Now is a good time to sit back and reflect on the past year and make plans for the upcoming year. So relax, and think about the unexpected problems that arose this year, what you did to address them, and whether you could have done anything differently. It’s also a good time to reflect on what worked well. How can you take your successes and apply them to other areas in the upcoming year? As you take time to reflect on the past year and make plans for 2013, you also should spend time focusing on some of the following areas.
Policies
You should take time to examine your general employment policies. Were there issues with how they were applied in the past year? Have you determined that some of your policies are vague and need to be better explained? If you’ve made changes to any policies, have you taken steps to make sure your employees (1) are aware of the changes and (2) have acknowledged that they’ve received and read the revised rules?
Your written policies are an important part of your work environment, and they must be clear. Because you are the drafter of your policies, any vagueness will be construed against you. If you have found yourself arguing over what a particular policy means or how it should be applied, you should reexamine it and determine whether its intent can be more clearly stated. Further, it’s important that anytime an issue arises that reveals vagueness in a policy, you take steps to determine whether it can be revised so that it is clear and easy to enforce.
Training
In addition to examining your policies, you should review the training that has occurred in the past year and consider what training you will need to do in the upcoming year. For example, when was the last time you conducted antiharassment training for your employees? Has it been several years? In certain situations, if an employee sues you for hostile work environment harassment, the fact that you trained your employees on your antiharassment policies will be beneficial in defending against that lawsuit. If it has been several years since you provided antiharassment training and you have regular turnover of employees, it may be time to retrain your staff on your company’s antiharassment policies.
If you have never provided training on your antiharassment policies, you certainly should do so. Remember, every employee within your organization should undergo training. Moreover, all employees should sign an attendance sheet showing that they attended the training. Be sure to keep records reflecting what training was provided and when.
In determining what additional training you should provide, examine whether there have been specific changes in your workforce that make certain types of training particularly beneficial. For example, if you have a lot of new supervisors who are new to evaluating employees, you should train them on your evaluation process. You don’t want your supervisors applying the wrong criteria to evaluations or giving an employee a good evaluation when the employee’s performance justifies a poor one.
Similarly, if you have never trained your supervisors on how to properly evaluate an employee’s performance, consider doing so. If you have discharged an employee for poor work performance, it’s awfully hard to defend that decision if the employee’s supervisor gave her “good” evaluations when poor ratings were warranted.
Hiring practices
In the upcoming year, do you expect to hire more employees because of growth in your business? If so, you may want to evaluate your hiring practices. Are your decision makers trained on what criteria they can consider when hiring? For example, do they understand that there are protected characteristics on which they cannot base their hiring decisions? Do they understand the questions they can and can’t ask during the hiring process? For example, do they understand that they should refrain from asking an older applicant whether he plans to retire soon? Do they understand that they shouldn’t ask a female applicant whether she has children or intends to have children? As with any adverse employment decision, there is always potential for a lawsuit. You want to make sure that employees who make hiring decisions do so correctly and base their decisions on the right criteria.
Bottom line
Although your day-to-day job is already busy, it’s important to reflect on the past year and make plans for the upcoming one. Doing so places your company in the best possible situation to address potential issues looming on the horizon. Moreover, it allows you to learn from past mistakes and implement changes that better address those situations. By taking time to engage in this process, you are placing your business in the best possible situation for the future.
Jeffrey M. Cropp is an attorney with Steptoe & Johnson in the firm’s Bridgeport, West Virgina, office. He can be contacted at 304-933-8145 or jeffrey.cropp@steptoe-johnson.com.