The Boss's Survival Guide: Workplace 911 for the Toughest Problems Today's Managers Face »

Bob Rosner is a bestselling author and an award-winning journalist with 25 years’ experience

consulting with Fortune 500 companies. He runs the Workplace 911 Web site and consultancy.

Allan Halcrow is a consultant and the former editor-in-chief of Workforce magazine.

For more information visit www.workplace911.org.

The bestselling guide to motivating and managing every

employee—updated for the new world of business!

As a supervisor in today’s highly competitive world, you must not only get more out of each employee—

you must also prove your department’s strategic impact on the organization. This popular, highly practical

guide helps you make your department shine. The Boss’s Survival Guide, Second Edition, has been

updated to help you manage today’s hot-button issues, such as:

• Hiring and retaining the best talent
• Handling layoffs and terminations
• Using social networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook
• Managing time and dealing with stress
• Keeping up with the latest changes in employment law
• Maintaining your own marketability and managing your career

Praise for the first edition of The Boss’s Survival Guide

“WOW!!!”
—Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence

“This book has everything you’ll ever need to know about being an effective boss

but don’t have time to learn.”

—Ken Blanchard, Ph.D., coauthor of The One-Minute Manager, Raving Fans, and Gung Ho

“At last, a definitive guide for bosses on the hiring, care, and feeding of employees.”

—Richard N. Bolles, author of What Color Is Your Parachute?

Special Acknowledgments xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Chapter 1 The Forgotten Four 1

The Forgotten Four 5

Fairness 7

Flexibility 9

Leverage 11

Empathy 14

Forgotten Four Summarized 16

Do the Right Thing 17

Chapter 2 The Essential 10: A Short Course in Management 21

Surviving Tough Times: The Essential 10 22

Having a Bigger Impact at Work: The Essential 10 23

Staying Out of Jail: The Essential 10 24

Keeping Your Best People: The Essential 10 24

Chapter 3 Managing Yourself 27

Managing Up: How to Keep Your Boss Happy 28

Your Career: How to Stay Competitive in the Job Market 32

12 Questions to Measure Your Effectiveness 37

360-Degree Feedback: How to Get the Truth (and Improve Your Performance) 38

Mission, Goal Setting, and Finding Opportunities: How to Sort Out the "Where To?" of Work 42

Time Management: How to Make the Most of Every Hour 46

Stress: How to Cope with Workplace Pressure 50

Project Management: How to Stay on Top of What You Need to Do 54

Walk the Talk: How to Align What You Say and What You Do 58

Listening Skills: How to Hear What People Really Have to Say 62

Apologizing: Why Managing Often Means Having to Say You're Sorry 69

Chapter 4 Managing Performance 75

Leadership: How to Vary Your Style to Get Results 76

Managing 101: How to Be the Boss Today's Employees Need 83

Keep Employees in the Loop: How to Fill the Information Vacuum 91

Job Descriptions: How to Draft Blueprints for Results 97

Behavioral Expectations: How to Direct the How of the Job 105

The Handbook: How to Use the Rules to Your Advantage 109

Informal Recognition: Howto Keep Employees Motivated 111

Formal Recognition: How to Celebrate Milestones 118

Documenting Performance: How to Be Fair, Complete, and Legal 123

Performance Reviews: How to Keep Employees on Track 128

Personnel Files: How to Keep Your Records Useful and Legal 140

Overtime/Comp Time: How to Pay People 144

Negligent Supervision: How What You Don't Do Can Cost You 147

Training: How to Keep People Learning and Growing 151

Meetings: How to Get Things Done (Without Wasting Time) 161

Working with HR: How Human Resources Can Help You Get the Most Out of Your Team 169

Chapter 5 And Then There's Real Life 177

Conflict Management: How to Resolve Disagreements (Without Bloodshed) 178

Fear and Mistrust: How to Overcome Negative Emotions That Infect the Workplace 181

Sexual Harassment: How to Recognize and Prevent Inappropriate Behavior 184

Privacy: How to Balance the Rights of Employees and Your Company 197

Medical Problems and the FMLA: How to Help an Employee Through a Personal or Family Medical Crisis 202

Drug and Alcohol Abuse: How to Confront the Addicted Employee 210

Chapter 6 It's Not Your Father's Workplace 217

Innovation: How to Get Creative in Tough Times 218

Organizational Culture: How to Manage in Sync with Your Company's Values 222

E-mail: How to Manage Electronic Communication (and Not Let It Manage You) 228

The Internet: How to Keep an Asset from Becoming a Liability (or a Lawsuit) 234

Texts, Tweets, and the Next New Technology: How to Stay Connected (Without Losing Your Mind) 240

Virtual Employees: How to Manage the People You Can't See 245

Emotional Intelligence: How to Recognize and Use the Data in Your Emotions 250

Chapter 7 Today's Diverse Workforce 261

Cultural Values: How to Get Past Race and Ethnicity 262

The Generation Gap: How to Help Everyone Get Along (and Get Things Done) 267

Disabilities: How to Help Employees Give Their Best 276

Religion: How to Respect Established Practices 285

Sexual Orientation: How to Include the Invisible Minority 290

Parents: How to Help Employees Balance Work and Family 298

Employees Without Children: How to Reap Rewards by Recognizing Personal Lives 303

Chapter 8 Making Successful Hires 311

Sourcing Candidates: Where to Find the Right Person for the Job 312

Applications: How to Get the Basic Information You Need 325

Résumés: How to Spot the Hype and Find the Truth 329

Assessment Tools: How to Be Sure Candidates Will Fit In 334

Physicals: How to Be Sure Candidates Will Be Able to Do the Job 347

Reference Checks: How to Get the Whole Story 351

Background Checks: How to Find Out What Candidates Don't Want You to Know 356

Interviews: How to Get the Information You Need 363

Job Offers: How to Structure and Negotiate a Win-Win Package 378

Closing the Deal: How to Turn Candidates into Employees 392

First Days on the Job: How to Lay the Groundwork for Success 398

The 90-Day Review: How to Decide Whether the Employee Should Stay-Or Go 407

Chapter 9 Discipline and Termination 413

Discipline: How to Change Problem Behavior 414

Termination: How to Let People Go Fairly and Legally 420

Constructive Termination: How to Protect Yourself from Claims That People Were Forced to Quit 431

Termination Letters: How to Write a Document That Protects Your Company 433

Resignations: How to Get Closure When People Move On 436

Alternatives to Layoffs: How to Keep Top Talent (and Still Cut Costs) 440

Layoffs: How to Cut the Risk of Lawsuits 443

Postscript 447

Index 449