Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | October 1, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 21 10 T H I NG S I know about . . . … Millennial employee engagement By Danielle J. Clark Danielle Clark maintains a career coaching and small business consulting practice supporting many areas, including Worcester. To connect with her, visit danielleclarkhr.com. 10) The term employee engagement is used in inconsistent ways: Employee engagement can mean either mood, performance or disposition. 9) Millennials are the largest share of the workforce: By 2025, Millennials will be 75 percent of workers. 8) Gallup reported Millennials are the most disengaged generation: Gallup found 55 percent were not engaged, creating turnover, safety and profitability issues. 7) Varying birth years between sources make understanding Millennials imprecise: Census Bureau defines a Millennial as born 1982 - 2000 while Pew Research Center says 1981–1997. 6) We don't have a full picture: As of January, the youngest Millennials were 17 years old and have therefore not yet entered the workplace. Younger Millennials and older Millennials may have distinct differences. 5) Little scholarly research exists: The collective findings of the few academic studies on Millennials are inconclusive. 4) Most of the data comes from consulting firms: Gallup and PricewaterhouseCoopers conduct their own employee engagement surveys but don't always release certain pieces of information as it's proprietary. 3) The same data is being shown to us repeatedly: It's easy to think we understand Millennial disengagement because of the sheer volume of articles that exist; however, most articles reference the same data. Gallup's How Millennials Want to Work and Live (2016) report is cited hundreds of times. 2) Related concepts are used interchangeably and incorrectly: Employee engagement, motivation, job happiness and satisfaction are not the same. If these terms are used conversely, the source may not be reliable. 1) We don't know nearly as much as we think we do: The call to action is to read with skepticism and not make assumptions. K N O W H O W The new Mass. non-compete law 10 1: B U I L D I N G T E A M S O n Aug. 10, Gov. Charlie Baker signed an econom- ic development bill which incorporated signifi- cant changes to the law regarding employers' use and enforce- ment of non-competition agreements. is new and complex law, which took effect Oct. 1, permits the continued use of such non-compete agreements in limited circumstances, but imposes safeguards to help level the playing field and eliminate problematic issues. Which employees are excluded from non-competition agreements? Non-competition agreements may not be used and will not be enforced against hourly employees, college student in- terns and persons less than 19 years old. A non-competition agreement loses its enforceability if the employee is termi- nated without cause or laid off. What agreements will remain untouched by the new law? ere are several other common types of restrictive covenants – agree- ments prohibiting solicitation of a company's customers, vendors or employees, non-disclosure or confiden- tiality agreements; agreements requir- ing the assignment of inventions; and agreements arising out of the sale of a business – not affected by the new law. Severance agreements (provided they give the employee seven business days to rescind) also are unaffected. What are the permissible restrictions? With exceptions, an employee can be restricted from competing against a pre- vious employer for (a) up to one year, (b) in a geographic area where the employee worked or had a material presence or in- fluence and from (c) providing services previously provided by that employee. What requirements must the employer meet? e agreement must be in writing and signed by both the employee and employer. e agreement must express- ly state the employee has the right to consult with counsel before signing. e agreement must be supported by consideration provided to the employee. A new employee must be provided the non-competition agreement at the time of the formal offer or 10 business days before the commencement of employ- ment, whichever is earlier. What compensation must be offered to ex-employees? e most significant uncertainty in the law is what consideration will be required. e law has received con- siderable attention in its reference to garden leave. Garden leave (50 percent of the employee's highest annual base salary) is paid to the employee during the time that he is forced to sit on the sidelines. e new law, however, does not require garden leave, but creates the option for other mutually agreed upon consideration. e only area where the new law provides any further guidance is with respect to an existing employee who is asked to sign. In that instance, fair and reasonable consideration must be offered. ere is no explanation as to what will be fair or reasonable or how a court will decide that question. In passing this new law, legislators were contending with two compet- ing interests. Proponents considered non-competition agreements critical to the protection of a company's invest- ment of time, intellectual property, trade secrets, confidential information and goodwill, whereas critics described non-competes as unfair attempts to restrain ordinary competition with the byproduct of stifling innovation and entrepreneurship. So while Massachu- setts took a number of steps to address concerns expressed about the use of non-compete agreements, it still le important issues unresolved. While not perfect, the law represents the outcome of a legislative art of the possible. BY RICHARD C. VAN NOSTRAND Special to the Worcester Business Journal BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to the Worcester Business Journal T oday, companies are all about collaboration. Working groups and corporate cohorts are as much a part of our modern lexicon in professional environments as words like meetings and cubicles were years ago. But how do leaders ensure collaborative teams are as effective and inspired as possible? Clearly define roles/responsibilities. Glenn Llopis at Forbes warns defining roles in a working group may not be as easy as it seems; many times, an employ- ee's ideal role isn't within their job de- scription. "is is not unlike team sports, where some players are known as 'system players' – meaning that, although they may not be the most talented person on the team, they know how to work best within the system," he writes. It helps to have managers who know teams should operate as a force of combined strengths and differences, he says. Encourage communication not only in terms of defining the team's goal, but also in terms of giving each team member a voice. More than just being polite, inclusivity fosters many positive outcomes, writes Cynthia Johnson at Entrepreneur.com. "Letting the whole team weigh in on feedback and asking for their opinion also helps them to stay engaged and brings them closer to projects," she writes. "ey're attached to the outcome and want to know that their thoughts are considered in the process. Allowing this gives people a feeling of ownership over their work, leading to better performance." Keep benefits of collaborations in mind, especially if a team working on a project goes through a rough patch, writes Lisa Magloff at SmallBusiness. Chron.com. Benefits include improved morale, more robust relationships and greater flexibility. "By bringing em- ployees from different parts of a project together into one team, problems or bottlenecks can sometimes be ironed out more easily," with different perspectives, she writes. Richard C. Van Nostrand is a partner at Worcester law firm Mirick O'Connell. Reach him at rvannostrand@mirickoconnell.com and 508.860.1453. W W W

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