Are your Employees an Asset or an Expense? How to fire a disengaged employee without it costing you more
A staggering one out of every ten New Zealand employees is disengaged from their work. That means they are doing the bare minimum just not to get fired. They come into work, surf the internet, steal the stationery, leave early, and run down your business behind your back.
If you end up with one of those employees in your workplace, it is going to cost you money. How much money depends on what you do about it. Either you tolerate disengaged employees or you free up their future by showing them the door. Well, contrary to the belief of many business owners, the cheapest option is to free up their future PROVIDING you do it the right way.
Many employers do it wrong
58% of employees who bring personal grievances before the Employment Relations Authority win. A significantly higher proportion extract compensation at Mediation. This statistic shows that many employers still do not follow correct process when dismissing staff. As a result many employers just tolerate disengaged employees, but tolerating them is usually when things go horribly wrong...
Why tolerating disengaged employee will cost you money
If you are paying an employee to be disengaged you are wasting your money by employing them in the first place. Furthermore, that disengaged employee will be pulling down the rest of your staff leading to a diminished return on your other employees. If the disengaged employee has customer contact, he or she will be driving customers away too.
As this situation gets worse, you get more frustrated until one day you snap: you dismiss the disengaged employee, fail to follow process, you end up getting sued, and the disengaged employee gets compensated. Hardly sounds fair does it?
Well, the solution to this doom loop is to reclaim your rights as an employer – YES, YOU HAVE RIGHTS TOO!
Introducing - Employed but not Engaged: How to break up with your employees and hold on to the ring
If you are looking for a boring text book on Human Resources, you’ve come to the wrong place. Employment but not Engaged is a practical and light-hearted guide to avoiding personal grievances at every stage of the employment process. It is aimed at the business owner, not the academic. You don’t need a degree in legalese to understand the simple concepts explained in this book. These concepts guide you right from the point of employing staff up to terminating the employment relationship. So, if you thought that New Zealand employment law was a complicated minefield think again – I will prove that is not the case.Have you ever been in a relationship?
Whether you are currently single or in a relationship, you can no doubt relate to what it is like to go through a break up. Whether your relationships or break ups have gone smoothly or not, there would have have been lessons to learn long the way and those lessons are equally applicable to the employment relationship as they were to your childhood romance. The difficulty is in applying those lessons in the employment context. By reading Employed but not Engaged you will learn how to apply those lessons and come out of any dismissal process with your reputation and your rights as an employer intact.But will you read it?
If you are anything like me, you’ll be thinking whether you will get the time to read another business book and are worried that you will part with your cash only for the book to get filed away never to see the light of day. There are three reasons why this will not happen:1. The concepts are simple to understand: Each concept in the book is explained clearly in layman’s language using analogies and examples. It is therefore very easy to read, but even if you don’t have time to read the chapters in full, at the end of each chapter is a mind map summarising the concepts and enabling you to find what you want, when you want it. Even if you don’t read it in one sitting, it will still be a valuable reference tool for your business.
2. You save money: Apply the concepts in the book and you will reduce your legal bills, either by avoiding personal grievances altogether or by knowing how to handle employee problems yourself when they arise.
3. It is written based upon my experience: As a practicing employment law barrister I have been involved in sorting out more employment relationship problems than your average business owner (I hope!). That puts me in a unique position to make sure that the information in this book is reliable and trustworthy.
So, of course you will read it: you would be mad not to. But that's not the real issue.
The question you should be asking
By buying this book, will you save yourself more than $35 (the cost of the book) in legal fees and employee costs ? I guarantee that you will. If having read the book you think I am wrong, then you can have your money back – no questions asked. How can I give this guarantee? Just look at how much legal advice the book contains.Contents of Employed but not Engaged
Employed but not Engaged teaches you how to:1. Comply with your duty of good faith
2. Recruit the right staff
3. Set the rules for the employment relationship
4. Dismiss an employee on the grounds of misconduct
5. Make someone redundant
6. Performance manage an employee
7. Terminate the employment on the grounds of sickness or incapacity
8. Manage a resignation and avoid constructive dismissal claims
9. Go through an employment break up
10. Handle a personal grievance
And then there are three special bonuses
There are two versions of Employed but not Engaged. I will call them “Standard” and “Upgraded”. With the Upgraded version you get three bonus downloads covering topics I wasn't able to cover in the book which guide you through selecting the right employees for your business, managing your staff and dismissing employees:| Bonus 1 - How to get the best from your employees: Your employees are like the pistons in an engine. If they are not working properly and in tune with each other then the profits of your business are going to take a tumble. The trick to ensuring your business is working effectively is to have HR structures and processes in place. However, many people think that is just for the big corporates. In this special report I interview Lynlee Wilson of boutique HR consultancy The People Group about the importance of having such structures in place and key strategies which you can use so that profits sky rocket. Value $10 |  |
Bonus 2 - How to choose the right employee for the right job: In this special interview I talk to Brian Noble of Achievement Discoveries who is an expert in employee aptitude testing. You may have the right employees in your business but they may not be in the right role. By testing their aptitudes you can put them in the right role and then get the best out of them. This interview explains how it all works. Value $10
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| The Dos and Don’ts of Video Surveillance in the Workplace: If you use video surveillance in your workplace you could be breaching the Privacy Act and exposing yourself to employee claims. Dismissing an employee relying on video evidence must be done very carefully and it is not as easy as you may think. This report teaches you how to do it and even includes specimen video surveillance policy. Value $10 |  |
Important Information
Once you press the buy now button you will be taken to a secure website where you will be able to enter your credit card details and billing information (Visa, MasterCard or AMEX). If you have any difficulties with payment or prefer to pay by another method then simply email me by using this link.Similarly, if you have any questions about the book or anything on this page do not hesitate to get in touch with me by email.
Regards,
Michael Smyth LLb.
ApproachableLawyer.Com
To buy Employed but not Engaged click here
Michael Smyth has written an easy-to-read book which on face value should be every employer’s bible. Sir Bob Jones
Book of the Month - NZBusiness Magazine November 2008
Do you know the employee that's not suited to your company—but you're afraid to fire? Well, we had this scenario out of hell, that was both horrible for the employee as well as us as employers. And it was Michael's sane advice that prevented us from going totally crazy (I can assure you the break-up with an employee is pretty close to hell).
That same advice is precisely documented in this book—at a fraction of Michael's fees.
Believe me, if you've got employees, turn off the TV and read this book.
It's way better than being in employee-hell. Sean D'Souza, Psychotactics
To buy Employed but not Engaged click here
Small to medium sized business often have a very informal process for recruiting, managing and dismissing staff and many cut corners without realising the urgent need of formalising their HR processes. This book details how critical those processes are in a well laid out, easy to read and easy to apply format. I particularly liked the analogy with marriage which made the processes very easy to understand. Ray Harding, Managing Director, Office Products Online
Dealing with a parting of the ways in both personal and business arenas can be very involved and legal help may be required at any stage. But, should this happen, the advice on how to proceed in “Employed but not Engaged” is there to ensure that correct procedures are followed to enable this to happen as smoothly as possible. The book is laid out in a novel way to track employment issues from advertising a position through to ending it, while protecting your reputation and pocket. It assists the reader in understanding or becoming familiar with the complex and changing aspects of employment law by linking these to life relationships – something we are all familiar with. In 10 chapters it lays out in detail what an employer can do in advance to reduce problems when the employment honeymoon is over and the relationship has to be ended. The explanations will certainly help with understanding the issues when talking with your lawyer. Linda Donald, Book Reviewer, NZ Business Magazine
To buy Employed but not Engaged click here
Before reading Employed but not Engaged I had a reasonable knowledge of employment. Law. However the book gave me a much better appreciation of those processes and I found the style in which it was written to be clear and easy to understand with great examples. I would definitely recommend it to other employers as it gives them a good understanding of employment law in layman’s terms. Mike Byrne, CEO, Swimming NZ
My perception of the legalities of recruiting, managing and dismissing staff was of an intense minefield, to be entered at your own peril and with an expectation of being blown to smithereens. Michael has taken away the mystery and fear out of employment arrangements and filled the gap with knowledge and confidence in a book that is rather interesting, enjoyable and readily understood by every business person. It opens the window on employer/employee relationships and gives cogent explanations for the do’s and don’ts of employee management. I recommend this book because of its clarity of approach and breadth of information. Peter Mackenzie , Principal of Mackenzie Law.
Running a specialist bookkeeping company in Tauranga, I work with a lot of small to medium sized businesses and understand the problems which they face. I think the most difficult part of running a business is managing staff so when I picked up Employed but not Engaged I found it very easy to read because it had a simple and commonsense style to it. I particularly liked the analogies throughout the book which made it very easy to relate to. The book has certainly given me the comfort to advise my clients that having staff and the problems that can arise are not necessarily a time bomb, both emotionally and financially. I would certainly recommend it to other small to medium sized business owners and am anxiously awaiting more books from Approachable Lawyer. Rose Richards, Office Doctor
I always believed dismissing staff to be a complicated process but after reading Employed but not Engaged it simplified things greatly. I really liked the comparison between personal and employment relationships which help make the material more palatable and entertaining. It was written in a very clear and concise style with a great use of comedy and a very lighthearted approach throughout the book which was in typical Approachable Lawyer fashion. The structure and layout helped the books readability and I would definitely recommend it to employers as an excellent resource to enable them to quickly and easily grasp the fundamental rules and obligations of the employment relationship. Eden Phillips, Salutaris Legal.
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