Randi Frank HR Consulting

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Job Description Tip 7

7. Job descriptions should be accurate and legally compliant to provide legal defense against discrimination.

State and federal laws prohibit employment discrimination. Some laws that all employers should consider when writing job descriptions include:

• Fair Labor Standards Act – Job descriptions should indicate whether the position is non-exempt or exempt; in other words, subject to overtime or not subject to overtime, respectively.

• Americans with Disabilities Act – Job descriptions should only include physical restrictions that are essential functions of that position. For example, one cannot ask a secretary to lift more than 50 pounds just because there may be a file box that is more than 50 pounds. Lifting heavy items is not an essential function for the secretary, and should instead be part of the custodian’s position.

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Job descriptions should not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, age, disability (including pregnancy), genetic information and citizenship status. For example, a job description should not indicate that only a male or female can fill the position.

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act – Job descriptions should not indicate an age limitation on the position. Anyone who can meet the essential functions of the job should be eligible for the position.

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Hiring an Intern Tip #5: Do you have to pay Interns?

Tip 5 – Do you have to pay Interns?

Now that you have a project in mind, the next question is… Do I have to pay my intern? It’s pretty easy to make this determination by looking at the scope of the internship.

  1. If the intern is doing work that you would have done yourself or had another employee handle then you need to treat them like a paid intern. You must pay them minimum wage or higher. The term intern indicates it is a temporary position and they are not considered an employee. But they could become an employee if they work full time and for more than 6 months then you may be crossing the line between intern and employee.
  1. If the internship is part of a college/university course then you may not have to pay them. Since it is part of their class requirements it will be used as a learning experience. These types of internships usually require the student to keep a journal of their work and require you as the supervisor to prepare reports and evaluations about the students’ performance. If you can prove that the internship is fully a learning experience and not replacing an employee or not performing work that would be done by an employee if you did not have an intern then you may not have to pay them. However, in this case I would recommend that you consult with a labor attorney so you do not get fined by the Department of Labor.

Overall, be fair. If the intern is learning a great deal, getting credit and only putting in a couple hours a week, then an unpaid internship may be okay. However, if the work they are doing contributes to the success of the company and they are putting in a lot of hours, the intern really should be compensated.

Questions? Contact me today!

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Tips for New Leaders/New Executives Tip 9: Find a Mentor Inside and/or Outside the Organizatin

A promotion that changes your position from colleague to supervisor will change the working dynamic with your colleagues. Here are some tips to help you manage that transition successfully.

Find a mentor inside and/or outside the organization to provide guidance.

  1. A mentor who has been in a similar position as you can help you understand your new role. A good mentor will be able share their past successes and failures so that you can try to emulate successful strategies and avoid potential pitfalls.
  2. An inside mentor can help you with the lay of the land of the organization at the management level.
  3. An outside mentor may be able to provide an unbiased outside perspective that could be useful in fully understanding and managing certain situations that may be difficult for inside personnel to view objectively.

Questions? Contact me today!

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Executive Search Tip 10: What are the final steps and is there any follow up to the process?

This is another step in the Executive Search process that needs to be defined prior to choosing a firm as it can vary. With our firm, once the client or appointing authority has made a selection of a candidate, we as the Executive Search firm serve as the liaison between the candidate and the client to assist them with negotiating a contract or terms of employment. Details discussed include salary and benefits, starting date, etc. Of course it sometimes happens that the selected candidate declines the position or has received another offer that they accepted. In these cases, we need to know if the appointing authority is comfortable with candidate number two.

We continue to keep all parties informed at the end of the process and offer to assist with any concerns during the first year of employment. We will conduct another search if the candidate selected through our efforts leaves before a full year of service for no additional fee, just expenses. We also offer the services of goal setting with the new candidate and the appointing authority to establish performance measurements for the first year of employment. For more information on goal setting tips or anything else mentioned in this series of posts, please Contact Us.

 

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Tip 7: Performance evaluation can identify training and career development needs for individual employees, for departments, and for the entire organization by using consolidated appraisal data.

On one hand, performance evaluation helps to assess the training and developmental needs for future career growth of the individual employee. For example, a supervisor tells an HR generalist which HR functions he should focus on to move to his next career stage as HR manager. On the other hand, when company-wide performance evaluation results are analyzed, you can get a picture of overall training needs—for individual departments or the entire organization. This helps the company upgrade the skills of its workforce to remain competitive in today’s fast-changing world. For example, organizations can develop training programs for all employees to learn new office software, social media, or equipment based on company-wide performance evaluation results.

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Mentoring Tip 3: Preparing the role of Mentor and Mentee

Under a formal mentoring program, both mentors and mentees need to know exactly how the program will work. Some organizations have been doing this for a long time and have various documents for the mentor and mentee to complete. If not, then they need to agree on a plan, such as the length, expectations, goals, process, and roles. Mentors need to be ready to offer incentives and positive reinforcement, while mentees have to be willing to be taught and learn. While the mentees can learn by watching, it is more effective if the mentor also quizzes his or her mentees and encourages them to ask questions. Did the mentee understand why the mentor used this method and not the other? Does the mentee need to see the procedure repeated?

I learned a very valuable lesson during one of my internships with one of my favorite mentors. I had already done one project for the manager and was given a new assignment, which required that I review the budget. I was so afraid that I didn’t understand budgets that I did all the research without looking at the actual budget I was given. When I was finished, the manager met with me to discuss the project. I was so proud of the presentation I put together for him—until he told me he looked like a fool without the actual budget information. I was so worried that he had gotten in trouble because of my work. He then told me he knew I didn’t review the budget and added that information himself.

What did I learn from this mistake? I learned that I was getting too cocky and I needed to ask for help if I didn’t understand something. Now, I always check the budget on all projects and I ask questions when I need more information.

Stay tuned for Tip #4 coming next week!

Questions? Contact me today!

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Succession Planning Tip #9: Look for external candidates when there are not internal candidates available or ready.

Sometimes there is not enough time to give the high potential internal candidates to develop the new skills needed before promoting them. It can be better to hire an external candidate rather than pushing an employee into a position they are not ready for. In this case, you should always be looking for candidates that may be interested in your firm. Consider contacting professional associations for recommendations of potential clients. (See tips on recruiting in separate blog entry).

Questions? Contact me today!

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Job Descriptions Tip 8

8. Job descriptions should be kept up to date to ensure they reflect any substantive changes in the key duties.

If the job description is not kept up to date, then when it is time to recruit for a new employee, job advertisements will not reflect the organization’s actual requirements. It is important to update the job description while there is an employee—and a supervisor—available to verify the new responsibilities. If there is a vacancy, this is a good time to update or rewrite the current job description so it aligns with any new goals and objectives of the firm.

For example, the employer may have decided that the position is more technologically oriented and they hire a person who already has that skillset. The job description will need to be updated to accommodate this required skill.

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Hiring an Intern Tip #6: Should there be a formal agreement with the Intern?

Tip 6 – Should there be a formal agreement with the Intern?

The answer to this question is “yes”. I recommend you set up some type of formal agreement (again the businesses that help your find interns will have samples of these agreements for you to use). The agreements which can be as simple as a letter of understanding will layout each party’s responsibilities such as:

  • Location and time/schedule assigned for internship
  • A list of responsibilities for the intern
    • amount of time worked
    • signing in process
    • proper dress for office if not a virtual internship
    • reports on work accomplished
  • A list of responsibilities for the supervisor
    • amount of time spent reviewing materials from the intern
    • training of intern
    • set times for meetings
  • A list of specific projects to be completed with time frames if possible
  • Description of credit program and forms to be completed by both party’s
  • Start and end dates of assignments with the possibility of short extensions
  • What the intern wants to learn and what the supervisor is willing to support
  • Potential for full time position if that is possible or stating that it is not possible due to size of firm or other reason
  • Letter of recommendation will be offered by supervisor if work is done well
  • Objective of internship for both party’s
  • Other details that relate to your business such as confidentiality agreements if needed

The clearer the expectations are from the on-set, the more beneficial the internship will be for both parties.

Questions? Contact me today!

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Seven Tips on Goal Setting

This goal setting method can be used for an individual, a team, an entire department, whole organizations or even the Policy Makers/Board of Directors of an Agency. We have used this method to develop goals for a new manager and then used these goals as the guideline for the organization and the performance evaluation for that same manager.

1. Start with a simple brainstorming session.

Let each participant have 10 minutes to write down what they think their goals should be. You may assist participants by asking them to:

  • think about issues that keep recurring
  • look at past goals if available
  • list the top services of the organization
  • list customer complaints
  • what do you want to get done this year?
2. Let each member of the brainstorming session share one of their written goals with everyone else.

Write them on a large pad of paper (use paper that you can stick on the wall so you can spread them around the room for everyone to see). Continue this process until everyone has provided their ideas – many will say their ideas are already on the wall so you don’t have to write them again – remember no idea is wrong. However, some people will want to say the same thing with different words – that is also ok.

3. Once you have all the ideas, you can consolidate them since many may be similar.

Edit the ideas so they make sense for your organization. Sometimes this may take some time and you can have one or two people work on it and come back to the group on another date or you can give people a food break while you combine similar goals.

4. Next, have each member of the goal setting session rank their top 7 ideas.

Typically you’ll have about 25 ideas on the list at this stage of the process. Have them rank #1 as the most important, #2 as the next important, etc. A good method for this is to give people index cards so they can write down and prioritize their goals.

5. Have each person share their rankings.

Once everyone has had a chance to provide their top 7 goals you can add them up and see the results. The lowest scored goals win (like golf–lowest score wins). It is very interesting to see how many people find that they share similar goals as their top 7.

6. Use the top ranked goals to develop a game plan.

Once you have the total scores on each goal listed, select the top 7-10 goals with the lowest score and you have a game plan. Of course there will be additional tweaking of the wording and development of the steps and objectives to reach those goals but you are ready to start. Since everyone participated, there is more buy-in to the new goals.

7. Implement a plan to achieve goals.

Once the goals are set, the team, department, agency or organization can put together a plan to achieve these goals. Evaluations of the team, department or agency can be based on this list of goals. We have also used this process for new Executives/CEO with their Board of Directors after they have been working together for about 2-3 months. In this case, the goals are used as part of the performance appraisal for the new Executive/CEO during their annual review.

 

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Tips for New Leaders/New Executives Tip 10: Use Your Knowledge of the Organizational Culture

A promotion that changes your position from colleague to supervisor will change the working dynamic with your colleagues. Here are some tips to help you manage that transition successfully.

Use your knowledge of the organizational culture to set goals and objectives for your department, division or organization.

  1. Set the tone for your new position and remember to treat everyone the way you want to be treated.
  2. As an inside employee you have the advantage of knowing what is acceptable and what’s not and you know the direction and culture of the organization allowing you to move forward with goals and objectives more efficiently than could a new member of the organization.
  3. Network with all the connections you already have to assist with your implementation strategies.

Questions? Contact me today!

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