In the heat of making an HR decision, are you sure you’ve considered all the key factors? Here’s a tool to help you do it.
Anyone needing to conduct an investigation of workplace wrongdoing who read yesterday’s Advisor article on the subject should be grateful to Deborah J. Muller and Michael E. Ferrans.
These two experts warned about a number of HR actions that may seem like “common sense,” and that many HR managers would simply have taken, but that could then lead to huge legal problems.
Who, for example, faced with a conflict between longtime employees, wouldn’t have first tried to simply get those involved to work things out? Or wouldn’t have gone directly to an accused person and asked flat out if he or she had done it? Or wouldn’t have quickly transferred a victim of harassment to another department, out of the line of fire?
Yet, these authors pointed out, each of these actions could create legal complications and were strongly to be avoided. In effect, they provided a checklist for investigations that forced us to think more deeply through each step and avoid the pitfalls surrounding it.
The Power of the Checklist
You don’t do investigations every day, but you can still make use of the power of the checklist. It’s a simple device, but one that channels your thinking and requires you to address things you might not have thought of on your own.
Checklists also enforce consistency … the same procedure done the same way in all cases. That’s vital in the HR setting, where even a hint of discrimination can land you in court.
Check out your HR program with HR Audit Checklists. Try it for 30 days! Click here.
For these reasons, a number of HR publishers offer checklist-type programs, for your own use and for use by your managers, in carrying out HR actions such as hiring, setting compensation, discipline, and termination. BLR’s program in this area is called HR Audit Checklists.
Housed in a binder, the program contains several packets of extensive checklists, each covering one of the following areas:
–HR Administration (including communications, handbook content, and recordkeeping)
–Health and Safety (including OSHA responsibilities)
–Benefits and Leave (including health cost containment, COBRA, FMLA, workers’ compensation, and several areas of leave)
–Compensation (payroll and the Fair Labor Standards Act)
–Staffing and Training (including Equal Employment Opportunity in recruiting and hiring)
–Performance and Termination (appraisals, discipline, and termination)
Anatomy of a Checklist Packet
Because the items on checklists may make little sense unless viewed in context, each packet also contains a background summary of the key laws and issues revolving around that topic. Let’s take the packet on Employee Handbooks in the HR Management section as an example.
Don’t “just do it” … do it right. HR Audit Checklists show you how. Read more.
Before doing the checklist, the reader is informed on how a sloppily written handbook can actually form unintended contracts with employees, which are enforceable in court. A poorly drawn book can even nullify the key concept of employment at will. Here are three items from the checklist designed to help you keep this from happening:
* Have you requested your attorney to review your handbook?
[]Yes []No
* Do you reserve the right to unilaterally alter your handbook?
[]Yes []No
* Do you require employees to [acknowledge] that employment is at will?
[]Yes []No
Say “yes” to these questions and you’ve skirted one of the most dangerous areas in the employee-employer relationship. But would you have thought of asking them without the prodding of a checklist?
All checklists are in a reproducible format, so you can provide them to everyone who needs them, or even post them.
The HR Audit Checklists program is available for a no-cost, no-risk evaluation in your office for up to 30 days. Click on the link below, and we’ll be happy to arrange it.
Don’t Do It Until You’ve Checked!
Before you take any HR action, consult a carefully thought out, legally reviewed checklist. You’ll find dozens of them, on every critical HR area, in BLR’s HR Audits Checklists program. Review it at no cost for 30 days. Read more.