2013 Best Practices in Recruitment and Recognition

[Go here for Best Practices #1 to #5]

#6 Health and Wellness

Ideas that employers can use in their wellness programs are as varied as the employees in an employer’s workforce. It may take some trial and error to find the ones that create an enthusiastic response and achieve high levels of participation. Some successful programs have included one or more of the following:

• Voluntary screening to check blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and other risk factors
• Personal finance education and counseling
• Smoking cessation program
• Financial incentives for voluntary participation in healthcare assessment
• Health insurance discounts for nonsmokers
• Health insurance surcharges for smokers
• Discounted gym memberships
• Reimbursement for membership in Weight Watchers® or other weight management programs
• Newsletters, e-mail notices, bulletin board postings, and other awareness strategies to increase participation in wellness initiatives

#7 Background Checks

The EEOC outlined examples of best practices for employers that are considering criminal record information when making employment decisions:

Employers should eliminate policies or practices that exclude people from employment based on any criminal record. In addition, employers should train managers, hiring officials, and decision makers about Title VII and its prohibition on employment discrimination.

Employers should also develop a narrowly tailored written policy and procedure for screening applicants and employees for criminal conduct, including:

• Identify essential job requirements and the actual circumstances under which the jobs are performed.
• Determine the specific offenses that may demonstrate unfitness for performing such jobs. Identify the criminal offenses based on all available evidence.
• Determine the duration of exclusions for criminal conduct based on all available evidence. Include an individualized assessment.
• Record the justification for the policy and procedures.
• Note and keep a record of consultations and research considered in crafting the policy and procedures.

#8 Pre-Employment and Employee Testing

The EEOC has offered the following guidance for employers on employment tests and other selection procedures:

• Employers should administer tests and other selection procedures without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age (40 or older), or disability.
• Employers should ensure that employment tests and other selection procedures are properly validated for the positions and purposes for which they are used. The test or selection procedure must be job-related and its results appropriate for the employer’s purpose. While a test vendor’s documentation supporting the validity of a test may be helpful, the employer is still responsible for ensuring that its tests are valid.
• If a selection procedure screens out a protected group, the employer should determine whether there is an equally effective alternative selection procedure that has less adverse impact and, if so, adopt the alternative procedure.
• To ensure that a test or selection procedure remains predictive of success in a job, employers should keep abreast of changes in job requirements and should update the test specifications or selection procedures accordingly.

#9 Recognition, Rewards, and Incentives

Recognition of employees is more relevant than ever in today’s workplace. In response to the recession, more than 60 percent of all U.S. companies took cost-cutting actions that involved some sort of reduction in force, oftentimes increasing the workloads of existing employees, freezing salary increases, and reducing bonuses.

Bonuses are a way for employers to recognize and reward employee accomplishments in a monetary form. Bonuses can become an integral part of a company’s compensation package and gain favor as a way of tying pay to performance.

Bonuses come in many forms. They can be expressed, implied, based on the company’s performance in a given period, or based on an individual’s performance. Expressed bonuses are those that are promised (e.g., you will receive this much); implied bonuses might be reasonably inferred (e.g., if sales goals are met, you might expect to receive a certain percentage of your salary as a bonus).

#10 Performance Appraisals

Typical legal problems associated with performance appraisals involve charges of discrimination, especially under these laws:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination, including discrimination in the evaluation of employee performance, because of race, national origin, religion, or sex.
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits employment discrimination based on age. The ADEA applies to employees who are at least 40 years old.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against employees with disabilities—for example, judging their performance more harshly because of their disability.
• The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) prohibits discrimination against pregnant employees or those who may become pregnant.
• The Equal Pay Act (EPA) prohibits discriminatory practices related to performance appraisals.
• Under the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, an unlawful discriminatory act occurs each time an employee receives a paycheck or compensation that has been affected by a past discriminatory practice or decision—regardless of how long ago the discriminatory practice occurred.

As we look over these top 10 topics, it’s clear that topic number 1, HRIS, is in many ways the key to success with all the others. It’s what is going to help you set up your systems, keep them running, and track their success.

Your HRIS will help tame your demanding workload—and we’ve got a free 8-page white paper to outline how an HRIS can be used as a strategic toolkit for your most common HR functions.

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According to Forrester Research, over 50 percent of HR’s time is allocated to processing employee information and answering questions. Studies show that in many organizations, there may be only one HR generalist for every 100 employees. That’s stretched pretty thin for dealing with:

• Recurring leave requests
• Salary questions
• Benefits needs
• Employees who generate mountains of time-consuming administrative paperwork

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Add to this the time spent:

• Interviewing new hires
• Investigating claims of harassment
• Documenting disciplinary processes
• Reducing your employer’s legal liability when the need to terminate workers arises.

If that weren’t already enough work, you are probably also responsible for:

• planning company functions
• addressing facility needs
• and developing motivation and retention plans for employees

Though the specifics of your role may vary greatly, one word can always describe every person in HR—too busy!

Download this report today to see how an HRIS can reduce the time you spend on common functions—and give you the time where you really want it: to focus on your strategic impact on the business.

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Again, thanks to BambooHR for sponsoring this white paper.