in the workplaceBuilding a strong team culture Valuing appreciating differences in the workplaceTo build a successful and sustainable geschftlicher umgang, you need a team of employees who bring their unique abilities, strengths and perspectives to the challenges you will face.But to draw and keep talented individuals who have a variety of skills and personality types, you have to learn a key skillYou have to learn how to lead people who are different than you.Many books on leadership provide valuable insights into key skills and abilities needed to effectively lead others. But one concept that is not stressed enough is to lead a successful team, you have to understand those who are not like you, and be able to support, encourageand motivate them.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreWe say to ourselves (or others) I know that.Everyone is different. But if you take a closer look at how you act and communicate with others, it may become evident that you actually treat everyone pretty much the same,in the ways that are most comfortable for you.To truly practice this leadership skill, some foundational principles need to be understood and acceptedYouneed a team to accomplish your goals.If you can achieve your business goal by yourself, your goals are not large enough.You need others to help accomplish the goals you have for the company,so start treating others like you need them, versus reminding them how much they need you.Other people think, believe, process informationand are motivated differently than you.Some think big picture, others need specific details. Some are analytical, others are dreamy creative types.Some need toseethe information, others need tohearit. Some need both.Some want accolades and praise, others just want a private thanks.Doing things your way isnt always the best way for others.You are bright, talentedand you get things done.But, believe it or not, your way of doing things isnt the best way for everyone else. Additionally, your way may not be the best way for some tasks to get done (for example, many engineers ideas for marketing products arent that effective).You need people different than you to make a good team.Differences are good (although they involved challenges like communicating clearly). You need detailed, analytic conservative fiscal types. You need energetic, outgoing lets tackle the world salespeople. You need people who communicate ideas effectively to others, both orally and in writing.You need people who can communicate through pictures, images, colors and movement.You need dreamers and you need get it done implementers.A successful business utilizes the strengths of their multi-talented team members.How to make your team feel valuedOne key issue motivation.Many leaders do not understand a key issue about their team members. elend e veryone feels valued in the same ways. Many leaders attempt to reward and motivate their employees in the ways that are important tothem.They assume that because they are motivated by, for instance, encouraging words, their employees will be too.Some managers are motivated by verbal praise and giving awards, or through a bonus incentive program.Some people feel valued when they are included and get to spend time with others who are important to them, such as going to a sports event together. And others appreciate working on a task together and solving a challenging problem as a team.In fact, we have identifiedfive different languages of appreciationin the workplaceand numerous specific actions within each language that differ from person to person.If you try to use the one size fits all approach, the results will be discouraging.First, you wont hit the mark if you give verbal praise to those who believe words are cheap.Secondly, you will waste a lot of time, energy and potential mon ey by giving gifts, rewardsand bonuses to those for whom a little time or camaraderie is worth more than the expensive dinner you treated them to.Finally, you will probably become irritated that your team members dont seem to appreciate all I do for them.Instead, find out how each team member is motivated, what is important to them,what makes them feel valued and appreciated.It will energize them to use their unique skills to improve and sustain your business, as well as create a culture where difference is celebrated.This article originally appeared on Appreciation at Work.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

A Robot for the Every-Factory

A Robot for the Every-Factory A Robot for the Every-Factory A Robot for the Every-FactoryAs an SUV chassis marches down the assembly line, powerful caged robot arms swing about, performing repetitive tasks thousands of times a day, with nary a human in sight. Robots have transformed the world of manufacturing, to be sure, but only at the largest of scales. Most manufacturing situations are leid big enough to for a robot to make any economic sense, which is why you dont see them on most factory floors.Needless to say, there are many repetitive tasks at all levels of manufacturing. If robots could be smaller, safer, and more easily programmed, theyd find employment with the little (and medium sized) guys as well.Such welches the thinking of Rodney Brooks, founder and CTO of iRobot, producers of the Roomba, when he founded Rethink Robotics in 2008. Four years later, the two-limbed, tablet-eyed Baxter hit the manufacturing scene. It cost a mere $25,000 and could be taught to load, sort, and generally move things about without a lick of programming. And it required no cage to protect any nearby lifeforms.But Baxter is a large, 165-pound animal of a robot. Though it can certainly handle basic repetitive tasks, its not able to finesse things the way a human hand can. To meet those needs, Rethink has now come out with Baxters little brother, Sawyer.Baxter on display at RoboUniverse 2015 Expo in New York.Sawyer weighs a mere 42 pounds and has just one arm. It has the same expressive, and, arguably, cute, eyes eyes that give the user a clue as to what its about to do by looking at where its reaching before it reaches. But its smaller, and far more sensitive. We designed a robot that was more precise and that can perform applications that Baxter cant, says Jim Lawton, Rethinks chief product and absatzwirtschaft officer. There are a lot of machine-tending jobs, where people stand in front of a piece of equipment, grab a part, put it in, and wait. That wait can be minutes o r seconds. These are roles better served by robots, but they can require a different level of precision. Sawyer is more capable from a precision point of view.That precision comes thanks to a variety of new tricks. In particular, where Baxter had C-shaped springs at each joint, Sawyer has newly conceived S-shaped springs. They introduce a new and more precise kind of springiness. This, combined with a camera in its wrist and a few other advancements give it the flexibility to pick up things that might not be in exactly the same place each time.A human inserting a circuit board, for instance, does not need to know the coordinates of its initial location, or of the place its going. The way you or I do it, we kind of feel our way in, grab an edge, and grok it in, says Lawton. Muscle memory lets us do it over again, and springiness lets us flex and coordinate insertion of the fixture in a way that doesnt damage the fixture or the person. Sawyer does it the same way.Anyone in need of rob ot assistance can put Sawyer to work right out of the box. You train it by showing, not telling. When my son was young I showed him how to tie his shoes by reaching around and guiding his hands, says Lawton. Its much the same with Sawyer. Walk it through the motions and it remembers it and optimizes it and does it over and over again. When you grab Sawyers wrist to show it what to do, it goes into a Zero G mode with motors to compensate for its weight, so it feels as if it has no mass at all. The user can press a button to tell Sawyer to grip something, and another to tell it to release. The whole learned rechengang is recalled with a barcode scan, so it can go off and learn many other tasks and be ready to perform any of them in an instant.All those things are being done in software, so its invisible and seamless to the user, says Lawton. They dont have to do what you have to do with traditional robots, which is program them.Michael Abrams is an independent writer. Learn more about the latest trends in manufacturing at ASMEs AM3D Conference Expo. For Further Discussion Walk it through the motions and it remembers it and optimizes it and does it over and over again.Jim Lawton, Rethink Robotics