Introduction |
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As a business owner, your most important asset is your employees-the people who keep your business running. And with the daily pressures of managing a business, it's often hard to find time to establish the processes and the forms that you need to manage your personnel. From recruiting and bringing employees on board to managing their pay, benefits, and development, this how-to guide provides a summary of proven human resource (HR) methods, processes, forms, and policies. Please note that the contents of this guide are for informational purposes only. HP does not assume any responsibility or liability should you elect to apply this information to your business. State legislation should be consulted to ensure compliance.
Recruiting |
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Even though the economy has experienced a downturn, recruiting the best people is still a difficult process that requires a lot of effort. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that in 2006 there will be 151 million jobs with only 141 million people to fill them. You are constantly competing with other companies to recruit the best people. Getting referrals from current employees, customers, and partners is often the best way to find great people. You can also expand your search by posting jobs in classified ads and on electronic job boards such as:
In addition to publicizing your job openings, there are important processes you can put in place for recruiting. Begin by determining who will be on the interview team. To make scheduling easier, set aside certain times each week to conduct the interviews. Make sure that each member of the interview team is aware of what questions should and should not be asked of a candidate.
Application
Depending on the scope and responsibility of the opening, a job application or a resume may be requested. Included is a sample job application that you can easily modify for your own use. You can create electronic versions of candidates' hardcopy resumes and applications by scanning them. With electronic copies, you can easily track your candidates and route their information to members of the interview team.
Screening
Prior to the face-to-face interviews, that take a lot of your valuable time, a phone screening process should be conducted. Included is a phone screening questionnaire that you can modify for your own use. Remember, phone screening is a cost effective way to determine which applicants are the best candidates to interview.
Interviewing
A good interview process takes careful preparation. Included are interview questions that will assist you in creating an interview process for your company. Areas to be explored with candidates include:
- Education
- Job history
- Why the candidate is interested in leaving his or her current position
- Accomplishments
- Career objectives
- Problem solving ability
Good candidates will prepare for an interview; therefore, it is appropriate to ask a candidate what he or she knows about your company's products and services and how he or she would approach the job. It is not appropriate to ask anything about a candidate's age, race, religion, or sexual preferences.
Throughout the interview, the candidate should display confidence and relate his or her answers back to specific work-related examples. The answers should also reflect the characteristics and skills that are required for the position. After meeting with a candidate, each interview team member can complete an interview report.
Follow-up
It is always a good idea to send a thank you letter to all the candidates to thank them for applying. This effort ensures that each candidate receives an acknowledgement of his or her interest in your company and knows that you appreciate the time and effort invested in applying. The more positive your interaction is with every candidate, the better he or she will feel about your company-even if the candidate does not receive the job.
Hiring |
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When you have found the best candidates for your openings, it is always a good idea to bring them back for a second interview as quickly as possible. After all, if you believe a candidate is ideal for the job, other companies most likely will too. Encourage candidates to spend more time with their potential manager and peers. Make sure top management takes the time to court candidates by giving them the big picture and assuring them that their opinions are valued.
Reference check
Checking a candidate's references is a vital step that often doesn't get the attention that it should. Carefully dole out the responsibility to the interview team and make sure that the team members convene to share what they have learned. At the very least you will learn things that help the new employee get off to a good start and also plan for his or her future development. Included is a reference check form that you can use.
Offer
Once you've selected the person that you want to hire, secure a verbal agreement and quickly follow up with a written offer letter that includes a start date, rate of pay and other compensation, and statement that their employment is "at will". The packet should also explain other employee benefits including healthcare, vacation policy, and the holiday schedule. Other pertinent forms can be included, such as policies on intellectual property rights, a W-4 Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate form, and an emergency information form. Some of these forms can be filled out on the new employee's first day. Consult your employment attorney for the forms and policies that you should have when hiring new personnel.
Good start |
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Accepting a new position is a big decision for a person-one that he or she may have discussed and shared with others. Once your new employee has accepted the job, it is a good practice to send a "thank-you" item to their home in the form of a phone call, e-mail, gift, or card. Get the relationship off on the right foot and the employee will never forget it!
First day
Plan your new employee's first day carefully. Work with your office manager or administrator to make sure everyone is aware of the employee's start date. Have someone greet the new employee and appoint a "buddy" to answer questions. If at all possible have a clean desk and chair, a working phone, office supplies, and a networked computer with an active e-mail account and the ability to print. For that extra special touch, have his or her business cards ready! For top executives, a new executive press release, announcing the executive's arrival, can be sent to the local paper and to relevant trade magazines.
The new employee should meet with his or her manager right away to discuss the overall job description and the short and long-term goals and expectations. Goals should be discussed at least every 30 days. The written job description will remain constant; however, it should be formally revisited should the scope of the job change over time.
Orientation
Many companies have new employee orientations. If your company is hiring a number of people, then orientation sessions can be held in groups. The session should include a presentation about the company, made by a senior manager. This presentation should include the vision, mission, and goals of the company, an overview of products and services, customer relationship procedures, and appropriate company financial information. Company benefits, policies, and procedures should also be reviewed and can be presented by your HR designee.
Benefits |
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The benefit package that you offer your employees can be a very important factor in a person's decision to join your company. Determining what benefits to offer and creating a benefits package that is comprehensive yet easy to reference is very important. The following is a list of benefit categories to consider.
- Compensation
- Medical insurance
- Dental insurance
- Vision insurance
- Workmen's compensation insurance
- Disability insurance
- 401K program
- Vacation days
- Sabbatical program
- Sick leave
- Maternity leave
- Personal leave
Evaluation and development |
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A formal job-performance evaluation, or review, should be given to each employee every six or twelve months. In addition to reviewing an employee's performance against goals, this meeting also provides a good forum for discussing career goals and training and development opportunities. Training classes, university and vocational classes, and web-based training provide an employee with tangible tools that not only enhance his or her performance in the current job, but also build the skills needed to achieve long-term career goals.
Employees that are learning, growing, and meeting daily challenges are the ones that increase your company's productivity. Invest in your employees and they will invest in your company. Ongoing training and development is important for all employees. A manager should sit down at least once a quarter with each of his or her employees for a performance review to discuss areas in which the employee is excelling and areas that can be further developed.
Technology recommendations |
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The right technology can greatly assist you in organizing and automating your HR systems. Here are a few things to consider when thinking about how to apply it to your HR function:
Create an intranet
Given the wide array of HR processes, rules, forms, and information, it's a good idea to give all of your employees access to an internal web site-an intranet-that they can use to find answers to their questions. Your intranet can serve as an employee manual, a suggestion box, a schedule of company events, a directory of employees and phone numbers-even a place to store employee pictures and photos of company activities.
In addition to finding the right information at the right time, your intranet site can contain information about complex subjects such as details on worker's compensation insurance and procedures for internal complaint reviews. Many of the forms included in this how-to guide can also be stored on your intranet site.
Address security issues
Set up your network so that it keeps confidential information secure yet easily accessible to those who are authorized to view and manage it. For example, systems for payroll and benefits administration should be insulated from all other parts of the network. In many cases, it makes sense to have one or more servers dedicated to the HR department to provide physical data separation from other more public systems.
Consider providing dedicated printers to each of your HR managers to print confidential information. This provision ensures that sensitive information is not being printed on a shared printer, where it can be forgotten and/or accidentally picked up by someone else.
Use a digital camera to take employees' pictures for personnel records and ID badges. Digital photos are much easier to manipulate, print, store, and access than traditional photos-now and in the future.
Forms & resources |
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As mentioned throughout this guide, there are several forms that you can download and modify to meet your company's HR needs.
- Job Application
- Phone Screening Questionnaire
- Interview Questions
- Candidate Interview Report
- Thank you Letter
- Reference Check Form
- Offer Letter
- Emergency Information Form
- New Executive Press Release
- Job Description
- Performance Review Form
Resources
Allbusiness.com provides a comprehensive template that you can use to create the employee handbook section of your intranet. Their template includes topics such as:
- At-will Employment
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Policy Against Harassment
- Internal-Complaint Review Procedure
- Hours of Work, Overtime
- Pay Procedures
- Employee Benefits
- Holidays, Vacation, Sick Leave and Leave of Absence Policies
- Workplace Rules and Procedures
- Proprietary and Confidential Information
- Technology Use and Privacy
- Travel and Expense Accounts
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