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What Can You Do If Your Employer Is In Breach Of Contract?

"Always read the fine print." Isn't that what they say? It's a vicious, dog-eat-dog business world and, more often than not, it's the underdog who suffers. However, if that underdog is properly prepared and has a few tricks up their sleeve, the tables could be turned.

If you feel as though you've been mistreated by your employer and they are in breach of your employment contract, you can take action. With the right knowledge and proper foresight, you should never need to worry about being swindled by your boss or company.

It's a sad fact, but most workers are simply not aware of their contractual rights. They very rarely take the time to read through their employment contracts. This is a dramatic oversight that is easily rectified by employees simply taking the time to read what they are agreeing to.

What Is Classified As A Breach Of Contract?

As with any formal contracts, contracts of employment are legally binding documents with the express purpose of establishing a written agreement between you and your employer. If any of the terms of that contract are broken, then it's considered a breach of contract.

The problems arise, however, when the breaches are against terms that were not written down as they are far more difficult to prove. For this reason, it is always advisable that you make sure every term you negotiate with your employer is written down in your contract. It might seem a little paranoid at the time but it's better to be safe than sorry.

What Can I Do If My Contract Has Been Breached?

Woman checks her employment contract with her boss

If you think your employer is in breach of your contract, first check the hard copy over and make absolutely sure. There could be clauses written in "legalese" that you may not understand (indeed, that's essentially the point of legalese) so you might need to hire a lawyer or ask a friend from a legal profession to help.

Then, you should take the problem to your employer and attempt to sort it out face-to-face. If this fails, you may be forced to take legal action. Common breaches of contract that you could be able to claim compensation for include, but are not limited to:

A non-payment of wages or travel expenses owed.
A non-payment of holiday or sick pay that was negotiated in your employment contract.
Changes to the terms and conditions of your contract that you didn't sign off on. (For example, if a term of your contract is that you are given a company car and the car is taken away from you.)
A non-payment during your "notice period" (the period between handing in your notice and leaving a job).

Remember that not all of the terms of your employment will be written into your employment contract. Some of the terms are your right by law and some of the terms such as work hours and the job description itself might be found on the initial job advertisement, so remember not to delete or throw that away! Pay slips, staff handbooks, and other particulars can also be used as legally binding documents in the case of a contractual breach.

Loopholes

Woman signs an employment contract after a job interview

It's rarely straightforward when you're dealing with matters such as these and, as you would expect, there are numerous commonly held misconceptions and "loopholes" that employers can and will use in order to legitimize their contractual breach. You may, for example, think that it is not in your employer's power to force you to relocate against your will but there could be something called a "mobility clause" in your contract that states your employer has the right to move you and avoid paying you if you refuse.

There are also workarounds that they'll use when it comes to bonuses and countless other specifics, so make sure that you have at least a vague knowledge of what you're signing before you sign it. Really, it's as simple as looking before you sign, something far too few people appear willing to do.

If you're not familiar with the terms of your employment contract, get on it! Familiarizing yourself with it will make dealing with your employer far less stressful and, if you're really clever, you might even be able to renegotiate terms in your favor! Stranger things have happened in business.

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What Customer Success Has Taught Me About Proximity

Proximity is an essential tool in measuring the customer experience. The right mix of proximity could move a companyâs customers from satisfaction to loyalty. The lack of proximity or the wrong mix could be the canary in a coal mine of a companyâs fall from grace in their industry. CS professionals will benefit greatly in the SaaS industry when applying common sense measures to significantly impact the customer experience by leveraging proximity.

In this post, we will define proximity as it relates to customer success, its importance, and how two best practices can unlock improved business relationships and outcomes for your company.

What Is Proximity?Â Â

Dictionary.com defines proximity as nearness in place, time, order, occurrence, or relation; closeness. In the mid-'90s, during the origins of customer success, the concept of helping customers to achieve their definition of success through a companyâs products and services by being close in both a physical and virtual sense had not yet matured, primarily because there were no digital platforms, as there are today. Yet proximity to the customer experience is critical to product vendors and service providers.

Why Is Proximity Important to Customer Success?Â

In present-day corporate America, companies can feel a proximity bias toward vendors and service providers who are or are not in their orbit. Proximity bias has been described as an unconscious tendency where people in positions of power or leadership tend to favor those physically closer to them (Cooks-Campbell, Leadership & Management, 2024). I would argue that this type of bias extends to the vendor-customer relationship.

In 1990, United Airlines released a commercial that portrayed a sales manager who told his account team that they had lost one of their oldest customers. He said the customer, whom they had been with for 20 years, claimed not to know the sales managerâs company anymore. The sales manager said he and his team were to get back in front of their customers because they had relied more on technology (phones and fax machines) than face-to-face interaction. Today, product vendors and service providers have a portfolio of tools to connect and engage with their customers; however, they will require the right mix of engagement throughout their journey from awareness to consideration, purchase, retention, and advocacy. Indeed, this journey will require purpose, planning, and performance.

Real Examples of Proximity

Place

Being geographically close to customers has its privileges. One of my largest customers was scheduled to renew 70% of their portfolio within 12 months, and even though we were in constant contact with them, face-to-face meetings would be crucial leading up to the renewal date. Many of the account team members were flying into town from faraway states. Coordinating schedules to get value from meetings was already challenging for both sides. I, however, resided only 90 minutes from the customer, and it was nothing for me to jump in my car and head to their offices for important follow-ups that required a quick physical response time when needed. Meeting face-to-face provided the regional presence that was needed to provide personal service.

Time & Occurance

As a customer success professional, Iâve seen my share of support cases, some involving outages. These cases can be damaging from a financial and reputation perspective and can get tricky when the incident happens in different time zones. My previous company had a Severity 1 notification system with follow-the-sun support, which informed me and support management of any outages the customer experienced. The standard response time was one hour. I would have such notifications sent to me via email and text so that I could connect with a support manager to get an engineer assigned immediately rather than receiving automated notifications that may not get a response until closer to the one-hour mark. I would then brief my account team on the incident and discuss the next steps to troubleshoot and resolve the issue. Within minutes, I would connect with the customer to assure them that we had the right people working on their behalf to address the outage. This type of proximity in time was the high-touch experience crucial to confirming to the customer that this issue was promptly addressed.

Order

Customers expect priority status regardless of what product or service they have purchased or licensed from you. Other companies are willing to pay a premium to get that priority service. When planning a customerâs upgrade to a more current release, migration to a different application, or even doing a hardware tech refresh, I would coordinate with support to make them a hot site. A hot site is the status given to a customer when planning the date and time of the above-mentioned events after hours or on the weekend. Should the customer experience a problem during the above-mentioned events, they could contact support and receive priority status to resolve their issue. Itâs sort of like the FastPass at Disney! This type of proximity, in order, provides personal service and assures the customer that they are in good hands.

2 Best Practices to Improve Your Proximity and Have Better Relationships and Outcomes With Your CustomersÂ

Below are two common sense, evidence-based applications that are working in the CS industry to build trust and credibility between vendors and their customers:

Physical Proximity

Onsite Visits: Make sure they are consistent, as agreed to by the customer, particularly if they are high-touch customers. Local or regional face-to-face meetings create stronger bonds, allow you to better understand a customerâs environment, and pick up on nonverbal cues that could otherwise be missed on virtual platforms. Ensure that every visit has an agenda and adds value to address specific needs communicated by the customer.

Local or Regional Events: Organize or participate in regional or local industry events and workshops. Your presence will demonstrate a commitment to your customerâs success within their community, and these events could also produce networking opportunities.

Relational Proximity

Communications: Consult with your customers to identify the meeting cadence that best suits them. Would they prefer communications by email, phone, video conference, or a combination of these options? Do they prefer weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly calls? You can use CRM tools to track all interactions and preferences relative to your customer's priorities. Be aware of and sensitive to excess communications.

Proactive Engagements: Based on your customerâs industry, business profile, and historical engagements, anticipate their needs and reach out with potential improvements they could validate. Understand their pain points and provide success plans related to them. You can assess these needs utilizing customer success platforms that track usage, health scores, and other metrics.

Feedback: In addition to survey tools you may use, solicit feedback regularly from your customers to get a perspective on what they desire from you for continuous improvement and how well you are executing these improvement plans.

In Closing

Proximity is linked to customer success's effectiveness by building and nurturing relationships. CS leaders should develop and project a clear sense of being near their customers through these personalized engagements.

References

Cooks-Campbell, A. (2024, March 12). Leadership & Management. Retrieved from BetterUp: https://www.betterup.com/blog/proximitybias#:~:text=Proximity%20bias%20is%20an%20unconscious,the%20expense%20of%2 0remote%20workers.

Cooks-Campbell, A. (2024). Proximity bias: definition. BetterUp.

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What Customer Success Has Taught Me About …

3 Tips On How To Answer “Why Should We Hire You?”

"Why should we hire you?" is actually one of the most common questions asked in a job interview. If you're feeling upbeat and glad this question is being asked, you're at a good starting point because it's a question that gives you the opportunity to specifically inform the employer what you have to offer, why you make a good fit, and continue to sell, sell, sell to seal the deal to get a job offer.

When answering this interview question, there are several things you need to think about...

1. What Do You Have To Offer That Others Can't?

Often, when you're asked, "Why should we hire you?" the thinking is to simply respond with relevant skills and experience. But if you really want to win the employer over, you need to take it a step further.

One of the most important questions to ask in an interview is: "What is the biggest challenge someone will face in this position in the first six months?" Knowing this, answer as to how you have faced these challenges before and stress the results you have achieved. Also think about not just the relevant skills and experience you have to offer, but how those skills and experiences differ from what other candidates may be able to offer.

2. Why Do You Want To Work For Them?

Man answers the interview question, "Why should we hire you?"

Employers want to hire talent who will be excited to work for them, so when you respond expressing your interest in the company and the business, make sure it's backed up with information.

You don't just want to say a blank statement like: I like the company and its culture. Offer details on it like: "I've seen how the company has maintained its competitiveness with the product launch of X, Y, and Z and infiltrated new markets like Asia and Europe. I believe in the company's approach and that it will be a long-standing leader in the industry, and I'm passionate about the product and the company's mission, so I'd like to be part of it. I believe I can add value with my previous experience and success inâ¦"

This latter response informs the employer more about why you want to work for them and how you can bring them value. Of course, you will have to do some research ahead of time on the company and business to be able to provide such a response.

3. Where Do You Want To Be In Three Years?

Woman shaking hands is asked, "Why should we hire you?" in a job interview

The last thing to consider when asked, "Why should we hire you?" in a job interview is where you want to be in three years. This is where you have to show that you want to stay with the employer since retention is key to them.

It is also a great opportunity to ask the hiring manager about career growth. Good answers include: "I like to stay challenged and learn new things, and I think your company can give me that opportunity. What kind of positions have others who started in this role moved onto?"

Whether you're asked, "Why should we hire you?" in a job interview or not, be prepared with a response to this question by thinking about these three areas. Either way, you'll want to make it a point to talk about what you have to offer as an employee and business-of-one, why you want to work for the company, and where you see yourself in three years. With this strategy, you'll secure the job offer in no time!

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3 Tips On How To Answer “Why …

Searching for a new job requires clarity on what you want to do and where you want to do it. You need a solid strategy but most importantly you need tenacity. In short, job search is more than hitting the apply button. This week’s summary provides resources, tools and information to help you carry out […]

The post Summary Sunday: Issue 557 appeared first on Career Sherpa.

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Summary Sunday: Issue 557

Is it possible to speed up your job search when the hiring decisions lie in the hands of employers? Yes, there are definitely things you can do to increase your odds. Taking control over what you can control is what I call a proactive job search. Too often job seekers over-rely on posted jobs to […]

The post 5 Ways to Speed Up Your Job Search appeared first on Career Sherpa.

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5 Ways to Speed Up Your Job …

Attracting top talent is critical for the success of any business, and a positive company image plays a significant role in this process. Boosting your company image to attract new hires involves building a strong employer brand, enhancing your online presence, offering competitive benefits, creating a positive work environment, leveraging employee advocacy, and engaging with […]

The post <strong>Boosting Your Company Image When Attracting New Hires</strong> appeared first on Jobacle.com.

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Boosting Your Company Image When Attracting New …

Hospitality recruiters specialize in filling roles within the hospitality industry, from staff positions all the way up to management roles. These recruiters possess extensive industry connections and a strong professional network to quickly source the ideal candidates for your company’s positions and ensure a positive candidate experience. Job Descriptions While hospitality recruiters typically specialize in […]

The post Connect With the Best Hospitality Recruiters for Your Next Executive Search appeared first on Jobacle.com.

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Connect With the Best Hospitality Recruiters for …

Are you struggling to figure out what you want to do for a job? Well, I'm about to give you some advice that will help speed up this journey for you.

You need to understand a specific framework in order to get the results you want and deserve. The reason you can't figure out what you want to do is that you don't understand what your unique value add (UVA) is. What are the aspects of your professional strengths that you would most like to use on a daily basis? When you figure that out, you can take jobs that, by their nature, will make you feel satisfied and happy.

Now, why didn't they teach us this in school? I don't know, my friend. But there are a couple of things you can do to figure out your UVA, and it starts with a professional strengths assessment.

Discover Your Professional Strengths & Unlock Your UVA

There are two key areas that I have all my clients start with. At Work It DAILY, we have seven proprietary assessment tools that our members take to unlock their full UVA so they can identify and target companies. But for starters, so I don't overwhelm you, let's focus on two easy and free assessment tools.

The first tool is the Communication Style (ISAT) Quiz. Think of your communication style as your workplace personality. This is going to help you understand how others perceive you in the workplace. People perceive innate strengths in you based on your personality/ You need to know that about yourself. You need to know how others see you. And you need to make sure that you're choosing jobs that play to the strengths of this workplace personality, this communication style.

The second tool is the Career Decoder Quiz. This quiz will tell you what your top workplace personas are (aka how you like to do tasks and add value at work). There are eight workplace personas, eight ways that we create value on the job, and we can do all of them, but we tend to prefer two or three. When you know what your top three workplace personas are, you can then take your personality and your personas and start to match them to careers that are going to be a fit for you, careers that are going to make you feel satisfied and successful on a daily basis.

When we put personality and personas together, we can help you identify career paths that will be the right fit for you. To make this easier, I put together a free Professional Strengths Workbook you can download that will walk you through taking these two quizzes and how to assess the results.

This is going to empower you and help you unlock your UVA. Better yet, when you talk to employers in your job search, you now understand what you need to market about yourself so that they see you as a fit because when you know more about your personality and your personas you can leverage those as strengths in job interviews to get the job.

You need to start doing a professional strengths assessment to unlock your personality and your personas, and this will get you on the right path.

Good luck, and go get 'em!

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How To Choose A Career Path

Are you having trouble getting noticed by recruiters? You’re sending out plenty of resumes but arenât getting any responses. Your skill matches the job requirements, so why arenât you receiving any replies?Â Well, chances are, the problem is actually your resume. So, how do you create the perfect resume? Here are a few tips to […]

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Get Noticed By Recruiters with the Perfect …

There are lot of specialized groups on LinkedIn that professionals can join in an effort to boost their networking strategy. However, just joining a group isn't enough. Much like managing your LinkedIn profile, making the best use of being a member of a specialized group comes down to activity and management.

If you want to take full advantage of being a part of one of these LinkedIn Groups, here's what you need to do.

Get Others To Take Notice

One of the easiest ways for others to take notice of you on LinkedIn is through discussion, and it's the same for LinkedIn Groups.

Take part in the group discussions by posting a question of your own, providing an intelligent comment to other posts, or sharing relatable information with the group. No one is going to notice you if you're just standing on the sidelines observing what goes on in the group.

Inform Others Of Your Passion And Expertise

Going along the first point above, as you consider what to post, comment, or share, make it relevant to your profession because it will help display your expertise on a particular subject matter. It's not about leaving a generic comment or random post but building on the personal branding message you want to leave with people.

Remember that when companies are searching for potential job candidates, the more activity you have the better your ranking will be in LinkedIn's search engine.

Search For Jobs

Many employers, hiring managers, and recruiters will join professional groups on LinkedIn to help source talent and they will post any new job openings there.

When you find a job opening you like in a group, you already have a slight lead over other job seekers who are simply relying on the traditional job boards because you can now make direct contact with the person who posted the job and share the fact that you are both part of the same LinkedIn Group.

Make One-On-One Contact

The beauty of joining a LinkedIn Group is you can now message any other member who's joined the group. Start a one-on-one conversation with the individuals you admire and who you believe can offer valuable advice to help you through your job search.

When you approach individuals genuinely, most will openly respond. This is not to say you have to send an invite for them to join your network. Just simply get the conversation started.

LinkedIn clearly has many advantages to helping job seekers but knowing how to manage your LinkedIn profile and what activities to take part in are important to the process of making it work for your job search efforts. Follow the tips above to make the most of any LinkedIn Groups you decide to join. Happy networking!

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4 Things To Do After Joining A …

Formulating Problem-Solving Moves Throughout Your Day

Have you thought about how much problem-solving you typically do each day? If you donât think very much, you may not be giving yourself enough credit.

Individuals typically solve numerous problems throughout the day for both personal and work. While many problems are solved consciously, you also engage in an unconscious problem-solving process throughout the day. These may involve automatic or instinctual responses to familiar situations as well as subconscious processing of information and experiences that influence decision-making. It could involve routine tasks, strategic decisions, and unexpected situations.

Problem-solving skills are essential because of their wide-ranging impact (and are listed as a required skill in many job descriptions). It fosters adaptability and resilience, enhances decision-making, enhances critical thinking and analytical skills, and drives innovation and creativity. So, learning from failures and adapting your approach based on feedback and new information is important.

There are several problem-solving techniques. Depending on the situation, some techniques will lend themselves and be more effective than other techniques. Some popular problem-solving techniques are brainstorming, PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), and root cause analysis (RCA).

Different Problem-Solving Techniques

Brainstorming is a creative technique that involves generating many ideas. It encourages individuals to generate ideas without judgment, potentially leading to innovative solutions. To generate a diverse collection of ideas, itâs crucial to have a diverse group of individuals with varied backgrounds, perspectives, expertise, and roles. Other considerations:

Clearly articulate the problem youâre addressing and any specific goals or outcomes you hope to achieve,
Establish ground rules to ensure productive and respectful participation,
Capture and document ideas in real time using visual aids such as whiteboards or digital collaboration tools, and
Summarize the key ideas generated and identify the next steps for further exploring, evaluating, or implementing promising ideas.

For example, if the organization wants to revamp its social media strategy utilizing gen AI, it may benefit from having a brainstorming session. Afterward, it may use the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) technique to see how well the implemented strategy is going.

The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) is a continuous improvement cycle used to address problems or make improvements systematically and iteratively. It involves planning a solution, implementing it, checking the results, and acting on the findings to further refine or adjust the solution. PDCAâs popularity stems from its simplicity, flexibility, and effectiveness in driving continuous improvement.

Root cause analysis (RCA) is used to identify the underlying root cause of a problem. It involves identifying the root causes (versus addressing its symptoms) responsible for a problem and then addressing those causes to prevent the problem from recurring. Some components of an RCA are:

Identify the problem including its symptoms, observed effects, etc.,
Analyze the impact quantifying the cost, risks, and implications associated with the problem,
Identify the root cause including the primary and contributory root causes of the problem,
Propose corrective actions and measures to prevent recurrence of the problem, and
Remediate and monitor including timeliness, responsible parties, and performance metrics.

I like creating an RCA report after a system outage. It explains the 5 Wsâwho, what, where, when, whyâand how the outage occurred and to prevent it from happening again. Itâs imperative to share the RCA report with your business partners.

Continuously Improving Your Problem-Solving Skills

Reflect on your problem-solving skills and commit to continuous improvement. If you want to improve your problem-solving abilities start by clearly defining the problem and practicing critical thinking and analysis. Do you have any experiences, insights, and perspectives on problem-solving to share?

For more information on the importance of having strong problem-solving skills, follow me on LinkedIn!

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Formulating Problem-Solving Moves Throughout Your Day

3 Critical Salary Negotiation Tips For 2024

The job search market has completely changed. It is now an employer's market. Companies have a lot of options to choose from, and they're being very strategic and picky about who they hire. They're also being budget conscious; they want the best bang for their buck, the greatest return on investment. So, how do you successfully negotiate salary in this kind of labor market?

If you want to negotiate a higher salary in 2024, follow these three critical salary negotiation tips.

1. Don't Negotiate Salary When It's Listed In the Job Description

Many hiring managers are given a set salary or bonus structure for a new hire that they're told not to exceed. With that in mind, if a company has the salary range for a job publicly listed in the job description, please understand that they're not even going to entertain talking to anybody who doesn't agree to that amount.

So if your walkway rate, which is the least amount of money you could accept without having to still look for another job, is not in that range, it is not worth your time to apply.

If they post a range, you better be in that rangeâor don't bother applying.

2. Use Evidence-Based Answering In Job Interviews To Prove Your Value

The interview process is where you make sure that you get the highest amount of money possible, and you're going to accomplish that through evidence-based answering.

Evidence-based answering is when you provide very clear and concrete examples of how you achieved results in your career that show you can do the job. You can't just say that you have the experience and give hypotheticals in this competitive market. You need to provide the evidence with storytelling.

At Work It DAILY, we call this storytelling technique the "Experience + Learn = Grow" model. It's a framework for making sure that you answer behavioral interview questions correctly, giving the right amount of evidence to prove your value.

When you correctly use evidence-based answering in a job interview, you are proving to the hiring manager that you have the value that they need. I talk about how important your unique value add (UVA) is all the time. You demonstrate your UVA through this kind of evidence-based answering.

3. Create A Table To Show You Exceed Their Expectations & Requirements

When you get the job offer and it's time to negotiate salary, you should have a two-column table ready to give to the hiring manager.

In the first column of this table, list all of the things that are required to do the job you're interviewing for. Go back to the job description, but also add in anything else they told you through the interview process that is a requirement to do this job.

In the second column, match up your experience to these requirements. If they said you need five years of experience and you have seven, put seven in this second column. If they said you need to be able to do a certain type of project and you've done it 20 times, say you've done that project 20 times.

Then, go through the document, and any place where you exceed the requirement that they asked for, highlight it in green.

This becomes the document that you are going to use to negotiate a higher salary so that if you get the offer and the salary is lower than what you expected, you can go back to the hiring manager and say...

"I'm really honored and excited to get this job. However, I was hoping for X. I put together this table because this shows that I not only meet all your expectations, but in green, you can see where I exceed them. I truly believe I'm going to give you the best return on your investment if you pay me X, and I would love it if you would consider that because it would give me the confidence that you believe in me and I will make sure I am worth every penny."

These three tips are going to help you maximize your salary negotiation in this current job market. Spending the time to create a table and use evidence-based answering in the job interview will make all the difference. You don't want to wing it. The more you prepare for salary negotiation, the better off you're going to be. I promise.

Good luck, and go get 'em!

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