Q: We have an employee who has been with us for five years. She has been a very good employee, always dependable, good quality work, pleasant to be around, virtually no problems. In the last two months she has become irritable, complains about others, seems to be sick more, and recently missed an important deadline for the first time. We are concerned and are not sure how to handle the situation.
- Shakeel Ahmed, Hyderabad

Ans: Any time there is a dramatic change in an employee’s behavior it should send a warning signal to an employer. There could be a number of reasons for these changes in behavior: a significant change in the work or work environment which is upsetting the employee, a significant personal issue in their life, or possible signs of substance abuse. The challenge for an employer in this type of situation is how to balance concern and fact finding with the employee’s right to privacy. In this situation, the missed deadline opens a job related door to discuss the issues with the employee. Discuss the problems, keep it focused on the job, impact on their performance and co-workers, express concern and provide resources, such as a reminder about the Employee Assistance Plan. If the employee is reluctant to share information about the possible causes, do not press the issue. Again, provide the resources, let them know you are available if they wish to talk to you about the issue, and be sure they understand the impact on their job. If it continues and/or becomes more severe, work through the corrective action process. Keep in mind—if the employee shares confidential information, handle it appropriately to the situation and established policies.

Q: What questions should I avoid asking when conducting an interview?
- Larissa Rodricks, Bangalore

Ans: In general, whenever you question a potential employee, your first question to yourself should be, is this question job-related? If it is not, do NOT ask it. If there is a legitimate business reason for needing to have an answer, then it is okay to ask that question. For example, religion is a protected class under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If you were in construction, it would be illegal for you to question a person’s religion. However, if someone were applying for a priest’s position in a parish, it would be appropriate to question the individual’s religion.

Personal questions are generally not okay. For instance, you may believe that you want to know if your female candidate has children because then she might take time off for childcare. This may seem like it is alright to ask for the business purpose of wanting individuals at work on a consistent basis, but this would be an illegal question, especially if only asked of female candidates. The bottom line is whether or not the need to know is for legitimate business purposes.

Questions can be inappropriate even if the questioning is not along the lines of governed protected classes. Sexual orientation is not a Government protected class, but that does not mean that you can question individuals about their orientation.

Q: For the past five years we have had a “probationary period” for the first 90 days of employment. We have recently been advised that this should be termed an “introductory period.” Why should we change it?
- Navneet, Bangalore

Ans: There are basically two reasons to change the language. First, the term “probationary period” can be seen as an implied contract, negating the at-will rights employers try so hard to maintain. The implication is that once an employee completes a “probationary” period they will be retained no matter what. It is also very important that you do not call an employee who has completed the introductory period a “permanent” employee. We recommend they become a “regular” employee. The term “permanent” implies that they will always be with the organization. We also recommend that you have in your policies a disclaimer that the transition from the introductory period to a regular employee does not alter the at-will employment relationship in any way. Another good reason not to use the term “probationary” for new hires is that this terminology is often utilized in the corrective action process when an employee is not performing to standards. Having two completely separate periods referred to by the same terminology can be very confusing, or even misleading. Therefore, our suggestion is to re-name the initial period introduction or orientation.

Q: I have always been of the opinion that having a policy and procedure manual just gets us into trouble. Whatever policy we establish, we're stuck with. Besides that, our law firm has told us that every policy becomes contractual. Would you agree?
- Shankar Rao, Chennai

Ans: No, while most Human Resource Directors and corporate CEO's understand why policies, procedures, and forms are necessary to effectively operate any organization, there are a few who establish these because "that is the way it has always been done." At the same time, there are many attorneys who will tell you that policies and procedures only place the company in situations loaded with liabilities because no policy manual can be without implied contracts.

There are no endeavors without risk, but in personal management, risk must and can be diminished. The major points for establishing policies and procedures are:

• In the absence of policies, past and present activities become policy. Since many of these practices are or can be discriminatory (because of a lack of consistency), the company is in greater danger of law suits and claims with government agencies than if they had carefully spelled out the organization's expectations of the employee.

• The contractual nature of policy manuals can be lessened considerably by providing management with sufficient discretionary powers to act in a number of ways under similar circumstances.

• There is an much danger in saying too much as too little. What a handbook can do is provide the most positive way of maintaining management discretion while firmly communicating mutual expectations. Manuals which are more than 50 pages are usually replete with implied contracts. Further, they can require more frequent updating than policies which have left sufficient discretionary powers to give leeway in various situations.

• Many policies and forms can and should have attendant disclaimers which articulate the rights of the employer and the obligations of the employee.

• The employee deserves to know what is expected of him/her and what he or she can expect in return. Since job satisfaction is based upon rewards and expectations, it only makes sense to establish "benefits" and disciplinary policies.

• "Consistency and Control Through Communications" is ostensibly the very foundation for having policies and procedures and forms. By establishing well-written policies, an organization can expect that supervisors and managers will (if properly trained) take approximately the same course of action in similar circumstances.